LA Times article about the Mormon community in Mexico

[PufPuf23]

This Mormon break away group has a violent and dicey history. Mitt Romney's grandfather and great grandfather were part of this group and Mitt's father was born in Mexico as part of this group.

Massacre of U.S. citizens puts spotlight on Mormon community with deep roots in Mexico

The roadside killings of nine U.S. citizens in northern Mexico has brought renewed attention to the scattered communities of Mormons who settled in the country more than a century ago to escape persecution. The three women and 14 children whom assailants ambushed Monday as they drove toward Arizona from the town of Bavispe in Sonora state included descendants of a fundamentalist Mormon community that has lived in the country for decades.

Early Wednesday, criminal investigators in northern Mexico said a suspect had been arrested and was under investigation for possible connections with the deaths. A Mexican official had earlier said the killers might have mistaken the family for members of a rival drug cartel. Some of the victims shared the last name LeBaron. They were related to a prominent fundamentalist Mormon family by the same name, said Daniel LeBaron, a cousin of one of the victims, Rhonita Maria Miller. Daniel LeBaron lives in Colonia LeBaron in Chihuahua state, a community established by fundamentalist Mormons in 1944 that has close ties to the LeBarons of Bavispe.

The LeBarons are among “a handful of major groups of fundamentalists,” said Patrick Mason, a historian of Mormonism at Utah State University. But, he added: “The LeBaron name in recent decades has been most often linked to violence. Unfortunately, this incident only adds to that association.”

The family is perhaps best known for a series of killings perpetrated in the 1970s and 1980s, in both Mexico and the United States, by Ervil LeBaron — once called the “Mormon Manson” — and a group of his followers.

Lots more at: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-11-06/mormons-mexico-lebaron-fundamentalist-history

[emmaverybo]

1. Cartels have targeted this group in the past, kidnapping one, killing two others. Despite that

one was sick and evil, these women and children were victims, likely intentionally killed as the community has spoken out against the cartels, and yes, even armed themselves against them though not these victims. They have had no help in their stance.

Yes, they broke with mainstream Mormonism to,practice polygamy. Many now are monogamous.

Their purported “violent and dicey history,” any Romney association, and unorthodox ways are media side-shows. Babies were killed, burned to death in a car explosion caused by a drug cartel.

One child walked 14 miles to get help after what he had seen.

Mainly members of the Langford family were killed.

This NYT story seems less lurid, more respectful of these victims of cartel violence, as goes to the point at hand:

‘Innocence Is Shattered:’ A Storied Mormon Family Reels After Mexico Murders

Fundamentalist groups that split from the Mormon church have for years navigated life amid the drug war in northern Mexico.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/05/us/mexico-mormon-community.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

[PufPuf23]

2. Not at all questioning that these women and children are victims.

Thought that the general history of the groups and connection with Romney was of interest.

Thanks for the article link.

[emmaverybo]

3. More commenting on the headlines, many that led with "family associated with violence." "sordid

history” etc., but I am heartened by where you stand. Yes, it is interesting that Romney’s gramps
wasn’t like a business titan or something.

[stopdiggin]

4. are they still assuming this was a mistake?

meaning a mistaken target? Obviously the ambush and killing was quite intentional.

[keithbvadu2]

5. The Mormon community in Mexico.

The Mormon community in Mexico.

Dual citizenship but refuse to assimilate.
Our right wingers like that word for immigrants.

Is polygamy legal in Mexico?
No... However...
https://www.quora.com/Is-polygamy-legal-in-Mexico

Drinking alcohol openly.
Smuggling guns.

[emmaverybo]

8. Glad these horrendous deaths provide an opportunity to indulge in politics. The dead babies were

probably hypocritical anti-immigrant polygamous RW Trump supporters.

[keithbvadu2]

9. If that's how you want to read their deaths, feel free.

I already agree with "horrendous deaths".

[emmaverybo]

10. Seems the lens media and postings here are viewing this tragedy through without so much as the

obligatory how horrible for victims and their families before going on to the implied guilt by association angle—certainly not anything new to such stories or political forums. I’m free to express my disgust. Do I honestly need to put the sarcasm emoji on my post. Fine.

[keithbvadu2]

11. Without the sarcasm emoji, you were attacking me.

Without the sarcasm emoji, you were attacking me.

[emmaverybo]

12. Taking issue with the impression I felt the post I responded to gave, yes. Not that I think it

wrong to condemn members of the community victims belonged to, just that it seems exploitive
of this tragedy, in terms of timing, to emphasize lurid details that seem not to have to do with these victim’s fate.

That fate should be a prime concern and so far it seems to have been a part of cartel violence and not related to members’ hypocrisy, anti-immigrant feeling, or any of our own political arguments with the RW.

[dalton99a]

6. Kick

In 1972, two followers of Ervil LeBaron allegedly shot his brother, Joel, to death after the brothers argued over leadership of their religious faction. Ervil was convicted of the crime, but the conviction was later overturned. He later was tried and convicted in the 1977 murder of rival polygamist leader Dr. Rulon Allred. In 1993, his story was turned into a TV drama, “Prophet of Evil: The Ervil LeBaron Story.”

In 1993, a federal jury in Texas convicted three members of an offshoot of the community of LeBarons in the deaths of three former members and an 8-year-old child. One expert estimated that members of the group had killed as many as 30 people over the years.

[Blue_Tires]

7. The Houston Chronicle goes even deeper:

Link to tweet