Drug gang attacks ‘force hundreds of Indigenous families to flee’ in Mexico

Hundreds of Indigenous families have been forced to flee their homes in the mountains of central Mexico by intense attacks from a local criminal group, including drone bombings, an Indigenous rights organisation said on Monday. A gang known as Los Ardillos has been carrying out attacks in Guerrero state for years, but they started to intensify last week. Villages were subjected to eight hours of bombings on Saturday, the National Indigenous Congress said, forcing between 800 to 1,000 families to flee to other towns. “There is total anguish among the people,” said Carlos González García, a spokesperson for the congress, adding that at least four people had been killed. “The families are terrified, especially the women and children. It’s a level of violence that we’re not used to.” Videos shared on social media showed women and children sobbing as they cowered inside a local church. In other footage , intense gunfire and explosions can be heard echoing across farmland and forests as smoke rises in the background. “They were attacking us with drones and with .50 high calibre weapons, that’s why I left and took my twin sons with me,” a woman said in a Facebook video posted by another Indigenous rights group. “They killed the animals and now they’re setting fire to the hillsides.” A video shared with the Guardian from the village of Alcozacán showed gunfire and explosions continuing on Monday morning. …