Photo @ Koman Ilel
On 21 December, more than 300 persons from the San Sebastián Bachajón ejido peacefully recovered the lands which belong to the ejido within the Chilón municipality on which are located the access-point to the Agua Azul waterfalls eco-tourist center. In a communique, the ejidatari@s reported that they had decided in an assembly to recover this space, given that these had been “plundered by the bad government since 2 February 2011 with the complicity of the ejidal commissioner of San Sebastián Bachajón,” thus making reference to the control-point that had been administered by the ejidatari@s since September 2009 until the time in which they were displaced, leaving one dead, at least 2 injured, and 117 arrested. Subsequently, the National Commission for Protected Natural Areas (CONANP) installed its own control-point, and the Institute for Civil Protection (IPC) and the Secretary for Citizen Security and Protection (SSyPC) established a permanent presence at the entrance of the eco-tourist center.
The ejidatarios in their communique added a note regarding more recent events: “the bad government cannot put an end to this struggle; it is for this reason that they attack us so much and even killed Juan Vázquez Guzmán on 24 April 2013 and our comrade Juan Carlos Gómez Silvano on 21 March 2014. It is for this reason that we have there comrades imprisoned in Yajalón, Chiapas: Juan Antonio Gómez Silvano, Mario Aguilar Silvano, and Roberto Gómez Hernández, who were tortured by the municipal police of Chilón and the Indigenous Public Minister of Ocosingo, Lic. Rodolfo Gómez Gutiérrez, who placed a pistol at the head of Mario Aguilar Silvano as well as a bag on top of his head.”
Given that these are vacation dates, it is feared that a displacement operation will follow that could be violent.
For more information (in Spanish):
Denuncia de adherentes del Ejido San Sebastian Bachajon, Chiapas, México (Enlace Zapatista, 21 de diciembre de 2014)
Ejidatari@s de #Bachajón recuperan su territorio ubicado en la colindancia del acceso al Centro Ecoturístico “Cascadas de Agua Azul”(Koman Ilel, 21 de diciembre de 2014)
#AcciónUgrente ante posible desalojo de ejidatri@s de San Sebastián Bachajón (Koman Ilel, 22 de diciembre de 2014)
Información Actualizada de San Sebastián #Bachajón adherente a #LaSexta declaración del #EZLN y miembros del #CNI (Koman Ilel, 23 de diciembre de 2014)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Chiapas: Ejidatarios of San Sebastián Bachajón “occupy” control-point in Agua Azul before being displaced (25 June 2012)
Chiapas: Sit-in of the Front of Ejidos in Resistance in San Cristóbal de Las Casas (6 January 2012)
Chiapas: Special report by Frayba: Government creates and administers conflicts (8 March 2011)
Chiapas: Ejidatari@s from San Sebastián Bachajón retake control-point in Agua Azul (13 December 2011)
Chiapas: The four prisoners from San Sebastián Bachajón are released (18 August 2011)
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