In Mexico, women take the front lines as vigilantes

In the birthplace of Mexico’s vigilante “self-defense” movement, a new group has emerged entirely made up of women, who carry assault rifles and post roadblocks to fend off what they say is a bloody incursion into the state of Michoacán by the violent Jalisco cartel.

Some of the four dozen women warriors are pregnant; some carry their small children to the barricades with them. The rural area is traversed by dirt roads, through which they fear Jalisco gunmen could penetrate at a time when the homicide rate in Michoacán has spiked to levels not seen since 2013.

Many of the women vigilantes in the hamlet of El Terrero have lost sons, brothers or fathers in the fighting. Eufresina Blanco Nava said her son Freddy Barrios, a 29-year old lime picker, was kidnapped by presumed Jalisco cartel gunmen in pickup trucks; she has never heard from him since.

Women who say they are part of a female-led, self-defense group wear T-shirts with a message that reads in Spanish: "For a free Michoacan," as a toddler sits on a sandbag that is part of their check-point to protect the entrance of their town El Terrero, in Michoacan state, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. In the birthplace of Mexico’s vigilante “self-defense” movement, the new group has emerged entirely made up of women, who carry assault rifles and post roadblocks to fend off what they say is a bloody incursion into the state of Michoacán by the violent Jalisco cartel. (AP PhotoArmando Solis)

“They have disappeared a lot of people, a lot, and young girls, too,” said Blanco Nava.

One woman, who asked her name not be used because she has relatives in areas dominated by the Jalisco cartel, said that cartel kidnapped and disappeared her 14-year-old daughter, adding, “We are going to defend those we have left, the children we have left, with our lives.”

“We women are tired of seeing our children, our families disappear,” the vigilante said. “They take our sons, they take our daughters, our relatives, our husbands.”

Children play on sandbags at a checkpoint set up by their mothers, who say they are part of a female-led, self-defense group, to protect the entrance of their town of El Terrero in Michoacan state, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. Many of the women vigilantes in the hamlet of El Terrero have lost sons, brothers or fathers in the fighting. (AP PhotoArmando Solis)

That is, in part, why the women are taking up arms; men are growing scarce in Michoacan’s lime-growing hotlands.

“As soon as they see a man who can carry a gun, they take him away,” said the woman. “They disappear. We don't know if they have them (as recruits) or if they already killed them.”

Beside the barricades and roadblocks, the female vigilantes have a homemade tank, a heavy-duty pickup truck with steel plate armor welded on it. In other towns nearby, residents have dug trenches across roadways leading into neighboring Jalisco state, to keep the attackers out.

A woman wearing a shirt with the Spanish message "For a free Michoacan" boards a truck with other women, all of whom say they belong to a female-led, self-defense group, at the end of their shift patrolling a checkpoint to protect the entrance of their town of El Terrero in Michoacan state, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. Some of the four dozen women warriors are pregnant; some carry their small children to the barricades with them. (AP PhotoArmando Solis)

Alberto García, a male vigilante, has seen the medieval side of the war: He is from Naranjo de Chila, a town just across the river from El Terrero and the birthplace of the Jalisco cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera. Garcia said he was run out of the town by Jalisco cartel gunmen because he refused to join the group.

“They killed one of my brothers, too,” said Garcia. “They hacked him to pieces, and my sister-in-law, who was eight months pregnant.”

El Terrero has long been dominated by the New Michoacán Family and Viagras gangs, while the Jalisco cartel controls the south bank of the Rio Grande river. In 2019, the Viagras hijacked and burned a half-dozen trucks and buses to block the bridge over the river to prevent Jalisco convoys from entering in a surprise assault.

