The Rondas Comunitarias in Michoacan Defend Themselves Against Organized Crime

Video translation is as follows:

Reporter: In Los Reyes, Michoacan inhabitants from 4 indigenous communities are organized so as not to accept extortion from criminal groups. The majority are men and women not older than 30 years of age. Those who gathered in the communal security council and armed the community drills. They prefer not to be called self-defense groups because they do not venture into other territories, they only defend their own.

Comandante Mirishi: To begin with, this is not a group, this is the entire community, this is the public who are fighting against organized crime.

Reporter: Grupo Imagen was able to reach the training camps where they prepare themselves for community drills. Their training is with an assault rifle, clearly for combat. For their training they use weapons assigned to 30 elements gifted to them from the Michoacan Secretary of Public Security.

In the interest of the indigenous communities they remain vigilant night and day. Today the community training groups of Los Reyes face being hunted by the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación. And so they prepare themselves so as not to allow the incursions of this criminal group into this western territory of Michoacan.

Community Defender: What is clearly present at this point is organized crime that comes with other methods, considerably violent, that doesn’t respect families, nor does it respect entire villages, which is a new mechanism to instill fear. Therefore, we have to be prepared to deal with any onslaught from organized crime.

Reporter: The community drills were born in January 2013 after the disappearance and death of Roberto Sereno Cervantes. A retired captain from the Mexican army. He served in charge of the command for the villages nestled in the Sierra de Los Reyes.

Commander Mirishi: Our refusal to pay 2000 pesos of cuota per hectacre of avocados, corn production, of all the crops that were made here. This was once a requirement from the Caballeros Templarios.

Reporter: The death of their leader and the murders of their neighbors did not intimidate them. They confronted the then hegemonic cartel in Michoacan and succeeded.

Community Defender: We never rose up in arms against the government, let that be made clear. We have never raised a weapon against the government. We have protected ourselves from all types of extortion, drug sales, and manufacture of synthetic drugs. We have attacked all these evils.

Ciro Gómez Leyva: 6 years after the self-defense groups in Michoacan emerged there. They continue, they continue to appear.

Sol Prendido Borderland Beat Source