On December 21st and 22nd, the Las Abejas de Acteal commemorated the XXIII anniversary of the 1997 massacre, “an open wound, of memory and resistance against the war against organized peoples.”
The two days of celebration that took place in the Tsotsil community of the Chiapas Highlands included prayers, dances, processions, songs and pronouncements to honor the memory of the 45 people massacred 23 years ago. In addition to the organization Las Abejas de Acteal Civil Society and its Council, members of Chenalho Parish, the Fray Bartolome de las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba), of Servicios y Asesoria para la Paz A.C. (SERAPAZ) and the auxiliary bishop of San Cristobal, Luis Manuel Lopez, took part.
In their statement, Las Abejas denounced that “former President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, former Governor Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro, Emilio Chuayffet and all the former officials designated as the masterminds of the Massacre are still free and with impunity.” They ask the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to “expedite the issuance of the report on the merits, and to make public the conclusions of its investigations and recommendations to the Mexican State so that true justice is done by prosecuting the intellectual and material authors.”
For his part, Frayba said to the State: “The time has come for the current Mexican State to publicly acknowledge the existence of the Chiapas ‘94 Campaign Plan and the impact of crimes against humanity on the community life of the population from the Highlands, North and Jungle areas of Chiapas, within the framework of the counterinsurgency war initiated to annihilate the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and those who organize from autonomy”, it declared.
It should be remembered that in September of this year the Mexican State acknowledged its responsibility and offered apologies to the survivors of the massacre and to the families of the 45 people who were killed, promoting the signing of a friendly settlement agreement. However, the Abejas de Acteal Civil Society did not participate in this process but continues to wait for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to issue a report on the merits of the case.
For more information in Spanish:
Piden a la CIDH agilizar reporte sobre Acteal (La Jornada, 23 de diciembre de 2020)
23 años después, no cesa la exigencia de justicia por la matanza de Acteal(Proceso, 23 de diciembre de 2020)
A 23 años de la masacre de Acteal, la herida sigue abierta y exigen justicia(Chiapas Paralelo, 22 de diciembre de 2020)
Abejas de Acteal exigen justicia para 45 tzotziles masacrados en 1997 (El Universal, 22 de diciembre de 2020)
A 23 años de la masacre de Acteal, el crimen que marcó el sexenio de Ernesto Zedillo (Infobae, 22 de diciembre de 2020)
For more information from SIPAZ:
sipazen.wordpress.com 