A masked woman who said she was displaced from her community by criminal groups adjusts her hat as she helps patrol a checkpoint run by a group of armed women who call themselves a self-defense group, at the entrance to El Terrero in Michoacan state, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. The rural area is traversed by dirt roads, through which they fear Jalisco gunmen could penetrate at a time when the homicide rate in Michoacán has spiked to levels not seen since 2013. (AP PhotoArmando Solis)

And that same year, in the next town over, San Jose de Chila, the rival gangs used a church as an armed redoubt to fight off an offensive by Jalisco gunmen. Holed up in the church tower and along its roof, they tried to defend the town against the incursion, leaving the church filled with bullet holes.

It is that stark divide where everyone is forced to chose sides — either Jalisco, or the New Michoacán Family and the Viagras — that has many convinced that the El Terrero vigilantes are just foot soldiers for one of those latter two gangs.

The vigilantes bitterly deny allegations they're part of a criminal gang, though they clearly see the Jalisco cartel as their foe. They say they would be more than happy for police and soldiers to come in and do their jobs.

A woman who says she is part of a female-led, self-defense group explains that her son was disappeared, during an interview at the check-point set up by her group of armed women to protect the entrance of El Terrero in Michoacan state, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. Many of the women vigilantes in the hamlet of El Terrero have lost sons, brothers or fathers in the bloody incursion into the state of Michoacán by the Jalisco cartel. (AP PhotoArmando Solis)

El Terrero is not far from the town of La Ruana, where the real self-defense movement was launched in 2013 by lime grower Hipolito Mora. After successfully chasing out the Knights Templar cartel, Mora, like most of the original leaders, has distanced himself from the so-called self-defense groups that remain, and is now a candidate for governor.

“I can almost assure you that they are not legitimate self-defense activists,” said Mora. “They are organized crime. ... The few self-defense groups that exist have allowed themselves to be infiltrated; they are criminals disguised as self-defense.”

Michoacán's current governor, Silvano Aureoles, is more emphatic. “They are criminals, period. Now, to cloak themselves and protect their illegal activities, they call themselves self-defense groups, as if that were some passport for impunity.”

Men who say they are family members of a female-led, self-defense group rest on sandbags at a check-point set up to protect the entrance of El Terrero in Michoacan state, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. In other towns nearby, residents have dug trenches across roadways leading into neighboring Jalisco state, to keep attackers out. (AP PhotoArmando Solis)

But in some ways, Mora says, the same conditions that gave rise to the original 2013 movement remain: Authorities and police fail to enforce the law and don't guarantee residents peace.

Sergio Garcia, a male member of El Terrero vigilante group, says his 15-year-old brother was kidnapped and killed by Jalisco. Now, he wants justice that police have never given him.

“We are here for a reason, to get justice by hook or by crook, because if we don't do it, nobody else will,” Garcia said.

An armed woman known as "La Guera," who says she is a member of a female-led, self-defense group, patrols the edge of their town of El Terrero, where it shares a border with the town of Aguililla, in Michoacan state, Mexico, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. The vigilantes bitterly deny allegations they're part of a criminal gang, though they clearly see the Jalisco cartel as their foe. They say they would be more than happy for police and soldiers to come in and do their jobs. (AP PhotoArmando Solis)

Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson contributed from Mexico City.

Armed women who go by the nicknames "La Chola," left, and "La Guera," and who say they are members of a female-led, self-defense group, patrol the edge of their town of El Terrero, where it shares a border with the town of Aguililla, in Michoacan state, Mexico, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. The rural area is traversed by dirt roads, through which they fear Jalisco gunmen could penetrate at a time when the homicide rate in Michoacán has spiked to levels not seen since 2013. (AP PhotoArmando Solis)

An armed woman who says she is a member of a female-led, self-defense group, sits guard at a checkpoint set up at the entrance of El Terrero in Michoacan state, Mexico, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. The vigilantes bitterly deny allegations they're part of a criminal gang, though they clearly see the Jalisco cartel as their foe. They say they would be more than happy for police and soldiers to come in and do their jobs. (AP PhotoArmando Solis)

