Mexico and self-defense groups reached an agreement this week allowing vigilantes to participate in local police departments or form temporary military units. Is it setting a dangerous precedent?
By David Agren, Correspondent / January 28, 2014
The deal
The Mexican government and self-defense groups reached an agreement on Monday in the municipality of Tepalcatepec, 340 miles west of Mexico City, which would allow vigilantes to participate in local police departments or form temporary military units known as Rural Defense Corps. The vigilantes can keep their weapons – so long as defense officials deem the guns legal – and the federal government will supply equipment for communications and transportation.
“We have no interest in weapons. We want them to put an end to this organized crime and we’ll go back to our work,” Beltrán says.
Despite the agreement, self-defense groups continued marching on communities near the city of Uruapan, local media reported on Monday.
Beltrán was noncommittal about how closely the self-defense groups will adhere to this new agreement, saying, “The communities themselves will determine if we advance or not.”
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