{"id":801243,"date":"2026-05-16T19:38:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T19:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/801243\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T19:38:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T19:38:31","slug":"mexicos-invisible-displacement-crisis-ap-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/801243\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico’s invisible displacement crisis | AP News"},"content":{"rendered":"

TULA, Mexico (AP) \u2014 When bombs fell from the sky and bullets ricocheted off her concrete floors, 74-year-old Mar\u00eda Cabrera and her family fled into the night-cloaked mountains of central Mexico<\/a> with only the clothes on their backs.<\/p>\n

A week later, Cabrera picks through the charred scraps of her life, salvaging pots, woven cloths and a small wooden cross. She knows that it\u2019s the last time she\u2019ll return to her home of 60 years. <\/p>\n

\u201cOh God, why have you abandoned me,\u201d she said through heartbroken sobs, wandering past burned ashes of what was once her mattress in a small room with a collapsed roof and a melted refrigerator just through the door. \u201cHow are we going to rebuild? We don\u2019t have money, we don\u2019t have anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

She joined a growing number of people displaced in conflict-torn regions of Mexico forced to flee their homes. Experts have described the phenomenon as an invisible crisis with long-term humanitarian consequences \u2014 there are few official figures on the number of displaced people, who have almost no resources to turn to once violence forces them to leave.<\/p>\n

\u2018We can\u2019t live here anymore\u2019<\/p>\n

Cabrera fled her small town Friday after years of mounting cartel violence in Tula. This town of around 200 native N\u00e1huatl people is among many in the central state of Guerrero ravaged by decades of fracturing rival criminal groups<\/a> warring for territorial control. <\/p>\n

Last week, a group known as Los Ardillos attacked her town and a handful of others with drone-fired explosives<\/a>, opened fire on local community police forces, killed livestock and burned homes like Cabrera\u2019s to an undistinguishable crisp.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A National Guardsman walks past a resident sitting outside her home after armed attacks by local criminal groups forced more than dozens of residents to flee, in Tula, Mexico, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

A National Guardsman walks past a resident sitting outside her home after armed attacks by local criminal groups forced more than dozens of residents to flee, in Tula, Mexico, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

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Cabrera carefully handed bags of belongings to soldiers escorting a small group of families returning home to gather their things. She prayed as armed men in camouflage loaded her possessions into the back of a truck. As she wandered through her garden for the last time, she begged forgiveness from the dogs and chickens she was forced to leave behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to abandon them,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we suffered through everything. We can\u2019t live here anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scattering across Mexico<\/p>\n

A local human rights group, Indigenous and People\u2019s Council of Guerrero-Emiliano Zapata, or CIPOG-EZ, estimated that at least 800 people, including children and the elderly, were forcibly displaced along with Cabrera, and three community police officers \u2014 groups often formed to protect themselves in the wake of state absence \u2014 fighting back against the mafia were killed.<\/p>\n

The official numbers are far lower: Mexico\u2019s government said Tuesday that only 120 people were forced to flee and confirmed no deaths. One community leader sleeping at the basketball court on Friday told a local government official that in their town alone they estimated around 280 people had been forced to flee. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A resident walks along a street after armed attacks by local criminal groups forced more than dozens of residents to flee, in Tula, Mexico, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

A resident walks along a street after armed attacks by local criminal groups forced more than dozens of residents to flee, in Tula, Mexico, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

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Some families ran into the mountains, not looking back. Hundreds sought shelter under a local basketball court, hoping that it might be safe to eventually return home. Others \u2014 some wounded by gunfire \u2014 boarded cars, buses and trucks, scattering to different regions of Mexico.<\/p>\n

Videos published on social media this week show groups of crying women and children pleading for help.<\/p>\n

The images pushed the government to deploy 1,200 military and police officers to the region. Officials say they have provided aid to those displaced, largely contained the violence, established a \u201csafe corridor\u201d for humanitarian aid to enter and paved the way toward defusing the region\u2019s convoluted conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do not want is a confrontation that would affect the civilian population. Above all, we must preserve people\u2019s lives,\u201d Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said at a news conference last week. <\/p>\n

An invisible crisis<\/p>\n

Critics say that it was the latest example of government inaction and efforts to downplay the depth of the displacement crisis in Mexico. Unlike Colombia, Mexico doesn\u2019t have a comprehensive registry of displaced people. Government figures are often cited as being insufficient by entities like the U.N. refugee agency, human rights groups and researchers documenting the crisis.<\/p>\n

A 2025 government National Survey<\/a> of Victimization and Public Security Perception estimated that nearly 250,000 households were forced to flee their homes in 2024 alone to protect themselves from crime.<\/p>\n

Between 2024 and 2025, the Ibero-American University documented at least 44,695 people who had fled their homes to other parts of Mexico. Many more migrate to the U.S.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A cross sits atop kitchen pots after armed attacks by local criminal groups forced more than dozens of residents to flee, in Tula, Mexico, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

A cross sits atop kitchen pots after armed attacks by local criminal groups forced more than dozens of residents to flee, in Tula, Mexico, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

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In a May report, the university noted that forced displacements are on the rise in Mexico at a time when Sheinbaum\u2019s government has sought to highlight security gains \u2014 like sharp dips in homicides<\/a> \u2014 in an effort to offset threats by the Trump administration<\/a> to take military action on Mexican cartels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no more life in these communities,\u201d said Prisco Rodr\u00edguez, a local representative for CIPOG-EZ. \u201cThe government says people have already returned to their houses, but there\u2019s no one here. People don\u2019t say where they\u2019re going out of fear … and the majority never appear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cabrera and her husband, 75-year-old Alejandro Venancio Bruno, were scrambling to figure out where they would go. Cabrera said that her children plead with her to come live with them in Mexico City, around 350 kilometers (220 miles) from their home, or the state of Queretaro, and rebuild their lives elsewhere. <\/p>\n

But Venancio said that he\u2019s spent his life working his land, and without money, a home or his most valuable possessions \u2014 his goats \u2014 any other life outside of Tula seems unfathomable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like starting from zero,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Maria<\/p>\n

Maria Anastasia Cabrera walks through the ruins of her home after armed attacks by local criminal groups forced dozens of residents to flee, in Tula, Mexico, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

Maria Anastasia Cabrera walks through the ruins of her home after armed attacks by local criminal groups forced dozens of residents to flee, in Tula, Mexico, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

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