Hipólito Mora, leader of the “autodefensas”, had long ceased to be a threat to the cartel that dominates the state of Michoacán, in western Mexico, as was made clear in the deadly ambush in which he and three of his his fans on Thursday.
Although some outraged family members spoke of reviving the movement of armed peasants that ousted a cartel between 2013 and 2014 — only to see it replaced by several others — many doubted that that heroic and tragic chapter could ever be repeated.
“I think it’s not about reliving the past,” said the Rev. Gilberto Vergara, one of the priests who officiated at the mass funeral for Mora and his followers Calixto Álvarez and Roberto Naranjo.
“Circumstances have changed, they are different, and we already saw how the whole thing ended,” he said.
Mora himself acknowledged that the 2013 movement — in which farmers and ranchers came together to resist constant threats and extortion from the Knights Templar cartel — ended up being infiltrated by members of other drug gangs.
The cartel that now dominates part of Michoacán, known as Los Viagras or Cárteles Unidos, “is worse than the ones that were before,” said Guadalupe Mora, brother of the deceased leader.
“If the government and (Michoacán Governor Alfredo Ramírez) Bedolla do nothing, there is a chance that the people will rise up to take up arms again,” he added.
But most of those present at Mora’s wake feared reprisals from the cartels too much to give their names in statements to the press.
“He thought of his town, of his people, and none of us is going to do that. None of us are going to do what he did with that courage,” his sister Olivia Mora said through tears in front of the coffin.
Mora always spoke out against the extortion suffered by farmers and lemon producers at the hands of the cartels, and even after his hundreds of followers dwindled to just a few.
A relative, who asked not to be named, said extortion has grown so large that some farmers have put their businesses on hold, and locals are sometimes forced to pay double for basic goods.
The power of the drug cartels has only grown in the last decade. The Rev. Gregorio López, a priest who was not present at the funeral, said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s policy of not confronting the cartels has allowed them to grow.
“The ‘hugs and not bullets’ has been the best fertilizer to germinate organized crime throughout the country,” he said.
The overwhelming power of the cartels could be seen in the bullet holes left on the walls of the place where Mora and his bodyguards were killed. The Michoacán state prosecutor’s office said Mora was killed when unidentified armed men blocked the path of vehicles in which he and his bodyguard were traveling on a street in La Ruana, his hometown. After riddling the activist’s vehicle with bullets, they set it on fire and fled.
In a forensic inspection conducted Friday, authorities said bullets hit Mora’s vehicle from three sides. Residents shared a video of the attack that suggests the attackers used a machine gun and sniper rifle to destroy Mora’s truck.
Hundreds of residents of La Ruana, located in an agricultural belt of Michoacán, attended the funeral on Saturday.
In the local cemetery, Mora and his two followers were buried to the sound of the corrido of “El General” by Joan Sebastian, whose lyrics say: “I have been a general for a while, and although now I am hurt, may I never forget the troops that have not yet They buried me.”
A group of state police officers remained outside the cemetery to provide the security that Mora was never given. Despite the moving farewell to him, it is becoming increasingly difficult to even speak out against the rule of organized crime, which is what Mora basically did in his later years while managing his lemon grove.
The cartels seem intent on crushing even nonviolent resistance.
“The drug trafficker and organized crime will always want to get out of the way of what is in the way,” said Vergara.
The moment of self-defense movements is in the past,” he added.
“Weapons are of no use to us. Civilians must not carry a weapon. I think the government would have to do what it is supposed to do,” he added.
This seems unlikely given the current government’s policy of tolerating the Los Viagras cartel while repelling an offensive by the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel to enter the state.
“They have to fight with all the cartels,” said Guadalupe Mora.
FUENTE: Associated Press
