One of the main leaders of the civilian “self-defense” groups that rose up to challenge a drug cartel in Mexico’s Michoacan State was detained on Tuesday as a suspect in the weekend killings of two vigilantes, Mexican authorities announced.
The detention of Hipolito Mora, who had become the affable public face of the vigilante movement, came as Mexican federal authorities sought to heal a rift between his faction and another group since the Knights Templar cartel was driven out of much of the western farming state.
In a statement, Michoacan State prosecutors said Mora was detained after witnesses told investigators that Mora and other members of group participated in the killing of two men on Saturday in the town of Buenavista. Mora previously denied having any involvement in the deaths.
Photo: EPA
The federal government’s envoy to Michoacan, Alfredo Castillo, said prosecutors had 48 hours to file formal charges against Mora or release him.
Mora has been involved in a dispute over leadership in the township of La Ruana with Luis Antonio Torres Gonzalez, a vigilante leader known by the nickname “Simon El Americano,” because he grew up in the US.
Torres Gonzalez told local media that the two dead men, Rafael Sanchez Moreno and Jose Luis Torres Castaneda, were part of his defense group. Their bodies were found inside a pickup truck that had been set on fire.
The dispute between the two men came to a head when hundreds of police and soldiers were sent in to separate the two armed factions in La Ruana on Monday.
The confrontation revived fears that the government has created a monster by letting an estimated 20,000 heavily armed vigilantes take over basic law enforcement duties in Michoacan State without knowing who is behind the movement. Vigilante leaders say their movement is supported by contributions from farmers, growers and businessmen. However, there are concerns that a rival drug cartel, personal interests and local feuds may also play a role.
The vigilantes are now the de facto authorities in about 15 of the state’s townships, and several top drug cartel leaders have been arrested or killed.
The Michoacan State public safety department said authorities “are conducting mediation efforts to defuse the conflict between self-defense groups.”
Ramon Contreras, a town official in La Ruana, where the movement to combat cartel extortion began, said Mora’s vigilantes have grown arrogant and have abused the local population.
“Hipolito is doing well, but only with the media,” Contreras said. “People are saying: ‘We’re more afraid of the self-defense forces than the Knights Templar.’”
It was a development that many had feared as largely untrained vigilante forces armed with rifles have sprung up so quickly.
“The division among the self-defense forces in a natural phenomenon when spontaneous leaderships spring up ... and the leaders quickly begin to accumulate power,” said Raul Benitez, a security expert at Mexico’s National Autonomous University.
The Mexican government, which at first sought to arrest the vigilantes, then let them grow and finally sought to incorporate them into rural defense corps, urgently wants to defuse the confrontation.
“We cannot permit this kind of confrontation,” Castillo said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was