Living in Mexico’s kill zone | The Full Report

[Music] we're heading down a dirt road towards an epicenter of mexico's violence right now this is the only route into the small town of agalia in the state of michoacan it's trapped between two cartels and cut off from the rest of the state we've been told that this hillside track is a back way in but even that's under control we've just seen in quick succession a checkpoint that we had to pass through with uh armed guys by the side of the road a burnt out truck and then the initials of the jalisco new generation cartel actually scrawled on the road itself there's no real doubt about whose territory we're in we'd ask the jalisco cartel commander for permission to travel this way otherwise we'd never have risked it on the way we passed soldiers for the cartel they say they're the special forces this isn't a desperate rabble it's a private army and it's advancing eventually we arrive at their local center of operations and ask for an interview they agreed to talk but what they say is a clandestine airstrip 10 minutes away you gave this interview because you wanted to make a point what is that point but the reality is that the four letters as they're called here are brutal ruthless they've killed police and disappeared civilians across the country and now they're invading mitchua can we're here to ask what that means for an already traumatized population and who is going to stop them we're heading into a war zone the southwest state of michoacan is where mexico's drug war began when ex-president felipe calderon sent the army in to stop the cartels almost 15 years ago but it didn't work the conflict only grew as rival criminal groups and vigilantes fought for the state extorting and terrorizing the population but now those former enemies have come together under the banner of united cartels to fight another more powerful force invading from the state next door the jalisco new generation cartel its leader nemesios aguero alias el mencho is from the agolia municipality himself he wants his hometown and state badly and on the clandestine airstrip his men are on a publicity drive to justify their invasions over like more than a decade in michoacan now different groups have said the same thing la familia the knights templar organization no we're not going to get involved with the population we're just doing our thing we're just trafficking drugs and in the end all of them have done extortion the things that they said they wouldn't do why should people believe that you and your cartel are different when the interview was over i left feeling he hadn't revealed the cartel's true motives michoacan's got a lot to offer besides drugs a lucrative mining business the world's leading avocado industry that must be drawing them here too this states a real prize we were on the final stretch for agalia the town at the center of this conflict surrounded by natural riches coveted by the cartels it might soon be one locals told us that thousands of people have already left slipping past the siege and away in the buildings we saw the scars of the battle between united cartels still here and the advancing jalisco new generation forces you can see the bullet holes in this building but this happened just a week or two ago that's what people here are saying so if you come in here the building got shut up and also this car at the time of our visit jalisco had taken all of the land around the town meanwhile united cartels have placed a blockade further up the only official road in medicine cooking gas basic foodstuffs were all scarce even petrol had to be smuggled in this is how you fill up in agalia businesses are dying la paris takaria is just about surviving it's where we met teacher fernando padilla who became famous locally when he confronted the state governor silvano aureoles ariolis was on his first visit to agalia in years by a helicopter just as election season kicked off then the governor did this [Applause] another sign of governmental indifference towards this town an embattled region it enraged townspeople like gabriela carbajal and her sister daniela already dealing with their own personal tragedy their grandfather had a burst stomach ulcer on the first day of the blockade they couldn't get him through to the hospital on the other side he died when this happened how did that make you guys feel what was running through your mind what's it been like living like this for the last couple of years was this fail [Music] is [Applause] that night we found out what she meant you can probably hear that that's the sound of gunfire we're just outside of the village church night has only just fallen and they've started shooting here a town and region trapped between cartels who would come to save them perhaps the state security chief israel patron the next to show up after the governor's failed visit with a battery of police trucks we had a couple of questions for is it was bizarre that he claimed not to know about the blockade that he'd come to live but the people here say they're used to the government turning a blind eye although there's an army barracks in agalia townspeople say they rarely patrol and before the security chief's visit we'd seen no police in the town still he'd promised that the main road would now be cleared it seemed that ticket out we set off relieved not to have to take the mountain track but it was eerie all but empty lined with burnt fields bullet marked road signs and empty villages here perhaps is a vision of agalia's future these ghost towns where all have fled they've become common across michoacan as the authorities have seeded ground to the cartels you can see on the wall there it's got the initials of cartel jalisco new generation mid bullet hole themselves it's pretty uh unnerving here actually in a completely deserted village in this house there's no one else around folks uh so we're getting out as fast we can but what we'd seen in the village stayed with us we knew there were thousands of people who'd fled the violence not just here but across the state where had they gone what were they doing now we set off for a nearby community los alconis to meet one of michoacans displaced [Music] on a hot languid afternoon we waited for candelario serrano is fled his village los cuces a couple of months before now he's staying with whoever will take him in 71 years old and suddenly homeless every week he goes back to check on his land this time we went to escorted by a self-defense group from te pelcatepec a nearby town it was the only safe way to travel there in the village candelario showed us where he'd lived since he was four and before the violence laid his dad to rest tonight is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] the houses the church the village school all empty candelario doesn't think he'll see them full again is but some towns haven't died out instead they fought back in 2013 self-defense forces began springing up across the state ragtag groups of townspeople taking up arms against the cartels this was tepao katapek one of the original groups back then and this is them now eight years later this is a professionalised force on the front lines against the jalisco new generation cartel this lookout bunker has walls of forearm thick it's a military installation mr even the soldiers are full time now like commander l8 he's only 20 one of many young townspeople here how do you feel about your job personally this must get lonely maybe a little bit boring being up here while many other self-defense groups have disappeared wiped out by the gangs or absorbed into state forces tepal catapex remains they enjoy strong support from the townspeople after suffering terror and extortion before now they live in relative peace but there are questions about this force and many of michoacan's other remaining self-defense groups a lot of people have accused them of getting into the same business as the criminals drug trafficking most flat out deny it but commander sierra is surprisingly frank so what's the difference between them and the cartels that's a very fine line between legitimate protectors and a criminal group even their guns are illegal from a lot of men with a lot of guns veering towards illegality the risks seem obvious [Music] during our visit they pulled this young man off the bus suspicious of them when they find further evidence they detain him they told us he'd be sent to a rehab center but before that this a souvenir and testament to their authority to me it also looks uncomfortably like the photos posted by the cartels themselves nothing is black and white here and temple caterpie is just one of a multitude of armed groups operating in the state's hinterlands with varying degrees of legitimacy it begs the question where are the authorities in all of this why aren't they in control when we saw police in these borderlands with jalisco state they seemed nervous as if trespassing in enemy territory the national guard a militarized force created to stop the violence hasn't made much of a dent successive governments have failed to turn things around but if there's a moment for change this is it [Music] elections are here not just any old elections but the biggest in mexico's history in michoacan everything's up for grabs from state governor down this is rogelio portillo he's running for mayor in guetamal promising to stop the violence personas nothing is is [Music] but in this state there's always hidden undercurrents [Music] as portillo's campaign was just lifting off this suddenly emerged he was wanted by the u.s drug enforcement agency the dea for alleged links to organize crime [Music] this is one of michoacan's biggest problems journalists analysts and even criminals told us that many politicians themselves are in bed with the narcos when portillo stopped for breakfast at his campaign headquarters i put that to him there's obviously a reason why we're here no you appeared in the list of wanted from the dea why are you in that list why you want to buy the throughout our interview he admitted to nothing personally but did say there's endemic corruption there are obvious benefits for politicians going into business with the narcos money power but it's not that cut and dried memo valencia knows that better than most in 2013 he was accused of colluding with a cartel when he was mayor of te pancatapec itself but he says in michoacan's hinterlands politicians often have no choice [Music] now he's running for mayor of michoacan's capital morelia saying he'll clear out the criminals there but after we met him this happened he wasn't in his truck at the time but in michoacan and the other parts of mexico where gangs dominate politicians who don't get on side can have a short life expectancy ruthless narco armies rogue vigilantes helpless or corrupt politicians and daily tragedies it's a bleak panorama for many people it's made living here impossible they formed the wave of michoacan migration heading all the way to the u.s border looking for asylum in the final stop in our journey we went to the border too to speak to them but even 2 000 kilometers from the gangs they'd fled most were too scared to talk only leticia alejandre and her family agreed on the condition that we didn't reveal the city they'd run to the whole family including her disabled dad and one-year-old granddaughter had been sleeping rough in this donated tent for five nights before our visit they fled when a gang came for leticia's 17 year old daughter [Music] the family resisted then came a last call from one of their neighbours it was blunt [Music] terminology we don't know how many people have made this journey from michoacan to the u.s border in the 15 years since the drug war began leaving everything behind but with peace and security not even on the horizon in their state they certainly won't be the last you

