Violence Between Rival Gangs Heats Up in Michoacan 'Hot Lands' Region David Santa Cruz - Agence France-Presse
go to original September 14, 2016

Murders are rising again in Mexico's Michoacán state. They're happening as gangs battle for control of drug production and trafficking routes. (Al Jazeera English)

Soldiers man checkpoints in western Mexico's Hot Land region while police armed with assault rifles travel in convoys days after officers died when their helicopter came under fire and crashed.

The incident last week showed that the deployment of government security forces and the emergence of vigilante groups in recent years has done little to pacify the notoriously violent region in the state of Michoacan.

The Knights Templar drug cartel once held sway in the area, extorting anyone from lime growers to tortilla sellers, until self-defense forces emerged in 2013 and authorities took down its top leaders.

But the cartel's breakup led to the emergence of several smaller criminal groups. The helicopter crash showed that lawbreakers are well armed.

In the week before the helicopter was shot at while pursuing suspected gang leaders, authorities detained 12 people and seized an arsenal that included 12 rifles, one .50-caliber rifle, a grenade, two rocket launchers, two rocket-propelled grenades and 3,650 bullets.

The state prosecutor's office said Saturday it was investigating whether the helicopter smashed into a field after maneuvering to avoid bullets on September 6 near the village of El Chauz.

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