Mexico’s Crusade of the Deadly Knights Templar « Mystery of the Iniquity. At first, the amateur video shows a normal evening in the seething valley town of Apatzingán, in Mexico’s western Michoacán state. But as residents and stall owners mix jovially on the sidewalk, the calm is broken by the sinister appearance of masked men gripping machine guns mounted on more than 50 pickup trucks, Hummers and Jeeps. The gangsters cruise openly down Apatzingán’s main drag, a frightening show of force even by the brutal standards of Mexico’s drug-war bloodbath. The propaganda video was sent to media outlets by the newest players in that conflict, the bizarrely named Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templar). As the name suggests, these narcos are inspired by the Jerusalem-based crusaders who fought in the name of Christ between 1119 and 1312, at which point the Pope disbanded them.
Anyone who follows Mexico’s mayhem, which has resulted in almost 40,000 gangland murders since 2007, will find the news of drug-dealing Christian zealots unsettlingly familiar. Like this: For Three consecutive days, Narco Canvases have `appear' in Michoacán. Friday August 26, 2011, Morelia, Michoacan.
Several narco canvases with photos of a criminal group were offering a reward of up to $500,000 dollars for whoever gives information on their whereabouts. They started appearing Friday morning on the distributor road and pedestrian bridges, exits to Quiroga and Ciudad Universitaria. Authorities were alerted by motorists traveling these areas of the city, so immediately the appropriate law enforcement prepared to travel to this places and remove them. The narco canvas verbatim said: To the general population, we inform you that were offering a reward to the person who provides timely and accurate information for the location of El Terry and El Torito.
Added, they are kidnappers and traitors who have joined the enemies Los Zetas. It also reveals, that there's no more opportunities and punishing those who didn't believe we were going to find out your continued support with information to these traitors and kidnappers. Source: Share it: Caballeros Templarios enter Guerrero. Citizens of this municipality, you are notified that from this day forward los Caballeros Templarios are present in Jose Azueta (Zihuatanejo).
Our work here is against any and all kidnappers and extortionists. Establishing the people's order and tranquility. "Thank you" Sincerely, Caballeros Templarios Caballeros Templarios We do not kill innocents, only those that hurt the people will die With the familiar vigilante message reminiscent of previous banners hung in Michoacan, los Caballeros Templarios (CT) announced their entry this past Wednesday into Guerrero's Costa Grande tourist zone of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.
In all, three banners were hung from pedestrian overpasses over thoroughfares in the city of Zihuatanejo. Mexican Government Examines Videos from Anti-Cartel Vigilantes. Mexico’s government is analyzing video footage in which a group of self-styled vigilantes who may have killed 35 people in the Gulf coast port of Veracruz claimed to be waging an extermination campaign against the Los Zetas drug cartel.
The interior ministry said in a statement that the Attorney General’s Office has already launched an investigation. Five hooded men dressed in black appear in the most recent video, distributed Sunday but supposedly filmed a day earlier, one of whom says that the “Mata Zetas” (“Kill Zetas”) are the “armed wing of the people” and that their “only objective is to wipe out the Los Zetas cartel.” “Only by fighting them on equal terms can the Los Zetas cartel be eradicated from the root,” said the man, who instructed “officials and authorities who support Los Zetas to stop doing so.” On Sept. 20, two pick-up trucks were left abandoned in broad daylight on a busy Veracruz boulevard with 35 bodies in their beds and on the ground. Source: EFE Share it: Mexican Group Takes 'Justice' Into Own Hands.
The rising influence of paramilitarism: "Mata Zetas" issue a new communique. The campaign for the hearts and minds of Mexican society by the country’s drug cartels is apparent in the latest communiqué from the “Mata Zetas”, a paramilitary organization also known as the CJNG, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, which reportedly operates as part of the Sinaloa cartel.
This is the latest evidence of the rising influence of paramilitary groups, as drug cartels increasingly resemble insurgent armies in response to the militarization of the drug war, and the role of drug cartels in society increasingly resembles that of a parallel state. And maybe with this video communiqué we are beginning to see an attempt by a criminal organization to legitimize itself into a “movement”. Is there a rising danger that militarized drug cartels will attempt to influence the outcome of Mexico’s 2012 presidential elections by targeting the civilian population with violence?