Armed with rifles and sticks, and with their faces covered, boys and girls paraded around the local sports field this week before joining a patrol in Ayahualtempa, a mountain village in the southwestern state of Guerrero.
Violence has recently escalated in Guerrero, one of the poorest states in Mexico. In early January, a drone attack allegedly carried out by drug cartel La Familia Michoacana killed around 30 people, human rights groups say.
In Ayahualtempa, four members of a local family have been missing since Friday when they were kidnapped, the Guerrero state prosecutor’s office said.
The minors are reinforcing the volunteer police force, said Luis Morales, a community police member.
This is not the first time minors have been armed in Guerrero, where authorities have struggled to counter powerful drug trafficking gangs.
(Production: Rodolfo Pena Roja, Nina Lopez)
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