Photo @SIPAZ
On 22 October 2013, in commemoration of the December 1997 Acteal massacre, members of the Las Abejas Civil Society published a denunciation contradicting an article from Milenio and stressing the continued existence of impunity in Mexico.
“We survivors and members of the Las Abejas organization would like to publicly correct a writer named SARA S. POZOZ who writes for Milenio. On Saturday 5 October she claimed on that on 22 December 1997 a supposed group of paramilitaries invaded an Evangelical church and killed more than 40 Tsotsil indigenous persons from the Chenalhó municipality. This claim does not specify who it was who killed our brothers [and sisters]. We would like to clarify that those who participated in the Acteal massacre are PRI Evangelicals and Cardenists who are our neighbors, and for this reason we make this claim.
This publication made by the writer is full of lies. Is it not true then that she feels no shame for publishing lies that should never be published? This we ask her: with what right does this journalist publish something on the conflict without having any idea what the roots of the conflict are? She has no right to publish whenever she feels the desire to change the facts of the massacre; if she does not know, it would be better for her to be arrested. The 45 brothers [and sisters] of ours and the four unborn were not Evangelicals, but instead were members of the Las Abejas Civil Society who struggled in favor of peace; they furthermore were Catholics. They had been fasting and praying for two days to seek the well-being of our people and the world. Their prayers and fasting sought peace, given that months previously there had been burning down of homes, robbery of possessions, and displacement as prosecuted by paramilitaries.
Our demand is against the material and intellectual authors of the Acteal massacre, though the Supreme Court for Justice in the Nation has released the paramilitaries and never punished the planners of the attack. For this reason we call them ministers of injustice. The Abejas and survivors continue to struggle and resist; nearly 16 years have passed since the massacre but we still have yet to see justice done. We are resolved to continue struggling peacefully; we will never agree with taking arms, robbing the things of others, or killing anyone who be the child of God–despite the fact that this is how the majority of Presbyterian act, as in the Puebla ejido.”
For more information (in Spanish):
Otros no se olvida (Milenio, 5 de octubre de 2013)
Las Abejas seguimos en pie de lucha pacífica en la resistencia y en la autonomía (22 de octubre de 2013)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Chiapas: Press-conference by Las Abejas, 4 years after the beginning of the release of those incarcerated for the Acteal massacre (21 August 2013)
Chiapas: Las Abejas Civil Society warns of violence in Chenalhó “reminiscent of the year 1997″ (4 August 2013)
Chiapas: Las Abejas Civil Society, “the government is using two weapons in its strategy, lead bullets and sugar bullets” (25 June 2013)
Chiapas: Las Abejas denounce lack of justice in the Acteal case (23 April 2013)
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