Michoacán Militia Leader José Mireles Asks For Direct Talks With Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto

José Manuel Mireles, the doctor who rose to fame across Mexico for his role as a spokesman and leader of anti-cartel militias in the state of Michoacán, said in a YouTube communique on Wednesday that even as the incorporation of the militias into a government-trained rural defense corps proceeds without major disruption, he believed the militias should deal directly with President Enrique Peña Nieto as public security in the state remains on unstable footing. “Your commissioners take a photo with us and go off with it to you saying everything’s peaceful,” Mireles said. “We want to have a direct dialogue with the president of our republic.”

“We’ve seen you come to Michoacán many times, but you only come to meet with the politicians. And honestly, the politicians are the ones who have this state and this country in a shameful state … they don’t represent us, the people.” Mireles and other militia leaders have hailed an accord for their partial disarmament and incorporation into the temporary rural corps, which would place them under the charge of the federal government. But he seemed to indicate wariness about the government’s willingness to follow through with the “cleaning up” of Michoacán.

“A lot of times we don’t agree with what your commissioner in Michoacán tells you, because many of those agreements aren’t to our liking. We want to give you our points of view on the meetings that we have with your commissioners, independent of what they inform you. We want you to analyze what the people tell you and what the commissioner tells you,” Mireles said. Those direct talks could take place through Skype, he suggested. “I don’t know how to use it, but I could have someone teach me how … there are many ways we could be in communication.”