The Michoacan area in Mexico has become so lawless, a group of female supervisors take it upon themselves to protect their friends and family.
The state, which is the world’s largest supplier of avocados and limes, was recently invaded by the violent Jalisco drug cartel coming from the neighboring state, and the women are therefore fighting back, according to The Associated Press.
The women carry assault rifles and place barriers, often while pregnant or taking small children with them, to combat the rising levels of homicide, which has skyrocketed since 2013.
The majority of the women lost family members to the cartel, such as Blanco Nava, who told the AP her son Freddy Barrios, a 29-year-old lime picker, was abducted by suspected Jalisco cartel men in pickups; she had never heard of him since.
Another woman claims her 14-year-old daughter has been abducted and has not been seen since. Our women are tired of seeing our children, our families disappear. They take our sons, they take our daughters, our relatives, our husbands. ”
It is left to the women to fight, as most men are sent away to work for the cartels (willingly or not).
“As soon as they see a man carrying a gun, they take him away,” woman told AP. “They disappear. We do not know if they have them (as recruits) or if they have already killed them. ”
The women guards also made a homemade tank, “a heavy truck with a weapon of steel plates on it”, reports the AP, while women in other towns dug trenches over the roads leading to the neighboring state of Jalisco, to to keep the attackers out. .
Alberto García, refused to join the cartels and had to flee. His family members were not so happy.
“They also killed one of my brothers,” Garcia said. “They smashed him to pieces and my sister-in-law, who was eight months pregnant.”
The vigilantes say they should use this tactic because the government and police do not.
Sergio Garcia, a male member of the El Terrero vigilante group, says his 15-year-old brother was abducted and killed by Jalisco. Now he wants justice that the police have never given him.
“We are here for a reason to get justice by hook or crook, because if we do not do it, no one else will do it,” Garcia said.