Michoacan Vigilante Group Founder, 26 Others to Face Homicide Charges The Associated Press
go to original January 4, 2015

Hipólito Mora, the leader of Mexican vigilante force to fight drug traffickers, listens to a court ruling through the bars of the penitentiary in Morelia, Mexico, on Saturday. (European Pressphoto Agency)

MORELIA - A judge in the western state of Michoacán has begun homicide proceedings against the founder of a vigilante group and 26 of his followers who were involved in a deadly clash with a rival force in December.

Hipólito Mora founded a vigilante force to fight drug traffickers in Michoacán which later become part of an official rural police force that received guns, uniforms and pay from the government. On Dec. 16, Mr. Mora’s group had a shootout with a rival rural police force led by Luis Antonio Torres, better known as “Simon the American,” that left 11 people dead in the remote mountain town of La Ruana, Michoacán.

After the shootout, authorities said Mexican military and federal police would assume security responsibilities in several municipalities, replacing the rural police. In late December, both Mr. Mora and Mr. Torres, along with 35 of their followers, turned themselves in to authorities.

On Saturday, Judge Maria Consuelo Lopez Ramirez said there was sufficient evidence against Mr. Mora and his followers of their involvement in 10 homicides during the shootout to merit the launch of proceedings.

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