driving in Michoacan

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.