Hundreds of Indigenous families have been forced to flee their homes in the mountains of central Mexico following intense attacks by a local criminal group, including drone bombings, an Indigenous rights organisation said on Monday.
A gang known as Los Ardillos has been carrying out attacks in Guerrero state for years, but they intensified last week. Villages were subjected to eight hours of bombings on Saturday, the National Indigenous Congress reported, forcing between 800 and 1,000 families to seek refuge in other towns. At least four people have been killed.
“There is total anguish among the people,” said Carlos González García, a spokesperson for the congress. “The families are terrified, especially the women and children. It’s a level of violence that we’re not used to.”
Videos shared on social media showed women and children sobbing as they cowered inside a local church, while other footage captured intense gunfire and explosions echoing across farmland and forests. A woman fleeing with her twin sons said: “They were attacking us with drones and with .50 high calibre weapons. They killed the animals and now they’re setting fire to the hillsides.”
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said the government was working to protect the population, with the national guard deployed and attention given to displaced families. However, González accused local authorities of collusion with criminal groups, noting that military and police bases in the area had done nothing to halt the violence.
