The Nahua communities of the lower Mountain region of Guerrero have been subjected to constant violence by criminal groups since 2015. Men, women, girls, boys, and young people have been caught in the crossfire, while the authorities have failed to take decisive action to dismantle these organizations that keep the defenseless indigenous population trapped in a state of horror.
In the authorities’ absence, criminals have imposed their rule with bullets and now with drones. Raids by armed civilians on indigenous communities are frequent, and worst of all, the authorities do nothing about them. The victims are forced to hide in the hills and in the churches of the communities belonging to the CRAC-PF and the Cipog-EZ.
These tragedies go unnoticed by the authorities because they are nowhere to be found and because, from a distance, the events fade away. People weep out of helplessness at being ignored and because their testimonies are not taken seriously. Children seek refuge in their mothers’ arms, and the mothers, too, are gripped by the fear that their lives will be taken. Their cries are lost in the hills. They are alone, unprotected. That is why their only consolation is to speak out publicly and plead with the authorities. “We are being attacked with gunfire and armed drones by criminals who are advancing despite encounters with the Army.”
The latest acts of violence began on May 2 of this year when two people from the community of Alcozacán were murdered. On Wednesday, May 6, a series of attacks continued against the communities of Tula, Xicotlán, Acahuehuetlán, and Alcozacán, which belong to Cipog-EZ. There, Isaías Morales Lucas, Bernardino Hilario Ocotlán, Ernesto Hilario Ocotlán, and Isacar Villalba Rosario, all from the community of Tula, were murdered. On May 8, a woman from the community of Xicotlán was shot and wounded.
At 7:30 a.m. on May 9, the criminals invaded the community of Tula with armed drones flying overhead. They entered heavily armed with tactical gear, destroying everything in their path. They did not care that there were children present. They fired indiscriminately at anyone in their way. From the nearby hills, they took cover to open fire. There were some Army personnel about 200 meters away, but they were merely spectators while people ran in terror. They did not move to confront or stop the attackers. The National Guard, the State Police, and the Army were in the communities only to document the atrocity. They took photos, but they did not protect the citizens. They left them to their fate.
The images are terrifying. The atmosphere is tense. The roar of gunfire echoed through their homes. The chickens clucked as they sought shelter, and the dogs howled. Dust swirled as if an open confrontation were underway. On the hill near Tula, a drone landed on the ground. All that remained of the landscape were the traces of violence.
The Indigenous women recounted: “We stayed in the woods, unable to sleep because we were afraid the armed men would come. We were hiding in silence because we were afraid they would find us.” At 2:40 a.m., several families had to flee to the community of Alcozacán to save themselves. More than three consecutive days of attacks were not enough for the military to act; instead, they left them to fend for themselves.
The attacks continued on Mother’s Day. There was nothing to celebrate. Instead, there were screams and cries as bullets and bombs rained down on homes. The violence was unrelenting. The criminals were shooting to kill. The nights have turned into hell. “We’ve spent our time fleeing, carrying our young sons and daughters on our backs to escape the bullets,” the women say in despair.
The roar of gunfire pounded against the doors of the homes. Mothers hid their children. The unspeakable scene of violence was devastating. They wanted to run, but they held back until the shooting stopped. Death now lurks on the paths and in every corner of the house. A mother from Tula recounts that she went out at one in the afternoon because bombs and bullets from high-powered weapons were being fired at her community.
“I got my twins out as best I could because they shot my door to pieces—it almost hit us. The criminals are still there. I’m begging the government to listen to us because we’re suffering. My children are suffering. There’s a lot of fear. They’ve already killed our animals, they’re setting the brush on fire, and they’re threatening to come in. The authorities are seeing what’s happening—please, listen to us. The children are crying; they can no longer live peacefully in their homes because criminals are threatening us. The women and children are not to blame; we are defending the town; we are not criminals.”
By nightfall, more than 800 displaced people had taken refuge in the church in Alcozacán. The municipal commissioner stated that “the women, girls, boys, mothers, widows, and elderly people in their 70s are sheltered in the church. They are attacking us in the communities of Acahuehuetlán, Xicotlán, and Tula, and they are already entering Alcozacán. We are asking all three levels of government to support us. I have already called 911, the National Guard, and the president of Chilapa; we are waiting for immediate support from Chilpancingo and at the federal level. We need the government to arrive immediately. I am asking President Claudia Sheinbaum and the governor to respond, to speak with us. We are waiting for your urgent support.”
