Vigilantes, Mexican Police and the Cartels

From Christian Science Monitor's Frontier Markets:

“I have spoken to numerous priests, and all of them say that it’s exaggerated to suggest the defense groups are clean, but it’s also unfair to say they’re puppets of other cartels,” our correspondent says.


Meanwhile, the Catholic leaders also question the reasoning for the government’s forceful resolve to disarm the vigilantes, who have wrested control of entire towns from the cartel and restored businesses and farms to their rightful owners. ...


“Catholic bishops here say that this leaves the suspicion that these drug gangs are being protected by the government,” adds our correspondent. “The government appears duplicitous.”


... The Nueva Italia townspeople agreed to form a committee that would equip and feed the vigilante defense forces against the government. Their defiance is understandable; after all, in less than one year, the vigilantes have accomplished what the federal government failed to achieve after more than seven years and 100,000 deaths: reclaim the land from drug cartels. Why should the vigilantes be forced to sacrifice those gains?


But hidden in the fog are alliances and pacts between numerous gangs and rebels and government entities. All that’s clear is that the vigilantes won’t lay down their arms without a protracted struggle, says our correspondent.


“Michoacán is very symbolic of the Mexican crackdown on organized crime,” he says. “It was the first place the federal government sent troops in December 2006 because this is where La Familia, the predecessor of Knights of Templar, started.


“You have to take a long view of this,” he adds. “It’s been seven years since then. Things haven’t changed. So there is some skepticism why it would change now.”

The government seeks to disarm the vigilantes because it fears them more than the cartels.

These events provide a perfect example, however, where there is a localized breakdown of the rule of law. Imagine how much more effective the vigilantes would be with decent weapons and some training.