-Communiqué-

Hello, good morning to everyone, I am Pedro Cortés López Councilor President of Pantelhó and, in the name of the Municipal Council, I thank you for your attendance.

The reason for this press conference is to announce publicly our posture with respect to the illegal conduct of the “Machetes” armed group, and to clarify the erroneous information that has been made public in some information media.

The decomposition of Pantelhó Municipality is not a recent situation, our town began to decompose some years ago because of the “Cartel de los Herrera” (The Herreras Cartel), a criminal group led at that time by Austreberto and Dayli Herrera. These “hit men” imposed authorities, subdued the people, murdered and disappeared many people, including their own relatives, with total impunity. During this period in which we were brutally subdued by these criminals, we did not have the support of any state or federal authority and, to date, justice has not been done to the dozens of murders of our indigenous brothers; in most of these cases no investigation folders were even opened.

The cowardly murder of the catechist and president of “Las Abejas of Acteal,” Simón Pedro Pérez López, in 2020, caused that on July 6, 2021 the then self-defense group, the “Machetes,” clashed against “The Herreras Cartel.” After this confrontation and, in the face of the omissions of the authorities of the 3 levels of government to restore peace in Pantelhó, civil society, Catholic religious organizations, Evangelical, Christian social organizations and the “Machetes” joined to expel the Herreras from the town and, it was on July 6 we concentrated in the municipal capital. Later it was returned to the communities and neighborhoods and it was agreed to return on July 26, 2021 that we all entered and took control of the capital.

I continue being the council president, supported by the town and the communities, says the council president.

Once control of the town was obtained, the presence of the Attorney General’s Office in the municipality was requested, a request to which the indigenous prosecutor Gregorio Pérez Gómez went; upon his arrival, the addresses of the hitmen were indicated to him and he was asked to proceed to search the homes of the hitmen since the people claimed that they had weapons,  But at that time the indigenous prosecutor said that it was impossible to do that without a search warrant, that he needed time, he was given names of many killed by the hitmen and said that he did not have that data and that he could not carry out searches that day.

This generated the annoyance of the “Machetes” and, hours after the Prosecutor withdrew, without consulting civil society groups and religious organizations; the Machetes, led by a former director of the municipal police who was not from Pantelhó, entered the houses that had previously been pointed out to the indigenous prosecutor. In that act they burned several houses and detained 21 people. Civil society did not agree with these actions, since that corresponded to the state and federal authorities, that is why we proceeded to put out the fire of some houses and protected some others that the “Machetes” also wanted to burn.

Irritated because they were not supported in these acts and, given the total lack of authority in that moment, the “Machetes,” in the presence of all of us, took the 21 detained people to the Central Park Kiosk, and after having them there for several hours in the presence of all the people, the “Machetes” commanders Daniel López Méndez, Javier Méndez Velasco, Juan Méndez Gómez (ex-treasurer), Reynaldo Pérez Ruiz, Juan Ricardo Luna López, Abraham González Gutiérrez and Yoni Hernández decided to take them to San José Tercero community aboard several small trucks.

On the other hand, I want to express that in assembly the inhabitants of the 86 communities and 18 neighborhoods that make up the municipality of Pantelhó, as well as the religious organizations, proposed me to coordinate a commission of 20 people that would represent the voice of the people.

The members of this commission went looking for Father Marcelo Pérez Pérez who went to Pantelhó the next day, that is, on July 27, 2021. In the presence of the people, we requested his intervention, so that through him we established communication with the General Secretariat of Government and other authorities. After several approaches that Father Marcelo made with different authorities, the first dialogue table with spokespersons of the state and federal government, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary General of Government, State Congress, State and National Human Rights Commission, Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, commanders of the army and the national guard, was held in the municipal seat on August 3, 2021. The NGO Fray Bartolomé de las Casas and a commission of parish priests of the diocese of San Cristóbal was present. We, the commission of 20 inhabitants of the municipality, and a peace mission from Sweden that is called SWEFOR, were also present. There we raised the demands of the people; we asked for justice, peace and the integration of a Municipal Council that would guarantee the governability of the municipality.

The second dialogue table was held on August 6, 2021, in order to respond to some of the requests that the people had asked for in the first talk. The state government representatives informed us that; due to the resignation of Mayor Delia Janeth Velasco Flores that would finish the last 2 months of her 2018 – 2021 term of office. Giving me the appointment of Councilor President on August 18, 2021, a position that ended on September 31, 2021.

From October 1 to December 15, 2021, there was no authority in the municipality, since the people of Pantelhó rejected Raquel Trujillo Morales as Mayor-elect, a person pointed out as a drug trafficker and June 6, 2021 election day saboteur, behaviors that are presumed to have caused the deaths of several members of the MORENA political party. In the face of this social repudiation, the prosecution ordered the removal of immunity of Raquel Trujillo Morales, an act that caused the resignation of the rest of the Municipal Council members.

Thus, on December 16, 2021, the Deputy María de los Ángeles Trejo, President of the Chiapas State Congress Legislature, gives us our appointments as Councilors. Shortly after receiving our appointments as councilors, the “Machete” commanders responsible for the disappearances of 21 people in Pantelhó, Javier Méndez Velasco, Daniel López Méndez, Reynaldo Pérez Ruiz, Juan Méndez Gómez and Abraham Gonzales Gutiérrez; with the use of firearms broke into the Municipal Presidency, to force us to appoint “Machete” Commander Juan Méndez Gómez as municipal treasurer.

