More locals join community police in western Mexico

One hundred and six local residents were sworn in as new members of the community police of the district of Tixtla in Guerrero on Mexico's Pacific coast, in another sign that such self-defence groups, which have appeared in several parts of Mexico, were staying for now in spite of authorities' displeasure. The recruits included women and had already engaged in local policing for two months several localities of Tixtla, La Crónica de Hoy reported on 14 April, citing declarations from a regional coordinating body CRAC (Coordinadora Regional de Autoridades Comunitarias). The CRAC general-coordinator Eliseo Villar Castillo said "the project of community security and justice" was consolidating itself in parts of Guerrero, where such groups rose to prominence, namely the Costa Chica and inland and central parts of the state. Their aim he said was not to defy the authorities, but he observed locals were tired of the state's apparent inability to check crime. La Crónica separately reported shooting on 13 April between self-defence groups and suspected criminals, in the district of Buenavista Tomatlán, in the state of Michoacán north-west of Guerrero. The army intervened and was fired on though it was not immediately clear who fired on troops nor whether or not anyone died, La Crónica de Hoy reported. On 10 April, President Enrique Peña Nieto said self-defence groups were illegal and his "democratic" government could not tolerate them, Excelsior reported. Peña Nieto said, speaking in Japan, that "beyond what these groups may call themselves, the possible practices they may resort to intending to take justice into their hands are activities going beyond legality, which my government will have to fight." Authorities in Guerrero announced on 13 April that community policemen found outside their designated localities with arms would be detained; this apparently was in part a response to self-defence groups' support for recent teachers' protests in Guerrero. The decision was taken by the Guerrero Coordination Group including municipal and state authorities, the armed forces and state and local police, Excelsior reported on 14 April.