Mexican anti-cartel vigilante leader buried and with him, an armed citizens’ movement
By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press
LA RUANA, Mexico (AP) — One of the last leaders of Mexico’s anti-gang citizens’ movement has been buried alongside two of his faithful followers. Any hope of reviving armed civilian resistance to drug cartels probably died with them. “Self defense” vigilante leader Hipolito Mora had long since ceased to pose an armed threat to the cartel that dominates western Mexico’s Michoacan state. That was clear from the overwhelming, deadly, multipoint ambush in which he and three followers were slain Thursday. While some angry relatives talked of reviving the 2013-2014 armed farmers’ movement that kicked out one cartel only to see it replaced by others, many at Mora’s funeral Saturday doubted that heroic, tragic chapter could ever be repeated.
