@Frayba
The conflict between communities on the limits of the municipalities of Aldama and Chenalho has its origin in the 70s with an inadequate territorial demarcation made by the Secretariat of Agrarian Reform at that time and that until today has not been resolved.
But, “these are not only intra- and inter-community agrarian conflicts that by themselves would deserve an immediate intervention strategy by the corresponding authorities. To look at it from this perspective is to irresponsibly reduce the magnitude of the problem. We are talking about an open dispute over territorial control, in which interests of all kinds converge, and whose terrible consequences we have seen in other states of the Republic”, said the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba) in a statement.
Despite the fact that on March 3rd a ceremony was held in which both state and federal authorities handed over the Cerro Bola property to 115 community members from Aldama, in dispute with the community of Santa Martha, municipality of Chenalho for more than 45 years, that same day and throughout the weekend, at least 30 attacks on residents of San Pedro Kotsilnam in Aldama were recorded.
In February, Frayba registered 346 armed attacks in this area and so far in March it has received reports of at least 78, for which it called on both authorities and civil society to take action to deal with this alarming situation.
“Society as a whole deserves far-reaching responses, but even more so do those who, like the inhabitants of many indigenous communities in Chiapas, directly and daily suffer violence that exceeds our worst predictions. Not acting immediately implies, in fact, sentencing our state to the horror that is being experienced in so many parts of the country. Inaction is not only unacceptable, it would be criminal”, it stressed.
For more information in Spanish:
Estado mexicano simula paz en Aldama en medio de 346 ataques armados contra la población (Frayba 09 de marzo de 2022)
Los límites entre Aldama y Chenalhó son una abierta disputa por el control territorial, en la que confluyen intereses de todo tipo ( Frayba 10 de marzo de 2022)
Registran 78 ataques armados en Aldama (Portavoz 10 de marzo de 2022)
Gobierno de Chiapas entrega predio Cerro Bola a comuneros de Aldama (La Jornada 03 de marzo de 2022)
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