Residents of Chavajebal flee violence.

By: Elio Henríquez

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas

The more than 1,700 indigenous people displaced from the community of Chavajebal, El Bosque municipality, for fear of being attacked by an armed group, returned to their homes this Saturday, after leaving on November 7, residents of the municipal capital reported.

They said that the return came after Friday, the two groups –one of Zapatistas and the other of militants of political parties– reached an agreement during a 10-hour meeting held in Simojovel, with the mediation of parish priests of Simojovel and El Bosque, Marcelo Pérez Pérez and Elder López Velasco, respectively, as well as the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center.

“At 7 o’clock in the morning this Saturday the first groups that were in the municipal capital of El Bosque”, located in the north of Chiapas, began to return to Chavajebal, residents reported. “At 11 o’clock all those who were in that capital had already left in trucks.”

They said that the only ones that by agreement of the parties did not return are some 30 residents pointed to as having participated in the October 24 ambush in which were murdered Miguel Pérez López, president of the ejido commission of Chavajebal and the comunero Carmelino de Jesús Ruiz Álvarez, as well as in the murder of Mateo Jiménez Sánchez, which occurred on November 7 and provoked the displacement.

“The return took place this Saturday in an atmosphere of tranquility, and it is therefore expected that there will be no problems,” said the residents consulted.

One hundred decide not to return

Other people, separately, assured that a group of around 100 residents who are sheltered in the community of San Pedro Nixtalucum decided not to return to the community because security conditions do not exist, and because neither the state authorities or the municipal authorities of El Bosque participated in the negotiations.

“This group disagrees with the agreement that was signed and therefore would remain displaced,” they said.

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Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Sunday, November 25, 2018

https://www.jornada.com.mx/2018/11/25/estados/026n2est

Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee