A group of 5 girls and 15 boys in the indigenous community of Ayahualtempa, municipality of José Joaquín de Herrera, located in the central region of Guerrero in Mexico, They are trained in weapons on a sports field, a place of play for most children, but they, however, have another mission: at their young age, they are given the excessive task of guarantee security in your town. They are the new members of the community patrol because the adults have gone out in search of a kidnapped family since last January 19.

This Wednesday, January 24, members of the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities-Founding Peoples (CRAC-PF) They protested as members of a group of 5 girls and 15 boys, whom they “armed”, although some only had reeds as rifles.

The member of the CRAC-PF, Luis Morales Rojas, member of the Nahuatl Government Council, said that the older young people will join the search for four members of a family that was kidnapped on January 19, and that the rest They will do surveillance work. The children, he said, were trained in the handling of weapons such as 22-caliber rifles; 20, 16 and 410 gauge shotguns, as well as pistols.

However, this is not the first time they have taken up arms. Already in 2019, some were released as Child soldiers: “I’m Adan, I’m 8 years old. I’m the commander of the children,” said one of the little ones, as we can see in the video.

Stripped of their innocence, they are forced to kill and die in battles with drug traffickers, faced with the helplessness of the government. In 2022, the children’s commandos were dismantled with the promise that the army would control the area, but military support has only lasted 2 years, because once again, the children have returned to arms.