Michoacán Militia News: As Mexican Government Deepens Collaboration With Autodefensas, Objections Grow

Despite a rocky start to their relationship -- September weapon confiscations which militias say resulted in the disappearance of members, a more recent clash which left 2 dead -- the Mexican government has largely adopted a policy of collaborating with the citizen militias in Michoacán, which are popular with much of the Mexican public. But a growing chorus of voices raise a host of objections to that collaboration, saying it bodes ill for the long-term future of public security in a state long underserved by the government.

The Dallas Morning News offered on Sunday a scene in the town of Nueva Italia in which militia members executed a rather invasive search of a newcomer’s vehicle, with the driver pressed into showing recent text messages and handing over his wife’s bag to have it rifled through, as federal policemen looked on. Such scenes, the paper writes, are commonplace in the 19 communities where "autodefensas" continue to carry out many of the patrols and checkpoints they did before, and this time with the backing of federal police. On Sunday, La Jornada reported that militia members expect the government to present an accord inviting qualifying members to join the police.

Earlier this month, Milenio columnist Carlos Puig sounded alarm bells in one of his columns, calling the "autodefensas" “a logical manifestation among many of a scant appreciation for the law and the almost absolute absence of local government,” but questioning whether some of their weapons may have come from rival cartels. He also pointed out a handful of recent deaths caused by the groups to supposed Knights Templar members, saying “they go around the streets carrying unlicensed rifles, in a war between private citizens."

“I think we’ve seen this movie before,” he added. “This is how it started in Colombia.”