Mexico's Self-Defense Militias

Since February 2013, so-called self-defense groups in Michoacan have expanded their armed campaign into areas of the state with a Knights Templar presence. Meanwhile, Mexico City expanded its own efforts targeting Knights Templar leaders and operations (efforts that are greatly aided by the self-defense groups). Such efforts have helped Mexico City effectively bring the self-defense groups into the fold through a Jan. 27 agreement between militia leaders and the federal government, providing for the integration of the militias into federal security forces.

The now-coordinated efforts of the self-defense groups and the federal government have caused substantial leadership losses for the Knights Templar since December 2013, including most recently the death of top Knights Templar leader Nazario Moreno Gonzalez in a confrontation with Mexican authorities March 9 in Tumbiscatio, Michoacan state. This cooperation coupled with substantial progress in targeting the Knights Templar has given the government -- at least temporarily -- a relatively good grip on the security situation in Michoacan. If the Knights Templar collapse, the self-defense militia leaders -- bound together by a coordinated effort to push out the Knights Templar -- will no longer have a common cause. Some militias may start pursuing separate agendas or even begin assuming control over whatever remains of Knights Templar operations. The breakup of the militias would render their agreement with the federal government meaningless, especially if they went from being an augmenting force to one that supplanted the government's authority.

Mexico City ultimately hopes for the self-defense groups to gradually dissolve, leaving the federal and state governments as the only caretakers of public security. But with the Knights Templar still a potent force in Michoacan and the self-defense groups continuing to expand geographically and numerically, Mexico City wants the fading away of the militias to happen in a controlled fashion. This would give the government breathing room to cope with any new organized crime-related conflict emerging from a power vacuum caused by the dissolution of the Knights Templar leadership. A premature break within the self-defense militias or renewed organized crime-related conflicts could undo the progress Mexico City has made in Michoacan.

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