Forced Displacement in Indigenous Communities of the Sierra Tarahumara

Forced Displacement in Indigenous Communities of the Sierra Tarahumara

Written on 26 January 2026. Posted in News

BY CONTEC FOR INDIGENOUS DEBATES

Since the launch of the so-called "war on drugs" by Felipe Calderón in 2006, violence linked to organised crime has deepened across rural Mexico. In the northwestern Sierra Tarahumara region, this has led Indigenous families to abandon their communities in an attempt to escape food shortages, armed clashes, sexual violence against women, and the forced recruitment of men. Children are among the most severely affected by cartel violence, facing malnutrition, psychological trauma, and a lack of access to education.

In the state of Chihuahua, the violence driving forced displacement is concentrated in areas such as the Sierra Tarahumara - a region with little state presence and a population that has been historically marginalised. In effect, these communities have long been relegated to supplying resources for the logging and mining industries, providing water to agricultural zones, and, in certain areas, cultivating illicit crops. This extractive dynamic has brought no economic development to the region; on the contrary, it has deepened the structural conditions of poverty.

Despite the countless cases of forced displacement in the Sierra Tarahumara, there is still no updated estimate of the total number of people affected, as the state has failed to carry out a census - despite existing legal mandates. However, in 2022, a coalition of civil society organisations documented 61 displacement events affecting at least 1,703 people. The report was submitted on the occasion of the official visit of Cecilia Jiménez-Damary, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons.

In just the last two years, media outlets have reported on hundreds of displaced families across various mountainous municipalities, mainly belonging to the Rarámuri, Ódami, Pima and Guarijío peoples. This crisis reflects the power of criminal organisations that, beyond controlling territory, have also infiltrated political, police, and institutional structures.

Organised crime and the State's response

When Felipe Calderón took office in 2006, he launched the so-called "war on drugs". Over the course of his six-year presidency, more than 70,000 violent homicides were recorded. Yet the results were far from what had been promised: drug cartels multiplied and had formed their own armed wings. As drug trafficking expanded, violence escalated dramatically. Despite these catastrophic outcomes, subsequent presidents continued to adopt similar strategies - which only fueled further bloodshed.

In contrast, the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) was marked by inaction in tackling drug trafficking, enabling criminal groups to grow, fragment and wage violent battles over territory. With the election of Claudia Sheinbaum, and under pressure from the United States to curb fentanyl trafficking and strengthen border control, a new security policy has been announced. However, in the Sierra Tarahumara, there have been no tangible improvements so far.

These dynamics have led to the diversification of criminal economies: large-scale illegal logging; the takeover of ejidos (Mexico's legal form of communal land ownership); extortion of local businesses (including tourism); levies imposed on social welfare recipients; alcohol sales; and the illicit extraction of gold - with artisanal miners (gambusinos) also forced to pay "protection fees".

Forced to flee

Violence manifests in varying degrees of intensity, but most often begins with prolonged sieges that restrict access to food, healthcare, and education. At its most extreme, it escalates into heavy armed clashes, which can sometimes last for days. In the absence of any meaningful response from the authorities, residents have little choice but to remain trapped inside their homes. Armed groups - commonly referred to as "los malos" or "los malandros" - threaten families to force them into joining their ranks, creating a pervasive atmosphere of fear.

When they are able to flee, families often do so on foot to avoid detection - a journey that severely strains their physical and emotional well-being, particularly for children and elderly people. By the time they reach a community willing to receive them, they are typically hungry, sick, cold, and utterly exhausted.

The territorial control exercised by criminal groups often involves restricting the supply of food in order to weaken rival factions. This strategy frequently leads to severe malnutrition - especially among already vulnerable children - which is only detected when medical brigades manage to reach the area, something that is becoming increasingly rare. Schools are also affected: as violence intensifies, teachers stop attending, resulting in significant educational setbacks for children.

Although many families resist leaving their communities, the rise in violence - including killings, threats, sexual violence, and forced recruitment - eventually compels them to flee in order to protect their lives and freedom. Even so, displaced people are often stigmatised or criminalised by authorities and the broader society, who question their motives or suspect them of links to criminal groups.

