Pueblos Unidos, a Self Defense Group Against CJNG is to be Disarmed by Authorities

Self-defense groups or organized crime? Criminal or stigmatized? A series of dilemmas has called into question the grouping of the security body called Pueblos Unidos, which arose from the exhaustion of the residents of four Michoacan municipalities: Arios de Rosales, Salvador Escalante, Nuevo Urecho, and Taretan.

The armed civilians, who took over the main entrances to the regions two weeks ago, could be thwarted and dispossessed of their weapons as the authorities consider it a violation. The head of the Ministry of Public Security, Israel Patron Reyes, has assured that the self-defense groups are breaking the Law on Arms and Explosives Fire. Although Patron Reyes presented the proposal, he did not specify when or where disarmament will begin. The new group of armed civilians could be in collusion with organized crime.

Michoacán is one of the states where the boundary between self-defense and drug trafficking becomes more blurred. In Aguililla, where a group of civilians operates, the authorities have warned that they have ties to Carteles Unidos. against the rival criminal group, the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG).

Already in the past, the federal government had started a dialogue with criminal groups to reach an agreement. Then, the specialists warned that it was a negotiation without rules. Criticism and controversy forced the authorities to reject the possibility of a pax narca.