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On the morning of Sept. 24, farmers were toiling in their fields by the village of Balcón in the mountains of Guerrero when a convoy of gunmen in three vehicles stormed into the area. The gunmen, alleged to be from a faction of La Familia drug cartel, initially ordered 12 men and women into their trucks, although they quickly released the four women and left with eight male hostages, aged from 12 to 74 years old.
Villagers alerted a citizen unarmed security network, known as Rutas de Seguridad, which called the Mexican army for support. However, it took two days before troops from the 41st and 109th Battalion alongside the National Guard and state police arrived and launched the search, and they were unable to locate the victims.
Balcón, a village of corn farmers and loggers, is located on the edge of the municipalities of Ajuchitlán and Técpan de Galeana. The Familia cartel has been trying to push into the area, also hitting villages with drone strikes and forcing residents to flee their homes.
On Oct. 2, thousands of villagers and members of the Rutas de Seguridad network marched in Técpan to demand the release of the hostages. That evening, the 12 year old boy who had been kidnapped was reportedly found by soldiers wandering alone on a mountain road. According to villagers, the boy was hungry and traumatized and described being held with the others in terrible conditions. But he said the cartel released him with a demand: it wanted to be able to transit through the area and have its operatives stationed there in return to free the other hostages.
The demand raises alarm bells not only in Técpan but across the mountains of Mexico where cartels operate. The mob appears to be kidnapping innocent farmers in order to gain turf, which could unleash many more abductions.
“We don’t know what to do,” said Juan Atanacio, whose father and son were among the victims. “We are people of the mountain, humble people, and the government is leaving us by ourselves…We want them freed. We don’t want their dead bodies.”
The kidnapping tests the limits of the Rutas de Seguridad, which is attempting to defend itself without guns and by working with the government. I visited Técpan in August and met with members of the Rutas who described how they preferred to operate without weapons to try and avoid an escalation in violence, unlike armed autodefensas in other parts of Guerrero, like one I went to in the village of El Paraíso.
During the march in Técpan, members of the Rutas reiterated their position, and called for…
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