Activists Say La Familia Michoacana Is Holding More Than 100 Kidnapped Farmers in Guerrero to Force a Land Grab
Breitbart Texas relays a Catholic priest's account after six of seven farmers held for 23 days were freed. Details of the larger claim remain unclear.
Activists in Mexico say the cartel La Familia Michoacana has kidnapped more than 100 farmers in the state of Guerrero, Breitbart Texas reports.
The claim. In a streamed interview, Father Filiberto Velazquez, director of the Minerva Bello Center for the Rights of Victims of Violence, said the group is holding the victims to pressure locals into letting it set up a base in the area. Breitbart says the community involved is El Bajon de Ajuchitlan, and that residents have spoken out against the cartel's presence and kept it from establishing itself there.
How it came out. Farmers in Guerrero recently began protesting for the release of seven men who had been held for 23 days by armed cartel members. The protests led Mexico's government to send search parties led by military forces. After several days of pressure, Breitbart says, the cartel freed six of the seven.
What the freed men reported. According to Velazquez, the men said they were taken to a place where more than 100 victims were held, and that gunmen moved everyone between locations in several trucks to stay ahead of the searchers. He said the seven were beaten, tortured and threatened with death, and that Guerrero officials have given them no care since, leaving them to pay their own medical bills. Breitbart says the kidnappings appear aimed at crushing local resistance, including attempts to force some farmers to join the cartel.
Note for readers: the figure of more than 100 captives rests on one priest's account of what released victims told him. Breitbart says details of the mass kidnappings "remain unclear," and it does not include a response from Guerrero or federal officials. We could not independently confirm any of it.