Hipólito Mora confirms resurgence of the "autodefensa" groups in Tepalcatapec: "I don't know if it is for better or worse"

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  90 Grados and material from FB and LaVoz

The founder of the self-defense movement in Michoacán, Hipólito Mora Chávez, confirmed that Tepalcatepec woke up this morning with the mobilization of armed civilians who identify themselves as “atuodefensas”, although he refused to say whether it is comprised of narcos.

This, after Thursday, Juan José Farías Álvarez “El Abuelo”, identified as a local criminal leader and part of the criminal association “Carteles Unidos”,  called for the general mobilization of people in Tepalcatepec and municipalities where this criminal group is present, as a means of pressure, because of  the capture of four people close to him, two of them his operators, one who is his brother-in-law, arrested in possession of 280 kilos of cocaine and made available to the public prosecutor's office of the federation, but apparently they were released.

In an interview for a national radio medium, he noted that "indeed, there are already self-defense groups in Tepalcatepec and I think there will be in other municipalities."

Mora

"I do not know if it is for better or for worse that they have taken up arms, what I am sure of is that Mexicans are alone, we are abandoned, there is no one who worries about giving us security," said the founder of the self-defense groups that emerged in Michoacán in 2013.

He noted that entire convoys of armed people circulate in that municipality, to which no authority assists.

"It is so shameful that they even find four or five trucks of armed civilians and (the authorities) cross each other as if they were friends: Nothing happens, there is no one to put order, we are before governments that are useless, only to collect and lie to society ”, he sentenced.

He said that currently in Tepalcatepec and the region there is a war going on, "it is true that there are clashes from time to time, but they are not made public, society is not well informed and unfortunately it is what we are experiencing."

Abuelo

Last Wednesday, personnel from the National Defense Secretariat who were sent by air to Aguililla to support the local military in a shooting against the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación in Tepalcatepec, with an armed group of at least 18 people,  who were guarding a plane with 280 kilos of cocaine.

According to sources, this group was made up of people from Tepalcatepec and Carteles Unidos, under the orders of Juan José Farías Álvarez, “El Abuelo”, a former leader of the self-defense groups who now heads his own criminal group, after breaking relations with the Jalisco Cartel. 

The military seized the drugs and released most of the suspects, except two: "El Chuche" and "El Rayitas", who along with two others, were placed at the disposal of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic, apparently first in Morelia, from where they were transferred to Mexico City.

To pressure the authorities for the release of the detainees, he began to organize people at his service in Tepalcatepec and the municipalities where Carteles Unidos operates.

Villagers say no!

According to photos and videos on networks, it is observed how meetings in Coalcomán and other municipalities the attendees do not exceed 50 people.

The inhabitants asked for the support of the authorities to end the criminal groups.

In the plazas where the meetings were held, the organizers presented t-shirts with the reading "self-defense group".

"Keep exposing how you want to manipulate the poor innocent people in their fights, in their particular interests that are of no use to the community, to the people who have the least," read Facebook comments.

"What did they think that the people were going to come out to support them? People already know that they use the people to make crowds and that they are supposed to defend them from the government, the good thing is that the people are not stupid. ”

According to the same sources, residents have denounced that 500 pesos are offered to women and children to go out to block roads in the face of a possible incursion by the authority, while other accusations indicate that at least 200 people have been deprived of liberty throughout the entity.

In the face of calls by groups of civilians to retake arms in the Tierra Caliente region of Michoacán, state authorities have reiterated the state policy of not allowing civilians to assume police functions.

The Ministry of Public Security confirmed that due to the locations and rumors of the rise of alleged self-defense groups, operations have been deployed in the region to contain the action of the groups.