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 3,245,964

Rating: 4.8338532 out of 5

Keywords: mexico violence, mexican drug trde, el chapo guzman, cartel war mexico, michoacan violence, mexico news, drug cartels mexico, mexico gangs, nuevo laredo violence, mexico cartel pandemic, mexico cartels, mexicos cartel, al jazeera english, aljazeera english, mexico violence map, nayarit violence, drug cartel, sinaloa cartel, el chapo, vice news mexico, drug cartels, police killings, keegan hamilton vice news, mexico documentary, keegan hamilton, el chapo wife

Id: SIFvY06_-1Q

Length: 25min 51sec (1551 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 01 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Kitchen_Equipment_21]

This guy is ballsy putting that candidate on the spot

[u/Kratom_Dumper]

It makes the documentary more scary when you see some of the people in the video have been killed like the guy who protested the mayor and the female politician.

[u/SubstantialRange]

Lol at that CJNG guy being taken to a "rehabilitation center".

By rehab center, they of course mean a hole in the desert.

[u/diddy_os]

Carteles unidos again acts very Professional. Tarnung themselves as autodefensas and civilians. This Puts more pressure on cjng

[u/N0c0ntr0l_]

“Rehab” uh huh suuuuuure thats what were calling it now, ok CU

[u/kanpengyou]

Mexico currently is a failed state IMO. Perhaps an ultranationalistic / fascist government will rise out of Mexico in the coming years.

[u/AFXC1]

I love how that journalist called out the mayor asking him why there are no cops going after the cartel checkpoints that he just went through and it got real awkward and avoided the question.

[u/whistlelike]

The same gear as the RR's Grupo Elite, seems like both Grupo Elite and Fuerzas Especiales Mencho will be working together.

[u/Nervous-Atmosphere-6]

I always feel special when I watch this.