14 Kidnapped in Mexico Following Uprising Against Drug Cartel

The Familia Michoacana cartel retaliates after farmers' revolt results in the death of 10 gunmen; no charges for villagers as clash deemed 'legitimate self defense'.

14 residents, including four children, have been kidnapped by a drug cartel in central Mexico, in apparent retaliation for an uprising by local farmers that resulted in the death of 10 cartel gunmen.
The kidnapped adults include three policemen who were seized at a cartel roadblock, and a wounded villager the gang snatched from a hospital soon after the clash.
Residents of the village and a nearby hamlet claim the Familia Michoacana drug cartel is demanding they hand over the leaders of the uprising, in exchange for releasing the kidnapped children and adults.
The head prosecutor for the State of Mexico, José Luis Cervantes, has stated that no ransom demand has been received and that none of the villagers will face charges for the clash, as it has been classified as 'legitimate self defense'.
The Familia Michoacana cartel, known for its brazen ambushes of police and the 2022 massacre of 20 townspeople in the town of Totolapan, had previously demanded local farmers pay an extortion fee.