Self-Defense Leader Manuel Mireles Says Mexican Government Has Sidelined Him Carmen Aristegui - Aristegui Noticias
go to original April 2, 2014

Dr Manuel Mireles, is the spokesman for the vigilante group of Tepalcatepec, Michoacan State. This picture is from Dec 01, 2013. (Omar Torres/AFP/Getty Images)

José Manuel Mireles, leader of the self-defense group in Tepalcatepec reveals that the government has marginalized him from meetings and decision-making. He says his biggest fear is that he has received death threats from unidentified persons. Given these threats, he says that he has recorded a message [to be released] "if anything happens to me."

Monday, Mireles sent a message to Federal Commissioner Alfredo Castillo: "He is not the one to appoint, remove or add general coordinators, which is what he has tried to do."

In an interview with Aristegui News, First Edition, Mireles said that he is no longer invited to meetings, but they call "two or three people." Mireles warned the commissioner of the government of Enrique Peña Nieto: "I want to say that three people are not the general coordination. We are 34 natural leaders, and the decisions that they [government officials] want to make have to be agreed upon by all 34 coordinators."

Mireles added: "It is not Castillo who says 'get rid of this one'. He doesn't want me in his meetings, because I make everything public."

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

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