Cartel Land - Catholic Herald Film Review

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Cartel Land doesn’t make for comfortable viewing, and rightly so

Excerpt:

Judging by appearances, with their camouflage outfits, tattoos and heavy weaponry, it would be easy to dismiss these people as a bunch of redneck racists. Some of them probably are, but the question of why they are doing what they are doing becomes increasingly engrossing and thought-provoking as interviews with their damaged but single-minded leader, Tim ‘‘Nailer’’ Foley, unfold.

While Foley’s story is an engaging one, it is when the film shifts to Mexico and the state of Michoacán that Cartel Land comes into its own. Director Matthew Heineman focuses on the charismatic Dr José Manuel Mireles and his Autodefensa vigilantes, a group of ordinary citizens who decided in 2012 to take up arms to protect themselves and their families.

The film tracks the spread of the movement across the state, the opposition it faces from the authorities and, eventually, its corruption from within. The cowboy hat-wearing Dr Mireles emerges as a kind of hero, his opposition first to the cartels and then to his Autodefensa colleagues, landing him, unsurprisingly, in prison, where he is currently still languishing (and highly unlikely to benefit from an El Chapo-style escape).

Heineman doesn’t shy away from the unrelenting horror of the story confronting him. Most incredibly, he places himself right in the middle of a number of running gun battles in the Michoacán streets, exactly the kind of brave-to-the-point-of-reckless film-making that would surely make the great Werner Herzog proud.

catholicherald.co.uk/issues/september-4th-2015/film-review-cartel-land/

Dr. Mireles, leader of the Self Defense “Auto-Defensas” groups is currently in prison, still, one of the protagonists of this documentary. It really makes one wonder, whose side the Federal Government is on when one of the biggest criminals escapes.

 

[mikekle]

Oh, I definitely think the US Govt was involved in Chapos escape, or at least, they likely knew about it, They found Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan, I have no doubts they know exactly where Chapo is. LOL But they need him and his cartel, without him, there would not be countless addicts willing to commit crimes in order to buy drugs, for profit prisons play a huge part, they must have enough people breaking enough laws to keep them all occupied, what better way than thru illegal drugs, related crime?

Not to mention, all the property and cash seizures that the US gets to keep, many of the cash seizures involve 100s of 1000s of dollars per each incident…point is, its just too lucrative for them not to be involved, plus, it was common knowledge the CIA was directly involved in the drug trade back in the 70s, I doubt they ever got out of the business.

 

[Path_Finder]

When I said Federal Government, I definitely don’t mean ours.

The stories are actually complex, I’ll leave it at that.