Knights Templar Cartel Feeling Financial Pinch, Says Former Member In Michoacan

Amid pressure first from armed citizen militias and now, in the past week, from the Mexican army and federal police, the Knights Templar cartel – which has long imposed itself on the most lucrative industries in the southwestern Mexican state of Michoacán – are feeling the financial pinch, one former member told La Jornada on Tuesday. “Juan”, who says he fled a ranch belonging to the cartels and walked for four days before finding himself in the territory of the militias, whose ranks he joined, told the paper that he had been offered 12,000 pesos (about $903) to become a cartel member.

But the 20-year-old onetime cartel member calls his former peers “liars”, saying, “They don’t have money anymore and don’t pay what they say they will. They’re poor.” He added, “Because they don’t have any support from the leaders that would help them before,” and said that he joined the militias four months ago with enthusiasm because “this isn’t a criminal group; to the contrary, they support and help the people who need it most.” The degree to which the Knights Templars’ extensive extortion operations have been impacted, however, remains unclear.

The Associated Press reported on Monday that federal forces had captured three members of the Knights Templar cartel, including 37-year-old Jesus Vazquez Macias, who the Mexican government describes as a top leader – though militias say he was a top hit man, but not a cartel leader. The autodefensas say they will not put down their arms until the government arrests seven of the cartel’s top leaders.