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audio, stills, text and or video: Go to http://www.zReportage.com to see more - In central Mexico's hills, an audacious band of citizen militias is making strides against the oppressive Knights Templar drug gang - something they say federal forces have not managed to do in a decade. ''We are coming together with only one thing in mind: Kill or be killed,'' says Jose Manuel Mireles, a surgeon under whom the self-defense groups are coalescing. Mireles, who used to work for the Red Cross in California, has become a leader of the self-defense movement in Michoacan state, helping coordinate groups that had been scattered in different towns and operating independently. They say their aim is to end years of violence and extortion by the Knights Templar drug cartel. 'They kidnapped my sisters, they tried to kill my wife and my children, and when they started going into the schools and taking the baby girls, 11-year-olds, 12-year-olds, that was my breaking point.'
© Miguel Juarez Lugo/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Aug. 25, 2013 - Division Del Norte, Michoacan, Mexico - A member of a self-defense force shows an AK-47 with a high-storage ammunition cartridge that holds at least 500 rounds. They were at first armed only with shotguns and even slingshots but say they are increasingly seizing weapons, ammunition, bullet proof vests and other bounty as the Knights Templar drug gang flee towns.
© Miguel Juarez Lugo/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Aug. 25, 2013 - Tepalcatepec, Michoacan, Mexico - A self-defense force member is seen through the window of a shot-up armored truck the group said they seized from the Knights Templar drug gang as they fled town.
© Miguel Juarez Lugo/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Aug. 25, 2013 - Coalcoman, Michoacan, Mexico - Self-defense forces gather in anticipation of a possible confrontation with state security forces. The group had heard a rumor that state police had arrested leaders of a citizen militia from a neighboring town. It ended up being a false alarm.
© Miguel Juarez Lugo/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Aug. 25, 2013 - Pizandaro, Michoacana, Mexico - A member of a self-defense group rests in a truck bed. President Enrique Pena Nieto deployed Mexican army troops to Michoacan state in May. The soldiers are mostly manning checkpoints.
© Miguel Juarez Lugo/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Aug. 25, 2013 - Tepaltepec, Michoacan, Mexico - JOSE MANUEL MIRELES, the self-defense forces leader, gets a hug from his daughter. An array of self-defense groups are now working together to chase away the Knights Templar, a brutal drug gang that controls much of Michoacan. The Mexican army has been deployed to the area, but locals say they do not have much trust in the military.
© Miguel Juarez Lugo/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Aug. 25, 2013 - Pinzandaro, Michoavan, Mexico - JOSE MANUEL MIRELES, the self-defense forces leader, who is coordinating self-defense forces, arrives at a militia position in the hills.
© Miguel Juarez Lugo/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Aug. 25, 2013 - Coalcoman, Michoacan, Mexico - A member of a self-defense group from Aquila shows bruises and wounds he said he received when Michoacan state policeman beat him with the butt of a rifle.
© Miguel Juarez Lugo/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Aug. 25, 2013 - Buenavista, Michoacan, Mexico - A member of a self-defense force shows high-caliber ammunition being used to fight off the Knights Templar cartel.
© Miguel Juarez Lugo/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Aug. 25, 2013 - Coalcoman, Michoacan, Mexico - A member of a self-defense force shows off a silver-plated AK-47 he said was seized from the Knights Templar cartel as they fled town.
© Miguel Juarez Lugo/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press

Miguel Juarez Lugo

MIGUEL JUAREZ LUGO has more than 20 years of experience as a photojournalist and has covered stories in Mexico, the U.S., East and Central Africa and the Middle East. His photos have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, NPR, Paris Match, El Pais, O Globo and Gara, among other outlets. He was the first Mexican photographer to be based in the U.S. for the Mexican newspapers Reforma and El Norte, covering the White House and Congress. He has worked extensively in Kenya, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, Gaza, and most recently, Syria. Miguel is interested in the power of photography to communicate the humanity, emotion and complexity of a given moment, always with dignity and honesty, and always with the goal of bringing the viewer and subject closer together. He is currently based in New York and Washington, D.C. (Credit Image: © Miguel Juarez Lugo/ZUMAPRESS.com):493


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