by Sam Culper III
I keep reading about these ‘Rural Defense Units’ in Mexico, which are forming to protect their communities from drug cartels. Last month, the Mexican Government passed a law authorizing the Rural Defense Units, essentially the unorganized militia numbering up to 20,000 strong, to participate alongside federal forces in rooting out drug cartel activity. For a reference, 20,000 Rural Defense Unit members represents less than 0.5% of the population of Michoacan.
La Michoacan is a particularly bad area for drug crime, notorious even when Ciudad Juarez made headline news every week. And having spent a season in Juarez at the height of the kidnapping/murder sprees by rival drug gangs, I can tell you that’s really saying something about La Micho.
From InSight Crime:
Concerns have been raised about the paramilitary precedent in other countries in the region, and what could happen if the self-defense forces — which possess high-caliber weapons and have refused to hand in unauthorized arms – decide to expand beyond the remit afforded to them by the state.
