On August 12th, a press conference was held in the framework of the 13th anniversary of the release of the perpetrators of the Acteal Massacre by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation at the Fray Bartolome Center for Human Rights (Frayba ). The public event was attended by civil society organizations, members of the Las Abejas de Acteal Civil Society Organization, and survivors of the massacre.
The word was shared by Maria Gomez from Las Abejas, Pedro Faro from Frayba, Manuel Perez, president of the board of directors of Las Abejas and Maria Vazquez, survivor of the Massacre. The Acteal Massacre, perpetuated in 1997, remains unpunished, and the absence of justice and recognition of the truth “is a prolonged form of violence” against the survivors, “as well as laceration of the dignity of the 45 murdered victims”, among which there were four pregnant women, Frayba specified.
“As survivors we want to inform you that we remain firm in the fight for justice and truth for our martyrs. (…) Not only have the paramilitary groups and their successors attacked us, (…) but these groups continued to operate with impunity under the protection of the authorities and for this reason we continue to experience violence both in the municipality of Chenalho and in Pantelho and neighboring municipalities. One of the latest victims of the violence we are experiencing is our brother Simon Pedro Perez Lopez, former president of our Organization, cowardly assassinated a year ago for his work as a Defender of Life and the Earth and an active builder of Peace. His murder only suits those who feel uneasy and want to extinguish our non-violent struggle for truth and justice. This unfortunate fact is one more reason for our fight”, Las Abejas stated.
Since 2010, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has been dealing with the case of the Acteal Massacre, and Las Abejas asked and requested that the IACHR issue the Merits Report and that the Mexican State assume its international responsibility for the massacre. “The Mexican State must recognize the counterinsurgency and its current continuity, and reach truth and justice in crimes against humanity -such as the Acteal massacre-, which would represent a step towards comprehensive reparation for damages and advance in the construction of peace in the state”, Frayba stressed.
Las Abejas reminded us that for 25 years they have resisted contempt and oblivion, as well as the systematic racism with which their case has been treated. “Our martyrs feed our hope. Those who are dying without seeing justice, are also our banners of struggle.” They concluded the press conference with the invitation to the celebrations of the commemoration of the Massacre in Acteal in December.
For more information in Spanish:
Una de las impunidades avergonzantes ha sido el fallo de la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación, que el 12 de agosto de 2009 ordenó la liberación inmediata de 20 paramilitares y sentó las bases jurídicas para la liberación de todos los demás (Las Abejas de Acteal, 12 de agosto de 2022)
Conferencia de prensa a 13 años de la liberación de autores materiales de la Masacre de acteal por la SCJN (Frayba, 12 de agosto de 2022)
Impunidad en masacre de Acteal permite continuidad de violencia armada: Frayba (Desinformémonos, 13 de agosto de 2022)
For more information from SIPAZ:
sipazen.wordpress.com 