In addition to the recent episodes of violence, there is a long list of crimes: to date, 76 murders and 25 disappearances have been recorded. Worst of all, several children have been killed by criminal groups seeking total control over the communities and their territories. Defending our villages has cost us our lives. Some communities have been left uninhabited due to the insane and rampant violence.
State and federal authorities have allowed criminal groups to expand and act with total impunity. Meanwhile, they have marginalized and discriminated against the indigenous population, leaving them to face this unchecked power alone. Instead of protecting them, they criminalize them and use fallacious arguments claiming that these are clashes between criminal groups.
For the indigenous communities of Chilapa, the phrase “first, the poor” is far from becoming a reality, because they remain under the thumb of business owners and politicians. The municipal government of Chilapa has always been controlled by wealthy families from the town center. It has been a bastion of the PRI, of local strongmen who, in the last three administrations, have handed over power to the PRD. However, the vices remain the same; they perpetuate the same patterns of corruption, nepotism, mistreatment, and neglect of indigenous communities. Insecurity, violence, and organized crime persist. Crimes are not investigated, much less punished. Justice is inaccessible to the indigenous population, and high-impact crimes go unpunished. Cases of disappearances and murders of indigenous people are only pursued by their families. For the Prosecutor’s Office, these cases do not count because there are no investigation files. The families bear the full burden of the investigation; in addition to filing complaints at the municipal seat, they are responsible for presenting evidence and witnesses. Fearing that demanding justice could have fatal consequences, the families resign themselves to silence and endure the scourge of fear and threats.
In the upper Mountain region, violence spreads like an uncontrollable wildfire across the hills. This Sunday (the 9th) afternoon, an armed attack took place in the community of Huitzapula, in the municipality of Atlixtac. At 6 p.m., gunfire erupted from the hills, and the attackers gradually closed in on the community using explosive drones. By around 10:30 p.m., they were already 500 meters from the town center. The dark night holds surprises and secrets. In these attacks, it has become common for flashes of light to illuminate the night as devices explode on the hillside. Terror seems to be taking hold in the communities of the Mountain, which are no longer peaceful.
The public has no choice but to call for help, yet the authorities are nowhere to be found. No one seems to take notice. They wait for orders from above; without them, the state security apparatus does not function. The very authorities who receive the reports have grown accustomed to managing conflicts. They only check for imminent dangers or whether the safety of any official is at risk. Beyond these aggravating factors, people who fear being attacked or who are reported as murdered or missing must wait until the rheumatic elephant of justice reacts.
Before wrapping up this article, we received information from Alcozacán that 13 people from Xicotlán have been reported missing. Their families have had to organize themselves to search for them. They cannot do so freely because they know they are under siege by criminal groups. Their distress is compounded by the fact that the authorities are not coming to their aid. This Sunday afternoon, the military conducted a patrol in the community of Tula but did not make contact with the affected families. We hope that the authorities will heed the communities’ call and listen to the mothers who are deeply afraid that the attacks will continue. It is important to assist the family members who reported the disappearance of their children and siblings, and care must also be provided to victims of forced displacement. Information must not be distorted, nor should the work of social organizations supporting the affected communities be discredited. To build peace in Guerrero, criminal structures must be dismantled; it is a legal imperative to prosecute those who threaten people’s lives and safety and to guarantee the protection of communities and families subjected to criminal violence.
Original text published at Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña, Tlachinollan on May 11th, 2026.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.
Chilapa, the Murderous Saga of Los Ardillos
Isaías Lucas was murdered by the narco-paramilitary group Los Ardillos in the community of Xicotlán, in the municipality of Chilapa. It was just past 7 a.m. on April 6 when gunmen shot him from a white, armored SUV, taking his life. His compañeros had been requesting his inclusion in the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists for two years, but it was denied.
Isaías was not alone. He was accompanied by Bernardino Hilario Ocotlán, Ernesto Hilario Ocotlán, and Isacar Villalba Rosario. They were also murdered. They worked as bricklayers and were building a house.
