By The Opinion
Deep in the Sierra de Guerrero, the community of Gourds of Ayala It has become a symbol of resistance against organized crime. Currently, this town is practically a “ghost town”with empty streets and abandoned homes after years of violence and forced displacement.
According to the newspaper El Financiero, the place is under siege by the prison group The New Michoacan Familywhich has forced its inhabitants to organize themselves into self-defense groups to protect their territory in the absence of the State.
The violence has caused a mass exodus: From approximately 1,600 inhabitants, the population was reduced to about 400 people. Many families fled walking for hours through the mountains to escape forced recruitment and armed confrontations.
Those who remain live in an environment of permanent fear, where basic services have practically disappeared. Schools and clinics have closed, and daily life has come to a standstill, according to the aforementioned media after a tour of the community.
self-defense groups
The self-defense groups emerged in 2020, when the cartel tried to take control of the territory, key for drug trafficking routes to the port of Acapulco. Faced with prison pressure and the lack of official security, the residents decided to arm themselves.
Currently, around 50 men make up this group, which patrols the area with high-powered weapons and drone surveillance. Despite their limitations, they assure that their objective is clear: not to submit to any prison group.
The panorama in Guerrero is especially complicated due to the fragmentation of cartels and the proliferation of armed groups. In some cases, the self-defense groups themselves have been co-opted by criminal organizationsbecoming paramilitary forces.
However, the inhabitants of Guajes de Ayala maintain that they seek to remain independent, although they recognize that the pressure is constant and the conditions are unequal in the face of the power of drug trafficking.
Uncertainty and abandonment
Despite the federal government’s efforts to reduce violence, residents believe that their reality has not changed.
The lack of institutional presence and geographical isolation keep the community in a critical situation.
In addition, there is fear that the reconfiguration of the cartels in the region will unleash new episodes of violence, which could further aggravate the humanitarian crisis in this area of the mountains.
Keep reading:
– They were looking for missing people in Guerrero and found an abandoned town due to violence.
– Naranjo de Chila, the town where “El Mencho” was born, which suffered the ravages of violence.
