Thread by @falko_ernst

8 persons reported beheaded in Aguililla, Michoacán 🇲🇽

Other sources say total death toll is 26

This is primarily the effect of self-interest-based politics & collusion so far undermining any notion of progress in the field of security

Thread 👇

animalpolitico.com/2021/04/enfren…

This area's been the main front line in Jalisco Cartel v Cárteles Unidos battle for years

All levels of gov are well aware of it, also of the humanitarian crisis incl. hundreds of displaced civilians

But none has an interest to make this a story, esp. vis-à-vis 6 June elections

The National Guard, fed gov's flagship security institution, is around but refrains from protecting

Contacts from both criminal sides say it actively intervenes only to favor one side over the other, e.g. by sending the occasional helicopter, allowing certain lines to be held

Activists looking to protect & assist displaced persons describe a scenario in which National Guard, other state actors, and illegal armed groups take agreed-upon turns in "using" the territory - for showing presence and making war, respectively

Media will report when a certain spectacle of violence is reached, but do not investigate state-crime entanglements that have rendered this and other regionalized armed conflicts perpetual

Law and state action continue to be negotiable, undermining implementation of any policy

Armed group contact says C. Unidos are looking for a truce with Jalisco by giving up one of their allies & a patch of territory. While uncertain, this could bring down violence in the short term. But such deals are always volatile, far from anything resembling a durable solution