Armed Forces Repelled in Tierra Caliente

While a group of youths with their faces masked threw Molotov cocktails at the advancing army, a second group of people from San Miguel helped put out the fire.

Stones were then thrown at the armed forces, who shot tear gas canisters in response.

While all this was happening on the bridge, members of a self-defense group from the neighboring municipality of Ajuchitlán del Progreso tried to seize two armed forces helicopters, sparking a second confrontation that culminated with the arrest of 10 individuals.

The San Miguel confrontation lasted two hours, after which the military and state police took control of the municipality.

Twenty-two people were arrested during the fracas, but 20 of them were later released for lack of evidence against them.

In Thursday’s gun battle, three of the eight casualties belonged to the Tequileros. The other five are believed to have been members the rival gang Familia Michoacana. Their bodies were incinerated during the confrontation.