Michoacan Vigilante Leader Charged with Murder of Members of Rival Group Adriana Gomez Licon - The Associated Press
go to original March 14, 2014

Hipolito Mora, leader of a self-defense movement, wears a bllet proof vest as he stands at the entrance of Apatzingan, in the Michoacan state of Mexico. (AP/Marco Ugarte)

MEXICO CITY — One of the main leaders of the civilian armed movement that formed to drive a drug cartel out of Mexico's Michoacan state was charged Thursday with the murder of two members of a rival vigilante group.

State prosecutor Jose Martin Godoy said investigators had found enough evidence to link Hipolito Mora to the killings of two men whose bodies were discovered in the back of a burned pickup truck over the weekend.

The "self-defense" groups had a falling out and fractured into two factions in the town of La Ruana when Mora had a dispute over leadership with Luis Antonio Torres Gonzalez, another vigilante leader known by the nicknames of "El Simon" or "El Americano" because he grew up in the U.S.

The two dead men were allies of Torres Gonzalez. Prosecutors said witnesses testified that Mora had threatened to kill one of the men for opposing the way Mora wanted to collect money to run the vigilante uprising.

Mora's lawyer, Eduardo Quintero, said prosecutors were building a case with suppositions by the victims' relatives.

Read the rest at Bradenton.com

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!