Mexico gov't faces vigilante monster it created By MARK STEVENSON January 14, 2014
APATZINGAN, Mexico — Vigilantes who have challenged the government's authority in lawless Michoacan state held onto their guns Wednesday as federal authorities struggled to rein in a monster they helped create: citizen militias that rose among farmers and lime pickers to fight a drug cartel.
"They said they're not going to bother us, but they don't want us to keep advancing," said Hipolito Mora, head of the self-defense group in the town of La Ruana. The vigilantes now control the 17 municipalities that make up southwestern Michoacan — about a third of the entire state. "They don't want us to carry our guns in view."
Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong denied such an agreement was reached with the vigilantes.
"We made it clear that they cannot be armed," ..... ..... .....