Michoacán: Murders And Kidnappings Are Growing In Tierra Caliente; Residents Launch S.O.S.

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat  

Displaced inhabitants of Tierra Caliente ask the federal government for help in the face of the increase in violence generated by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel

Residents of three municipalities of Michoacán held marches for peace this weekend and to ask for the urgent intervention of the federal government on behalf of families displaced by organized crime.

The demonstrations took place in the municipalities of Tepalcatepec, Lázaro Cárdenas, Los Reyes and Peribán.

Dressed in white and with banners, the inhabitants asked the federal government for its intervention to guarantee them safety in those places plagued by violence.

The demonstrators also urged urgent actions to help all families who have been displaced from their villages by organized crime.

In Tepalcatepec, the inhabitants published a message stating that, in recent days, organized crime has perpetrated massacres.

One of the cases was that of Vicente Vargas, a cheese producer in the region, who was killed by a criminal cell that entered his community and shot at homes.

Another one, this weekend, was that of a Gabriel Magaña, a rural teacher who had barely retired a year ago and who has gone missing.

In addition to several people injured from other ranches, the actual number has not been disclosed so far.

"At the moment the inhabitants in the ranches of Tepalcatepec are being vilely massacred, including the Horcones, El Montoso, El Canzangue, El Bejuco, Carapuato, Loma Blanca, La Romera, Plaza Vieja, Las Primaveras, Taixtan and San Isidro," the text quotes.

The letter points out that the houses are shot at and others burned, which has already left several civilians shot and others as kidnapped hostage.

The letter mentions that the newly elected mayor, Martha Laura Mendoza, has denounced that that municipality is under a war, with drones loaded with fragmentation grenades and explosives, against innocent people.

"For this reason, at the moment she is asking for help before the deaf voices of the government, which apparently has abandoned the population to its fate under the clutches of organized crime," the message emphasizes.

They considered it urgent that the general population raise their voices for these crimes that they described as crimes against humanity and the state of emergency that has been reached.

"It’s also urgent also to stop this murderous machine that the government has overlapped with its complicit silence, corruption and prevailing impunity," they denounced.

In Lázaro Cárdenas, at the same time, banners placed by inhabitants of that coastal area appeared in which they also ask for the intervention of the security authorities for the victims of forced displacement, murder and kidnapping in Tierra Caliente.

In Los Reyes and Peribán, the inhabitants in the vicinity of San Sebastián and the entrance of this city also demonstrated in support of the inhabitants of Tepalcatepec, Aguililla, Coalcomán and its surroundings.

They explained that criminals have killed many innocent people in recent weeks and therefore demand that the authorities put a stop to it all, "since they steal, kidnap and for fear of losing their lives, entire families are evicted from their homes.

The citizens of this region expressed their rejection of this situation in solidarity with low-income families, who have lost everything.

"And today, due to the threats of a cartel, they have nowhere to live, nor how to support their children who in many cases are minors," they denounced.

These demonstrations took place just over two months after violence escalated in the ranches of Coalcomán, Tepalcatepec and Aguililla.

The clashes do not subside and, according to local and ecclesiastical authorities, the number of displaced families is increasing exponentially.

The victims, they explained, have had to seek refuge in other municipalities, where shelters have been created for those hundreds of families displaced by organized crime.

Some others have been housed in the homes of acquaintances, relatives or townspeople who have given them accommodation.

Nothing is known about the intervention of federal security authorities, they have remained absent in these war zones.

Message reads as follows:

Everyone is being told that the town of Tepacaltepec is being viciously massacred. Men, women, children and senior citizens fall under the gunfire of the CJNG.

They have no consideration for anyone. A federal government that abandons its people with its hugs, not bullets policy, will be responsible for this massacre. UN "United Nations Organization" listen to us.

The federal government abandons us. They don’t respond, they don’t serve, in Tepacaltepec, Aguililla, and Coalcoman.

The federal government abandons its people marked by CJNG

La Silla Rota