In Mexico, drug cartels hold massive power over territories and drug routes. The country is riddled with murders and violence each year. In March, authorities recorded over 3,000 cartel-related homicide cases---a startling figure that had overshadowed the country's coronavirus deaths.

In early April, a shoot-out between rival drug gangs resulted in the death of 19 people. Police The state prosecutor's office said investigators found grenades, vehicles, and guns at the scene. Members of the Sinaloa cartel reportedly clashed with the Beltran Leyva gang.

Mexico has long since suffered from cartel violence. The country saw a surge in murders since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office in December 2018.

The criminal organizations are also responsible for the kidnapping, extortion, torture, and murder of many asylum seekers.

The Mexican government has been fighting against drug cartels for years, with the former administration successfully capturing notorious leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in 2014. However, many communities are still ravaged by the cartel's presence. Some, like Ayahualtempa, decided to take matters into their own hands.

Young Soldiers

The CRAC-PF, a militia in the Mexican state of Guerrero, emerged in 2014 in place of corrupt local police. Federal and state forces were stretched thin, leaving them vulnerable to waves of violence and targeted attacks by surrounding drug cartels.

In a drastic step to offer residents better protection and a safer community, they started training children how to handle and use guns. Boys as young as 6-years-old serve as the last line of defense. Some are seen carrying .22-caliber rifles, while others are armed with a 20-gauge shotgun.

Bernandino Sanchez Luna founded the group as a way to "prepare the children to defend themselves if they lose their parents." He said the government never helped them defend their community. Human rights advocates, who often criticize his decision to include children, are of no help as well.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador once said the militia should be ashamed for arming the children after local media published photos and footage of the children conducting military-style exercises. "Training children to use weapons and then filming them is an abuse," he said during a press conference.

We Have No Choice"

The children are unable to go to school as it is located within the territory of a drug cartel. While elder in the mainly indigenous villages say the children would not be used to fight cartel gunmen, they say their decision to enlist boys is an act of desperation. It's a ploy to get the attention of Mexican officials who they believe have abandoned them.

The community is nestled by a two-lane highway where rival gangs fight for control of the drug route. In 2019, people from the village were killed after they ventured outside their community. A man was shot dead while sitting in his car. A young boy was also shot dead in broad daylight.

In January this year, ten musicians from the village were ambushed and killed by cartel members. Their bodies were found burnt.

The Los Ardillos cartel is forcing farmers to grow opium. Ayahualtempa never received much government support despite being threatened and murdered by the group.

The escalation in violence comes after Lopez Obrador rejected a head-on confrontation with the cartels, saying that option would lead to more bloodshed. The government has, however, deployed forces to help with security.

"If we hadn't shown off the children with guns," Sanchez Luna said, "the governor would never have come."

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