Support for LAist comes from
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Stay Connected
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Listen
Podcasts Take Two
Michoacan's vigilante 'el doctor' stands up to Mexico's Knights Templar cartel
solid orange rectangular banner
()
Nov 20, 2013
Listen 6:29
Michoacan's vigilante 'el doctor' stands up to Mexico's Knights Templar cartel
A standoff between a rag tag group of townspeople in Mexico's Michoacan state and the violent drug cartels that wield power there.
A Mexican army soldier stands guard beside a placard with pictures of alleged drug cartels members already arrested during the presentation to the press on May 21, 2012 in Mexico City.
A Mexican army soldier stands guard beside a placard with pictures of alleged drug cartels members already arrested during the presentation to the press on May 21, 2012 in Mexico City.
(
Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images
)

A standoff between a rag tag group of townspeople in Mexico's Michoacan state and the violent drug cartels that wield power there.

There's a standoff happening between a rag tag group of townspeople in Mexico's Michoacan state and the violent drug cartels that wield power there.

Over the last year, there's been a growing movement of ordinary citizens defending their towns against the influence of gangsters. 

McClatchy reporter Tim Johnson recently wrote about one of their leaders, a fascinating man known, simply as "El Doctor."