Guerrero villagers allege cartel drone bombing as Mexico guards World Cup cities
Residents in Guerrero said cartel drones dropped bombs as fighters clashed with a vigilante group on Wednesday. The attack deepened fears that security redeployments for World Cup host cities left rural communities exposed.
Residents of a cluster of rural communities in Mexico's Guerrero state said cartel drones dropped bombs on Wednesday morning as gunfire broke out between La Nueva Familia Michoacana and a local vigilante group. The attack, which began around 6 am, came after the communities said they had spent weeks warning law enforcement that the cartel was closing in on them.
The violence unfolded as Mexico concentrated security forces in World Cup host cities such as Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Authorities initially denied the attacks in Guerrero, even as locals livestreamed videos that they said showed gunfire and smoke rising from mountain lookouts set up to monitor cartel movements.
Marilu Solorio, 24, said she hid in an abandoned medical clinic with 70 women, children and elderly people as explosions from drones and gunfire continued outside. "While some are celebrating goals, others are getting massacred by drones carrying bombs," Solorio said by phone from the shelter. "Instead of protecting people in the places where they've been playing the World Cup, (Mexico's government) should be protecting people like us, who have never done anything wrong."
The attack has added to the pressure on President Claudia Sheinbaum as she deals with chronic criminal violence in Mexico. While killings have fallen sharply under her government, Mexico had stepped up security ahead of the World Cup after a burst of violence in Guadalajara in February and amid threats by US President Donald Trump to take military action against cartels. Mexico deployed 100,000 security personnel mainly in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara, and the tournament's leg in Mexico ended on Sunday without major security incidents.
Security analyst David Saucedo said attacks such as the one in Guajes de Ayala were a consequence of that strategy. "There was heavy security in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey. Lots of military and National Guard officers from other states were transferred to fortify World Cup hosts," Saucedo said. "But in doing that, they also left a number of regions that weren't host cities unprotected." Violence elsewhere has continued, with clashes in northern Sinaloa over the weekend leaving a naval officer and 10 suspected gang members dead, the body of a kidnapped journalist found in southern Veracruz last week, and eight bodies discovered with cartel messages in Chiapas on Wednesday.
People in Guajes de Ayala said they had warned authorities that an attack was coming and had posted videos on social media showing cartel drones overhead and the positions of fighters moving closer to their homes. Solorio said no one came to help. As some people hid in the clinic, others took shelter in churches. After the AP asked about the attack, Mexico's Security Cabinet said on X that the "events described in news articles have been ruled out" by authorities. It added that state security forces "are heading to the area to verify the situation, strengthen institutional presence, and provide security to the population."
Authorities have earlier rejected claims that they abandoned communities in Guerrero, but when the AP recently visited the region, there was no state presence near the communities. For years, La Nueva Familia Michoacana has been expanding into Guerrero. Residents said hundreds of people have fled their homes, and men in the area have formed a vigilante group in recent years to resist the cartel. The group, armed by rival cartels fighting La Nueva Familia Michoacana, has military-grade weapons smuggled from the US, along with grenades and drones used to track cartel movements.
For residents in Guerrero, where criminal groups have fought for decades, Wednesday's attack was the latest sign of a long-running conflict that they said had been building for weeks. They had warned of the danger, they said, but when the assault came, they were left to survive it on their own.
With PTI Inputs
Residents of a cluster of rural communities in Mexico's Guerrero state said cartel drones dropped bombs on Wednesday morning as gunfire broke out between La Nueva Familia Michoacana and a local vigilante group. The attack, which began around 6 am, came after the communities said they had spent weeks warning law enforcement that the cartel was closing in on them.
The violence unfolded as Mexico concentrated security forces in World Cup host cities such as Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Authorities initially denied the attacks in Guerrero, even as locals livestreamed videos that they said showed gunfire and smoke rising from mountain lookouts set up to monitor cartel movements.
Marilu Solorio, 24, said she hid in an abandoned medical clinic with 70 women, children and elderly people as explosions from drones and gunfire continued outside. "While some are celebrating goals, others are getting massacred by drones carrying bombs," Solorio said by phone from the shelter. "Instead of protecting people in the places where they've been playing the World Cup, (Mexico's government) should be protecting people like us, who have never done anything wrong."
The attack has added to the pressure on President Claudia Sheinbaum as she deals with chronic criminal violence in Mexico. While killings have fallen sharply under her government, Mexico had stepped up security ahead of the World Cup after a burst of violence in Guadalajara in February and amid threats by US President Donald Trump to take military action against cartels. Mexico deployed 100,000 security personnel mainly in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara, and the tournament's leg in Mexico ended on Sunday without major security incidents.
Security analyst David Saucedo said attacks such as the one in Guajes de Ayala were a consequence of that strategy. "There was heavy security in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey. Lots of military and National Guard officers from other states were transferred to fortify World Cup hosts," Saucedo said. "But in doing that, they also left a number of regions that weren't host cities unprotected." Violence elsewhere has continued, with clashes in northern Sinaloa over the weekend leaving a naval officer and 10 suspected gang members dead, the body of a kidnapped journalist found in southern Veracruz last week, and eight bodies discovered with cartel messages in Chiapas on Wednesday.
People in Guajes de Ayala said they had warned authorities that an attack was coming and had posted videos on social media showing cartel drones overhead and the positions of fighters moving closer to their homes. Solorio said no one came to help. As some people hid in the clinic, others took shelter in churches. After the AP asked about the attack, Mexico's Security Cabinet said on X that the "events described in news articles have been ruled out" by authorities. It added that state security forces "are heading to the area to verify the situation, strengthen institutional presence, and provide security to the population."
Authorities have earlier rejected claims that they abandoned communities in Guerrero, but when the AP recently visited the region, there was no state presence near the communities. For years, La Nueva Familia Michoacana has been expanding into Guerrero. Residents said hundreds of people have fled their homes, and men in the area have formed a vigilante group in recent years to resist the cartel. The group, armed by rival cartels fighting La Nueva Familia Michoacana, has military-grade weapons smuggled from the US, along with grenades and drones used to track cartel movements.
For residents in Guerrero, where criminal groups have fought for decades, Wednesday's attack was the latest sign of a long-running conflict that they said had been building for weeks. They had warned of the danger, they said, but when the assault came, they were left to survive it on their own.
With PTI Inputs
