The scent of limes in the air, Papa Pitufo shouted orders to his men and consulted by cellphone with his far-flung forces.

The gray-bearded farmer has emerged as the senior leader of the vigilante movement that has taken over a large swath of wealthy Michoacan state, one of the world's top producers of avocados and limes but dominated for nearly a decade by ruthless drug cartels.

For the first time in modern Mexican history, an armed civilian band has ejected a drug cartel from its environs. For now, members of the so-called Knights Templar are lying low, challenged by rebelling citizens — including some who have returned to their families' homes from California — finally fed up with unrelenting extortion, kidnapping, arson, rapes and killings.

"Where we have a presence, [the Knights Templar] no longer have influence. They are gone," said Papa Pitufo, holding court at the main lime market in Apatzingan.

But the vigilantes have also proved a major challenge to the youngovernment of President Enrique Peña Nieto — making it clear that official security forces had been unable to protect their own people. Initially, federal forces tried to cooperate with the vigilantes. Now fearing a Frankenstein-like scenario, authorities are trying to rein them in.


Saturday was the federally imposed deadline in Michoacan for thousands of "self-defense" forces, as they call themselves, to register their weapons and formally disband. They are being allowed to keep their handguns and assault weapons (but no rocket launchers or bazookas) and will be invited to join a new rural police force. As of the weekend, at least 3,316 people had signed up and more than 6,000 weapons were registered.

That too is unprecedented; no other Mexican state allows ordinary citizens to legally retain AK-47s and other military-style assault weapons.

...