Vigilante Leaders Reject Disarming as Tense Faceoff Goes On in West Mexico Mark Stevenson - Associated Press
go to original January 15, 2014

Deadly clashes erupted when Mexican soldiers attempted to disarm civilian vigilantes who refuse to abandon an armed struggle against a drug cartel. (AFP)

APATZINGAN, Mexico — Federal forces struggled to bring order to western Mexico Wednesday as vigilantes battled a vicious drug cartel that apparently tried to reassert its authority by burning a downtown pharmacy to enforce its orders that no businesses should open.

The fire attack came just two blocks from the Apatzingan city center where, the day before, dozens of federal police had paraded in an impressive display of force meant to re-impose order in a region where heavily armed vigilantes have taken up a freelance fight against the drug gang.

An employee of the pharmacy said two men pulled up with jerry cans of gasoline and began dousing the store and its merchandise. "They just told us to get out, because they were going to burn the place," she said. (...) Owners of other stores have said that cartel gunmen have ordered them to close or risk being burned down.

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