On 26 May, the Good-Government Council (JBG) from the Morelia caracol denounced looting of lands in the autonomous Zapatista municipalities of 17 November and Lucio Cabañas by members of the Regional Organization of Coffee Cultivators of Ocosingo (ORCAO), supported by authorities. The JBG affirms that “the bad governments try to convince with miserable projects, using tools to harass our struggling peoples, poor people who do not like to work, with the intention of debilitating or degrading our comrades.”
The JBG detailed that on 14 April in the Lucio Cabañas autonomous municipality, members of ORCAO provoked a looting of land using the pretext of broadening the pantheon, an act that affected the lands of Vicente Lopez Gomez. In a subsequent act, on 21 May 2012 an ORCAO tractor arrived that affected the lands of 16 other Zapatistas that had been cultivating on these lands. The JBG added that “in the same way members of ORCAO IN THE EL NANTZE RANCH, Altamirano municipality, are carrying out actions of looting of recovered lands in the community of 21 APRIL. They cut electricity, and they log trees, threatening our comrade support-bases in our autonomous municipality of 17 of November, Chiapas.”
For more information (in Spanish):
Denuncian zapatistas despojos de tierras por caficultores de Ocosingo, La Jornada, 28 de mayo de 2012
JBG de Morelia denuncia despojo de tierras por paramilitares de la ORCAO apoyados por 3 niveles del mal gobierno, Enlace Zapatista, 26 de mayo de 2012
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Chiapas: the Morelia JBG denounces destruction of house by ORCAO (9 August 2011)
Chiapas: JBG of La Garrucha denounces armed attacks on August 16, 2011 (19 August 2011)
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