Rincón de Chautla is one of 16 indigenous villages protected by the militia. (Photo: Lenin Mosso/VICE News)
Ayahualtempa had never received much government support, but now it was a target as the local cartel tried to take control. The number of murders in the six miles around the village more than doubled in 2019 from a year earlier, said Chris Kyle, a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who studies violence in the region.“They hid it from me, but I learned he had been found dismembered.”
In Ayahualtempa, boys as young as six are training to serve as the last line of defense should a cartel strike the community. (Photo: Lenin Mosso/VICE News)
“More than anything, I wish they studied. If things were peaceful, then they could study and make something of themselves,” said Luis’ mother, Dominga, who asked to withhold her last name to protect her son. She runs the house and takes care of the family cows. “Of course, it makes me scared that they walk around with guns. But it’s so they can defend themselves.”The escalation in violence comes amid a larger security crisis in Mexico, with 2019 registering the highest number of murders on record. López Obrador has rejected a strategy of head-on confrontation with the cartels, saying it leads to more violence.In Guerrero, Los Ardillos cartel, or “The Squirrels,” is sowing terror.Long associated with poppy production and heroin distribution, it has used kidnappings, murders, and extortion to vanquish critics and exert control over the region. In 2015, hundreds of armed men reportedly from Los Ardillos entered the city of Chilapa searching for members of a rival cartel. At least 15 people disappeared.“Of course, it makes me scared that they walk around with guns.”
In Rincón de Chautla, women learned to use guns after the village was attacked in January 2019 by members of the local cartel. (Photo: Jika Gonzalez/VICE News)
Villagers unload the coffins of 10 musicians who were murdered in January. Los Ardillos cartel was blamed for the attack. (Photo: Lenin Mosso/VICE News)
“No one takes notice when the children are illiterate and malnourished. No one cares until they see children with guns,” he said. “This is a strategy, a cry of despair before the inaction, indolence, and racist attitudes of the government authorities. The innocence has been snatched from these children and they have to wake up in this nightmare.”The line between innocence and adulthood is increasingly blurred. Between exercises with the guns, the boys hang around the basketball court and play with yoyos, killing time before they go to the fields to take care of their goats and cows. The 15-year-old boys have started going on night patrols with the other men in the community.Luis has yet to shoot a gun at a person, and he said if his village is attacked, he plans to stay back at home to defend his mom and sister. “They taught me that weapons aren’t to be used to rob people. It’s only to protect ourselves if the criminal group shows up.”He said he misses going to school, especially his math classes. He was learning long division. He wanted to become a teacher or a doctor — he’s not sure which, perhaps both. Those dreams are gone. “If it weren’t for the crime, I would continue,” he said.Luis rarely leaves his house without his gun, wary of being kidnapped or killed at any second. “I like to take care of my goats. And to play basketball,” he said. “I still feel like a kid, even though I’m carrying a weapon.”Cover: Luis, 13, has become a leader of the junior militia. He rarely leaves the house without his 20-gauge shotgun. (Jika Gonzalez/VICE News)“No one takes notice when the children are illiterate and malnourished. No one cares until they see children with guns.”