The Fake Peace of Michoacan

Translated by Chuck B Alamada for Borderland Beat from a Proceso article

Written by Jose Gil Olmos (Proceso)
Thursday, 14 September, 2016

MEXICO CITY- Once again, organized crime continues to dominate in Michoacan despite the siren’s call by president Enrique Peña Nieto and the government of Silvano Auereoles (PRD political party) with the arrest of Servando Gomez La Tuta, leader of Los Caballero Templarios. It was all a lie since there was an agreement under the table between both governments (Federal and State governments) with the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) and other local narco groups disguised as autodefensas which again, have been empowered with weapons and terror.

Fuerzas Rurales showing their new uniforms. Photo by Miguel Dimayuga

The official lie begins with the then Peace Commissioner of Michoacan, Alfredo Castillo, acting on behalf of President Peña Nieto with the purpose of taking back territory away from the Caballeros Templarios via the autodefensas of Tierra Caliente. Autodefensa groups became the combat weapon, especially with all those autodefensa members that had deserted from the Caballeros Templarios and became known as the “arrepentidos” (the regretful ones) which were under the command of the brothers Uriel and Juan Jose Farias Alvarez AKA El Abuelo, both linked to CJNG.

 These two brothers are key to understanding the dark pacts of Peña Nieto with the CJNG which again have Michoacan in their hands and continue to cause suffering, violence, and terror with executions, extortions, and the trafficking of drugs, especially of meth which is shipped to the US from the Lazaro Cardenas Port. However, for this story, it is important to also notate the presence of another character that is also key. Colombian General Oscar Naranjo Trujillo, who made a pact with the Farias brothers and helped form the autodefensas of Michoacan as groups with paramilitary tactics with weapons and money from the federal government.

From February 24, 2013 when the first autodefensa groups emerged in the region of Tierra Caliente, Michoacan, there were several suspicions regarding their origin and financial backing. At the moment, the government of then Governor Fausto Vallejo accused them of being backed by CJNG and labeled them as criminals. The Caballeros Templarios through mantas (banners) and videos from La Tuta also accused the autodefensas of being backed by CJNG. The greatest suspicion was that they were backed by the Mexican military and by Peñas government that provided weapons, protections, and money to support the thousands of members that had joined as the months went by.

 Such suspicion was corroborated by the former mayor of Tepalcatepec municipality, Guillermo Valencia, who confirmed that Colombian General Oscar Naranjo Trujillo, on November of 2012 was in that municipality and also in la Ruana (the two towns where the autodefensas of Michoacan were born) and that he met with the Farias brothers. Colmbian General Naranjo was an advisor on the subject of national security for President Peña Nieto from June 14, 2012 when he was still the presidential candidate. The General kept a low profile during the two years where he was an advisor to Peña Nieto. It was wise for him to keep a low profile as he was accused of being behind the paramilitary groups in Colombia during the 90’s when he was chief of the national police and considered “the best police officer in the world.”

General Naranjo (left). Photo courtesy of Proceso

However, the presence of General Naranjo did not go unnoticed to Los Caballeros Templarios. On November 8, 2013, in 8 municipalities, including Morelia, banners and flyers from this group appeared accusing the Colombian General of being behind the autodefensa groups of Michoacan, at the expense of the federal government. This is how, under the real command of the Farias brothers who were linked to CJNG and with the blessing of the federal government, the autodefensas were able to have an organizational structure headed by the General Counsel (Consejo General)-composed of 37 commanders that represented each zone or territory won. Doctor Jose Manuel Mireles was among that high command and he would go on to become the spokesperson for the entire movement; a position that would subsequently cause problems with Jose Manuel Farias AKA el Abuelo.

Doctor Mireles was the only person within the autodefensas that defended the original idea of becoming a protector of the people. It was for that reason that he refused to put down his weapons or becoming a fuerza rural. This caused him to become an obstacle to the government and was subsequently arrested under fabricated charges.

In just a few months after the birth of the autodefensas, they were able to have fifteen thousand fighters in different places and were able to accomplish within one year what former Mexican President, Felipe Calderon was not able to: liberate and take back the territories in Michoacan that had been dominated by organized crime for 12 years; break the link that the Caballeros Templarios had with the government of Fausto Vallejo; disarticulate the leadership structure that imposed tax laws and extortions to business owners, entrepreneurs, professionals, farmers, and Chinese miners; and put an end to the co-government (politicians and organized crime) that existed in most of the 113 municipalities.

Once mission accomplished, on January 26, 2014, General Oscar Naranjo resigned and returned to Colombia where he joined the administration of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. Alfredo Castillo (the peace commissioner) also resigned and Peña made him the sports commissioner. While the autodefensas in Michoacan became Fuerza Rural and while many others joined the ranks of the new criminal group in Michoacan, CJNG that had pacted with the government of Enrique Peña Nieto and has now positioned itself as the most powerful cartel in Mexico today and one of the most important in the world of drugs.