VIDEO: Dr. Mireles Describes Agreements Made With the Government

By: Ernesto Martínez Elorriaga | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Morelia, Michoacán—A video message recorded in April 2014 by the former leader of the autodefensas, José Manuel Mireles Valverde, was released in social networks.  The video message was intended to be spread after his death.  According to Mireles, organized crime groups, federal and state governments, and even his wife, intended to eliminate him.

  Some parts of the message had already been released, however on the Grillonautas2 YouTube channel, the entire video, with a duration of 46 minutes, was released where it is clarified that Mireles lost all the support of the federal government after taking Tancítaro with a group of autodefensas, on November, 16, 2013.

In early November 2013, Mireles says, he met with several federal officials in Mexico City, including Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong and the director of the Center for Research and National Security (CISEN), who approved his proposals:

To clean up organized crime throughout Michoacán; restoring the rule of law; liberate all imprisoned autodefensas; to appoint a single spokesperson on behalf of all autodefensa groups, which would be Mireles, and the arrest of 20 organized crime leaders, of which seven main ones operated in the region of Tepalcatepec, from which Mireles was born.

He said that there was an unwritten agreement whereby the federal government committed to provide them with an armored unit, and “another agreement: that we would no longer move to other municipalities,” and in the case that they would progress to other municipalities, it would have to be jointly with the federal government.

At that meeting, Mireles said that he planned to take Los Reyes, Aquila, Coahuayana, Uruapan, Ario de Rosales and Apatzingán.  They asked him to wait a week.  There was no response.  “We chose to take Tancítaro (November 16, 2013) in response to the request for help.  The day we decided to enter, the body of a seven-year-old girl, the daughter of an avocado farmer, appeared and her nine-year-old sister disappeared, even though they had paid 23 million pesos.”

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“Those of us who defended ourselves are imprisoned, those who did not, [are] dead or disappeared,” Mireles Says in New Audio

Dr. Mireles

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

The autodefensa leader, José Manuel Mireles, recorded a new audio in which he demands to the government justice for defending his people “those who did not, those who did not defend themselves, are appearing in clandestine graves that are being discovered throughout the Mexican terrain, for having waited for the institutions instituted to provide security and protection, to do their job,” he said.

Mexico City, Mexico. April 28, 2017– The founder of the autodefensas in Michoacán, José Manuel Mireles Valverde, who is imprisoned in CEFERESO #4 in Nayarit, broadcasted an audio in which he demands justice from the Secretariat of the Interior (SEGOB), National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), and the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN).

Likewise, Dr. Mireles questions these government bodies, as well as “the other rich people” to explain their definition of justice, since Mireles, like other autodefensas, “for having used our constitutional right to self-defense.”

“We humbly ask them to explain to us, as a people that we are, what is their true definition of justice?  Because those of us who defend ourselves from being murdered are imprisoned for defending ourselves, and those of us who waited for justice to be administered are dead and buried,” he says.

The leader explained that “those who did not, those who did not defend themselves, are appearing in clandestine graves that are being discovered throughout the Mexican terrain, for having waited for the institutions instituted to provide security and protection, to do their job, to do their justice, what they never did,” the leader explained.

Mireles demanded justice for all those who, like him, sought justice by their own means, and not only for “the murderers of the nation.”

“Justice only applies for the benefit of the political class and the rulers, the law only applies to the most fucked people in Mexico, which are us, the majority, and that we are all innocent of which we are accused of, with some exceptions.”

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OPINION: Mireles Is Dead! (To The Media)

Father Gregorio López Gerónimo | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

My primary intention when I first translated the article wasn’t to create misinformation or write a “fake news” piece or “clickbait” as other websites have done and as I have been accused of.  I know I should’ve added a disclaimer the first time I published this piece but I forgot to and I posted it in a hurry and for that, I apologize.  I was hoping that readers would read the article and make sense of the metaphors Father Goyo was alluding to. - V

 

Today, February 24, 2017, four years after the surgeon, in the repletion of violence and impunity, he left his practice and joined the men and women who decided to leave their anonymity and cowardice to be the voice of those “without voice”; after his heroic deed, José Manuel Mireles Valverde is dead and nothing could be expected from the criminal government of Enrique Peña Nieto, who has murdered him as he did with the 43 young men of Ayotzinapa, and as with other innocents in Tatlaya, Tanuhato y Apatzingán.

Only a state crime of such magnitude is possible, when the government is usurped by those who do not possess the slightest intuition of law, justice, dignity, or human rights.  Foolishness is abused when someone is condemned to life imprisonment when that person is recognized for his innocence and courage, leaving in exchange seven free and covered up former governors in payment for political favors and who have plunged 39 million inhabitants, from the states that they have stolen from, into misery.

An outrage is also committed when the privileges of house arrest is granted to Elba Esther Gordillo, who today has 20 million children falling behind in education; as well as when in Michoacán, it releases another scum of the same party of the institutionalized corruption for seven thousand pesos.

