Two rival leaders and their followers from western state of Michoacán give themselves up after gun battle that left 11 dead

Two rival vigilante leaders and dozens of their followers from the western state of Michoacán have given themselves up to the authorities in the wake of a gun battle between their groups that left 11 people dead and fuelled fears that a major government operation was failing to control the drug war hotspot.

Luis Antonio Torres, nicknamed “Simón El Americano”, surrendered on Tuesday along with nine of his men at a prearranged pick up point. He was flown to jail in a navy helicopter to face judicial hearings. El Americano’s sworn rival, Hipólito Mora, gave himself up three days before along with 26 of his followers.

One of Mora’s sons was among those who died in the shootout on 16 December, which took place at a barricade set up by his group in his hometown of La Ruana, in the long-conflictive region of the Tierra Caliente, or the Hot Land.

Alfredo Castillo, the presidential envoy in charge of the federal security operation in the state, celebrated the voluntary incarceration of the vigilantes as evidence that Michoacán’s institutions have been immeasurably strengthened in recent months.

“We secured the surrender of these people to the courts without a shot being fired or any shootouts,” Castillo said after the detention of El Americano. “What has been achieved today would have been unthinkable a year ago.”

Castillo said he hoped a further 19 vigilantes involved in the shootout two weeks ago will also give themselves up in the coming days. He also sort to down play the shootout, saying it was not a public security issue but one of “social conflict”.

The armed vigilante groups emerged in the Tierra Caliente in 2013, claiming that government inaction in the face of a reign of terror imposed in the region by the Caballeros Templarios, or Knights Templar, drug cartel gave them no other option for protecting their communities.

With the situation threatening to degenerate into a regional civil war, the government flooded the area with federal forces in January this year. A subsequent uneasy alliance with the vigilantes lead to a series of important arrests and deaths of Caballeros leaders that left the cartel seriously weakened.

But violence in the state has continued as government efforts to institutionalise the vigilantes into a rural police force have struggled in the face of deep rivalries between some of the leaders. The new rural police has also been damaged by multiple accusations that a significant number of commanders and officers have links to the Caballeros or other gangs operating in the region.

Both El Americano and Mora joined the new rural police. Both have blamed each other for the gun battle in La Ruana. Mora has repeatedly accused El Americano of links to the traffickers.

Mora spent two months in jail earlier this year accused of killing two of El Americano’s associates, but the charges were dropped.