In one small Mexican town, the
citizens become armed vigilantes to take on a drug gang
Patrick J. McDonnellContact
Reporter
The self-proclaimed good guys,
masked men bearing shotguns and ancient hunting rifles, kept guard last week
outside what used to be the town police station, back when the town still had a
police force. Emblazoned in large blue letters against a white facade were the
words “Movement for Peace.”
“The people couldn’t take it
anymore,” said one of the men, who hid his face behind a yellow handkerchief
and identified himself only as Jose, a 42-year-old father of three. “The
government does nothing to help, and we want peace for the future generations.
“Maybe in the end, they will kill
us all, including our families,” he said, drawing nods from the other
vigilantes hunched in white plastic chairs in a sliver of shade. “But we are in
this till the final reckoning.”
Maybe in the end, they will kill
us all, including our families— Jose, a 42-year-old father of three
Inside the building, fellow
townsfolk were holding at least 17 hostages they say were members or allies of
the local drug gang.
After years of violence and
intimidation, the fed-up citizens of San Miguel Totolapan, population 4,000,
had taken the perilous step of striking back against Los Tequileros (“the
Tequila drinkers”), the syndicate that dominates drug trafficking and other
illicit activity in this steamy stretch of Guerrero state in southwestern Mexico.
Their tactics included kidnapping the mother of a gang kingpin.
The violence-ridden region is a
major production zone of the opium poppy, the raw material used to produce
heroin smuggled north to the United States. The zone is also an abyss of lawlessness.
Armed bands, including Los
Tequileros, battle for control of the lucrative smuggling trade in the
so-called tierra caliente, or hot land. The phrase refers to the area’s
stifling heat and humidity but has taken on additional meaning as organized crime
has soared.
Guerrero state authorities
reported a record 2,068 homicides between January and November 2016. November
topped the list with 231 killings.
The fragmented drug gangs also
traffic in extortion, kidnapping, robbery and murder. Los Tequileros boasts its
own “special forces” of professional killers with colorful nicknames. Last
year, police arrested an alleged tequilero enforcer, Juan Vargas Macedo, a.k.a.
“El Garfield.”
The thuggish turmoil has left
some towns, including San Miguel Totolapan, as virtual no-go zones, where
residents say police and the army are seldom seen. Taxi drivers in the nearby
market town of Altamirano politely demur when asked for a lift here.
“Demasiado peligroso,” they say.
Too dangerous.
The town cops were in cahoots with
the criminals, according to state authorities, who solved that problem two
years ago by disbanding the police force. No one filled the law enforcement
void.
Some nearby hamlets are abandoned
because residents decamped in fear. Gouges from high-caliber rounds mark a few
buildings along winding roads through stands of corn, bean fields and dense
brush where cows and goats graze.
In June 2014, the bullet-riddled
body of Maria Felix Jaimes, a former councilwoman in San Miguel Totolapan, was
found with a placard, presumably from Los Tequileros.
“This is going to happen to
anyone who passes information to ‘the fish,’ ” said the sign, referring to the
head of a rival gang known as the Michoacan Family. “You are next.”
Last week, things reached a
boiling point here.
It started with the kidnapping
last Sunday of 37-year-old Isauro de Paz Duque, a widely respected engineer
whose firm is one of the area’s few regular sources of employment.
In retaliation the next day,
townsfolk launched a dicey gambit.
Calling themselves a
“self-defense force,” they took up arms and abducted the mother of Raybel
Jacobo de Almonte, known as El Tequilero (“the Tequila Drinker”), notorious
capo of the gang that bears his handle. The vigilantes abducted at least 17
others who they said were were linked to his mob.
The drama played out on videos
posted on YouTube.
Yadira Guillermo, wife of the
kidnapped engineer, appeared in a clip urging the Guerrero governor to
intervene to secure the release of her husband.
“We have here … the mother of the
man called Tequilero,” the wife declared. “I ask for an exchange: I will
deliver his mother if they deliver my husband. … But I want him safe and
sound.”
The gaunt-looking mother, Maria
Felix de Almonte, was videotaped in captivity pleading with her infamous
offspring to do the right thing.
“Look, son, if you have the
engineer, turn him over, please,” she said in a chastising tone as she looked
into the camera. “If you have him, I’m confident that you will release him. Do
it, please.”
Her son is a figure of dark
legend here. Authorities say he is wanted on suspicion of murder, kidnapping
and extortion, among other crimes. Last month,
he eluded a massive manhunt.
“All indications are that he is
hiding out in caves,” the state’s top prosecutor, Xavier Olea, told local radio
at the time.
“He’s not someone who can be
walking in the mountains for two or three hours,” added the prosecutor, noting
that de Almonte suffers from a bullet wound to a leg and sometimes must be
carried by his confederates.
By late Wednesday, the vigilantes
and Los Tequileros struck a deal. News footage showed the engineer being
reunited with his wife and children. A separate clip documented El Tequilero’s
frail mother stepping into a pickup, surrounded by heavily armed state police.
Even with the other hostages
still captive, some measure of calm returned to San Miguel Totolapan by the
next day. State and federal police
pickups rumbled up and down largely abandoned streets. In the central plaza,
the doors to city hall were opened, but no one was inside. A plastic Christmas
tree towered above the mostly vacant plaza.
Women with scarves concealing
their faces waved white flags and occasionally chanted, “We want peace!”
“Really, we are all just tired of
the lawlessness and violence,” said one of them, who identified herself only as
Maria out of fear, she said, that the gangs would retaliate against her for
taking part in the vigilante uprising.
A mother of three, she said she
was familiar with kidnapping, having been a victim two years ago when she was
held for a week until her family paid a ransom. “I am only fortunate to be here
alive today,” she said.
The armed “self-defense”
militiamen lingered outside the former police headquarters, their hostages
inside. They conceded that in confronting the thugs, they had resorted to their
tactics.
But the vigilantes said they had
no choice: It was the only way anybody would listen to them.
On Friday, the state police and
army met the demands of the townsfolk and agreed to establish a strong local
presence and hunt down the fugitive El Tequilero. In return, the citizens
released the hostages.
The crisis appeared to have
passed, for now.
De Paz, the engineer whose
kidnapping sparked the confrontation, has been welcomed back as a hero since
his release. Outside his home, ecstatic neighbors embraced him and celebrated
his survival.
“The people of this pueblo never
raised arms till now,” he said.
“The people took to the streets,
and that is their right,” added a smiling de Paz. “They have had enough with
what is going on in this country. … It’s like when a person has a fever. That
means something is wrong, no? Or when a car overheats. Eventually it explodes.
That is what happened here in San Miguel.”