![Mexican soldiers patrol the streets of Apatzingan, in Michoacan State, Mexico [AFP]](https://i0.wp.com/www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Mexican-soldiers-patrol-the-streets-of-Apatzingan-in-Michoacan-State-Mexico-AFP.jpg?resize=221%2C124)
The Raw Story – by Agence France-Presse
Mexican vigilante militias battling drug-traffickers in the restive state of Michoacan said Thursday they had returned several hundred acres of land seized from villagers by the notorious Knights Templar cartel.
The symbolic handover of some 654 acres (265 hectares) of land, which included many avocado and lemon orchards, took place in the village square of Tancitaro in the Michoacan highlands.
“Citizens, businessmen, farmers, people in the communities are bewildered by these narcos. Let’s get them out of our land,” militia leader Estanislao Beltran told AFP at the end of the ceremony.
Civilians first took up arms in February 2013 to oust the Knights Templar from the region, saying local police were either colluding with gangs or unable to deal with the violence and extortion rackets.
Since then, officials have alleged that at least some civilian militias were backed by a cartel, with critics noting that they used unlawful assault rifles that gangs usually own.
Mexico’s federal police and army troops are currently waging a major operation aimed at wresting back control of Michoacan from the Knights Templar gang.
Federal security forces have also clashed with vigilantes who have refused to give up their weapons.
Beltran said Thursday his militia group would not lay down their arms and would continue to try and recover land seized by cartels, demanding the capture of drug lords before any disarmament.
Michoacan, where much of the population lives in poverty, has become the most pressing security issue facing Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto, who inherited a bloody war on drugs from his predecessor in 2012 that has left more than 77,000 people dead since it was launched in 2006.
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[Image via Agence France-Presse]
Agence France-Presse
AFP journalists cover wars, conflicts, politics, science, health, the environment, technology, fashion, entertainment, the offbeat, sports and a whole lot more in text, photographs, video, graphics and online.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/16/mexican-anti-drug-militias-return-seized-land-to-villagers/
When this story first came out in an Omaha newspaper, I damn near flipped!!! I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Folks, the media is down-playing this story by using the words “drug gang” and “Knights Templar.” I doubt that very many of you know that the Templars are affiliated with the Freemasons, or that the Freemasons have been doing this very same thing in every American town for a couple hundred years now (and doing this around the world for at least a thousand years).
The Mexicans are waking up and doing what they know they HAVE to do to kick this cancer out of their towns. When will America wake up??
“Since then, officials have alleged that at least some civilian militias were backed by a cartel, with critics noting that they used unlawful assault rifles that gangs usually own.”
That’s to be an expected tactic during wartime when the enemy is trying to gain the upper hand on the people. It shows the enemy is losing and is getting desperate and has to go in hiding and resort to covert tactics to regain control. It seems the tide has turned.
This is something we are going to have to be on the lookout for too, when we gain the upper hand in taking back our country. When our defense turns to offense, that’s when we have to watch our defenses ever more closely.
As I always say, “A warrior who only knows one side, leaves himself open for destruction”.
“Beltran said Thursday his militia group would not lay down their arms and would continue to try and recover land seized by cartels, demanding the capture of drug lords before any disarmament.”
What a dumbass! Why give them the option of disarming you? Why disarm at all? It’s your God given right to protect yourself always! No man can take that right away.
It’s because you allowed them to disarm you that you got yourself into this mess in the first place. Haven’t you learned your lesson? You disarm yourself, they will come back and do the same thing over again. Wake up, you fool!
NEVER give up your guns! NEVER let them disarm you!