Mexican locals hand crime suspects to police

Authorities of the state of Guerrero in western Mexico were handed on 8 February 11 suspected criminals detained by armed residents who began to police parts of the state in January, in a move suggesting greater coordination between locals and authorities previously blamed as being soft on crime. The detainees, suspected of involvement in drug trafficking, killings and kidnappings, were handed over at the municipality of Ayutla de los Libres, one of four or five districts policed by indigenous militias and a Community Police. The authorities of Guerrero pledged to hand the detained over to state prosecutors, according to Proceso. The review observed these were among 54 people locals detained in January in Ayutla and nearby Tecoanapa and suspected of working for a local drug-trafficking gang whose leader remained at large. The armed residents themselves were initially masked to avoid being identified by criminals. They had good reason to do so, as presumed criminals were reported on 8 February to have threatened one of their leaders with unspecified reprisals, apparently shortly before the 11 detainees were handed over. An unknown caller phoned Bruno Plácido Valerio, leader of the Union of Organized Peoples of the State of Guerrero (UPOEG), to say he would be hit "where it hurts most," Milenio reported. Plácido, who was not wearing a masked, told Milenio that "someone had to be the face" of the self-defence movement, which he pledged not to abandon.