On May 10—coinciding with Mother’s Day—a group of women from Guerrero released a dramatic video pleading for urgent assistance: several communities in the Montaña Baja (Lower Mountain) region of Guerrero—specifically Tula, Xicotlán, and Acahuehuetlán—are being bombarded by criminals belonging to the Los Ardillos Cartel.
The criminal group has bombarded several villages with grenades launched from drones, while squads of hitmen armed with .50-caliber machine guns break into homes, steal belongings, slaughter livestock, and destroy and set fire to properties as they seize control of the territory. This situation was denounced by Jesús Plácido Galindo, a spokesperson for the Concejo Indígena y Popular de Guerrero – Emiliano Zapata, CIPOG. (Grupo Formula, 10 de mayo, 2026)
“I am a mother from Tula, in the municipality of Chilapa, Guerrero. I am sending you this message from the hillside because it is the only place where I could hide. I am terrified of what might happen to me. This Friday, the 9th—around one in the afternoon—I fled my home because criminals were deploying drones and firing .50-caliber rounds. I got my twins out however I could; my front door had already been shattered by the barrage of bullets. Terrified, I made my escape, taking a footpath to take refuge among the trees with my little children.” Abel Barrera (La Jornada, 11 de mayo, 2026)
At least four people have been killed, and several others have been wounded. The population—comprising nearly a thousand families, including many minors—has fled, left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They have taken refuge in Alcozacán, a village that continues to hold out against Los Ardillos, Galindo states. But if this village falls, there will be nowhere left to flee, and what follows will be a massacre—a fear voiced by spokespersons for the Sixth Civil Observation Commission (COCS), who have spent years documenting events in the region and who, in 2021, produced a comprehensive report on the situation. (“Crímenes de lesa humanidad y graves violaciones a los derechos humanos contra pueblos indígenas del CIPOG-EZ, CNI-CIG en Guerrero”. Informe 2021)
Attacks are nothing new, but what is happening now is an intensification of that violence, asserts Carlos González García, a member of the National Coordination and Monitoring Commission of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI). In recent years, the CIPOG has suffered the loss of over 70 members to murder, with more than 20 others reported missing. (Aristegui Noticias, 11 de mayo, 2026)
González García explains that, over the last few years, the Ardillos cartel has been steadily seizing control of the Montaña Baja region and the central zone of Guerrero—an area that includes the state capital, Chilpancingo. The CNI spokesperson alleges that this criminal group is not only condoned but actively protected by the state government, including Governor Evelyn Salgado and her father, Félix Salgado. In a display of utter cynicism, Guerrero’s Undersecretary of Government, Francisco Rodríguez Cisneros, had the audacity to claim that the region was at peace; however, when confronted with the undeniable reality on the ground and mounting press reports, the official subsequently attempted to downplay the severity of the attacks. For its part, the federal government remains completely passive, refusing to provide protection to CIPOG members while the army stands idly by in the face of these assaults.
“The federal government is failing in its duty to protect civilian populations, despite possessing both the means and the capacity to do so—maintaining a physical presence in the territory through operational bases and having the necessary personnel at its disposal.”
“It is an open secret that Félix Salgado Macedonio and Evelyn Salgado have reached agreements—that they engage in talks—with various criminal cartels, including the Ardillos… Celso Ortega Jiménez, the leader of the Ardillos, has publicly stated that just as they previously supported the PRD party, in 2021 they threw their support behind the Morena party’s candidates within the state.”
With their backs covered thanks to these arrangements with the state government, the Ardillos now impose their rule through blood and fire. They have no tolerance for autonomous indigenous communities or community-based police forces.
And indeed, there is a great deal at stake. The COCS explains that it is not merely a matter of asserting dominance. Once “conquered,” the criminals impose a dictatorial and brutal regime of occupation upon the communities. Among other things, they demand protection payments, mandate the exclusive sale of products under their control, seize control of local government, and embezzle municipal funds; they enslave young men to cultivate opium poppies—or, if they possess the requisite “temperament,” turn them into hired assassins—while subjugating young women as sex slaves.
Given the gravity of the situation, the National Indigenous Congress has issued an urgent appeal: A Call for Global Action—Put an End to the War Against the CIPOG-EZ and Indigenous Peoples.
“In accordance with their respective calendars and geographies, we urgently call upon the peoples, organizations, collectives, and individuals ‘from below and to the left’—both within Mexico and across the globe—to undertake acts of solidarity, agitation, and denunciation; to organize rallies, issue public statements, hold informational sessions, stage demonstrations, conduct cultural activities, and do whatever else lies within their power to demand an immediate end to this war.” (CNI website, May 11, 2026)
We invite you to join this call.
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