(@Centro de Medios Libres)
On 11 May, the La Garrucha Good-Government Council (JBG) from Caracol III publicly denounced two attacks: one in the El Rosario community, on recovered lands belonging to the autonomous municipality of San Manuel, and the other in the Nuevo Paraíso community, which pertains to the Francisco Villa autonomous municipality. According to the JBG, there are two paramilitary groups in the region: one made up of 21 people from El Rosario, and the other comprised of 28 individuals from the Chikinival neighborhood, which pertains to the Pojkol ejido, in the Chilón municipality of Chiapas state.
The acts described in the denunciation took place on 10 May, when the Chikinival group arrived to El Rosario and began to measure the recovered lands of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), where Zapatista support-bases (BAEZLN) also live. Two paramilitaries entered the house of one Zapatista, and another fired on the Zapatista daughter when she tried to escape the home. The father of the child then threw a stone at the aggressor, causing him head injuries. The next day, the family of the injured attacker came to demand 7,000 pesos from the BAEZLN as compensation. The JBG assures that this amount will not be provided, given that the Zapatista did not seek or initiate the violence.
It bears noting that in 2014, residents of the Pojkol ejido killed a stud bull belonging to a Zapatista, destroyed homes and a cooperative, robbed possessions, fumigated land with herbicides, opened fire intermittently, and left a written note among the burned domiciles: “Pojkol territory.”
Also on 10 May 2015, 16 people from Chikinival entered the Nuevo Paraíso community, armed with two pistols and a rifle. “They came to leave a letter in the street which blames the Zapatista support-base comrades for having provoked these conflicts,” says the JBG. Beyond this, the JBG adds that in this case it has initiated mediation, deciding to transfer 21 hectares to put an end to the threats, though this has not yet resolved the problem. The authorities from the Pojkol ejido claim to oppose this group from Chikinival, given its lack of respect and obedience for the ejidal authorities.
These two incidents took place the day after the close of the seminar on “Critical Thought amidst the Capitalist Hydra,” which was organized by the EZLN and held from 3 to 9 May in CIDECI-Unitierra Las Casas, where academics and activists shared their thoughts and reflections regarding the present context and alternatives to the capitalist system.
For more information (in Spanish):
Denuncia de la JBG El Camino del Futuro Caracol III. La Garrucha (Enlace Zapatista, 11 de mayo de 2015)
“Manuel Velasco no hace nada, porque es su paramilitar”, denuncian Zapatistas ante agresiones de grupos armados. (Pozol Colectivo, 12 de mayo de 2015)
Desplazamiento, riesgo de despojo y amenazas a Bases de Apoyo del EZLN(CDHFBC, 15 de agosto de 2014)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Chiapas: Update regarding forced displacement of EZLN support bases belonging to the La Garrucha caracol (2 September 2014)
Chiapas: Forced displacement of EZLN support-bases belonging to La Garrucha caracol (29 August 2014)
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