'Sick And Tired,' Residents In Southern Mexico Defend Themselves

NPR by CARRIE KAHN
January 27, 2013

On the main road into the Mexican town of Ayutla, about 75 miles southeast of Acapulco, about a dozen men cradling shotguns and rusted machetes stand guard on a street corner. Their faces are covered in black ski masks.

The men are part of a network of self-defense brigades, formed in the southern state of Guerrero to combat the drug traffickers and organized crime gangs that terrorize residents.

The brigades have set up roadblocks, arrested suspects and are set on running the criminals out of town.

Taking Control

They go over patrol shifts schedules, handwritten on wrinkled papers, and communicate with other checkpoints in town via walkie-talkies. One man, who wouldn't give his name but identified himself as a "lower commander," said the townspeople had no choice but to take up arms. Read more.

Mexico Cime: Extortion Victim Takes Dilemma Public

Justice in Mexico: "Since 2006, attorneys general in Mexico (ministerios públicos) have received complaints of 24,000 cases of extortion, about half of which involve protection payments. The actual number of cases, however, is estimated by Vanguardia to be about 90% higher than this.

As Dr. Carlos R. Cordourier-Real, researcher at the Department of Law, Policy, and Government at the University of Guanajuato observes, Mexicans simply “do not report these threats, because they do not trust the judicial system: not only do they see only a very slim possibility that the crimes they report will be punished, but they are usually sure that the police involved are part of the criminal gangs.”" read more

Drug War Collateral Damage: Mexican Businesses Forced to Pay Up or Play Along with Criminal Groups

InSight Crime: "While larger businesses can escape unscathed, small businesses in Mexico often have no other option in the extortion economy but to pay up, or get involved in criminal activities themselves. Those who don’t pay risk their lives, and those who do risk bankruptcy.

Mexican business is, in effect, at war with itself.·To the extent that businesses cooperate with organized crime, they are only making the security situation worse. Sources contacted for this article made it clear that, in the increasingly unstable environment unleashed by the war on drugs, extortion is the number one criminal strategy for preying on legitimate businesses." read more

Mexico Crime: Mexican Teachers Push Back Against Gangs’ Extortion Attempt

NYTimes.com: Acapulco, "Extortion is a booming industry in Mexico, with reported cases having almost tripled since 2004. To some analysts, it is an unintended consequence of the government’s strategy in the drug war: as the large cartels splinter, armies of street-level thugs schooled in threats and violence have brought their skills to new enterprises.

But the threat to teachers here in this tarnished tourist resort has taken the practice to a new level. Since the anonymous threats began last month, when students returned to classes after summer break, hundreds of schools have shut down."

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