Both the community of Xicotlán and that of Tula, where they were from, are part of the Emiliano Zapata Indigenous and Popular Council of Guerrero (Cipog-EZ). They were part of the justice system of the Montaña Baja region of Guerrero: they belonged to the Community Police of the Founding Peoples (CRAC-PF). To date, 67 members of the organization have been murdered and 26 have disappeared at the hands of Los Ardillos.
Cipog-EZ is a member of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and has a long history of activism dating back to at least 1992. It was formally founded in 2008 in the Emperador Cuauhtémoc neighborhood of Chilpancingo, where the leader Cirino Plácido lived. Its origins trace back to the struggle of the Na Savi, Me’pháá, Nahua, and Ñamnkué peoples, who began fighting for their right to autonomy and self-determination in 1992 and formed the Guerrero Council of 500 Years of Resistance.
The CRAC-PF was founded in the community of El Potrerillo, in the municipality of Malinaltepec, on February 23, 2014, amid a deep crisis within the CRAC-PC. More than 23 agrarian and civil authorities, council members, police officers, and regional commanders attended. They established 11 principles, including respect for the will of the people rather than that of the government; the assembly as the highest decision-making authority; and the application of justice through re-education: community service, service to the people, and the council of elders. They immediately became a counterweight to criminal groups.
Isaías’s armed killers and their accomplices had to pass back and forth through the Jagüey intersection, where there is an army barracks. That point is less than 15 minutes away from Xicotlán. The soldiers didn’t see a thing.
Los Ardillos control Chilapa; previously, it was dominated by Los Rojos. They were part of the Beltrán Leyva cartel. The group grows, processes, and sells drugs; extorts; collects protection money; kidnaps; murders; tortures; forces people to disappear; burns down businesses and public transportation; and even takes over the city of Chilpancingo.
Over the past four administrations, Los Ardillos have governed the municipality of Chilapa. Aldy Esteban Román, the former mayor, is now a state representative for the PRI. Formally, the city is governed by the PRI-PRD coalition, although in other municipalities, such as Chilpancingo, they align with Morena.
The mayor for the 2024–2027 term is Mercedes Carballo Chino, the sister-in-law of Celso Ortega Jiménez, identified by the State Attorney General’s Office as the leader of the criminal group. The person who actually runs the city government is Celso’s son.
Various reports indicate that PRD representative Bernardo Ortega is the brother of Ivan Ortega and Celso Ortega, leaders of the clan. Their father was imprisoned for the murder of two AFI agents and was executed upon his release. Their web, however, extends far beyond Chilapa and allows them to act with impunity. They control mayors and municipal, state, and ministerial police forces.
Since last Wednesday, April 7, Los Ardillos have attacked the communities of Chicotlán, Tula, and Acahuehuetlán with heavy weapons and drones. The gunfire has not stopped. More than a thousand families, mostly women and children, have been displaced. Many had to seek refuge in Coszacán. What is surprising is that there is an intersection in Tula where the Army had set up a checkpoint. However, according to the displaced residents, on April 6 the soldiers left that location, leaving the way open for the narco-paramilitaries to enter. The same thing happened at the checkpoint that was at the Jagüey intersection, and another one was at Cerro Cruz in the upper part of the Tula community. All the soldiers left those locations. And while they were there, they never stopped the armed individuals.
Early Tuesday morning, the remains of four people were found on the road leading to Tlapa. Among them were José Guadalupe Ahuejote and Víctor Ahuejote Arribeño, from Xicoltán.
Since 2019, Los Ardillos have sought to control—in addition to the municipality of Quechultenango, where they have their base of operations—the territories leading to the Lower and Upper Mountain regions. The former includes Chilapa and Hueycantenango, an indigenous town under their control.
On January 15, 2019, Los Ardillos violently raided the communities that founded the CRAC-PF. They displaced residents of Tula, Tepila, and Xicotlán. What is happening now is a repeat of that attack. In Tepila, Los Ardillos disappeared 30 people from 30 different families. The situation became very serious. For nearly a year, the CRAC-PF practically disappeared there.
However, the CRAC-PF reorganized. And on December 27, it broke through the encirclement and reclaimed its territory. Many people were killed in that clash. Since then, the situation has remained very tense.
