XALTIANGUIS, Mexico (AP) – What now passes for the law in Xaltianguis, a little town on the road to Acapulco, arrived with a car bomb and butchery.
A heavily armed vigilante force took over the town in the Mexican state of Guerrero last month by driving out a rival band, blowing up a car with gas cylinders and cutting up the body of one of two fallen foes.
Residents cowered in their homes or fled down the highway through mountainous tropical scrubland. Police and troops guarding Xaltianguis did nothing. Now, a few hundred yards (meters) from the new “community police” base the force set up, Mexican marines and state police guard the highway and make patrol sorties through the town. But they have made no attempt to arrest the vigilantes even though most openly carry illegal assault rifles.
“We have the town practically bullet-proofed by the government. At the entrances to the town you can see the army, the marines, all levels of government here supporting us,” boasted Daniel Adame, the leader of the group that took over Xaltianguis.
It is a scene repeated over and over again in southern Mexico: So-called “community police” or “self-defense” groups, often accused of drug cartel ties themselves, have proliferated and extended their control over territory. And time after time, outnumbered soldiers don’t intervene, in part because they are afraid of opening fire on civilians.