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Podcasts Take Two
The Mexican vigilantes from California
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Jun 2, 2014
Listen • 6:42
The Mexican vigilantes from California
Many vigilantes in Michoacan, Mexico, come from California -- either because they were deported or moved back to protect their families.
A member of the so-called self-defense groups poses for a photo in the community Apatzingan, Michoacán state, Mexico, on February 12, 2014. Mexican federal forces have taken over police duties in some 20 towns in the restive state of Michoacan, where vigilante groups are fighting a drug cartel. Michoacan, where much of the population lives in poverty, has become the most pressing security issue facing Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto, who inherited a bloody war on drugs. AFP PHOTO/Alfredo Estrella (Photo credit should read ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images)
A member of the so-called self-defense groups poses for a photo in the community Apatzingan, Michoacán state, Mexico, on February 12, 2014.
(
ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images
)

Many vigilantes in Michoacan, Mexico, come from California -- either because they were deported or moved back to protect their families.

Vigilantes in Michoacan, Mexico, have risen up to challenge the threat from drug cartels like the Knights Templar.

Many of those vigilantes come from California -- either because they were deported or moved back to protect their families.

Some say they take to the streets because they've learned in the U.S. that extortion and brutality should not be permitted.

LA Times reporter Tracy Wilkinson joins Alex Cohen from Apatzingan, Mexico, to share more of their stories.