Interrupted agricultural cycles, forced recruitment, and sexual violence

The effects of forced displacement manifest at community, family, and individual levels, with distinct impacts according to gender and age. Furthermore, threats and displacement deeply disrupt collective organisation, interrupt communal decision-making, undermine cooperation among families, and halt traditional ceremonies observed by the entire community.

As violence interrupts agricultural cycles, families become reliant on external aid for their survival. Land and homes are lost, and displaced individuals who cannot return home are forced to start over in environments that prevent them from producing their own food or maintaining their cultural practices. Displacement entails a process of deterritorialisation: leaving the land also means being separated from Indigenous identity, which is intimately tied to the natural environment. Families once sustained by life on the ranch now live in overcrowded conditions and must take on new, often precarious, economic activities.

Young men are forcibly recruited; if they refuse, they are accused of belonging to rival cartels, threatened, and in extreme cases, killed. Many families flee specifically to protect them. Meanwhile, young women face the risk of sexual violence, which often leads to preventive displacement. In some families, older adults resist leaving their homes, and their relatives support them from afar, as displacement frequently causes emotional trauma that can lead to illness among the elderly.

Communities under attack

In September 2024, the community of Cinco Llagas, in the municipality of Guadalupe y Calvo, was subjected to multiple armed assaults. Those with the means to flee did so as soon as the siege began. Subsequently, state and federal authorities gathered the population in the local school but provided minimal humanitarian aid and failed to establish safe conditions for evacuation, despite the continuing violence.

By contrast, in Santa Tulita and its surrounding rancherías, families resisted displacement with support from civil society organisations. Although many managed to remain in their community, men are unable to leave to obtain supplies, and isolation persists. This area is the most significant social centre for the Ódami people, who were forced to witness their homes being looted or destroyed, their livestock stolen, and their lands occupied. The State has failed to ensure the protection of property or the safe return of displaced persons.

Similarly, in December 2024, hundreds of families fled their homes in the Dolores area, driven by terror as gunfights were not only frequent but sometimes lasted for hours or even days. In early 2025, a priest, a local community leader, and a military general were also targeted in shootings. Consequently, classes and religious services were suspended in June, and the municipal president of Guadalupe y Calvo urged residents to remain indoors amid the wave of violence.

Despite the intensification of armed attacks by criminal groups, the authorities remain utterly indifferent to the suffering of the community. Recently, Chihuahua's governor, Maru Campos, stated that no armed clashes between criminals occurred in Guadalupe y Calvo, claiming that the gunfire consisted solely of shots fired into the air to create a sense of insecurity. However, what is happening in this municipality is being mirrored in others such as Uruachi and Moris: in the past six months, hundreds of families from the Guarijó people have been displaced to urban areas to escape the armed conflict.

Standing strong, with dignity and joy

Through the strengthening and training initiatives carried out by communities in Mala Noche over the past three years, it has become evident that communal solidarity is the fundamental means to protect and uphold the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples. Remaining on their ancestral lands and securing sustainable livelihoods are essential foundations for communities to live together, exercise their rights, and express their cultural identity and traditions.

However, comprehensive programmes offering durable solutions remain absent. Some initiatives, such as Sembrando Vida, which require beneficiaries to stay within their territories, have helped certain families maintain connections to their communities and consider returning when conditions permit. Yet, these measures fall short in addressing the profound challenges of displacement, violence, and injustice.

The lack of recognition of the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples, the absence of a public policy on violence prevention that incorporates the perspectives and participation of the communities themselves, as well as the failure to acknowledge the problem and its consequences, are among the reasons why the issue of internal forced displacement remains invisible, discredited, and minimised by the Mexican State.

Instead of support, those affected are criminalised and abandoned to their fate, while the official narrative continues to deny their reality - thereby denying the victims themselves. This represents a serious omission and a grave violation of the rights of Indigenous peoples and communities in Chihuahua and throughout Mexico. Meanwhile, Indigenous communities in Guadalupe y Calvo resist daily, striving to protect life and adapt to their new realities, standing firm with dignity and, at times, with joy.

Consultoría Técnica Comunitaria (CONTEC) is a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting peasant economies and governance within Indigenous communities and forest ejidos in the Sierra Tarahumara region of Chihuahua state, through training, technical support, and the defence of community rights.

Cover photo: CONTEC

Tags: Indigenous Debates