• DISPLACED: Some 800 residents of the Sierra region in the southern state of Guerrero have been displaced from their homes in the past few days after the arrival of armed men to their small communities situated right amid a conflict between organized crime and vigilante groups.
• WITNESS: Per witnesses, hundreds of women, children and elderly people from the villages of El Balzamar, Tepozonalco and Chautipan left their homes for the town of Chichihualco (pop. 10,600). They were escaping from armed men who called themselves “community police”.
• COMPLAINT: “These people are not ‘community police’ but hired killers of Onésimo Marquina (the leader an armed group based in the town of Tlacotepec) and are forcing people out their homes. Government is doing nothing”, said a woman who asked not to be named out of fear.
• VIOLENCE: The group led by Onésimo Marquina (known as FUPCEG) is suspected to be involved in criminal activities in the Sierra region of Guerrero including drug trafficking. More than 6,000 people were displaced due to chronic violence in Guerrero, according to a recent NGO report.
