President Pena Nieto Pledges to Invest Billions in Drug Cartel Stronghold Agence France-Presse
go to original February 5, 2014

"We have succeeded in winning back the region," said Mexican Interior Minister Angel Osorio Chong in Michoacan's state capital, Morelia. (mmspress.com.mx)

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto pledged on Tuesday to invest $3.4 billion to build roads, schools and other infrastructure in the western state of Michoacan, after having already deployed thousands of troops and police to re-establish federal authority there.

Pena Nieto said that the money would help "reverse the conditions of institutional weakness" in the region, which has become a flashpoint in Mexico's bloody war against organized crime. Local residents have formed armed militias to drive out the Knights Templar drug cartel.

In January, the Mexican federal government deployed 9,000 soldiers and police to the region, demanding that the militias disarm. Instead, the militias have agreed to join local police or form "rural defense groups" overseen by the army.

Read the rest at  Deutsche Welle

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!