Vigilantes Face Deadline to Store Their Guns or Join Police Force Agence France-Presse
go to original May 10, 2014

Armed men belonging to the Self-Defense Council of Michoacan (CAM) stand guard at a checkpoint set up by the vigilante group in La Mira on the outskirts of the seaport of Lazaro Cardenas in western Mexico, Friday, May 9, 2014. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo)
 
MORELIA - Vigilantes who have battled a drug cartel in western Mexico face a deadline Saturday to store their guns or join a police force amid divisions and recriminations within the movement.

The authorities are handing out uniforms to vigilantes who have agreed to sign up to a new rural police force in the lush agricultural state of Michoacan.
 
The units will make their debut in the towns of Buenavista and Tepalcatepec, two of the first municipalities that revolted last year against the cult-like Knights Templar gang because local police failed to protect them.
 
The federal government, which has tolerated the vigilantes, has warned that anybody found carrying weapons illegally after the deadline would be arrested.
 
The rise of the vigilante movement, which spread to some 30 towns, brought fears that it could turn into a dangerous paramilitary force.
 
President Enrique Pena Nieto, who deployed thousands of troops to Michoacan last year to restore order, said he expected the vigilantes to disband or join the police.

Read the rest at New Straits Times

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