2015 Films: #18. Cartel Land

This title was an iTunes rental that I watched on my flight from Chicago to Ontario, CA on November 11th. A documentary directed by Matt Heineman that center around two vigilante areas involved in the Mexican Drug War, one in Arizona and the other in Michoacán, Mexico. In an Arizona town about 90 miles south of Tucson we have Tim Foley founder of Arizona Border Recon, a militia group that concerns it self with patrolling a stretch of the Mexico-Arizona border in order to stem the flow of drugs into America. Foley says that he started doing this because he was fed up with the flow of drugs through his community and how the police (90 miles away in Tucson) were powerless to help. He didn't feel safe so he and a handful of volunteers took it upon themselves to take the risk and do what they can.

Foley was a construction worker prior to the economic crash of 2008 and found himself unable to get work because Mexicans were working for less money. I got the feeling that while he may have started on this venture with some racist beliefs he realized that there are Mexicans who are in the same boat as him (or worse in a lot of cases). He does however have some blatant racists working with him (ideology is overlooked because he needs the help).

The Mexican portions of the film center around Dr. Manuel Mireles Valverde. Valverde founded his group Autodefensas because he felt the the Mexican was too corrupt to do anything about the rampant violence carried out by drug cartels. He slowly gathered a following of fellow fed up citizens who armed themselves against the cartel. They slowly began taking towns from the cartels and gaining new recruits. As the Autodefensas began to grow the Mexican government took notice and offered to bring the vigilante group in the fold after an assassination attempt on Valverde. Valverde doesn't trust the government but while he was laid up his 2nd in command took over and Valverde got left without a chair when the music stopped. It should also be noted that while Valverde was recuperating, the Autdefensas got a little rough with their methods and turned people against them (its pretty much inferred that they were pulling suspected "cartel members" off the streets and torturing them). It turns out that Dr. Valverde is quite the devout family man as we are led to believe. He's got a penchant for younger women, much to the dismay of his wife.

The film ends with Dr. Valverde being put in prison by Mexican authorities, Arizona Border Recon continuing their patrols and the cartels (who fund Autodefensas among others) going about their business. The cycle continues.

This an interesting picture about people who took matters into their own hands. I'm more sympathetic to Valverde than Foley and it's hard for me to comprehend what either has gone through. Without Valverde, Autodefensas became as bad as the cartels. Arizona Border Recon is quick to point out that they are neither militia nor vigilantes but have worked with Border Patrol. But Foley isn't in a position to turn down help and the time may come when his group becomes part of the problem instead of part of the solution (if there can be one).