Luis Hernández Navarro - Self-Defense in Mexico: Indigenous Community Policing and the New Dirty Wars (Latin America in Translation/en Traducción/em Tradução)

1. Brothers in Arms

For many years I have sought to understand indigenous self-defense and its complex processes. I have closely followed the community police experience in Guerrero and the new dirty war taking place there. The declaration of the Ostula Manifesto in 2009 shook me. It was obvious that something very profound and relevant was happening in the indigenous communities, even if it had little impact on the urban world. When the citizens in Chihuahua took up arms to defend themselves, it became clear to me that we were experiencing an upturn in popular resistance in the face of the public security crisis. I approached the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity with the hope that our path to the abyss could be eluded. The Tierra Caliente uprising in Michoacn deeply intrigued me.

The irruption of self-defense groups in more than one-third of the country came as a surprise. By 2013 it was evident that the country had found itself in utterly unchartered territory.

During all this time I attempted to explain (to myself as much as anyone) what was happening. I religiously read the press, looking for traces of what was really going on. I talked with key actors and rigorous journalists. I closely studied any materials that shone a light in the darkness. I shared my findings in my newspaper articles and public talks.

It may seem like a broken record, but it is not: writing this book came from a suggestion from Paco Ignacio Taibo II and Paloma Saiz, after a lecture I gave about the Michoacn self-defense groups (autodefensas) in an event held by the Autonomous University of Quertaro and the Brigada Para Leer en Libertad collective. As it is almost impossible to refuse them, I put my hands to work. Since then, the pressure, the stimulus, and the support of Paco and Paloma and the rest of the Brigada members have been key to completing the work.

Many of the ideas and opinions expressed here came out of meetings, talks, and comments from friends far more informed of these issues than I. Arturo Cano, Abel Barrera, Magdalena Gmez, Miguel lvarez, Dolores Gonzlez, Miguel ngel Romero, Ernesto Ledesma, and Sergio Ocampo were instrumental in the writing of these pages.

The book recuperates and rewrites some of my published writings in La Jornada and El Cotidiano magazine. Support from the newspaper editor Carmen Lira and from my colleagues Josetxo Zalda, Elena Gallegos, Fabrizio Leon, Mireya Cuellar, Luis Gutirrez, and Miguel ngel Velzquez was fundamental for the completion of the book. The mark of the extraordinary work done by my colleagues Rosa Rojas, Karina Avils, Gustavo Castillo, and Ernesto Martnez is evident in various chapters.

The letters, conferences, commentaries, and informal talks with Alice Brooke Wilson, Carlos Gonzlez, Francisco Lpez Brcenas, Simn Vargas, Gilberto Lpez y Rivas, Gustavo Leal, Martha Singer, Gloria Muoz, Ana de Ita, Csar Reyes, Vctor Saavedra, Laura Carlsen, Marcos Tello, Andrs Barreda, Ramn Vera, Magdiel Snchez, and Christiane Schultz have been a permanent source of information and analysis on the subject. Many democratic teachers gave me clues and core information. The affectionate support of my children, Rodrigo (and his partner Elpida), Andrs, and Julia, was a great encouragement in the writing of the book. The media coverage of Desinformmonos and Agencia Subversiones was most valuable. The discussions and debates within the Paz con Democracia group were enlightening.

To each and every one of them I am deeply grateful.