Fr Jesus Alfredo Gallegos Lara is simply a 71-year-old priest of the Diocese of Morelia, Michoacán, known as “Padre Pistolas” (Father Pistol). In early September 2022 he was suspended by his archbishop in priestly activities. For he carried a weapon with him and encouraged his faithful to do the same in the necessity of self-defense against criminals. He didn't change his attitude despite his superior's admonition. It is simply a symbol of the lawlessness of any states of Mexico.
Most of us like or liked to watch Westerns, where fewer righteous men fight villains and corrupt officials to reconstruct the regulation of law in the provinces of the chaotic West. This painting is only romanticist in movies. In everyday life he is deprived of almost any romanticism. While the historical chaotic West was not reportedly dangerous and as violent as it is portrayed on the screen, most Mexican states, especially those lying in the west (at last the chaotic West) and the north, are already almost removed from the western (not only landscaped). Just as in westerns, we will find certain regulation of law in large cities and centres (although inactive far from European standards), and the further into the province, the worse. You can't be certain there's a cop you meet at the state's pay... or individual else's. For a reason, our Ministry of abroad Affairs advises against travelling to rural, desert and mountain areas of any states.
Crime outside Statistics
Since Mexico's then president Felipe Calderón declared war on cartels in 2006, force has grown importantly in that country and safety levels have fallen significantly. There is simply a common belief that the pandemic has made the situation worse.
In Jalisco State, 22 kidnappings were officially registered in 2022 and 15,038 (!) people were reported missing in the same year. It's the highest rate in Mexico. A full of 1,09516 people were reported missing in the country last year. The whereabouts of respective tens of thousands of people from the state of Jalisco are unknown. Nobody knows what happened to these people. The vast majority never find themselves. The problem is so serious that the Rondo of Heroes Children, commemorating the death of young cadets for their homeland, was converted at the citizens' initiative to the Lost Rondo. The city is covered with faces of wanted men and women, young and old. Mexican marches for life and household not only fight abortions and ideologies other the family, but they besides appear to a large degree against force consuming the country. According to the study Hallazgos desde lo local 2021: Jalisco, in that state, 95.4% of the reported and investigated crimes are unpunished. Many robberies, robberies or even worse crimes are not reported. Their testimonies are found decently each week of delay. any people you don't recognize.
And yet Jalisco is not the most dangerous region of Mexico, although it is from him that the celebrated “el Mencho” took the name of its cartel – fresh Generation Jalisco (CJNG). Now it's most likely 1 of the most powerful criminal groups in the world. I've been surviving in Zapopan for little than a year. In this town, belonging to the agglomeration of Guadalajara, capital of Jalisco, on 4 February 2020 38-year-old Pole Mariusz Ledochowicz, a erstwhile Verbist missionary who abandoned the priesthood was missing. A fewer days later in the morning, his colleagues found a severed head of the missing individual along with a letter full of threats. He left his Mexican wife and children. We don't know how our countrymen got in the way of criminals. In addition to the large drug cartels, there are a full scope of smaller criminal groups and gangs that benefit from lawlessness and widespread corruption in practice.
‘Zappan Counter-Strike’
Many Mexicans, therefore, live in a constant sense of danger and very limited assurance in strangers and virtually zero in state services. Sometimes I origin anxiety erstwhile I go out on my own and usage public transport. There's a bit of a Latin exaggeration in this fear, but the most dangerous thing is the feeling that everything is okay. erstwhile an ignorant tourist would walk besides freely in Zapopan or to his misfortune he would wander in any side villages, he would most likely not see anything worrying at first glance. People seem to live usually and are very kind. But things happen, and usually just erstwhile we lose our guard. There's a general belief that the police have nothing to number on. Recently, he tweeted a video showing that a police car was passing a violent shooting in 1 of Zapopan's restaurants hastened and left the area, pretending nothing was happening. I compose ‘as if’ due to the fact that it is hard to tell precisely what happened there. Most tweets with this video have been removed. It shows it. But the Mexicans' attitude towards the police.
Some wrote ironically about “Zappan Counter-Strike” due to the fact that it was another large shooting in the city in a fewer days. It is no wonder that characters specified as “Padre Pistolas” who served in Michoacán, considered 1 of the most dangerous states. any choose to defend themselves.
Autodefensa michoacana
In any places, paramilitary self-defense groups made up of civilians who decided to take matters into their own hands and defend their families and properties. 1 specified organization was a documentary athlete In cartel land 2015 It's 1 of those stories that's kind of taken out of the western. Unfortunately, there is no happy ending, as frequently happens in movies.
