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Podcasts Take Two
Vigilante militias fight back against drug violence in Mexico
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Apr 12, 2013
Listen • 6:00
Vigilante militias fight back against drug violence in Mexico
Over the past 7 years, drug violence in Mexico has claimed more than 60,000 lives. Recently, vigilante groups have sprung up in response to drug cartels across Mexico's southwest mountains.
An armed and masked man guards a roadblock at the entrance to the community of Cruz Quemada, near Ayutla, early Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013. Hundreds of men in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero have taken up arms to defend their villages against drug gangs, a vigilante movement born of frustration at extortion, killings and kidnappings in a region wracked by violence.
An armed and masked man guards a roadblock at the entrance to the community of Cruz Quemada, near Ayutla, early Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013. Hundreds of men in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero have taken up arms to defend their villages against drug gangs, a vigilante movement born of frustration at extortion, killings and kidnappings in a region wracked by violence.
(
Dario Lopez-Mills/AP
)

Over the past 7 years, drug violence in Mexico has claimed more than 60,000 lives. Recently, vigilante groups have sprung up in response to drug cartels across Mexico's southwest mountains.

Over the past 7 years, drug violence in Mexico has claimed more than 60,000 lives. Recently, vigilante groups have sprung up in response to drug cartels across Mexico's southwest mountains. 

They've have had some success curbing violence, but they've also had their own share of run-ins with the law. Reporter Ioan Grillo has been writing about this for Time Magazine. He joins the show with more.