The Mexican government moved in to quell violence between vigilantes and a drug cartel in Michoacan state, but the campaign turned deadly early today with a confrontation between soldiers and civilians who witnesses say were unarmed.
There were widely varying reports of casualties, but Associated Press journalists saw the bodies of two men said to have died in the clash, and spoke to the family of a third man who was reportedly killed in the same incident. No women or children died, contrary to earlier reports by the spokesman of a self-defense group.
The Attorney General's Office said it could not confirm a number of dead. The Interior Ministry said it had no information about reports that soldiers had fired on an unarmed crowd.
"This is how they plan to protect the community? We don't want them," said Gloria Perez Torres, grieving over the body of her brother, Mario, 56, who was killed in the clash. Antunez was calm again today, and self-defense groups remained armed and in control.
Security analyst Alejandro Hope, who formerly worked for the country's intelligence agency, called the government's strategy in Michoacan a "disaster."
After initially arresting the vigilantes months ago, the federal government appeared to be working with them recently. The army and Federal Police have provided helicopter cover and road patrols while the self-defense groups attacked the cartel, but never intervened in the battles.
