Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – In a startling response to escalating violence, children aged 11 to 15 years have been enlisted to protect their community in the José Joaquín de Herrera municipality, Guerrero, southern Mexico. This drastic measure was taken on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, as adults embarked on a search for a family missing since January 19.
The Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities-Founding Peoples (CRAC-PF) in the Ayahualtempa indigenous community has inducted 20 minors – five girls and 15 boys – into their ranks, some equipped with makeshift weapons like reeds in place of rifles. Luis Morales Rojas, a member of the Nahuatl Government Council and part of CRAC-PF, announced that older youths would join the search for the abducted family, while others would undertake surveillance duties.
These children have been trained to handle various firearms, including 22-caliber rifles and shotguns of various gauges, as well as pistols. The community’s actions come amidst nearly 1,000 Nahua people demanding intervention from Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado to locate the kidnapped indigenous family.
The victims, Cecilia Gaspar Hernández (50), her husband José Teodoro Domingo Ortiz (52), and their sons Roberto (30) and Gaudencio (22), were taken from Zacatepec while tending to their cattle. During a display on the town’s sports field, minors, armed mostly with rifles and shotguns, demonstrated their training, with some wielding only reeds.
This decision to incorporate minors into the CRAC-PF was made at an assembly on January 22 by the Traditional Council of the Nahuatl Government, the Commissariat of Communal Property, and municipal commissioners. The move is a response to the spike in violence affecting municipalities near the Montaña region, with the criminal group Los Ardillos being held accountable.
Morales Rojas underscored the legality of the Community Police’s actions and pleaded for support from municipal, state, and federal authorities against Los Ardillos. He emphasized that their community has not instigated conflict but has been provoked by this criminal group.
Los Ardillos have been notorious for wreaking havoc in central Guerrero to maintain dominance over rival gangs. Following the assembly, community leaders reiterated the legality of their police force, referencing Mexican constitutional laws, Guerrero state laws, Law 701 of Indigenous Law and Culture, the Public Security Law of Guerrero, and ILO Convention 169.
The integration of children into the Community Police is not unprecedented in the region. Due to persistent insecurity and violence, children were first recruited in June 2019, with another batch in 2020. However, they were withdrawn in 2022 following a commitment from federal and state officials to bolster security with military, National Guard, and State Police forces.
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - In a startling response to escalating violence, children aged 11 to 15 years have been enlisted to protect their community in . . .
