The Guadalajara Reporter

Armed vigilantes blur line between self defense and organized crime

With Mexico’s police and armed forces frequently accused of corruption, human rights abuses and a failure to protect rural communities from organized crime, an increasing number of small and often indigenous towns have begun forming their own self-defense groups.

In recent months it has become more common and even accepted for masked men armed with rifles to patrol and set up checkpoints at the entrances to isolated towns in order to keep their communities free from extortion, kidnapping and drug trafficking.

Earlier this year, indigenous Nahuas in the hills of Manantlan in southern Jalisco began organizing themselves in a bid to ward off armed gangs and put an end to illegal logging and mining operations in the area.

Last month, around 150 indigenous residents of Cuautitlan de Garcia Barragan met with local and state officials and the Mexican military in an attempt to resolve security issues. The inhabitants of the town demanded a greater protective presence from local authorities, but also insisted upon being allowed to maintain their own armed civil defense units.

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