Zitat

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CHERÁN, MEXICO

The indigenous town of Cherán used to be like many places in Mexico, caving under the weight of drug-related crime and a police force that did little to stop it.

But about two years ago, citizens here threw out the police, and took over their local government, running the town according to indigenous tradition. So far, they’ve had remarkable success.
....

As Mexico's drug violence progresses, and more citizen self-defense groups spring up, what makes Cherán unique is its focus on a formal system of indigenous autonomy, rather than vigilante justice, and the fragile peace that persists.

Tucked into the hills of Michoacán state, the small town of Cherán is surrounded by a mix of dense forests, golden swathes of cornfields, and gentle streams. The Purépecha indigenous people have lived in this area for centuries, relying on a mix of subsistence farming and selective timber harvesting.

“These forests are our inheritance,” says Trinidad Ramirez, a local leader. “Our grandparents taught us how to live with the forest, to live together inside the forest, connected to it."

But eventually national political parties gained influence in the village, and five years ago, so did illegal loggers with ties to drug mafias. Villagers started disappearing, and some even turned up dead. Mr. Ramirez says the atmosphere in the town completely shifted.

“We hardened towards each other. We started to think that if something bad happened to someone from another political party, that they deserved it," he says. “A lot of things got out of hand."

Ramirez says a total of about fifty thousand acres of forest were illegally cut between 2008 and 2011. Each day, around 250 logging trucks loaded with the community's timber rumbled out of town.

That is, until April 2011, when a group of local women pushed villagers into action.

“I’m a housewife – before all this, I used to collect firewood, and sell porridge, tortillas, and bread,” says Josefina Estrada de las Casas, one of the women who helped mobilize Cherán. “No one paid any attention to us.”

But Ms. Estrada de las Casas and other women in her neighborhood decided they were sick of loggers rolling down their cobblestone streets, often tossing insults and beer bottles out truck windows, so they came up with a simple plan.

The next morning at dawn, they gathered their husbands and other villagers, and armed with rocks, sticks, and a few machetes, they managed to detain four loggers, along with their vehicles.

Eventually, the police intervened, but on behalf of the loggers. So the townspeople threw everyone out: loggers, police, and politicians, too.

“That was the day we decided to return to our own history,” Ramirez says...

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/...-out-the-police

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Some interesting lessons there.

¡Viva el vigilante!

Quote: Palinista wrote in post #2

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¡Viva el vigilante!

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