driving in Michoacan

Driving on the toll roads are no problem- just Federal Police and military everywhere. On the coast highway police had a car pulled over and they were completely searching it. In the villages and Morelia there were armed trucks with machine guns on the cabs. Thursday along the aqueduct a demonstration was getting ready to begin and there were over 100 riot control Police with their shields lined up along the street. Our guide told us it was because of all the violence in the state. We did not feel unsafe while touring Morelia and the small villages. Tuesday going to the butterfly reserve, we were not stopped once.

1 tip is do not go all the way to Lazaro Cardenas ,exit Mex 37 at Feliciano and take Mex 200 into Zihua !

Fill up Gas tank & Snack supplies at Zihua and at pascuaro or Morelia, Leave some free space for "Charales" for your arrival to Chapala

Thanks for the Question... and the answers. I was going to be asking something similar in a few days time.

We will be in Chapala from January 29 for a week and will then travel from Guadalajara to Zihua by bus (Autovias.) The bus stops briefly in Purepero, Uruapan and Quatro Caminos before arriving in Ixtapa/Zihua. We will be watching the News and Rob's board prior to departure and hoping that Plan A comes to fruition.....If not?!.......Plan B (whatever that is) should get us there for our fifteenth consecutive year.

My wife, 9 year old daughter and I will be visiting family in Chapala around the first of February for a few days, and then are driving to Zihua, via Morelia, by Uruapan, etc staying on the cuotas- 37D down to Lazaro Cardenas to Zihua.

What kind of heads up/tips/concerns do we need to have given the recent military actions/militias in Michoacan?

Thanks!

In late October we drove from Guadalajara to Zihua, leaving the Guad/Mexico City cuota at Zamora, then over to Mex. 37 and down to Uruapan via Carapan, Cheran, Paracho and Capacuaro,stayed overnight in Uruapan, then the cuota from Uruapan down to Mex. 200 and along the coast to Zihua. The trip from Zamora to Uruapan was at night....probably not recommended.
The only times we were stopped were at highway checkpoints entering and leaving Cheran, manned by Community Police/Autodefensas personnel armed and wearing army fatigues. No problem as soon as they saw our British Columbia license plates: we were just waved through. Cheran was one of the first towns in Michoacan to take over their own policing. Since then, a reported 14 towns and 67 villages in Michoacan have followed suit, including several near the toll road, like Nueva Italia. You're unlikely to get anywhere near Apatzingan, which should definitely be avoided anyway. The Federales and Armed Forces are reportedly attempting now to disarm the Community Police forces across Michoacan, and probably into Guerrero as well.
Three toll booths on the Patzcuaro/Uruapan/Zihua cuota had been taken over by hundreds of local townfolk, apparently part of the protests against proposed changes to the education system. For us, it was welcome relief from having to pay the tolls.
There were few detours or delays on the cuota resulting from storm damage, even back in late October. Work on improving Mex. 200 along the coast seems to be taking forever, but there was storm damage as well, although we had no lengthy delays.