1This Saturday, April 10, minors between the ages of six and fifteen led a column of armed self-defense groups in the mountainous region of the state of Guerrero.
Monica Gonzalez
2 It is not the first time that the community guards have armed and paraded the children of the community, but this protest has been the largest so far.
Monica Gonzalez
3In the Ayahualtempa community plaza, members of the community police ask the federal government to help them against drug traffickers.
Monica Gonzalez
4A boy plays with his wooden weapon mounted on a bicycle at the end of the march.
Monica Gonzalez
5The minors with their faces covered show toy guns and some 12mm shotguns.
Monica Gonzalez
6Ayahualtempa, 100 kilometers from Chilpancingo, the state capital, is one of the few communities that resist the onslaught of criminal groups operating in the area.
Monica Gonzalez
7A boy walks with a wooden weapon in the central square of the community.
Monica Gonzalez
8The minors began to march accompanied by the adults and some 200 people from the community.
Monica Gonzalez
9The troop goes into the field.
“Community children, firm now!
Embracing weapons, now!
If there is no one to defend us, then we are going to respond with fire to the hit men, sons of the bitch! ”.
A dozen shots leave puffs of smoke in the air.
And the mountain echoes them.
Hector Guerrero
10 Last year, the strategy of arming children, even with toy shotguns for the seven to 12-year-olds, paid off.
The Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador was forced to react to the international alarm.
Hector Guerrero
11Children rest aboard a van prior to the protest.
Hector Guerrero
12Poverty is one of the great pending issues of the Mexican Government in the mountainous region of Guerrero.
Hector Guerrero
13A boy stands guard in the central square of Ayahualtempa.
Hector Guerrero
14The children, at one point in the parade.
Hector Guerrero
15The line of black-haired and dark-skinned soldiers parade through town.
They wear peaked caps and stiff leather huaraches.
With a bandana tied to the neck they cover their nose and mouth, as if they were guerrillas marching to combat.
Hector Guerrero
16Children take shelter from the strong heat at the end of the march.
Hector Guerrero
17The column of armed men and boys, from the top of the mountain.
Hector Guerrero
18Under a zenith sun, armed children parade one after another hurling orphans, widows, native peoples, General Zapata: "Long live, long live, long live!"
Hector Guerrero
19The so-called self-defense groups have a long tradition in Guerrero and have spread throughout half the country.
Ordinary people arm themselves to protect themselves from the threat of organized crime.
Hector Guerrero
20After the images of child soldiers last year, the Government of Guerrero asked the community police to respect the human rights of minors.
Hector Guerrero
The armed children of Guerrero, in pictures
2021-04-12T03:56:37.854Z
The indigenous community of Ayahualtempa asks the federal government to help them against the criminal group that dominates the region, known as “Los Ardillos. Village children parade and fire shotguns
