By: Angeles Mariscal
Above Photo by Ángeles Mariscal: Xuxch´en, Aldama, the hometown of Domingo, the Zapatista murdered by armed civilians from Chenalhó.
Domingo was returning from San Andrés Larráinzar, with his family and other members of the communities that make up the support base of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN), when members of the armed group that operates in Santa Martha, Chenalhó, ambushed him.
The armed group fired at them from area adjacent to the Xuxch’en community, where Domingo is from, a town in the municipality of Aldama, where for several years its residents have experienced harassment to evict them from 60 hectares of land that inhabitants of Santa Martha claim by way of arms.
Shooting towards Aldama communities intensified since last August. On the night of September 15, when Domingo and his family, who were aboard a truck, were returning to their town, “waited for the fire from the intense attack to cease and stayed by the Tabac bridge in Aldama. A shot hit the truck and the compañero threw himself over the side but the river was high and dragged him away,” his compañeros reported.
They had to wait for the shooting to stop and for the light of day to help them to look for Domingo’s body. They found him several hours later on a riverbank. He had a gunshot wound from a high-caliber weapon in his face.
That day, while the body of the EZLN member was taken to his community, the attacks on different Aldama towns continued. “The body was moved to the home of the deceased in the community of Xuxch’en, in Aldama. Upon leaving the highway that leads to Xuxchen, with police corporations (National Guard and state police) present, we were attacked with multiple shots with different caliber firearms from the Tok’oy parapet in the Santa Martha sector. Fortunately, no one was injured,” Adolfo Victorio López Gómez municipal president of Aldama explained.
The attacks against other communities in the municipality also continued. These are the reports: “At 6:56 pm, armed groups fired high-caliber weapons from the Santa Martha Volcán attack point in Chenalhó, in the direction of the Tabac community in Aldama.”
“There were shots from high-caliber weapons at 6:59 pm, coming from Chenalhó towards the community of Xuxch’en Aldama. At 7:01 pm, armed groups fired shots from high-caliber weapons from Tok’oy Saclum, Chenalhó, in the direction of Coco’ community in Aldama. The shooting was directed at homes, in both Xuxch’en, Coco’ and Tabac Aldama from different points on Thursday, September 16.”
When Domingo’s body was still waked in his home, the armed groups from Santa Martha, Chenalhó, continued shooting at his town. “The armed attack intensified on the community of Xuxch’, in Aldama, from points in Chenalhó at 07:21 pm on September 16, 2021.”
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Originally Published in Spanish by Chiapas Paralelo
Friday, September 17, 2021
Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee
Chiapas Support Committee 