Drug gang kills Mexican farmer, Hipolito Mora, who refused to play by their rules

Hipolito Mora grew lemons on his small farm – and then grew tired of the brutal standover men who ruined his Mexican homeland.

There had long been a price on Hipolito Mora’s head. The leader of a self-defence militia in Mexico was assassinated by the gangs he opposed on June 29, 2023. Picture: Getty

OBITUARY

Hipolito Mora

Lemon farmer, anti-gang vigilante. Born La Ruana, Mexico, July 25, 1955; died La Ruana, June 29, aged 67.

The Australian government’s Smartravellers website warns those brave enough to travel to Mexico that they should “exercise a high degree of caution”. It further advises us to reconsider the need to travel to Michoacan, a beautiful western state with a long Pacific Ocean coastline that contains the Paricutin volcano, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Beneath its beauty, Michoacan is a place of fatal dangers. You are likelier to be kidnapped there than almost any place on earth. Armed gangs rule Michoacan, as they do much of Mexico. Their business is drugs, murder, theft and extortion with a sideline of counterfeit pesos and greenbacks.

From time to time, frustrated locals mount quixotic campaigns of vigilantism to fight back. Most commonly two things happen: gang members infiltrate these would-be militias, and/or the leaders are assassinated.

Beneath its beauty, Mexico is fraught with danger. Pictured is Cancun, where authorities found eight bodies in April, as drug cartel violence rages. Picture: Supplied

Hipolito Mora spent a decade fighting back against the gangs. The inevitable took place last week, as he had expected since they murdered his son in 2014. And the circumstances around his killing would indicate the gang that assassinated Mora was able to pull strings with locals, even the police.

Mora’s house was shot up by unknown attackers days earlier. It had happened before, but he took it in his stride; he was threatened in daily phone calls and in emails. Gang members even posted video threats against him on social media. He often moved about his modest 15ha plot with a pump-action shotgun and always had a pistol on his waist – even in church on Sundays.

Surely one of Mexico’s bravest men, he was determined not to back down. He had lost a son, but he wanted the children of others to enjoy simple lives of peace and justice and perhaps even some prosperity as fruit growers.

Around Mora’s town, standover men armed with AK47s and Belgian-made FN 5.7 calibre pistols (called cop killers because they are lethal even if you have a Kevlar vest) tell the farmers to whom they can sell their limes, lemons and avocados, when and for what price.

A member of the National Guard stands guard at the zone where a car bomb exploded in Celaya, Guanajuato state, in June. Mora wanted the children of others to enjoy simple lives of peace and justice, despite losing his own son. Picture: AFP

In February 2013, keeping his fears to himself but sharing his courage with everyone, Mora formed his own gang – a self-defence militia – in an effort to protect his family of 11 children and their neighbours. He knew how big a call it was, especially when he started telling police the location of illegal drug factories.

Mora’s team had a few deadly encounters with the gangs and he was criticised by the state’s governor as running an “illegal, armed militia”. Mora challenged the government to rid Michoacan of the gangs. He and his friends were able to expel one mob, a particularly ­vicious outfit known as the Knights Templar Cartel.

But all of Mexico’s legitimate institutions are corrupted, including defence personnel, police forces and far too many politicians. When 43 students were kidnapped – all of whom are assumed to have been murdered – in Iguala in the country’s northeast, the government ­accused the local mayor and his wife of the crime and arrested 44 police officers. The Mexican Army was also implicated.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is Mexico’s patron saint, but she seems disinclined to dispense any miracles for her accursed country.

There had long been a price on Mora’s head. The invoice was submitted on Thursday of last week.

Police disappeared hours before Mora’s armoured truck came under fire from what a local described as a rocket-launcher. Then shooting broke out. The gunmen made sure Mora and his bodyguards were dead, then set the vehicle ablaze. Locals took their children inside and locked the doors. When the gang left – after filming the murder scene and posting it online – people went to the still burning truck but no one could be saved. They put out the fire. The National Guard did not arrive, nor did the local police.

Former Mexican president Felipe Calderon tweeted: “With deep sadness, I heard about the cowardly murder of Hipolito Mora. My condolences to the family. I join in the demands for justice. May he rest in peace.”

Mora told a local newspaper journalist weeks ago: “I have little time left here. Since I am not going to move from Michoacan, the people who are after me are not going to rest until they kill me. I won’t make it to Christmas alive.”

It was so right. And so wrong.