Los Caballeros Templarios: \"Social Bandits\"

it is active in

the neighboring states

of

Guerrero, Mexico, and Jalisco. Its crossborder reach extends to important centers

of operations in California, New Mexico, Georgia (including the key transshipment hub ofAtlanta), North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida.3 In California, is believed to have linla rvith both Surefio and Norteio affiliated

LFM

gangs. It is currently affiliated with the Sinaloa Federation and helps facilitate

the movement of drugs through rwo lucrative distribution triangles: TijuanaSan Diego-Los Angeles and El Paso-

Houston-Atlanta.a Emerging from La Empressa in the 1980s, LFM started with a local focus The Gnryo Reforma /teadquarters at

Mexiio C::, l'i'r,:,t: Caroliha l-dpt: 't!

that emphasized helping the poor and protecting the communiry, building a

porverful myth surrounding its

operationalethos. This skilled use

of

rhat blitz, federal police are reported to

police helicoprer, they displayed corPses

narrative allowed it to capture porver

have shot and killed " El Chayo," Nazario

in villages proximate to the under-

and reach. Ultimately, LFM became a

Moreno Gonzilez, the spiritual leader of

seventeen soccer'W'orld

porverful poly-drug enterprise centered

on merhamphetamines. Other lines of

LFM, knorvn as " el mtis loco" (the craziest one) in December 2010. That event was

currently continue their brutal displays

business included marijuana and cocaine

follorved by the arrest of " El Chango"

throughout rheir area of operations.

trafficking, kidnapping for ransom,

Among these continuing attacks lvas the

and pirating CDs and DVDs. Equally

(the monkey), Josd de Jesds M6ndez in June 201l. Los Timplarios are believed

significant, they co-opted politicians and

to be led by Servando G6mez, an LFM

branch ofPepsiCo). The Sabritas amacks

political processes and seized political

lieutenant under Moreno.

included arson attacks on fixed sites

''

control and influence at municipal and state levels throughout Michoacdn.'

LOS CABALLEROS TEMPLARIOS

.

The Knights Templar or Los Caballetos

Los Tenplorios announced presence

rvith

(narco ma n tas)

a series

to demonstrate their presence, and they

May 25-26,20I2, attack on Sabritas (a

(distribution centers in Apatizingin,

their

ofcartel banners

Lizaro Cdrdenas, Uruapan, Salatierra, and Celaya), and amacfts on 40 delivery

promising communiry

securiry Grillo reported that the nutntas proclaimed, "Our commitment is to safeguard ordet avoid robberies,

Tlnplarios are an ofFshoot of La Fanilia.

kidnapping, extortion, and to shield the

They emerged as the remnants of the

state frolm rival organizations."') These

LFM after the Mexican

organizations were not specified, but

state cracked

Cup in Morelia

it-

anT

vehicles.tt

SOCIAL BANDITRY AND INFLUENCE OPERATIONS La Familia made its public debut in September 2006 rvhen Bventy masked

bandits stormed Uruapan's Sol y Sombra

dorvn on La Familia's activiries. Like rheir predecessor (the original Knighrs

can be inferred thar both Los Zeras

federal securiry forces rvere the implicit

nightclub. The gunmen fired shots into

Templar), they evoke an image of social

violators of Michoacdn's integriry.

the air and then tossed six human heads

prorection, regionalism, religiosiry and

These messages (narcom ensaje) were

onto the dance floor. Accompanying

revolutionary rhetoric. They are believed

quickly follorved by a demonstration

this bloody display rvas a placard

to 6eld an army of about 1,200 sicarios and use violent campaigns to bolster their

of rhe Knights' prorvess

cause.6' According to journalist Loan

as

communiry

prorecrors rvhen an alleged kidnapper rvas hanged from a highrval' overpass.

