In Mexico, a new investigation has revealed federal police massacred 16 civilians in January in the state of Michoacán. Authorities had described the incident in Apatzingán as a shootout with a civil defense force. But a report published in Mexican outlets based on interviews with dozens of people reveals federal police attacked an encampment of members of an anti-cartel rural defense group, who had staged a sit-in after the federal security commissioner in the state dissolved their group without pay. The police reportedly yelled, “Kill them like dogs,” as they descended on the protesters, none of whom fired a shot. Hours later, the federal police opened fire on vehicles carrying civil defense members and their families. A witness described seeing someone killed while on his knees.

Witness: “They shouted at me, 'Put your hands up! Get on your knees!' When I went to put my hands up and get on my knees, a person who was further down, toward Tres Hermanos, a person who was on his knees, I saw how they shot him in the face, and he fell. The compañero fell. They shot him, while he was on his knees, surrendering, unarmed.”