GoKawiilGUAJES DE AYALA, Mexico (AP) — Jesús Domínguez pushes through thick brush lining a rugged mountainside with an AK-47 slung over his shoulder and a grenade fastened to his leather belt.
He marches alongside a pack of camouflage-clad men patrolling the rural stretches of Mexico against one of the country's most powerful drug cartels.
READ MORE: Many in Mexico fear more violence after army kills cartel leader 'El Mencho'
Armed with military-grade weapons smuggled from the U.S., the 50-man force is one of dozens of "autodefensa," or "self-defense," groups that have emerged over the past decade in Mexico to fight increasingly sophisticated cartels in areas far out of the reach of security forces.
"The government doesn't care about us, and it's impossible for our arms to compete with (the cartel's)," said Domínguez, 34, from a watch post overlooking the mountains of Guerrero state. "They come at you with a ton of force, so you need to respond with force…If you don't, they'll overwhelm you."
The vigilantes in Guajes de Ayala join a volatile landscape of warring armed groups – from cartels with tentacles across Latin America to local mafias – in regions like Guerrero ravaged by splintering cartels for decades. It's a tangle Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum will have to unravel under pressure from the Trump administration and fears of more violence following the killing of Mexico's most powerful drug lord.
'We don't want to be slaves'
The vigilante group was formed in 2020 when the cartel La Nueva Familia Michoacana tried to take control of seven communities buried deep in the mountains along a strategic throughway connecting cartels to the port city of Acapulco, where drugs and other illegal goods flow.
Residents said the cartel, designated a foreign terrorist organization last year by the Trump administration, started illegally logging in their lands and tried to force residents to join fights against rival gangs.
READ MORE: Mexico sends 37 drug cartel members to U.S. in latest offer to Trump administration
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