Photo @Koman Ilel
On 10 June, Catholics from San Pedro Chenalhó, via their authorities and representatives, denounced the looting of land on which is located their construction materials. This act was carried out by neighborhood officials, “in light of the silence or complicity” of the municipal, agrarian, and human-rights authorities. The invasion, which was carried out by 140 people brandishing machetes, began on 29 April and worsened throughout the month of May. In June, the invading group carried out several aggressions against the Catholic minority in the Puebla colony. The protestors denounce that “It seems that the tragic events of 1997 are repeating thesmelves, leading to the Acteal massacre. One of the spots where this began was precisely in the Puebla neighborhood.” The attack coincides with the release of those accused and sentenced for the Acteal massacre.
According to the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC), the “release of the paramilitaries has sent a signal to these groups (never themselves dismantled) or to some whom participated in them, that they can act freely by attacking whomever they please without consequencesa. This could well be the case in the Puebla neighborhood, the locale of one of the recently released paramilitaries who was originally indicated as the leader of the group that carried out the massacre in Acteal.”
For more information (in Spanish):
Liberación de paramilitares desata ataques en Chenalhó: Centro Frayba (La Jornada, 11 de junio de 2013)
Frayba: denuncia la comunidad católica de la Parroquia de San Pedro Chenalhó el despojo que pretenden hacer las autoridades del mal gobierno. (5 de junio de 2013)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Chiapas: Denunciation from Las Abejas of Acteal on 22 May 2013 (7 June 2013)
Chiapas: Las Abejas denounce lack of justice in the Acteal case (23 April 2013)
Chiapas: Las Abejas lament release of yet another of those charged for Acteal massacre (27 March 2013)
Chiapas: New communique from Las Abejas de Acteal (24 January 2013)
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