Los Ardillos’ goal with these attacks is to seize control by force of the route leading from the municipal seat of Chilapa to the community of Tula, in the highlands, and to eliminate the indigenous people who oppose them. Since the communities’ resistance and autonomy hinder their ability to transport drugs to Acapulco, Chilpancingo, or Mexico City, they wage war against them to expel them from their territories. We must put a stop to Los Ardillos’ criminal reign. Justice must come to Chilapa, just as it must come to the entire state of Guerrero. It is time for the communities to be able to live in peace.
Original text by Luís Hernández Navarro published in La Jornada on May 12, 2026.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.
Los Ardillos in Chilapa, Guerrero: Criminal Attack on CIPOG-EZ
Since May 7th, around a thousand people have fled the communities of Tula, Acahuetlan, and Xicotlan, places where the narco-paramilitary group Los Ardillos, as well as murders, has burned homes and killed livestock, with the absence or acquiescence of state and federal authorities. Many of the attacks have been witnessed by members of the Army who “did not act to protect the civilian population, but rather limited themselves to taking photos.” “Worst of all, armed drone attacks continue,” as warned by the TDT Network, La Montaña Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center, the Civil Observation Mission, and the National Indigenous Congress.
Two scenarios that are nothing new. Security authorities have suggested that the conflict stems from clashes between criminal groups, a theory categorically rejected by the Indigenous and Popular Council of Guerrero-Emiliano Zapata (CIPOG-EZ), as declared by the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, on May 12th.
On that occasion, the official asserted that CIPOG-EZ, Los Ardillos, and Los Tlacos are part of organized crime and are primarily responsible for the violence in Chilapa that led to the forced displacement of hundreds of people from the Nahua communities of Tula, Xicotlan, and Acahuehuetlan. The Secretary of the Interior reported: “Along with Governor Evelyn Salgado, we were in the town of Alcozacan, in Chilapa, Guerrero, six days after the start of the attacks. We successfully removed the blockades, engaged in dialogue with the residents, and provided them with medical services, food, and security. The Mexican government firmly believes that resolving conflicts between individuals, communities, and authorities must always be achieved through dialogue, understanding, and the pursuit of agreements.”
“These must be the guiding principles for serving the public and building peace,” the federal official said. In the communities where the displaced families are staying, they spoke with the affected people and listened to their demands in order to provide security. A secure corridor was established to allow them access to food, medical care, and basic necessities, and a commitment was made to reestablish the inter-institutional operational bases of the National Defense Secretariat, the National Guard, and the state police, as well as the arrival of brigades to facilitate access to social welfare programs. At the same time, she proposed a dialogue between the ejido commissioners and the state and federal governments, which would allow for the signing of an agreement to build lasting conditions of peace and coexistence in the region. “Violence will never be the answer.” The path forward is dialogue, building agreements, and the responsible presence of the State to support communities and guarantee conditions of peace, security, and dignity for all.” Los Ardillos maintain a dispute with CIPOG-EZ and with the Regional Coordinator of Community Police-Founding Peoples (CRAC-PF).
These groups demanded that the federal government “acknowledge the serious crisis of human rights violations affecting the communities belonging to CIPOG-EZ in Guerrero—a crisis that the state government is determined to conceal—and that it identify and punish those directly responsible and those who ordered the violations, including public officials who have been negligent or complicit.” The State must, at a minimum, put an end to armed attacks, ensure the safety of displaced persons, organize searches for missing or detained individuals, apprehend those directly and indirectly responsible for the attacks, and provide guarantees for a safe return to their communities and ways of life.
The CIPOG has denounced the recent murders of Jose Guadalupe Ahuejote Xantenco, Víctor Ahuejote Arribeño, and Abraham Jimenez Chautla, adding to the 80 indigenous people killed and 25 people disappeared. It is very important to consider the analysis offered by Luis Hernández Navarro to understand the official response: “Chilapa, the murderous saga of Los Ardillos” (La Jornada, 12/5/26) provides a detailed account of the history of organization and resistance of the CIPOG and the process in which the State has failed, not just recently but for decades. It also provides evidence that Los Ardillos have governed the municipality of Chilapa for the last four administrations. The goal of Los Ardillos and their allies with these attacks is to conquer by force the control of the route that goes from the municipal capital of Chilapa to the community of Tula, as the resistance and autonomy of the communities hinder them from transporting drugs to Acapulco, Chilpancingo or Mexico City and controlling the extraction of natural resources.
Original article by Magdalena Gómez, La Jornada, May 19, 2026.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.