Reminds me of the gang (a.k.a cartel?) war in Boston in the mid to later 60's. Almost once a week the news would report bodies found, usually in the trunk of a car. When they reported the last name of the victim you would know which side they belonged to. The Irish and Italian names were easily distinguished. I didn't like living in Boston, but this wasn't the reason.
I was shocked to hear he was arrested. He helps the police and Government clean up crime and that's the Thanks he got. I found this on the net.
José Manuel Mireles Valverde
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
José Manuel Mireles Valverde is a Mexican medical doctor and leader of a group of paramilitary self-defense groups that work against the Knights Templar Cartel in the state ofMichoacan, México. Mireles emerged as an important figure within the self-defense militias during the fall of 2013 as self-defense groups were fighting against the Knights Templar Cartel inApatzingán, Tepalcatepec, and other municipalities on the Michoacán coast. He describes his motivation to participate in the armed self-defense groups as stemming from the abuse of the Knights Templar Cartel against himself and his family – he has himself been kidnapped by the cartel, which has also murdered several of his family members causing him to take up arms in defense of his community of Tepalcatepec.[1]
Contents
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1 Early life
2 Involvement in Autodefensas
3 Arrest
4 References
Early life[edit]
After serving time in prison for marihuana production in 1988, he traveled to the US where he worked as a social activist, and in upon his return he participated as a candidate for the Mexican Senate in 2006.[2][3] Mireles himself states that his 1988 imprisonment was not for drug trafficking but for loitering and for practicing medicine in Michoacán without a state license.[4]
Involvement in Autodefensas[edit]
On 4 January 2014, Mireles was injured in a plane crash as he was traveling to the community of Zicuiran.[5][6][7] Two weeks later the Mexican Government initiated efforts to control the escalating violence in Michoacán by deploying the Army against both the cartels and the self-defense militias. Initially, a video of Mireles was published in which he urged the self-defense groups to lay down their arms and cooperate with the Army. But subsequently he appeared in a different video in which he stated that the self-defense groups would not lay down their arms until the Army had taken steps to secure their safety by curbing the activities of the Knights Templar Cartel,[8] including the capture and/or death of the cartel's top leaders: Servando Gómez Martínez (alias "La Tuta"); Nazario Moreno González (alias "El Chayo"); Enrique Plancarte Solís (alias "El Kike"); Dionicio Loya Plancarte (alias "Tío Nacho"), among others.[9] Mireles later stated in an interview with Carmen Aristegui that the first message was the result of goivernment officials requesting him to read a message written by them, which they then edited to make it look as if he was making the statement of his own opinion.[10][11] The Mexican Secretary of State Miguel Angel Osorio Chong denied that the government had any role in producing the initial message.[12] In March 2014 the council of Autodefensas distanced themselves from Mireles, stating that he was no longer a member of the leadership nor the official spokesperson of the Autodefensas in Michoacan. Mireles earlier functions were taken over by his former bodyguard Estanislao Beltran alias "Papa Pitufo".[13][14][15]
Arrest[edit]
On 27 June 2014, Mireles was arrested with 45 other people in Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán by Mexican authorities for violating Mexico's Federal Law of Firearms and Explosives.[16] The government had pledged to arrest civilians that were armed and did not form part of the Fuerza Rural ("Rural Force") police.[17] This action happened one week after a TV interview in Channel 13 that was cut short as a consequence of a phone call ordering the interview to stop, in which he was denouncing the Mexico President involvement on the Michoacán irregularities.