For the current administration, it is not a crime to steal education and the future of a generation, to wring out jobs and the livelihood of a people, nor to collaborate with criminal organizations in the disappearance of more than three thousand Michoacanos.  However, it takes a weapon, to defend itself in a failed state, where there was no law, no justice, and no rule of law; only corruption, impunity, kidnappings, uprisings, and deaths.

Four years after the historic February 24, 2013, Mireles has died for defending life.  His agony began on June 27, 2014, when Alfredo Castillo took him to jail so that he wouldn’t interfere with the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas, where the juicy businesses of the dominant cartel are.  From that moment, Mireles began to be veiled by the Mexican people; unaware that that’s how it was done while he reviewed the media obituary in the police sections of the newspapers.

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Dr. Mireles Will Remain In Prison

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

In early 2013, Dr. José Manuel Mireles Valverde took up arms to repel Los Caballeros Templarios in Michoacán.  He helped the federal government by recovering territories that had been lost to organized crime, but he didn’t accept to bend to the will of the then Federal Commissioner Alfredo Castillo Cervantes.  It cost him prison in June 2014…and he will remain there.

Dr. José Manuel Mireles Valverde, founder and former leader of the autodefensas in Michoacán will not leave the federal prison in Hermosillo, Sonora, where he has been held since June 27, 2014.

Ignacio Mendoza Jiménez, his lawyer, said that measures will be taken to protect the former leader of the autodefensas in Michoacán regarding this operative.

Mireles Valverde was sent to prison after having publicly denounced the collusion between organized crime and the PRI government of Michoacán, then led by Fausto Vallejo Figueroa.  The main cause of his imprisonment is attributed to the refusal to join the Fuerza Rural (Rural Force), the police force that Alfredo Castillo Cervantes integrated

According to information by Zeta, a unitary court in Guadalajara, Jalisco, in aid of federal Michoacán judicial authorities, confirmed on June 2^nd the refusal to order the dismissal of the criminal case that has kept Dr. José Manuel Mireles imprisoned.  The decision was rendered in the auxiliary logbook 221/2016 by Isidro Avelar Gutiérrez, Judge of the Seventh Circuit Court of the Auxiliary Unit Center of the Third District, in the state of Jalisco.

The ruling confirmed the decision handed down last January by the Fifth District Court in the state of Michoacán, based in Uruapan, Michoacán, through which unfounded the dismissal of the criminal case 137/2014 brought against Mireles.  

The judge ordered the return of the original criminal mention (158/2016) with the verdict referred to the Second Unitary Court of the Eleventh Circuit Court based in Morelia, the authority which acted on his aid.

Dr. José Manuel Mireles Valverde will remain imprisoned in the Federal Social Readaptation Center #11 in Hermosillo.

Mireles, founder of the autodefensas of Tepalcatepec, and other followers of the movement who were against insecurity and the presence of Los Caballeros Templarios, were detained on June 27, 2014 in the municipality of Lázaro Cárdenas in an operation where federal and military forces participated in, because he was allegedly in possession of weapons and drugs.

Source: Sin Embargo

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A Judge in Jalisco Will Have To Determine in 48 Hours If Dr. Mireles Goes Free

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Ignacio Mendoza Jiménez, lawyer of the leader of the autodefensas in Michoacán, said that within 48 hours, a judge in the 7^th Circuit Court must decide on his request so that Mireles Valverde can continue his release process.  He ensures that, so far, charges against Mireles have been unable to stick, not even that of bearing arms, because of the fact that the autodefensas had the permission from the government to be armed.   He noted that the proof is that in different operations, they were accompanied by members of the Mexican Army and the federal police.

Mexico City, June 27, 2016 (SinEmbargo)— In 48 hours, the 7^th Circuit Court in Guadalajara will make a ruling on the legal status of the leader of the autodefensas of Michoacán, José Manuel Mireles Valverde, who on Monday, completed being imprisoned for two years.

His lawyer, Ignacio Mendoza Jiménez, said that on Wednesday, the Judge of the 7^th Court, Isidro Avelar Gutiérrez, will have to issue a ruling on the appeal made by the defense which asks for the liberation of Mireles Valverde, since they have been unable to fully prove the crimes for which he is being imprisoned for in the Federal Social Readaptation Center #11 in Hermosillo, Sonora.

“In 48 hours, there will be a hearing to modify the precautionary measure and achieve the physical liberation of the doctor but not the conclusion of the process,” he said.

“Since 2013, the Government of the Republic knew autodefensas were forming and there was no interposition or action to stop them, knowing that not only did they do activism in the villages to warn of the presence of criminals, but they also fought them with arms, moreover, they institutionalized them,” the lawyer stressed.

He added that for Mireles and the other autodefensa members, there are three grounds for the exclusion of the crime, so they are not responsible for these acts and should be free.

