<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><!--[if !mso]><style>v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style><![endif]--><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
span.BalloonTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text";
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Although this article was first published in September, there was another conflict with these armed self defense groups in Mexico this weekend. In addition to the violent oppression by the government against striking Teachers this weekend and the continued protests against the Mexican government in relation to the missing / murdered Student Teachers.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>OUR tax dollars are preventing change for the better in Mexico by propping up the Mexican government with weapons and military hardware, so that the Mexican elites, the drug cartels, and U.S. corporate special interests can continue their reign of terror and efforts to privatize land and energy resources that belong to the Mexican people and destroy Unions and public education. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Jailed Mexican Self-Defense Leader Calls for True Independence from Cartels, Corruption, and Oligarchies<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><img width=600 height=340 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D02817.E94CD5B0" alt="Description: Jose Manuel Mireles (Photo: Reuters)"></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Jose Manuel Mireles (Photo: Reuters) | Photo: Reuters<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Published 16 September 2014 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>0<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><img width=27 height=23 id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image002.png@01D02817.E94CD5B0" alt="Description: Coments"></span><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Jailed-Mexican-Self-Defense-Leader-Calls-for-True-Independence-from-Cartels-Corruption-and-Oligarchies-20140916-0082.html#comsup" title=Coments><span style='color:blue'>+</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“There is no independence to celebrate" according to Jose Manuel Mireles.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Jose Manuel Mireles, a leader of the vigilante movement in Michoacan, gave an independence speech from prison on September 15, Mexico’s Day of Independence. Through his lawyer, Talia Vazquez Alatorre, he called for the unity of various sectors of Mexican society in confronting corruption and organized crime.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“Mexicans: long live the heroes who gave us our homeland, long live the heroes of the independence struggle, long live the brave Mexicans who are confronting violence, corruption and oppression! … Long live Mexico!” he said, in words reminiscent of the traditional independence speeches given by governments everywhere on September 15.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Mireles is being held in maximum security prison in Hermosillo, in the Mexican state of Sonora. The authorities arrested him on July 26, 2014, and accused the self-defense group leader of carrying illegal weapons and committing crimes against the public health.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Mireles, who is known as “Papa Cop”, became one of the main leaders of the self-defense groups in the Mexican state of Michoacan. Known by others as vigilante groups, Mireles’ group came together to fight the rise of the Caballero Templarios (Knights Templar), a particularly violent drug cartel which had been plaguing the state for some time. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“They jail us for defending our families from the assassins,” he said. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>For Mireles, Mexico has not achieved true independence until it breaks free from corruption, oligarchical forces, and the cartels.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>In his video message, Mireles compared the Mexican federal forces of today to the Royal Army under the viceroy of New Spain of yesteryear’s New Spain.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“The viceroy was stubborn and ignorant,” he said in the video posted on Youtube. “He thought you could control the tide of change. He thought by imprisoning the insurgent leaders you could jail the leaders of the Mexican revolution. But eleven years later, what he thought turned out to be absurd. History cannot be stopped.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Mireles sees himself and others in the movement as likewise unjustly imprisoned for carrying out self-defense. According to him, his group in Michoacan was doing nothing but defending their families from violence and oppression, as all revolutionaries throughout Mexico’s history have done.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“The Michoacan vigilante groups and all Mexicans throughout the country have been victims of organized crime and impunity,” he said. “We have already given our blood for the true independence of Mexico.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>And in Michoacan, these problems, particularly with the drug cartel called the Caballeros Templarios go back several years.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The Daily Mail reported on January 5, 2014 that around 600 members of local self-defense groups stormed the town of Paracuaro in an attempt to seize control of it back from the Caballeros Templarios drug cartel. A year before, the entire police force in another Michoacan town resigned out of fear for their safety following attacks and threats by the criminal group, reported Notimex.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>And the same problems have replicated in many states all over northern Mexico, reinforcing in Mireles the dire need for Mexicans to continue this ongoing independence struggle.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“While we are not free from violence, and we cannot govern together or work together as one nation building democracy together, by toppling the oligarchy and purging our current system, giving dignity to the people, we are not independent, either in the eyes of the world’s nations or the criminal cartels,” Mireles said. “The independence of Mexico from Spain could not have been won without insurgency,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>