@Presidencia
On May 23rd, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), when questioned at a press conference about the accusations of a “civil war” being reported in Chiapas and the attacks on the Zapatista autonomous communities, declared that the situation is not as such and attacked civil society organizations.
“The reactionaries, the conservatives, do not want to accept that there is a new reality. That’s why sometimes extremes meet. They do not want to accept that there is already a change. That is why there are these complaints”, he declared.
He affirmed that in previous six-year terms of office, social organizations played the game of the “power mafia”: “They received financing to help people and the support did not reach below. Everything stays in the structure, in the advisors, in the intermediaries”, he said, in addition to the fact that now “even the United States government gives money to pseudo-environmental organizations, pseudo-defenders of human rights.”
Instead, he affirmed that “I think we have done a lot, because in programs like Sembrando Vida there are reunions of those who were in conflict, everyone participates. A split ensued below. But little by little unity has been achieved. And we will continue to do so.”
In response to these statements, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba) questioned the president’s “denial” in the face of violence in Chiapas, which deepens impunity “promoted by municipal, state and federal players who contribute to dispossession, exploitation and social marginalization, in addition to exacerbating the human rights crisis in which we find ourselves.” It highlighted that from 2019 to date it has documented “more than 110 armed attacks against the [Zapatista] communities that belong to the region of Moisés and Gandhi.” It maintained that faced with these attacks the authorities “have been negligent.”
For its part, the All Rights for All Network (Red Todos los Derechos para Todos), made up of more than 80 organizations that defend human rights, declared that it has documented the increase in violence in Chiapas and that it is “concerned that from the presidential spaces the problem is denied.” It stressed that given the escalation of violence that is taking place in different territories of Chiapas, there has not been “a response from the Mexican State to address and take responsibility for the situation.”
For more information in Spanish:
El Presidente de la República miente y encumbra la violencia en Chiapas (Frayba, 23 de junio de 2023)
AMLO deslindó a su gobierno de una “guerra civil” en Chiapas (Proceso, 23 de junio de 2023)
Críticas de AMLO a organizaciones civiles ponen en riesgo la defensa de derechos humanos: RedTDT (Proceso, 23 de junio de 2023)
Preocupa a ONGs declaraciones de AMLO sobre violencia en Chiapas (La Jornada, 23 de junio de 2023)
Ataques a comunidades zapatistas en Chiapas no son graves: AMLO; “vamos a ayudar a conseguir la paz” (El Universal, 23 de junio de 2023)
For more information from SIPAZ:
Chiapas: Nuevos ataques armados en 3 comunidades autónomas zapatistas de Moisés y Gandhi (June 23, 2023)
Chiapas: Urgent Action – EZLN Support Base Wounded in Armed Attack in Moises y Gandhi (May 25, 2023)
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