He noted that the record in the process has already proven conclusively that the Mexican Government gave consent to Mireles Valverde and to all of the autodefensas of Michoacán, the authorization to keep and bear arms, and even made joint operations with the Mexican Army and the federal police.

“The Mexican Government granted him and all of the autodefensas in Michoacán authorization to bear arms.  Prior to the arrival of the Commission [for Security and Integral Development of Michoacán] a movement emerged in La Ruana, in which, civilians armed themselves and confronted organized crime, during that time, the Mexican Army accompanied the autodefensas in operations, and this is documented, they never stopped them and never told them not to do so,” Mendoza Jiménez said during a news conference.

“The failure of the Federal Government was not using Article 29 of the Constitution which we call “exceptional state”, which would have provided them with special laws and the Court would’ve analyzed what was to be done, since they didn’t, they did everything outside of the legal framework,” he said.

At The Gates Of The Decision

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At 2 Years in Prison, Mireles Says He Hasn’t Lost Faith

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

 

Almost two years after his arrest, José Manuel Mireles argues that the autodefensas didn’t have any other choice but to take up arms to fight against organized crime in Michoacán.

“Those responsible for the violence in Michoacán are the organized crime cartels.  Who dictated our way of fighting, was them; we didn’t have any other choice but to respond in the same way, fire with fire,” he said in a message recorded from prison.

 “We couldn’t go up against a horde of well-armed murderers, and us with clean hands.”

The former spokesman of the General Council of Autodefensas in Michoacán noted that for over 12 years, the government’s fight against crime didn’t give results.

He believed that when the law contravenes with justice, justice must prevail no matter if it comes from the people.

“That is why the autodefensas face off against crime and that is why some of us are prisoners, but we have no doubt that at the end of our judgements, truth and justice will prevail, because fixing this kind of slavery is the highest aspiration of all social fighters,” he said.

For the activist, imprisoned since June 27, 2014, the struggle of armed civilians prevented another generation of children and youths from finish their days enslaved to organized crime or in prison.

The message was released during a rally that was held on Friday in downtown Morelia to demand the release of the fellow surgeon who took up arms in 2013.

Mireles was arrested after entering the community of La Mira, in the municipality of Lázaro Cárdenas, with his men, in order to take control of security against the criminal siege of Los Caballeros Templarios.

The activist was charged with crimes against health and the Federal Law on Firearms and Explosives, being held in the maximum security prison in Hermosillo, Sonora.

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Mireles Will Be Freed This Month Lawyer Says

By: Milton Martínez | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

In a period of four to 20 days, José Manuel Mireles Valverde, former autodefensa leader of Tepalcatepec, Michoacán, will be released; according to his lawyer, Javier Livas Cantú.

The litigant said that after the withdrawal of the judicial review that was announced last Friday by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), the writ of protection 52/2014 allowed Dr. Mireles to no longer be “hampered” by the federal authority.

“The only thing still pending is for the issue of the doctor to go down to the Tenth District Court—based in Uruapan, Michoacán—and to consider the effects of the protection, in order to rule on a new resolution, a judicial decree of formal freedom,” he explained.

The former autodefensa is imprisoned in the federal prison in Hermosillo, Sonora, along with his bodyguards, since June 30, 2014, accused of bearing arms for the exclusive use of the Mexican Army and crimes against health.

“As Mireles’ defense, I am very positive because it is very rare for the procurator, Arely Gómez, to offer this type of withdrawal and to send a very clear message that the PGR no longer has a perverse interest and the case is being seen with new eyes,” he said.

Livas Cantú met with representatives of the media after visiting Dr. Mireles, where he explained the legal developments in the case that has kept him imprisoned.

When questioned about the future that awaits Mireles once he is released, he shouted: “In Monterrey, we have big plans for him.”

Separately, the lawyer of the autodefensas, Talía Vázquez, said that Mireles and his bodyguards would leave the prison next week.

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Green Light Given For Mireles’ Prison Transfer

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

The Michoacán government gave the green light for the transfer of José Manuel Mireles from the federal prison in Hermosillo, Sonora to the David Franco Rodríguez Prison (Mil Cumbres) in Morelia.

Michoacán Governor Silvano Aureoles confirmed in an interview that the judge handling the case already requested information from the state authorities about space availability, so that the transfer of the former autodefensa leader can be realized.  However, Aureoles said that the case and Mireles’ transfer to Michoacán is in the hands of the Fifth District Court based in the city of Uruapan.

The governor revealed that “they requested authorization from us or the approval for the transfer to the prison, we responded that we have no objection, and it’s going to be up to the judge to decide.”

Nicolás Mendoza Jiménez, Mireles’ lawyer, was the one who promoted the transfer on the grounds of the deteriorating health of the former leader of the autodefensas in Michoacán.

Mireles was detained in the municipality of Lázaro Cárdenas on June 27 2014, charged with the crime of carrying arms for the exclusive use of the armed forces.

Source: Proceso

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