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Questions & Help Mar 20, 2026 at 6:12 PM

Under siege by a Mexican cartel, these civilians fight back with AK-47s and grenades

Posted by Select_Resort_7267

https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/siege-mexican-cartel-now-civilians-fight-back-ak-131243677
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Saerdna0 Mar 20, 2026 +140
Long article, but in short, a 50-man vigilante force in Mexico’s Guerrero state has been fighting cartel La Nueva Familia Michoacana since 2020, after it seized land and drove most residents away. They surveil nearby cartel gunmen with drones and carry US-made smuggled weapons, though signs of criminal entanglement are visible within the group itself. The recent killing of CJNG leader “El Mencho” threatens more violence ahead.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.
140
lindendweller Mar 20, 2026 +100
So basically, assuming they "succeed" in pushing out the cartel, the chances are good that in a handful of years, this group becomes a cartel in it's own right? And if they lay down arms, some cartel or other might return.
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HowDoIEvenEnglish Mar 20, 2026 +59
What else is really possible if the government won’t protect the people. The need for a militia group to drive off cartels isn’t going to away. And there gonna eventually need money to keep doing it. Bam. Cartel.
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lindendweller Mar 20, 2026 +10
The root issue is the high demand for illegal drugs in the US and the lack or gun control that make those heavily armed cartels profitable and possible... The Mexican government has killed one of their leaders but it's hard to believe it will move the needle, and I must admit I'm not knowledgeable about their broader policies.
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HowDoIEvenEnglish Mar 20, 2026 +32
You can’t blame all of Mexican corruption on American black markets. To say that the primary reason cartels can exist in Mexico isn’t that the Mexican government has failed to successfully fight them or shut them down is absurd. Canada doesn’t have cartels even though they could make drugs and ship to America illegal, as they did during prohibition with alcohol. Cartels wouldn’t be as powerful without the American market to sell too, but gangs have existed without having a large foreign market next door.
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lindendweller Mar 20, 2026 -4
Sure but without the large market next door they can't grow so rich. Every country has gangs of some sort, but it's impossible for them to rival the government in firepower without the markets.
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Acceptable-Ad1930 Mar 20, 2026 +17
Cartels supply the whole world, there’s more coke being produced than ever, it’s not just the US. Even if you somehow stopped it in the USA, they still ship to Canada, europe and australia
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lindendweller Mar 20, 2026 -1
yeah, but again, most of it isn't produced in mexico, passes through mexico - and most of it doesn't go to Canada, most of it goes to the US- and most importantly - the weapons are certainly not coming from Canada.
-1
das_slash Mar 21, 2026 -5
LOL, LMAO even, the overwhelming majority (>80%) of drugs sales from the cartels, and the weapons they use are to/from the US. if the US stops buying drugs and implements gun control the cartels would be gone
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Acceptable-Ad1930 Mar 21, 2026 +3
Actually, [this study puts it at about 30 percent for ALL of North America](https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/cocaine/Global_cocaine_report_2023.pdf). You don’t know anything you’re talking about
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das_slash Mar 21, 2026 +1
... For cocaine, which is notoriously only produced in south america, how is it possible that you arent even able to understand the very basics of your own sources?
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SnooStrawberries6934 Mar 21, 2026 +1
This is pretty much what happened with the autodefensas movement in 2012. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grupos_de_autodefensa_comunitaria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grupos_de_autodefensa_comunitaria) eventually most of these groups were infiltrated and were funded/controlled/influenced by cartels.
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Select_Resort_7267 Mar 20, 2026 +9
The kind of internal wars that cares for no civilian casualties
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art-man_2018 Mar 20, 2026 +16
Why do these news sites post videos not related to the article I clicked on? I don't give a f*** about Kevin Spacey. Anyway, this has been an ongoing battle in Mexico, nothing really new.
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Far_Radish7752 Mar 20, 2026 +10
