An urgent call from Global Exchange, José María Morelos y Pavón Human Rights Center, Fray Bartolomé Human Rights Center, Vitoria Human Rights Center and the People’s Movement for Peace and Justice.
Since May 6, 2026, criminal groups like “Los Ardillos” and others have waged a military-style assault on Indigenous communities in the Lower Mountains of Guerrero and the coast of Michoacan — using high-caliber weapons, surveillance drones, and paramilitary tactics. Over 2,200 people have been forcibly displaced. At least five people have been killed. Entire towns have been emptied.
The criminals encircled villages, burned homes, cut electricity and phone service, and fired on residents from the hillsides. In Guerrero, when families fled toward neighboring Alcozacán, Los Ardillos pursued them there too. Children, women, and the elderly ran for their lives with bullets behind them.
This is not a sudden crisis. These communities have been under siege for over a decade — and they have been warning every level of government the entire time.
In 2022, community leaders stopped then-President López Obrador’s motorcade on the Chilapa-Tlapa highway to tell him directly: Los Ardillos are destroying our communities. Nothing changed.
This year, communities again warned authorities of an imminent attack weeks before it happened. The Army withdrew from its Joint Operations Bases in the region. State and federal protection measures were denied, delayed, or reversed. When the assault came, security forces stood by and watched.
The reason for this paralysis is no mystery. The mayor of Chilapa is publicly reported to be the sister-in-law of the Los Ardillos leadership. A sitting state congressman has won repeated elections in Los Ardillos-controlled territory while publicly denying ties to the organization. This is not neglect. It is institutional capture — and the Mexican state is responsible for allowing it.
In the case of Michoacán, the town of Ostula has been under the attack of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel for years and its Indigenous autonomous government has denounced this for years.
There is also a deeper motive. The municipalities under attack hold forests, aquifers, fertile farmland — and over 2,000 hectares already granted as concessions to mining companies. Territory is being cleared. The communities standing in the way are being removed.
The Trump administration is using this crisis to justify threats of military intervention in Mexico, claiming the government is “run by criminal organizations.” We reject that framing entirely — and we reject the cynical use of Indigenous suffering to advance US militarism.
But the answer to that threat cannot be silence or inaction. President Sheinbaum has both the authority and the obligation to act. Protecting Indigenous communities is not a concession to Washington — it is Mexico’s own constitutional and moral responsibility.
For years, these communities have warned authorities of the violence they faced. Their warnings were ignored. Today, entire communities have been uprooted, Indigenous leaders remain under threat, and families continue to live in fear of further attacks.
Join us in calling on President Sheinbaum to provide immediate protection for Indigenous communities, guarantee humanitarian assistance for those displaced, hold those responsible accountable, and dismantle the criminal structures driving this violence. Sign the letter to President Sheinbaum today.