Current:Home > StocksWell-known leader of a civilian ‘self-defense’ group has been slain in southern Mexico-LoTradeCoin
Well-known leader of a civilian ‘self-defense’ group has been slain in southern Mexico
View Date:2024-12-23 22:14:05
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Bruno Plácido, a well-known leader of a civilian “self-defense” group, was shot to death Tuesday in southern Mexico, eliminating one of the last true chiefs of the country’s armed vigiliante movements that sprang up a decade ago.
Vigilante squads in other parts of southern and western Mexico still call themselves “self-defense” groups, but almost all are now infiltrated or funded by drug cartels.
Plácido was slain in the Guerrero state capital, Chilpancingo, said a state official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name. No suspects or motive was immediately announced. Chilpancingo has been the scene of turf battles among warring drug gangs.
Plácido rose to prominence in violence-plagued Guerrero in 2013 when he organized a rag-tag army of farmers to capture suspected gang members. His group held about 50 suspects for weeks in improvised jails, before handing them over to civilian prosecutors.
He organized hundreds of villagers armed with old hunting rifles, ancient pistols and small-bore shotguns to set up armed patrols and roadblocks in the township of Ayutla to defend their communities against crime. They said authorities had failed to bring peace and safety to the impoverished stretch of the Pacific coast east of Acapulco.
“There was a psychosis of fear, of terror,” Plácido said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2013, discussing the frequent killings and extortion demands levied by drug gangs against farmers and ranchers.
Plácido later extended his group’s reach to the mountains inland from the coast, where warring drug gangs like the Ardillos, the Tlacos, the Rojos and Guerreros Unidos have long spread terror.
While Plácido had many enemies, it is not clear who might have killed him.
His death comes just months after the June ambush slaying of vigilante leader Hipólito Mora in the neighboring state of Michoacan. The killings of Plácido and Mora have essentially wiped out all the old guard leaders of the armed “self-defense” movements.
Mora was a main leader of Michoacan’s vigilante movement, in which farmers and ranchers banded together to expel the Knights Templar cartel from the state between 2013 and 2014.
Mora was one of the few fighters to remain in his hometown after the struggle, tending to his lime groves. But he complained in recent years that many of the vigilante forces had been infiltrated by the cartels and that gang violence was worse than ever.
What Plácido was up against in Guerrero was a much more fractured mix of drug cartels, each controlling part of the mountainous state.
Chilpancingo, though it is the state capital, is not immune to the violence.
In July, hundreds of people organized by the Los Ardillos drug gang took over the city’s streets, seeking to force the government to release two detained gang leaders charged with drug and weapons possession.
The demonstrators largely blocked all traffic on the highway between Mexico City and Acapulco for two days and clashed with security forces. Theys also abducted 10 members of the state police and National Guard as well as three state and federal officials and held them hostage for a day.
There are still “community police” forces in Guerrero, but unlike the vigilante groups, they do not have the weapons or other equipment to take on drug cartels.
About 80 villages in the state have organized the legally recognized “community police” forces since 1995, in which poorly armed members detain and prosecute people, generally for minor offenses like drinking or fighting. They have their own jails, “courts” and punishments, which can include forced labor for the village or re-education talks.
veryGood! (26)
Related
- NBA today: Injuries pile up, Mavericks are on a skid, Nuggets return to form
- Greg Olsen embraces role as pro youth sports dad and coach, provides helpful advice
- Harrison Butker decries diversity, but he can thank Black QB Patrick Mahomes for his fame
- Ship that caused deadly Baltimore bridge collapse to be refloated and moved
- New York races to revive Manhattan tolls intended to fight traffic before Trump can block them
- Georgia freshman wide receiver arrested for reckless driving
- As PGA Championship nears enthralling finish, low scores are running rampant at Valhalla
- NBA Game 7 schedule today: Everything to know about Sunday's elimination playoff games
- Cowboys owner Jerry Jones responds to CeeDee Lamb's excuse about curtains at AT&T Stadium
- 11 hurt after late-night gunfire breaks out in Savannah, Georgia
Ranking
- Parts of Southern California under quarantine over oriental fruit fly infestation
- Oleksandr Usyk beats Tyson Fury by split decision to become the undisputed heavyweight champion
- Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. thinks Jackson Holliday may have needed more time in the minors
- Child is among 3 dead after Amtrak train hits a pickup truck in upstate New York
- Republican Scott Baugh concedes to Democrat Dave Min in critical California House race
- Kevin Costner gets epic standing ovation for 'Horizon: An American Saga,' moved to tears
- Travis Kelce Cheekily Reveals How He's Changed Over the Past Year
- Disturbing video appears to show Sean Diddy Combs assaulting singer Cassie Ventura
Recommendation
-
GreenBox Systems will spend $144 million to build an automated warehouse in Georgia
-
'Stax' doc looks at extraordinary music studio that fell to financial and racial struggles
-
PGA Championship 2024 highlights: Xander Schauffele perseveres to claim first career major
-
Man suspected of shooting 6-month-old son in hostage standoff near Phoenix apparently killed himself
-
Ford agrees to pay up to $165 million penalty to US government for moving too slowly on recalls
-
Preakness 2024 recap: Seize the Grey wins, denies Mystik Dan shot at Triple Crown
-
'I Saw the TV Glow' director breaks down that emotional ending, teases potential sequel
-
Lainey Wilson the big winner at 2024 Academy of Country Music Awards