These self defense groups sound great until you think about all the problems with vigilante groups. Also they have a history of turning into cartels.

That and all things being equal I suspect most of the people in these groups would rather not be fighting.

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autoexec an hour ago | parent | next [-]

It's not an ideal situation, but since the Mexican government refuses to do its job and protect their people and uphold the law what choice do they have?

Right now these people are just doing whatever they can to survive but it's just treating the symptom. The source of the problem is the Mexican government who is either incompetent or happy to take bribes to look the other way while their citizens are left the mercy of paramilitary gangs.

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Thlom an hour ago | parent [-]

What can the government do at this point? We are talking about criminal syndicates with basically standing armies. If the Mexican government goes to all out war it will lead to a humanitarian disaster.

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autoexec an hour ago | parent [-]

They should send in the army. How is what's happening there now not already a war and a humanitarian disaster? The only difference is that the civilians are the ones forced into fighting and they're having to buy their guns from rival gangs to do it. Actual soldiers with the firepower of the government should be doing the fighting instead of random farmers.

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jordigh an hour ago | parent [-]

Calderón did exactly that. Fought an all-out war with the cartels. 60,000 people dead and nothing changed.

	▲	autoexec 24 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		He fought a war against unsanctioned drug trafficking. Drugs are not an enemy you can defeat. He should have gone to war against the cartels, but then I guess that's hard to do when your Secretariat of Public Security is working for them. Either way, as with any war, deaths are to be expected. Freedom and sovereignty are usually considered to be worth the cost.

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e40 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What choice do they have?

This is not your usual vigilante group. This is a reaction to an overwhelming force of criminal gangs killing citizens and the government being powerless to stop them.

	▲	autoexec 16 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> This is a reaction to an overwhelming force of criminal gangs killing citizens and the government being powerless to stop them. Is the Mexican government, with their tens of billions in military spending, actually "powerless" to stop these gangs? I very much doubt it.

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aucisson_masque 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

What other choice ? Politics are yet to give a solution after decades of problems.