(@SIPAZ)
On 22 April, in observation fo themontly commemoration of the 1997 Acteal massacre, the Las Abejas Civil Society recalled the 45 persons who died “while they cried for peace, justice, liberty, and dignity for Mexico and for the world.” They said: “For this, today: the cry for justice for the Acteal case continues, and it will continue through the centuries, and we will do it here and now with 14 years and 4 months having passed since the massacre, in this the Sacred Land of the Martyrs.”
Las Abejas note that “the children of the released paramilitaries, it should be noted, the son of Mariano Luna Ruiz from high Acteal were seen on 11 April at 12pm, passing by calmly in the Acteal community, carrying arms that their parents used in the massacre. This act demonstrates the existence of hidden arms in the communities of Chenalhó that is denied by the government of Chiapas, and it may indicate the reactivation of paramilitary action. In this sense, in a coercive sense, the children of the pardoned paramilitaries carry arms becasue they saw that to assassinate and massacre an innocent people is the work of government that pays well and compensates its servants for their work for the state.”
They indicate that “the worst of all is that this climate of impunity that is lived in Mexico is seen with the action of the administrators of justice in Mexico, who have permitted the opening of a grand escalation of violence, massacres, murders, kidnappings, and ambushes against social activists who denounce injustices, human-rights defenders, and organizations that defend their land and territory.” For this reason they demand “justice for those responsible for murders, kidnappings, disappearances, and extortion committed against social activists and human-rights defenders,” particularly in the case of the communards of Cherán, Michoacán; Alberto Patishtán, political prisoner of La Voz del Amate; and the adherents to the Other Campaign from the community of Candelaria el Alto, in addition to the demands of the Wixarika people.
For more information (in Spanish):
Comunicado completo de la Sociedad Civil Las Abejas (22 de abril de 2012)
Ostentan hijos de paramilitares armas de la masacre de Acteal (La Jornada, 2 de mayo de 2012)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Chiapas: Pre-audience of the People’s Permanent Tribunal (22 March 2012)
Permanent Tribunal of the Peoples – Mexico Chapter (14 November 2011)
Chiapas: Release of 7 other indigenous persons accused of participating in Acteal massacre (9 February)
Chiapas: “Day of Fasting and Prayer for Memory, Resistance, and Life,” 14 years after the Acteal massacre (6 January 2012)
Chiapas: New denunciation by Las Abejas (28 October 2011)
Chiapas: Las Abejas of Acteal distance themselves from demand against ex-president Zedillo (27 September 2011)
Chiapas: Day of Action for Justice and Truth of Las Abejas of Acteal (19 August)
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