Initially, the main goal was to fight a cartel with a distinctive name. Los Caballeros Templarios, i.e. Knights Templars, who, however, were not besides chivalry in their activities. The group had its “code” in which it declared the defence of the people of the state of Michoacán. She came from a parasect cartel. La Familia Michoacana, whose leader, Nazario Moreno, directed the organization almost as a pastor, preaching to its members full of Bible references. any began to call him “holy”. Everyone who belonged to La Familia Michoacana, could not consume alcohol and drugs or attack civilians. I find it hard to tell whether a circumstantial drug “pastor” Moreno kept her lofty assumptions, but the Knights Templars of their “code” did not follow for sure.
The self-defense groups in Michoacán had any success, reflecting areas at the hands of bandits. But they besides had a conflict with the authorities. individual ties in Mexico are very complicated and vague. It's very hard to tell who pays who. In the end, any high-ranking members and leaders of the self-defense group were to engage with cartels, and Mireles himself was arrested and abandoned his household to a female 39 years younger than him. An exceptionally unromantic ending to this “western” story. Despite any successes, the self-proclaimed self-defence of the citizen state of Michoacán remains 1 of the most affected by violence, inactive constituting the area of the violent CJNG.
Before you go to a village or a tiny town, find out if it's safe there now
Some places, especially tourists, are protected by heavy armed protection.
Closed settlements are usually safe
The defender with the firearm guards the entrance to La Chat's celebrated reboot
Jalisco has quite a few missing persons posters. Most never find each other.
Photos of victims of force during the March for Life in Guadalajara‘Drug-blocks’
Terror and force increase almost always after the arrest of crucial members of drug cartels or while attempting to capture them. specified a noisy situation occurred after Ovidio Guzman, the boy of the celebrated “El Chapo” of the Sinaloa cartel, was detained on Thursday 5 January that year. In Sinaloa State capital, Culiacán Rosales, there were shootings, arsons, and another acts of terror. Shots even hit the Aeroméxico airliner that flew to the capital. Fortunately, no of the passengers were injured.
The most characteristic are the alleged narcoblocks. Criminals kidnap buses, trucks and private cars. They light them and block crucial roads and highways. It has 2 goals. First – preventative to block and hold the arrival of police and troops to arrest local bosses. The second is to respond to detentions already made as a ‘punishment’ for the activities of services aimed at cartels. Members of cartels and, in fact, terrorists, sometimes leave messages – for example, on a bridge – informing them that this outbreak of force is liable pinche gobierno (fucking government). He could have left them alone, right?
Although information about akin acts of panic is very uncommon for Polish media, they happen not so rarely. The Danten scenes from Culiacán were simply of peculiarly large size. Unfortunately, residents of specified states as Guanajuato, Durango or Zacatecas have been watching them rather regularly these days. Criminals sometimes go to burning of buildings public utility, e.g. shops.
The municipalities of the Guadalajary agglomeration, including Zapopan, witnessed a “drug-blocker” on the evening of 9 August 2022. “El País” called it “the night of terror”. force from bandits was linked to the arrest of the local cartel leader fresh Generation Jalisco (CJNG), Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, known as ‘El Doble R’.
A fewer final remarks
From what I've described, a alternatively grim image emerges. However, I would like to compose any final remarks to encourage those who plan to come to Mexico and now have doubts. Firstly, it is simply a immense country and the situation varies widely in different areas. Secondly, most Mexicans have nothing to do with crime and effort to live normally. It is only a number that terrorizes the full country, and corrupt authorities and services are incapable to guarantee the safety of the rest.
Usually the first step leading to specified a sad situation was the failure of alertness I mentioned earlier. The responsible, reasonable, well-informed and, in short, “accomplished” people are likely to have an amazing experience coming to Mexico.
A tourist who goes to crucial resorts, especially on the Yucatán peninsula, does not request to be peculiarly concerned, although precautions due to common crime are alternatively desirable. As I mentioned, the situation in Quintana Roo has gotten worse recently. Leaving the Yucatán Peninsula, it is worth learning a small more about the places to go. This peculiarly applies to northern and western states and little tourist destinations. While in Tequila, on the beach in Puerto Vallarta or Lake Chapala (where residents from Canada and the USA are full) in Jalisco, nothing should happen during the day, so in another places it can be very dangerous. It's always worth asking around, reading, and it's best if you have friends and travel in a group.
North and Central Mexico is, you can say, a real, almost stereotypical Mexico and offering many cultural and natural attractions that a tourist sitting on the beach in Cancún will not experience. comparatively fewer travelers scope these areas if we compare their number with the state of Chiapas, let alone the Yucatan peninsula. It is worth coming here, but you should be a liable tourist, besides if you are prone to adventure and any risk. As for the state of Jalisco, the homeland of tequila and mariachi, I can usage the advice. There are places beyond the “tourist trail”, which make an awesome impression or simply worth visiting, and are (now) comparatively safe.