From the article in ABC News: >GUAJES DE AYALA, Mexico -- Jesús Domínguez pushes through thick brush lining a rugged mountainside with an AK-47 slung over his shoulder and a grenade fastened to his leather belt. >He marches alongside a pack of camouflage-clad men patrolling the rural stretches of Mexicoagainst one of the country's most powerful drug cartels. >Armed with military-grade weapons smuggled from the U.S., the 50-man force is one of dozens of “autodefensa,” or “self-defense,” groups that have emerged over the past decade in Mexico to fight increasingly sophisticated cartels in areas far out of the reach of security forces. >“The government doesn’t care about us, and it’s impossible for our arms to compete with (the cartel’s),” said Domínguez, 34, from a watch post overlooking the mountains of Guerrero state. “They come at you with a ton of force, so you need to respond with force…If you don’t, they’ll overwhelm you.” >The vigilantes in Guajes de Ayala join a volatile landscape of warring armed groups – from cartels with tentacles across Latin America to local mafias – in regions like Guerrero ravaged by splintering cartels for decades. It’s a tangle Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum will have to unravel under pressure from the Trump administration and fears of more violence following the killing of Mexico's most powerful drug lord.
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projexion_reflexion Mar 20, 2026 +11
You've heard of good guy with a gun? Let me introduce, good guy with a grenade. \[image of Benicio del Toro from The Phoenician Scheme\]
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rnilf Mar 20, 2026 +36
> They carry AK-47s and AR-15s stamped with “MADE IN USA” and names of gun makers in Florida, South Carolina and even Poland. Because Mexico has strict gun control laws, the vast majority of arms in Mexico are smuggled from the U.S. by cartels. When the US sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with them. They're bringing guns. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.
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Meleagros Mar 20, 2026 +10
The majority of guns don't just come from the US but from law enforcement officers trying to make a profit. Also how a lot of our drugs come into the country. Police departments have routinely been busted for swapping arms for drugs and being a core part of the drug trade. The US government just loves conveniently leaving that part out when they mention cracking down on drugs.
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wyvernx02 Mar 21, 2026 +2
They also leave out that they "count" the number of guns from the US by counting tracing requests. You get the same guns that will get traced multiple times either because multiple law enforcement agencies handled the guns after they are confiscated and each submitted a trace request, or because crooked cops are selling the guns back to the cartels where they then eventually get confiscated and traced again.
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anythingall Mar 20, 2026 +1
Haha! 45 and 47 said. 
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Select_Resort_7267 Mar 20, 2026
Tough tough tough.
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zorionek0 Mar 20, 2026 +2
The gritty reboot of the Magnificent Seven
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Rubber_Knee Mar 21, 2026 +2
These guys will be a Cartel eventually. Money and power corrupts.
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Select_Resort_7267 Mar 21, 2026 +1
When you're backed into a corner, you gottq act.
1
Simburgure Mar 20, 2026 +6
War zone on the border.
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lostroadrunner22 Mar 20, 2026 +4
This is southern Mexico.
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Select_Resort_7267 Mar 20, 2026 +7
Everybody now is in some kind of war.
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Black-Shoe Mar 20, 2026 +1
I said the same thing 30 yrs ago when I joined the military, nothings changed
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comradphilx Mar 20, 2026 +3
War never change
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CyberNinja23 Mar 20, 2026 +4
“Brick where’d you get grenade?”
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sufferpuppet Mar 20, 2026 +1
Where do civilians get grenades? Are those just on the shelf at the store in Mexico?
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Human_Mask Mar 20, 2026 +7
When the violence is so great that rich and poor surfers equally is when the rich open their wallets and give resources to arm the poor. What I mean is, when violence afect us all - everyone starts to do what they can. That is why the people in power is so focused in the división of the people making the rich, poor and middle class fight eachother, to prevent an upsirising as in Michoacan 2013 where the people started figthing back the Narcos and did it so successfuly that the government had to sent the Army to protect the Narcos and divide the uprising people.
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papadopus Mar 20, 2026 +4
The article itself said these "civilians" are getting arms from other cartels. If anything some cartel groups are arming these civilians so that other cartels can have their power checked without having to send any of their own members. Kind of a sad situation for everyone.
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SwampTerror Mar 21, 2026
And its the cartels that'll save Mexico from trumps fascist invasion.
0
NiobiumThorn Mar 20, 2026 -8
oh boy, I smell manufacturing consent ... again God can you at least pick one country to invade
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