Mexican self-defense squads fight drug gangs

[Solo]

I don't know if this is the proper place for it, but I thought the forums would enjoy this.

In Mexico, self-defense squads battle violence

AYUTLA, Mexico (AP) — The young man at the roadside checkpoint wept softly behind the red bandanna that masked his face. At his side was a relic revolver, and his feet were shod in the muddy, broken boots of a farmer.
Haltingly, he told how his cousin's body was found in a mass grave with about 40 other victims of a drug gang. Apparently, the cousin had caught a ride with an off-duty soldier and when gunmen stopped the vehicle, they killed everyone on the car.
"There isn't one of us who hasn't felt the pain ... of seeing them take a family member and not being able to ever get them back," said the young civilian self-defense patrol member, who identified himself as "just another representative of the people of the mountain."
Now he has joined hundreds of other men in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero who have taken up arms to defend their villages against drug gangs, a vigilante movement born of frustration at extortion, killings and kidnappings that local police are unable, or unwilling, to stop.

It's sad to hear just how bad things have gotten in some parts of Mexico, but you have to admire people who are willing to fight the drug gangs even when the police have given up or are unable to function.

 

[Robert]

This is not really on topic for THR.