Gunmen believed to be working for the Knights Templar cartel staged a coordinated series of ambushes on federal police convoys Tuesday, where 20 gunmen and two federal police were killed in Mexico's western state of Michoacan, the Washington Post reported.
On Wednesday, the attacks continued when gunmen hijacked trucks and buses to block highways, wounding at least five federal police officers and about 15 civilians.
After the recent capture of Los Zetas boss, Miguel Angel Treviño Morales, the Knights Templar attacks are a reminder to President Enrique Peña Nieto of the country's bloody drug war. According to the Washington Post, the head of state sent thousands of troops and federal police to the Michoacan area two months ago, in order to regain control of the state from the drug cartel.
At first, locals cheered the decision and some self-defense groups called "community police" even agreed to put down their arms. But the calm didn't last long and the efforts to reduce drug violence weren't enough.
To senior scholar at Columbia University Edgardo Buscaglia, who studies organized crime in Latin America, in many areas of the Michoacan state the Knights Templar cartel is "the de-facto law", the Washington Post reported. "They [drug gang] are challenging the Mexican state on an equal footing," Buscaglia said.
"You have state vacuums in Mexico that are not covered by any kind of institutional framework ... and the cartels are moving in to capture pieces of the state," he added.
Peña Nieto's government is determined to defend its plan to fight against organized crime, although it is unclear what measures will be taken, the publication reported.
The Michoacan state Governor Jesus Reyna acknowledges fighting drug gangs is a difficult task. "We know that for certain we are on the right path to regaining public safety, even though it's quite clear that won't be easy," he said after Knights Templar attacks earlier in the week.
The emergence of the "community police" to fight multi-sided battle in the state that includes kidnappings and extortions of everyday people, adds a new factor to the flare-up of violence. The Post reported they have arisen in a line of towns along the border with the state of Jalisco.
The leader of vigilantes squad Misael Gonzalez said, "They're ambushing federal police and us, the community police. They're desperate and surrounded. Every day there are more towns rising up in arms."
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