Imprisoned autodefensa leader, Dr. Mireles confined to wheel chair, denied visitors

Lucio R. Borderland Beat

Through a video uploaded to the social network Facebook, Axel Dames, a spokesman for self-defense groups in Michoacán, reported that physicians say the founder of Michoacán autodefensa Dr. José Manuel Mireles Valverde, deteriorates rapidly because of the systematic denial of medical attention from the "authorities" of the Hermosillo, Sonora, prison he is incarcerated in.  He has been held in prison since June 27, 2014.

In the video, Axel Dames complains the courts should legally proceed for the immediate release of Dr. Mireles,  because required urgent medical attention has not been provided, and is the being obligation of the State to guarantee the safety of their prisoners.

Court rulings have been favorable to Mireles, but have acted dilatory in proceeding with other court procedures needed for his release.

Aside from being denied proper medical care, in a letter cited by the website ‘’Sin Embargo”, Mireles

says he has asked the magistrate in charge of his case, to file a claim against the “authorities” who he says are denying his right to receive visitors, for 10 months visitors have been denied access to him.

“Magistrate of the first Unitary Tribunal of the 10th Circuit”. Hereby I ask you for assistance to assure I am allowed visits and that my rights are respected, rights that every prisoner has.  For  10 ½ months they have completely denied visits by  anyone attempting  to see me, including those who are assisting in the  issues of my captivity (…).”

Only his attorney has been allowed access to Dr. Mireles, no one on his list of visitors have been granted a visit.  Including his advocates such as general José Francisco Gallardo or el padre Alejandro Solalinde,

Dr. Mireles did not complete his rehabilitation for injuries he suffered in a plane crash.  He left Mexico City to return to Michoacán because of the takeover of the autodefensa union by Estanislao Beltrán, who unilaterally, without benefit of a vote, ousted Dr. Mireles and took over as the AD spokesman.  Beltran began working closely with Alfredo Castillo to oust Dr Mireles.

Dr. Mireles had given candid interview with the publication El Pais of Spain.  The El País interview incensed Alfredo Castillo, the federal appointed security chief in Michoacán, who seized the opportunity while Dr. Mireles was recuperating, to intensify his mission of disbandment of the autodefensa movement and rendering the popular and loved Dr. Mireles powerless.  

Castillo said in a recent interview that “Manuel Mireles not only wanted to control Mexico, but wanted to control all of Latin America”. 

Castillo’s threats did not quiet Dr. Mireles.  With respect to dealing with “problems” such as the “genuine autodefensas” especially their leaders, the government has favored imprisonment. Hundreds of autodefensas are languishing in prison.

Others have been murdered.  There is in fact but one original leader remaining free of the “coastal” autodefensas, considered the true self defense group and that is Semeí Verdía.  Semei has suffered two assassination attempts on his life including one of this week.

In the case of Dr. Mireles, his civil and human rights have not only been trampled upon, his rights have been shredded beginning with the arrest its self.    

In the arrest, he was blindfolded, hooded, cuffed in back, and flown around in a helicopter for hours.  He later said it was terrifying as he thought he might have been shoved into the waters below. 

Dr. Mireles was taken to Morelia and transferred to the Federal Social Rehabilitation Center No. 11 in Hermosillo, Sonora.

In Morelia he was then denied the right to call or meet with his attorney for hours.  And denied food necessary for a diabetic diet, and not given his insulin which he injects three times daily.

For further humiliation his famous mustache and white hair were shaven clean.  But the worst was yet to come; he became ill, the result of improper diet and proper diabetic management.  He has spent almost as much time in the hospital as in his cell.  Hi Sister Virginia “Vicky” Mireles says his health has deteriorated to the point he may soon require amputation.

He began using a wheelchair around the middle of this month when he fell and sustained an injury, some reports say it was a fracture of the spinal column.  He is now non-ambulatory.

His attorney Javier Livas, reported that the leader and founder of the AD lay in bed for three days before being given medical treatment.

“My client is treated as a prisoner of war, as an enemy of the state, in the maximum security prison. We have a person that is a civil hero, one who the government had arrested to remove a problem.”

Immobility will compromise his circulation and may cause irrecoverable damage to his limbs and possible amputation.

In a recent and rare communication, he sent a letter to his friend Jorge Vazquez.  In the letter he stated that visitors are being blocked from visiting him.

Axel Dames is not a name I have previously heard of in connection to Dr. Mireles.