Mexico's Vigilante State
Fault Lines travels to the troubled Mexican state of Michoacán to find out what happens when vigilante groups take on powerful drug cartels.
Thousands of vigilantes have taken up arms to fight the Knights Templar drug cartel that has been terrorizing communities in the state of Michoacán. Businessmen, farmers, and even doctors have gone on the offensive to take back their towns and protect their families from extortion, rape, and murder at the hands of organized crime.
Fault Lines travels to the western Mexican state to follow the chaos unfolding there and examine how the federal government is attempting to control the complex situation on the ground.
Is this a popular uprising, or part of the same never-ending cycle of armed conflict that has routinely scarred the people of this agricultural state?
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Mathieu Skene, SENIOR PRODUCERS: Carrie Lozano @carrielozano and Reem Akkad @reemakkad, PRODUCER: Singeli Agnew @singeli, DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Singeli Agnew, CORRESPONDENT: Teresa Bo @teresabo, EDITOR: Adrienne Haspel @adihaspel, FIELD PRODUCER: Daniel Fernandez, FIXERS: Alan Ortega, Roberto Huitron, SOUND RECORDING: Jorge Torres, PRODUCTION MANAGER: Dana Merwin @dana_merwin, SENIOR DIGITAL PRODUCER: Kristen Taylor @kthread, DIGITAL PRODUCER: Nikhil Swaminathan @sw4mi, RESEARCH and PRODUCTION ASSISTANCE: Kavitha Chekuru @KaviChek, Gavin McIntyre @gavin_mci, Shannon Najmabadi @SNajmabadi, Andra Cernavskis @AndraCernavskis, TRANSLATION: Pascal Azocar, Jasmin Lopez, Sergio Ceballos, Lauren Rosenfeld @lollymr, ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE: Jerome Sessini, Nikolas Tapia, Agencia Informativa Esquena, SPECIAL THANKS: Jose Fernandez Ramos, Edgardo Buscaglia @edbuscaglia, Alejandro Hope @ahope71, Nik Steinberg @niksteinberg, Dawn Paley @dawn, Simon Sedillo, Nikolas Tapia
More from this Episode
The making of Mexico’s vigilantes
How five men from the western Mexican state of Michoacán were driven to take up arms against the Knights Templar cartel.
- Topics:
- Mexico
- International
- Drug Cartels
- Crime
Timeline: The rise of vigilantism in Michoacán, Mexico
Thousands of people in the western Mexican state have picked up arms to end a violent cartel's reign of terror.
- Topics:
- International
- Mexico
- Crime
- Drug Cartels
How a Mexican town toppled a cartel and established its independence
Fault Lines spoke with a councilmember of the indigenous community of Cherán to find out why it declared its autonymy
- Topics:
- Mexico
- International
- Drug Cartels
More on Mexico's Vigilante State
Mexican marines kill Knights Templar leader
Death of cartel kingpin Enrique Plancarte came on same day as arrest of second anti-drug vigilante for violent crimes
- Topics:
- Drug Cartels
- Mexico
- Americas
Mexico charges civilian militia leader with murder
Anti-drug-cartel vigilante Hipólito Mora faces charges for allegedly murdering two members of a rival group
- Topics:
- Mexico
- Drug Cartels
- International
Mexico kills drug kingpin declared dead in 2010
Acting on tips, authorities tracked Nazario Moreno Gonzalez and confirmed his death using his fingerprints
- Topics:
- Mexico
- Drugs
- Law & Justice
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