Pubdate: Sun, 26 Jan 2014
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2014 The Arizona Republic
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Roger Noriega
Note: Roger F. Noriega, managing director of Vision Americas and a visiting
fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, served in senior State
Department posts in the George W. Bush administration.

MEXICO'S NEW DRUG CARTEL BATTLE: SELF-DEFENSE LEAGUES

Noriega: Turf Wars Could Create Problems For The U.S.

A child tries to help his father arrange weapons at a checkpoint set
up by the Self-Defense Council of Michoacan in Tancitaro, Mexico.
Authorities fear self-defense groups could turn into the organized
crime forces they're fighting.A man belonging to a self-defense group
holds an AK-47 as he stands at a checkpoint in Antunez, Mexico, on
Jan. 11. Vigilante groups have formed to confront drug cartels in
parts of Michoacan.Armed men belonging to the Self-Defense Council of
Michoacan stand guard at checkpoint at the entrance of Antunez,
Mexico.Vigilantes in Michoacan state insist they won't lay down their
guns until top leaders of a powerful drug cartel are arrested, defying
government orders as federal forces try to regain control in a lawless
region plagued by armed groups.The window of a bank is riddled with
bullet holes Jan. 11 in Apatzingan, Mexico. Residents from various
towns in Michoacan are destroying property to protest the arrival of
vigilantes, or members of "self-defense" groups, to their communities.
Federal police and soldiers stand guard in Apatzingan, Mexico, on Jan.
15. The unrest is in a farming region of Michoacan known as Tierra
Caliente, where vigilante groups have been trying to drive out the
Knights Templar drug cartel. A city employee looks out as a cordon of
soldiers guard the government building in Apatzingan, Mexico. Soldiers
and federal police kept a tense standoff with vigilantes after a new
government campaign to stop violence in the western Michoacan state
turned deadly. A federal police officer patrols the entrance to
Apatzingan, Mexico, on Jan. 14. A clash occurred as the government
sent more troops to where the vigilantes have been fighting the
Knights Templar cartel. A child tries to help his father arrange
weapons at a checkpoint set up by the Self-Defense Council of
Michoacan in Tancitaro, Mexico. Authorities fear self-defense groups
could turn into the organized crime forces they're fighting.

By Roger Noriega Viewpoints Fri Jan 24, 2014 2:51 PM Two weeks ago,
the Mexican government dispatched federal security forces to the state
of Michoacan, which has been besieged by a turf war among
extraordinarily violent drug-trafficking organizations.

Raging battles among well-armed gangs, the advent of vigilante
self-defense groups, and the inability of local authorities to quell
the violence have challenged the security strategy of Mexican
President Enrique Pena Nieto, who came to office 13 months ago
de-emphasizing the threat posed by narcotrafficking.

Michoacan has been the epicenter for violence and turf wars for many
years. It was in that state seven years ago where former President
Felipe Calderon launched the first operations in his intense effort to
fight criminal organizations. Corrupt local authorities never
supported these federal efforts, and narcotrafficking has continued to
threaten state institutions and the citizen security.

For example, Leonel Godoy, the previous governor, faced several
accusations of corruption. His brother and former Congressman Julio
Cesar Godoy remains a fugitive after it was revealed that he had links
with the Familia Michoacana drug gang. During Leonel Godoy's tenure,
violence in Michoacan spiked, and corruption became the rule rather
than the exception.

Current Gov. Fausto Vallejo has been battling liver disease since the
beginning of his administration, and his neglect for almost a year
created a power vacuum that exacerbated the situation.

A defense vacuum

Michoacan is plagued by a number of criminal organizations - the
Knights Templar, Familia Michoacana and Cartel Jalisco Nueva
Generacion - that use violence to claim territory for their illicit
operations. Their clashes have escalated in the past year, as the
nation's new president focused on an ambitious economic reform agenda.

So-called guardias comunitarias - self-defense militias -have emerged
to fill the vacuum created by an insufficient federal response.

Some say that authorities in Mexico City have tolerated these
vigilantes because they challenged the spread of narco-networks.
Unfortunately, many of these vigilante forces appear to have been
infiltrated by armed guerrillas and other drug-trafficking
organizations, thus expanding the criminal violence and undermining
the governability of an already fragile state.

The crisis has boiled over in recent weeks as a vigilante militia
declared its intention to wrest control of the town of Apatzingan from
the Knights Templar. After armed vigilantes occupied surrounding
towns, Pena Nieto's powerful interior minister, Miguel Angel Osorio
Chong, convened the national-security Cabinet in Michoacan's state
capital and declared that the federal authorities were assuming
control over security matters.

He demanded that the self-defense groups immediately surrender their
arms and cooperate with authorities to confront the traffickers,
promising to be "severe and inflexible" in dealing with illegality.

Escalating violence

It is impossible for federal authorities to downplay the escalating
violence in Michoacan, which has joined Chihuahua, Tamaulipas,
Guerrero, Jalisco and the state of Mexico among the most violent in
the country. For years, state authorities have been either unable or
unwilling to tackle the levels of criminality and brutality that have
menaced its population.

Although more robust federal intervention in Michoacan might have
prevented the current crisis, Pena Nieto's administration apparently
failed to act earlier for fear of exposing the ineffectiveness of its
current strategy.

 From the outset of his term in 2006, Calderon saw transnational
organized crime as a serious national-security threat, and he adopted
an unprecedented, proactive campaign to impose the rule of law. Pena
Nieto took power promising to implement a new anti-drug strategy that
would focus on mitigating violence rather than confronting criminal
organizations and capturing kingpins.

Indeed, his ambiguous assurances won praise from some policy mavens in
Washington who never approved of Calderon's law-and-order strategy.

A wake-up call

Although the response to the crisis in Michoacan does not necessarily
signal a change in Pena Nieto's strategy, the failure to prevent what
some observers have called a mini-civil war should be a wake-up call
to his team that the narco-threat will only intensify if it is not
confronted.

No one can fault Mexico's president for emphasizing a positive agenda
of reforms that he hopes will ensure his country's prosperity for
decades to come. However, today, the people of Michoacan and the rest
of Mexico expect their government to keep them safe.

Mayhem in Mexico would have terrible costs for the United States. U.S.
officials must do much more to encourage and assist Pena Nieto to take
concrete, proactive steps to ensure that well-financed and well-armed
gangs are not allowed to operate with impunity. We have a shared,
inescapable responsibility to meet this challenge.

Roger F. Noriega, managing director of Vision Americas and a visiting
fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, served in senior State
Department posts in the George W. Bush administration.  
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