Children, many barefoot, play basketball in their community in Guerrero higlands. A thick fog covers the hills, scattered with pine trees, small houses and a wooden church. It is starting to get dark, even though it is only 4:00 p.m.
The 19 municipalities of Guerrero highlands are considered the most marginalized by the National Council for Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL) in a state where almost 65.2% of its 3.5 million inhabitants live in poverty. Most of their inhabitants belong to one of these four ethnic groups: Na Savi (mixteca), Me'Phaa (tlapaneca), Ñomda (amuzga) and Nahua.
EL UNIVERSAL visited La Montaña, a Na Savi community where poppies are grown. It has 500 inhabitants, one third of them children. Up to 40% of the population has migrated. There is no mobile signal, neither sewerage. Around 80 students aged between 6 and 14 attend a wooden school.
Abel Barrera Hernández, director of the Human Rights Center of the Mountain Tlachinollan, says that during the 20 years that his organization has documented the conditions of indigenous peoples, the planting of illegal crops grew along with poverty.
He explained that after tropical storm Ingrid and hurricane Manuel in 2013, the area regressed at least 20 years and migration increased at least 30%.
"The lack of government response has pushed families to plant illicit crops. About 70 families just left for San Quintín, Baja California. They come from municipalities such as Copanatoyac, Alcozauca, Tlapa and Malinaltepec and they have no other choice but leaving or growing poppies,” Barrera said.
He added that no one plants more than half a hectare (1.2 acres) and they rarely harvest one full kilo of opium gum, whose price varies from 20,000 pesos (US$1,089) to 2,000 or 3,000 pesos (US$108 to 163).
Nonetheless, he does not believe that growing poppies is the solution to poverty.
'It's not a magic wand. The network is controlled, there is no justice and there are criminal disputes over profits. For us the main thing is to recover production capacity of grains such as corn and beans and supporting small producers,” he said.
Barrera added that the government should realize that poppy plantations flourish in the areas with the highest levels of marginalization.
Damián, 25, who is an authority in his town, considers that they do not commit any crime by planting poppies.
"We do not see it as the illicit things in cities, where many crimes are committed. We do not take it like that, it is like any other job, we do not hurt anyone. We do not know for what purpose they use it,” Damián said, adding that intermediaries keep 40% of the profits.
Damián says that in this area families live with 100 pesos (US$5.4) a day.
"Poppies started being grown in the mountain around 30 years ago, people do it because they do not have other alternatives. It is easier to grow poppies than corn, because they can be harvested three times a year unlike corn, that takes six months to grow," he explained.