On April 24th, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba) published a statement titled “The State must Measure and Address Violence in Chiapas,” responding to the accusations of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) who accused said center of “magnifying” the violence in Chiapas in his press conference on April 21st.
Frayba reaffirmed that “with concern, we have confirmed and highlighted that, at least since June 2021, the situation of violence has deepened like a cancer in our state, within the framework of the criminal dispute for control of territory. This situation is characterized not only by armed confrontation between criminal groups, but also by the attempt to control, to a high degree through terror tactics, the social, economic and political life of the communities. Consequently, the Chiapas and mobile populationsare experiencing serious impacts, with emphasis on the Border and Sierra regions, with a trend of expansion to other regions of the state.’’
Similarly, and contrary to what was expressed by AMLO, Frayba declared that “it is necessary to accept that both the under-recording of crimes and serious violations of human rights, as well as the various forms of control and multiple daily violence suffered by the population, constitute a problem that cannot be diminished in its magnitude and importance.”
“To stop violence in the state, it is necessary to know and recognize the current dynamics of social and territorial control, as well as its profound impacts on the lives of the affected people and communities,” Frayba added.
Given all of the above, it called “on the current government and the next to approach the people who suffer from this reality, as well as the actors of civil society who feel it when we are immersed in it, not to debate the existence or levels of the problem, but to build routes for true and sustainable peace.”
For more information in Spanish:
El Estado debe dimensionar y atender la violencia en Chiapas (Frayba, 24 de abril de 2024)
Violencia en Chiapas deja escenario “tan cruento como el de cualquier otra guerra”: Frayba (Desinformémonos, 24 de abril de 2024)
El Estado debe atender la situación en Chiapas (Cuarto Poder, 25 de abril de 2024)
El Frayba contesta a AMLO, y muy bien (Milenio, 25 de abril de 2024)
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