On April 28th, 2021, the Civil Society Organization Las Abejas de Acteal, reported that due to the lack of conditions for their safety, six families (31 people) displaced for a year and eight months suspended their return to their Los Chorros community, Chenalho municipality, that was scheduled for this date.
“With pain and indignation we announce that the return was suspended due to risk to safety and the lives of the six families forcibly displaced here in Acteal, members of Las Abejas de Acteal from the “Rio Jordan” neighborhood, and the zero political will and sensitivity of the authorities and former authorities of the “Rio Jordan” neighborhood, in the Miguel Utrilla Los Chorros neighborhood of the Chenalho municipality, Chiapas”, they stated in a statement.
They pointed out that “when everything was ready”, the authorities of Rio Jordan River “told the Chenalho town hall on Tuesday afternoon that they will not allow the return of our sisters and brothers, with the sole pretext that they were not notified of the time the date of said return that the same municipal president of Chenalho promised to notify them.”
Other arguments to prevent the return of the displaced would be “the arrival of the displaced people accompanied by all the members of Las Abejas de Acteal, from Chenalho parish, would be together with human rights observers and the press to the church of San Pedro located in the Miguel Utrilla Los Chorros neighbourhood.”
The Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights stated: “We demand that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, President of Mexico, Rutilio Escandon Cadenas, Governor of the state of Chiapas and the municipal authorities of Chenalho, guarantee the security and personal integrity of the six displaced families for a prompt and safe return, complying with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and the Law for the Prevention and Attention of Internal Displacement in the state of Chiapas, to ensure respect for the human rights of the population.”
For more information in Spanish:
No hay seguridad para regreso de desplazados, acusan Las Abejas de Acteal, La Jornada, 28 de abril de 2021
Tzotziles desplazados en Chenalhó suspenden su regreso por falta de seguridad, El Universal, 28 de abril de 2021
Exigimos a los tres niveles de gobierno y a las autoridades del barrio “Río Jordán” que recapaciten y tengan la sensibilidad de respetar y permitir el retorno incondicional de nuestr@s compañer@s, Sociedad Civil Las Abejas, 28 de abril de 2021
El Estado mexicano debe garantizar el retorno seguro de las personas en desplazamiento forzado interno de Las Abejas de Acteal, Frayba, 28 de abril de 2021
For more information from SIPAZ:
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