In the Indigenous Communities of Guerrero, You Join the Narcos, Leave or Die Gloria Munoz Ramirez - La Jornada
go to original February 11, 2014

The expectation for the inhabitants of the indigenous communities of Guerrero is terrifying and no one can or should be used to it: you join the narcos, you leave or you die. Those who take the second option make up the statistic of thousands of people displaced by violence in the area, a situation not only related to organized crime, but also the repression surrounding the social struggles of organized communities who oppose, for example, the imposition of open pit mines.

According to reports by human rights organizations, displacement is mostly concentrated in the region of the Costa Grande [Big Coast, northwest of Acapulco] and Tierra Caliente [Hot Country of the Balsas River Valley], in . Last year, in just the municipalities of San Miguel Totolapan, Coyuca de Catalán, Tacatlán and Etecpan, over 2,000 people were forced to leave their communities because of violence and threats.

Here, as in many other states, the combination of business, organized crime and state authorities work on the same side. In many cases, it is the government itself that leaves the dirty work to organized crime to depopulate the area and give free passage to mining. All go hand in hand.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Translated by Rachel Alexander

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