It is the latest sign that parts of Mexico are struggling to cope with organized crime.
Armed with rifles and sticks, their faces covered by scarves, the boys and girls marched around the local sports field this week before joining a patrol in Ayahualtempa, a mountain village in Mexico's Guerrero state.
Children hold guns before a ceremony to join the community police, days after an armed group kidnapped four people from the community, in Ayahualtempa, Guerrero state, Mexico, January 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS
“We can’t study because of the lawlessness,” one recruited teenager told Milenio TV, explaining how he learned to shoot after just a few lessons.
Violence has recently escalated in Guerrero, one of Mexico’s poorest states. In early January, a drone attack believed to have been carried out by the La Familia Michoacana drug cartel killed about 30 people.
In Ayahualtempa, four members of a local family have been missing since Friday when they were kidnapped, according to the Guerrero state prosecutor's office.
Antonio Toribio, a local official, said the teenagers were reinforcing the volunteer police force and would do their best to protect the village of about 700 residents while adults searched for the missing. “We will not allow them to kidnap us again,” Toribio said.
This is not the first time minors have been armed in Guerrero, where authorities are struggling to combat powerful drug gangs.
Mai Van (according to Reuters)
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