A drug cartel seized control of the small Mexican town of Cherán. The criminals were logging the surrounding forests and, under threat of violence, forcing local people to work for them.
Residents repeatedly turned to the police. But, according to locals, every complaint was ignored. Soldiers who arrived during one of the clashes also withdrew, refusing to act without orders from above. There was nowhere to look for help.
The turning point came in 2011, when ten unarmed women blocked a lorry carrying illegally logged timber. Their act marked the beginning of mass resistance: the people of Cherán sealed off the roads into the town and formed their own self-defence groups.
Today, those groups guard the town and patrol the forests, preventing the cartels from regaining control of the community. Discover the price Cherán’s residents continue to pay to defend their independence in our film.
