Michael Kolman

Professor Kyburz

Summary

16 February 2017

Summary of Cartel Land

The film was Cartel Land. It was filmed by Matthew Heineman. Director Matthew Heineman wanted to examine the state of the ongoing drug problem along the U.S.-Mexican border. The scene opens the film with a few Mexicans cooking meth. They claim that they are cooking the meth in order to buy guns, ammo, etc. for the Autodensas, a militia composed of many different people from different towns fighting against the Cartels. The leader of the Autodensas is Jose Mireless for the majority of the film, it focuses on him throughout the movie. The filmmaker wanted to show what kind of toll the war against the cartels is taking on the people of Mexico. The film shows the Autodensas clearing out compounds where they suspect the leaders of the cartels are. In the film they actually do a good job. Later on in the show, the Autodensas are approach by the government saying they have to put down their weapons and speak to them.The Mexican government doesn’t want militia army being built up that they have no control over. Mexico’s Government wants them to become the Rural Defense Force, if they don’t, they will force them to put down their weapons. Jose Mireless is against this, he is afraid of becoming another cartel gang, but many of his colleges want to join it because they’re afraid what the backlash from the government. After this Jose Mireless gets into a plane crash. Reports said that it was a possibly assassination attempt. So Mireless goes into hiding and trying to nurse himself back to health. His second in command Paco Rangel Valencia or also known as “Papa Smurf” takes over the Autodensas. Papa Smurf leads the Autodensas the best he can, but he was losing the public's trust. Towards the end of the film on the  Mexico side, it shows many of the Autodensas in uniform and going through a  graduation. The Autodensas were receiving guns and uniforms from the government. The Autodensas ended up talking to the Mexican Government where they became the Rural Defense Force, hunting cartel leaders all over rural Mexico. Once this happen, the government and the Rural Defense Force considered Jose Mireless a criminal and once again Mireless went into hiding. Mireless considered the Rural Defense Force just another cartel gang.

           The American side of the film  was about Tim “Nailer” Foley. He is the leader of the Arizona Border Recon. His part of the film opens with him patrolling the rural part of the Mexican American Border. Him and his team are on the lookout for cartel scouts. Scouts are trying to look for the ABR and also the border patrol. They want smuggle drugs and other illegal materials into the US to sell it. Foley goes on to say that he considers where he lives and patrols a modern day wild west. He states in the film to his partners that if they run into cartels, “they have no problem fighting it out”, they have more people and more guns. Later in the film the Foley’s team spot a few cartel scouts, where they move in and capture without any violence. They hand him over to the U.S. Border Patrol. He is really the only defense out there according to him. He says that he is a hour and a half out of Tucson. He doesn’t want to wait that long for law enforcement to get there so he takes it into his own hands. This is just a summary of Cartel Land.

Works Cited

Cartel Land. Directed By Matthew Heineman, A&E IndieFilms,  Our Time Projects,  Documentary Group, 2015.