By: Elio Henríquez, correspondent

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas

Persons displaced from Chalchihuitán municipality due to the violence derived from the conflict over boundaries with their Chenalhó neighbors, asked the rapporteur of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Esmeralda Arosemena, to intervene with the Mexican State so that the armed groups operating in that area are disarmed, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba) reported.

It added that the displaced – one thousand 200 in total, refugees in different localities and in the municipal capital – told her during a meeting held on Wednesday, that there is “a lack of interest from authorities in trying to solve the agrarian problem that worsened in 2017. “

It stated that they also asked the IACHR “to be their voice” to demand that the government attend to their requests to create the security conditions to return to their places of origin and to work their lands.

The Frayba pointed out that this Wednesday, on their second day of work for the Commission, the IACHR rapporteur visited, three of the nine Chalchihuitán communities that benefit from Precautionary Measure MC-882-17, whose residents are displaced because of the violence exercised by armed groups from Chenalhó.

It said that the rapporteur and her entourage visited “the houses affected by bullets from the armed groups” and families who have had to leave because of the threats against them.

She commented that two meetings were held in the municipal seat: one with the municipal president, Jerónimo Luna, and another with officials of the state government. The members of the mission had a meal with municipal authorities in the municipal capital and they returned to San Cristóbal in the evening.

The Frayba said that the IACHR rapporteur has scheduled meetings with state government officials in Tuxtla Gutiérrez for this Thursday.

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Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada, Friday, July 14, 2022, https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2022/07/14/estados/piden-a-cidh-que-gobierno-desarme-a-grupos-en-chiapas/ and Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee