![]() ![]() These groups are made up of locals who decide to take up arms to defend themselves against potential threats. So-called self-defense groups have a long history in Guerrero and are now present across half the country. The shots also seemed fake, but they were not. This happened after they called on the government “to support widows, orphans and the displaced.” “Enough already of crime and discrimination against the indigenous people of Mexico,” they cried. This year, the self-defense force sought to raise the stakes: not only did the children march with weapons, they also fired them into the air. The images of the child soldiers sparked international alarm and the Mexican government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador was forced to respond. Last year, the strategy to arm children – albeit with toy guns for those aged between seven and 12 – proved successful. Some of the children who took part in the parade organized by the community police force in José Joaquín de Herrera. ![]() But José Joaquín de Herrera, a remote village of 600 inhabitants, does not want to give in. As well as land, the criminal gang Los Ardillos is also after people to work in slave-like conditions to extract opium gum. These groups are using force to gain ground in the area and take over land to grow poppies. The act is both a call for help and a show of force against the organized crime groups that operate in La Montaña region of Guerrero. As they march, they cry out in support of orphans, widows, indigenous people and General Emiliano Zapata, a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution: “ ¡Viva! ¡Viva! ¡Viva!” This is the third year in a row that children in the village have joined the adults in a kind of military parade organized by the community police force. Under a burning sun, children armed with guns march in a row in Ayahualtempa, an indigenous village in José Joaquín de Herrera in the Mexican state of Guerrero. ![]()
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