Mexico set to free vigilante leader
July 4, 2015
The Attorney General's office of Mexico announced on Friday that it would be withdrawing an appeal to a petition to free Jose Manuel Mireles, leader of an anti-drug cartel movement in the western state of Michoacan.
Mireles' lawyer filed a petition for the vigilante leader's freedom after he was arrested in June 2014 for breaking an agreement with the government, which demanded that the group disarm.
Mireles, along with a group of farmers and ranchers, banded together to curtail Michoacan's notorious Knight Templar drug cartel, known for its brutal murders, kidnappings, and extortion.
'Freedom' on the horizon
After meeting with Mexico's Attorney General Arely Gomez Gonzalez, Virgina Manuel Valverde, the vigilante leader's sister, told AFP news agency that he and a handful of his followers "could be free in the next 72 hours."
"My brother and his followers will have their freedom and this will end the abuse committed against citizens who organized themselves to defend their rights and property, which the authorities were unable to do," she told the news agency.
While many of the Knights Templar's leaders have been detained by Mexican authorities, violence continues to sweep across Michoacan.
Violence continues
On Friday, Mexican authorities discovered two bodies hanging from a highway bridge in the western state.
"For the moment, we don't know the identity of the dead or the motive of the crime, though we presume a criminal organization is behind this because of its characteristics," spokeswoman for the Michoacan state prosecutor's office said on Friday, according to AFP.
The country's state police face dire challenges in combating the drug cartels. In April, 15 federal police officers were killed in an ambush.
ls/rc (AFP, AP)