January 28, 2014 -- Updated 1719 GMT (0119 HKT)
The Mexican government will provide vigilante groups fighting a drug
cartel in western Mexico a path to become recognized, moving away from
earlier calls for the groups to disarm. FULL STORY
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PRESIDENT TALKS WITH CNN
Mexico changes tack on vigilante groups
January 28, 2014 -- Updated 1410 GMT (2210 HKT)
An armed resident in Xaltianguis, Acapulco municipality, on April 2, 2013, in the southwestern State of Guerrero, Mexico.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Mexico says vigilante groups will have a path to become institutionalized
- It is a change from an original order for the groups to lay down their arms
- Certain criteria must be met for fighters to join the government
- One high-ranking cartel leader was arrested Monday
The state of Michoacan,
long a flashpoint in Mexico's drug war, has of late been the scene of
fighting between a cartel calling itself the Knights Templar and
so-called "auto-defense" groups that have armed themselves and patrolled
the streets.
The vigilante groups grew
from complaints that the government was not doing enough to protect
citizens from the drug cartel. The government acted this month, sending
federal forces to the region and ordering the vigilante groups to lay
down their weapons.
But Mexican President
Enrique Peña Nieto appears to have abandoned that call, and instead
announced a plan wherein the vigilante forces -- if they meet certain
criteria -- can become part of a government-sanctioned Rural Defense
Corps.
Vigilantes clash with Mexican cartels
Those members of the
auto-defense forces who want to be part of the government forces will be
required to pass all the tests that other Mexican law enforcement does,
Peña Nieto said.
"The government is
obligated to provide peace and tranquility to Michoacan, that is what
the majority wants," one of the president's supporters, lawmaker Emilio
Gamboa Patron, told the state-run Notimex news agency. "The grand
majority does not want to live in violence."
The about-face comes as officials said they arrested a high-ranking leader of the Knights Templar.
Dionisio Loya Plancarte
was arrested in Morelia, Michoacan's capital, on Monday morning by
federal forces, the executive secretary of the National System of Public
Security, Monte Alejandro Rubido, said.
Loya Plancarte was a major drug trafficking figure in Morelia, the official said.
He is known for
distributing videos online that reported on cartel activity and
threatened other criminal organizations, Rubido said.
A 16-year-old minor was apprehended along with the drug cartel figure, Rubido said.
CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet and CNNMexico contributed to this report.
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Weapons found
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