State and local officials in western
Mexico disputed Monday whether the old vigilante "self-defense" movement has re-awakened, or whether recent confrontations are just turf battles between gangs.
The 2013-2014 vigilante movement took control of large swaths of western Michoacan state, purportedly to expel the old Knights Templar drug cartel.
Over the weekend, vigilantes in the town of Tepalcatepec said they had fought off a massive attack by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and posted videos showing hundreds of purported vigilante fighters and shot-up pickup trucks surrounded by bodies.