This week, hundreds of women in the Mexican town of Xaltianguis formed their own community defense organization to protect their town from organized crime. The women belong to a group called the Union of Peoples and Organizations of Guerrero State, or UPOEG.

According to local community self-defense force commander Miguel Angel Jimenez, the women are spread out between various different teams that patrol the neighborhoods of Xaltianguis, which is a small town just outside of Acapulco.

Jimenez told reporters that the women are well trained in firearms, but unfortunately the group only has about 80 guns and they have to rotate the weapons and share them between members.

“I trust that the people, once they know that the women are participating, they will provide more weapons“, Jimenez said.

Silvia Hipolito is a mother of two and one of the many women who recently joined this voluntary defense agency.

“Women are brave and we are capable of defending our town,” Hipolito told reporters.

Voluntary self-defense organizations like this one have been forming all over Mexico, because the government and local police forces haven’t actually been doing anything about the crimes in their communities.

Mexico is currently experiencing large protests all throughout the country over the recent mass kidnapping and murder of 43 students, which both the government and organized crime organizations were said to have played a role in.

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John Vibes writes for True Activist and is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war.