An armed woman who goes by the nickname "La Guera," and who says she is a member of a female-led, self-defense group, patrols the edge of her town El Terrero, where it shares a border with the town of Aguililla, in Michoacan state, Mexico, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. In other towns nearby, residents have dug trenches across roadways leading into neighboring Jalisco state, to keep attackers out. (AP PhotoArmando Solis)

People who say they are members of a female-led, self-defense group, some wearing T-shirts with a message that reads in Spanish: "For a free Michoacan," board the back of a truck at the end of their work shift at a checkpoint to protect the entrance of El Terrero in Michoacan state, Mexico, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. Some of the four dozen women warriors are pregnant; some carry their small children to the barricades with them. (AP PhotoArmando Solis)

The Spanish message "Mobile barricade" covers the front of a homemade tank known as a "monster" during patrols by a female-led, self-defense group along the edge of El Terrero, where it shares a border with the town of Aguililla, in Michoacan state, Mexico, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. The rural area is traversed by dirt roads, through which they fear Jalisco gunmen could penetrate at a time when the homicide rate in Michoacán has spiked to levels not seen since 2013. (AP PhotoArmando Solis)

Women who say they are part of a female-led, self-defense group, some wearing T-shirts with a message that reads in Spanish: "For a free Michoacan," play board games at a check-point they set up to protect the entrance of their town of El Terrero, in Michoacan state, Mexico, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. Many of the women vigilantes in the hamlet of El Terrero have lost sons, brothers or fathers in the fighting. (AP PhotoArmando Solis)

The White House and a bipartisan group of governors are pressuring the operator of the mid-Atlantic power grid to take urgent steps to boost energy supply and curb price hikes, holding a Friday event aimed at addressing a rising concern among voters about the enormous amount of power used for artificial intelligence ahead of elections later this year.

The White House said its National Energy Dominance Council and the governors of several states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia, want to try to compel PJM Interconnection to hold a power auction for tech companies to bid on contracts to build new power plants,

The Trump administration and governors will sign a statement of principles toward that end Friday. The plan was first reported by Bloomberg.

“Ensuring the American people have reliable and affordable electricity is one of President Trump’s top priorities, and this would deliver much-needed, long-term relief to the mid-Atlantic region," said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is expected to be at the White House, a person familiar with Shapiro’s plans said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. Shapiro, a Democrat, made his participation in Friday’s event contingent on including a provision to extend a limit on wholesale electricity price increases for the region’s consumers, the person said.

But the operator of the grid won't be there. “PJM was not invited. Therefore we would not attend,” said spokesperson Jeff Shields.

It was not immediately clear whether President Donald Trump would attend the event, which was not listed on his public schedule.

Trump and the governors are under pressure to insulate consumers and businesses alike from the costs of feeding Big Tech’s energy-hungry data centers. Meanwhile, more Americans are falling behind on their electricity bills.

Consumer advocates say ratepayers in the mid-Atlantic electricity grid — which encompasses all or parts of 13 states stretching from New Jersey to Illinois, as well as Washington, D.C. — are already paying billions of dollars in higher bills to underwrite the cost to supply power to data centers, some of them built, some not.

However, they also say that the billions of dollars that consumers are paying isn’t resulting in the construction of new power plants necessary to meet the rising demand.

Pivotal contests in November will be decided by communities that are home to fast-rising electric bills or fights over who’s footing the bill for the data centers that underpin the explosion in demand for artificial intelligence. In parts of the country, data centers are coming online faster than power plants can be built and connected to the grid.

Electricity costs were a key issue in last year's elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, a data center hotspot, and in Georgia, where Democrats ousted two Republican incumbents for seats on the state’s utility regulatory commission. Voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California and New York City all cited economic concerns as the top issue, as Democrats and Republicans gird for a debate over affordability in the intensifying midterm battle to control Congress.

Gas and electric utilities sought or won rate increases of more that $34 billion in the first three quarters of 2025, consumer advocacy organization PowerLines reported. That was more than double the same period a year earlier.

Meta's Stanton Springs Data Center is seen Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Newton County, East of Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)