r(i

announcing: "The family doesnt kill

for money. It doesn'r kill for rvomen. doesnt kill innocent

It

people, only those

Los Tenplarios are u'idely believed

rvho deserve to die. Knorv that this is

group from the'narco-Evangelical' cartel

to be successfully assuming control of

divine justice."': Violence is used as a

knolvn

symbolic statement of control, reach, and

Los Ti:ntplaios rose in the aftermath

LFM's turf and operations. They are also sustaining LFlvlt contiontation rvith the

of the federal crackdorvn on LFM. In

state. In May 201 1 , thel' shot at a federal

is cast as

Grillo, "The Knights are a breakarvay as La

Familia Michoacana."s

prowess. The

cartel-in this case LFM-

communiry protectors using

targered violence to ward offand punish

myth of communiry protectors. First

interlopers and those rvho violate regional

described in the work of Eric Hobsbawn,

communiry norms.

social banditry is a powerful mechanism

The LFM cartel seela to forge and

of ' primitive rebellion."r

j

La Familia's preferred public face "is

sustain legitimacy and constituency

in the communiq,. Public sraremenrs

that of porverful avengers rvho protect

amplify symbolic acts of violence by the

the poor and battle the rich, corrupt and

cartel, These include narco-messages/

others who exploit the poor locals."rt

norcomensajes, nnrcomntrtAs, ttarcoconidos

(folk songs), corpse-messaging, and

Quasi-religious narratives support this image. As New Yorker correspondent

media communiqu6s. In the Sol y

Villiam

Finnegan observed, "La Familiat

Sombra InfoOps, the brutal display was

corpse messaging often mentions divine

followed by ads in local papers (La Voz

justice. Irs soldiers are said to be required

de

Michoacin and El Sol de Morelia).

to carry Bibles or, alternatively,

a self-

Flyers and handouts rvere also disributed,

published volume of epigrams by Nazario

heralding La Familia's autonomy and

Moreno Gonz{lez."16

goal of warding off Los Zetas"'destructive

power'."r] These InfoOp,

LFMI

"r.

p"r.

of-'

efforrc to manipulate social

space and

form

a social b"se

throu$

Finnegan elaborates on this point:[7

In addition to their quasi-religiousferuor, La Fantilia's public broadsides ofen haue a

political

cast.

In a paid aduertisement

paramilirary ractics, terror, and crafting

published in ttuo ttutteuide neas?dPers, Ld

the image of 'tocial bandit." Social

Familia'posed the question 'Who are we?"

banditry is sustained by developing the

hs own lengtby answer began, "Worhers

fiom the Tiena Caliente rcgion in

the state

of Michoauin, organized by the need to ena the oppression, the we ltaue

humiliation to which

co,trtttntb been subjected

by

peopk

ulto haue aluays had powcn" A senior American official in Mexico Ciry told me, "La Familia is looking mor and more like an insurgenry and less like a

cartel." Lately, a faction of La Familia

to signing the messages left at decapitation scenes "La Resistencia," has taken

Adopdng

a

pseudo-religious or cult

persona is a tool of cartel legidmization. Such imagery sustains group cohesion, garners tacit support from the

communiry, and reinforces social and

political control, Grassroots support and selective and symbolic use of extreme violence and charity blend seamlessly wich extortion, protection, and'ttreet taxes" to solidifr their porver base.r8 Los Caballeros Tempkrios continue this

practice. In doing so, the "Executions and beheadings cloaked in cult-like

of this social

community transgressors. tVhile corpse-

:eligious pronouncements demonstrate

narcobloqueos) are often part

:heir zeal and reinforce the myth thar

shaping, constituting a porverful tactical

messaging accompanying beheadings

tool rvith strategic resonance.

have become a staple of the drug war,

:hey are protecting and

purifying the

The use of spiritual imagery is a key

and."re

\ARCOCULTURA AND }ARBARIZATION Narcocuhaa involves the manipulation rfnarratives and social artifacts to 'reate a frame

of understanding and

Iternative primary loyalties. Here, mages, oaths,

folk songs (ndrcocortidos),

nd increasingly social media are used to ,rand the cartels'operations. Both LFM nd Los Caballet'rr are reported to exploit

reir operating environment, contesting 1e state and criminal rivals alike. rterlopers is integral to this messaging. or example, in early July 2009, LFNI ritiated coordinated artacks against state ast

in I0 cities. In this campaign,

rvith the state.rr Indeed, the religious

victims, knorvn as mal