Seven of the eight people abducted from El Balcón, Guerrero, returned home. Farmer Domingo Atanacio Quirino was still missing as of November 7.
Seven of the eight people abducted from El Balcón, a mountain community in Guerrero, made it home. As of November 7, the eighth, 50-year-old farmer Domingo Atanacio Quirino, was still missing. Residents had raised his case again that week with state official Francisco Rodríguez. They identified Arcelia and Ciudad Altamirano as places investigators were looking, but said they had received no official word on whether the search had turned up anything.
The eight were taken on September 24 near La Lajita, in the El Balcón communal landholding in Ajuchitlán del Progreso. Some were on their way to tend cattle or work their fields. The attackers identified themselves as members of La Familia, according to sources. Survivors said a captor told them the group wanted control of their territory and timber business. Drone footage of the abductions, reported that the area lies along a route the group has sought to control between Tierra Caliente and Guerrero’s Costa Grande.
The community organized its own search effort. After the youngest captive was released about a week later, residents used what he told them and other clues to draw a map for authorities. On October 2, more than 2,000 people from mountain communities marched along the Acapulco Zihuatanejo highway toward Aguas Blancas, demanding a stronger response. Guerrero prosecutors later announced a 1.5 million peso reward for information that could help locate the seven people still missing at that point.
In interviews with AP, survivors described beatings, dwindling food and repeated moves between hiding places. One teenager feared the gunmen would force him to fight. The survivors said they had been held in a group of 136 people, including the El Balcón captives. They heard that number when a gunman requested food; authorities have not independently confirmed it. One survivor also said gunmen dictated what the captives had to say in a video circulated during their detention.
Six more residents returned on October 16, after 22 days in captivity. They were released in the Puerto Grande area. The survivors said their captors sent them away in a vehicle and that they reached a military checkpoint. The Army credited intelligence operations with locating them. The available accounts do not establish that troops freed the six directly from captivity.
Weeks later, residents reported that about 30 soldiers remained in El Balcón. Teachers had resumed traveling to the village, and classes were running again, but residents worried that could change if troops left. Velázquez, who directs the Minerva Bello human rights center, renewed his appeal for Domingo’s safe return and has urged federal prosecutors to take over the case. Authorities did not confirm whether they were searching for the other captives the survivors described.
