Michoacán - Civil Defense and Mexican Special Forces: Closing in on Knights Templar Leaders

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto 

Commits Federal Troops in the Hunt for Knights Templar Leaders

  

After being reinstated as spokesman and leader for Tepalcatepec Civil Militia, following his recovery from injuries sustained in a plane crash, Dr Mireles was ratified as equal spokesman and leader of the Civil Defense general council with Hipolito Mora and Papa Smurf.  

  Doctor Mireles

On Friday there was a meeting between Civil Defense leaders and the Federal authorities.   

 Hipolito Mora

Civil Defense have agreed to not engage in advancement of large cities, at this time.  Feds have agreed to send an elite team of Special Forces and satellite tracing equipment to the location of the discovery of Chayo.  La Tuta is also in that area. 

Tumbicastío, is located high in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains at an elevation of 12, 600 ft. It is an extremely remote area with limited access.  There are only two dirt mountain roads that serve the region of Tumbicastío, the local people use steep and treacherous foot trails in addition to the mountain roadway.

The dirt roads themselves are difficult to traverse.  Movement in the Sierra requires knowledge of the area or a lot of time. The geography of the area favors of Caballeros Templarios whose intimate familiarity with the terrain and preplanned escape routes have aided them in avoiding the Federal forces.

The Federal forces had been stymied in their eorts, even after receiving intelligence reports of the location of key Templarios leaders, namely Chayo and La Tuta.As of last  Friday, Federal forces have been concentrating on area from Tumbiscatío to Arteaga. 

Civil Defense teams have joined the Mexican Special Forces on the advance into Tumbiscatio, they have also established observation post on the mountain trails that access the region.

Dr. Mireles spoke with reporters concerning the Civil Defense militia working in concert with the Federal forces. He reported that there were high hopes that the combined action was close to capturing in Nazario Moreno González, aka "El Chayo" and possibily Servando Gomez, aka "La Tuta ", as well..

Dr. Mireles quoted in El Universal:

"We are close to some leaders, "El Chayo", was on a ranch near Tumbiscatío" reports José Manuel Mireles....

After speaking with reporters he visited the site in Los Reyes where five unarmed militiamen had been killed when Templarios ambushed them from nearby rooftops.  

 Dr. Mireles, spoke to the crowd, had a moment of silence and left a bouquet of flowers on the black and white checkerboard tiled walkway where those killed fell.

Meanwhile  in Apatzingán  hundreds of supporters of the Civil Defense forces marched on city hall where a group of them gained access to demand the resignation of mayor Uriel Chavez, who is the nephew of Nazario Moreno González, aka "El Chayo". 

While the protestors sung the Mexican national anthem the Federal police escorted Chavez out of the city. The entire protest had been conducted under the view of the Federal Police. Members of the Chavez administration began exiting the building,although a group of employees remained in place and continued their civic duties.  

There were feelings of betrayal amongst the protesters, their perception being that by removing the Mayor the Federal Police were sheltering  Chavez, delaying accountability and his formal resignation.

All three Civil Defense leaders, Dr. Mireles, Hipolito Mora and Papa Smurf led the protest,

 at left is representative of the Human Rights Commission

(Reuters) -

Mexico seized more than 119,000 tonnes of minerals suspected of being part of illegal export operations in a port where a powerful drug gang allegedly has been shipping iron to China, the government said on Monday

More than 400 federal agents, police and military personnel raided 11 sites around the Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas in the state of Michoacan, and troops seized minerals without proper documentation, Alfredo Castillo, the federal government commissioner in the state, said in a statement.

The Mexican Navy took over the port in November to combat an illegal iron ore exporting business to China allegedly run by The Knights Templar drug cartel.

Six Chinese citizens were detained in the raid and 124 heavy machines such as bulldozers were seized, Castillo said, adding that the government was carrying out tests to determine what mine the minerals came from.

The state is Mexico's top producer of iron ore, and the port has drawn Chinese traders who ship steel to their homeland.

With thanks and appreciation to Chivis Martinez of Borderland Beat as the primary source of the data sets and photos.The reporting there on the situation in Mexico is first rate.