August 22, 2020
Chenalhó Chiapas, Photo: Bill Hackwell
These attacks are in an area of Chenalho in the highlands of Chiapas near where the Acteal Massacre took place by similar paramilitary groups, financed by large landowners and big business, on December 22, 1997, killing 45 men women and children. Then as now federal police stood by and did nothing – edit
The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba) has received serious urgent information concerning the settlers as well as the Permanent Commission of the 115 Displaced Communal Campesinos of Aldama, Chiapas, Mexico. This concerns a threat to the lives, safety and personal security and the forced displacement of communities that are part of the Maya Tsotsil people of the region of Aldama, due to actions carried out by the paramilitary group of Santa Martha, Chenalhó. Here is their report.
According to accounts from eyewitnesses, the attacks began at 7:23 pm on Friday, August 14, and have not stopped between then and the time of this urgent dispatch.
On Saturday, August 15, the aggressions intensified, with the inhabitants reporting that the armed group had crossed through the borders of Aldama, placing the communities of Pedro Cotsilnam and Yeton, in the Aldama region, in danger. They also reported that they could observe that there were 3 separate armed groups located in different positions around them.
Shots began to be fired at 10:50 at night. Loud explosions were heard and a family in the Yetom community was attacked. Hopefully, there were no people wounded or killed, but at this time we have no further information; the last report was August 15 at 11:33 pm.
The families who were attacked by the armed group had to flee to another community; they also report that the government police who are stationed inside the Tabak community did not intervene in this situation.
On August 16, 2020, it was again reported that the armed group of civilians continued to attack the communities of Yeton, Ch’ivit and Tselejpotobtik in the Aldama region at 8:56 pm. Once again government police stationed in Tabak have not taken action.
The community reported that people from the armed group have been found in different points of attack, including el Puente, K’ante’, Templo, Panteón, Xchuch te’, Vale’tik, Santa Martha and in the point of Ladrillo within an area of 60 hectares (148 acres) of disputed land, from these points they are attacking the communities of Aldama, at 9:25 pm on August 16, 2020.
The attacks have continued without pause through the afternoon, the night and the early morning – this was the situation of aggressions against the community of San Pedro Cotsilnam Aldama at the points of T’ul Vits Santa Martha of the Chenalhó region.
Other reports detail the locations of armed aggressions carried out by the armed Santa Martha Chenalhó groups against the community of Kokó Aldama from the point of Tok’oy Saclum at 12:38 am on August 17. The community of Tselejpotobtik in the Aldama region continues to be attacked by large caliber weapons.
The shooting did not stop in spite of the attempts to intervene with the government authorities that we made from the Frayba together with the reports of the 115 representatives of the Aldama communities. Their response was indifference loaded with racism and discrimination from the federal government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the Chiapas state government of Rutilio Escandón Cadenas.
To this date, there have been at least 26 attacks with high caliber weapons carried out by armed civilian para-military type groups operating in this region and coming from the communities of Santa Martha, Chenalhó region.
This situation of violence has created an atmosphere of terror among the population of the communities that were indicated in this report as well as others in the areas of Aldama and Chenalhó, many have fled. We emphasize that the national COVID-19 emergency increases the risk to those who are seeking refuge in the mountains to escape the repeated attacks; the majority of those are women, children, and old people who are highly vulnerable.
Because of the preceding information, we urge the Mexican government to:
Activate security and precautionary measures to prevent occurrences that are irreparable, such as loss of life, safety, and personal security and the escalation of forced displacement.
Investigate promptly and adequately, as well as penalize, disarm, and disperse the armed paramilitary type groups of Chenalhó, who are directly responsible for the armed attacks that have provoked forced displacements in the highlands of Chiapas.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano, translation North America bureau