Faced with this situation and committed as authorities to exercise in an honestly and transparently exercise the public resources of the Municipal Council, we appointed Pedro Gómez Gómez as Municipal accountant, without imagining that he would betray the trust we gave him, allying with the “Machetes” to rob the Municipal Council, making improper use of the bank account token together with the former treasurer and “Machete” commander Juan Méndez Gómez.

Later, Pedro Gómez Gómez asked to make a trip to Mexico City (CDMX), arguing that he had appointments with Senators who would help us manage [public] works and programs for the benefit of our people. Trusting in his words, we made that trip with him and Juan Méndez Gómez; without knowing at the time that the trip coincided with the date on which the National Commission for the Search for Disappeared Persons would enter the municipality. We learned that while there, during a call from the Parish Priest Marcelo Pérez Pérez. When questioning Pedro Gómez Gómez and Juan Méndez Gómez about why they had planned a trip on the same date that the aforementioned Commission would arrive in the village, they replied that our presence there was not important. This made us realize that the real objective of the trip planned by Pedro Gómez Gómez and Juan Méndez Gómez, was to boycott the search for the 21 people disappeared by the “Machetes.”

With the practice of the “Machetes,” in which at gunpoint they broke into the Municipal Presidency, thus preventing our correct performance as government officials; on one occasion they took us against our will in the light of the people to the San José Tercero community headquarters of the “Machetes,” the place where they threatened us so that in a period not exceeding 5 days, we would pay them the amount of $ 740,602.00; failure to do so would kill us one by one. This amount corresponded to the purchase of 270 complete military uniforms.

Likewise, the “Machetes” commanders Javier Méndez Velasco, Daniel López Méndez, Reynaldo Pérez Ruiz and Juan Méndez Gómez; obliged us to assign them [public] works for a total amount of $29, 802, 283.16. Concerned about the use of Municipal Council resources and, in order to know the results and control of public revenues and expenses, we decided to visit the Superior State Audit and learned that the then treasurer Juan Méndez Gómez had not delivered the public account. When asked the then treasurer and accountant of the municipality about why they had not delivered the Municipal Council’s public account, Pedro Gómez Gómez responded that as an indigenous people we were not obliged to render accounts.

It’s worth pointing out that weeks before the revocation of mandate, we agreed to promote the exercise of democracy in the municipality, to which Pedro Gómez Gómez responded that this consultation was one more farce by the President of the Republic, Andrés Manuel López Obrador and, that the corruption of Chiapas Governor Rutilio Escandón Cadenas had already manipulated the results of that consultation.

Faced with this situation and committed as authorities to exercise in an honestly and transparently exercise the public resources of the Municipal Council, we appointed Pedro Gómez Gómez as Municipal accountant, without imagining that he would betray the trust we gave him, allying with the “Machetes” to rob the Municipal Council, making improper use of the bank account token together with the former treasurer and “Machete” commander Juan Méndez Gómez.

Later, Pedro Gómez Gómez asked to make a trip to Mexico City (CDMX), arguing that he had appointments with Senators who would help us manage [public] works and programs for the benefit of our people. Trusting in his words, we made that trip with him and Juan Méndez Gómez; without knowing at the time that the trip coincided with the date on which the National Commission for the Search for Disappeared Persons would enter the municipality. We learned that while there, during a call from the Parish Priest Marcelo Pérez Pérez. When questioning Pedro Gómez Gómez and Juan Méndez Gómez about why they had planned a trip on the same date that the aforementioned Commission would arrive in the village, they replied that our presence there was not important. This made us realize that the real objective of the trip planned by Pedro Gómez Gómez and Juan Méndez Gómez, was to boycott the search for the 21 people disappeared by the “Machetes.”

With the practice of the “Machetes,” in which at gunpoint they broke into the Municipal Presidency, thus preventing our correct performance as government officials; on one occasion they took us against our will in the light of the people to the San José Tercero community headquarters of the “Machetes,” the place where they threatened us so that in a period not exceeding 5 days, we would pay them the amount of $ 740,602.00; failure to do so would kill us one by one. This amount corresponded to the purchase of 270 complete military uniforms.

Likewise, the “Machetes” commanders Javier Méndez Velasco, Daniel López Méndez, Reynaldo Pérez Ruiz and Juan Méndez Gómez; obliged us to assign them [public] works for a total amount of $29, 802, 283.16. Concerned about the use of Municipal Council resources and, in order to know the results and control of public revenues and expenses, we decided to visit the Superior State Audit and learned that the then treasurer Juan Méndez Gómez had not delivered the public account. When asked the then treasurer and accountant of the municipality about why they had not delivered the Municipal Council’s public account, Pedro Gómez Gómez responded that as an indigenous people we were not obliged to render accounts.

It’s worth pointing out that weeks before the revocation of mandate, we agreed to promote the exercise of democracy in the municipality, to which Pedro Gómez Gómez responded that this consultation was one more farce by the President of the Republic, Andrés Manuel López Obrador and, that the corruption of Chiapas Governor Rutilio Escandón Cadenas had already manipulated the results of that consultation.

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Originally Published in Spanish by Chiapas Paralelo, Tuesday, June 21, 2022, https://www.chiapasparalelo.com/noticias/chiapas/2022/06/gobierno-concejal-de-pantelho-se-deslinda-y-acusa-a-los-machetes-de-diversos-delitos/ and Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee