From the editors

At least 850 families from the municipalities of La Trinitaria and Frontera Comalapa, Chiapas, have abandoned their homes because of the dispute between organized crime groups [1] for territory, authorities of the affected communities reported, who requested the installation of a permanent military post and patrols.

At the same time, three agents from the National Institute of Migration (INM, its initials in Spanish) were retained by residents Monday on the highway stretch located between La Trinitaria and Comitán to demand the presence of police forces to combat insecurity and the trafficking of migrants, official sources reported.

They said that the agents were retained at 11:30 am and taken to a community, whose name was not specified, without being attacked.

In a declaration distributed this Tuesday, more than 20 localities reported that: “due to the insecurity in the ejidos Unión Lagartero, Nueva Libertad (El Colorado), and the Perla de Grijalva ejido, in La Trinitaria and the Selegua declaration, the ejidos Tamaulipas, Sinaloa and Los Laureles, in Frontera Comalapa, more than 850 families, each family made up of at least five people [that’s 4,250 people!], had to abandon their homes.”

That’s why they asked the Mexican Army to patrol day and night, since residents water their crops at all hours.

Likewise, they requested protection from soldiers for workers and farmers in the zone and for the La Frontera Dam, module 01, as well as for the users of irrigation district number 107 El Lagartero, and module 02.

Residents organize to defend themselves

The Bishop of the Diocese of San Cristóbal, Rodrigo Aguilar Martínez, affirmed that given the dispossession of property by organized crime groups, communities of La Trinitaria and Frontera Comalapa, where there were confrontations over the weekend, “they have started to organize to defend their homes and the territory.”

Meanwhile, concessionaires on different routes suspended public transport service between Comitán and Comalapa, because its residents demand, with a blockage on a stretch of the Pan-American Highway, the presence of soldiers and the installation of a permanent base for the Army and National Guard.

[1] See Article below regarding those arrested and for which national cartels they work.

==Ω==

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada, Wednesday, July 20, 2022, https://www.jornada.com.mx/2022/07/20/estados/027n4est and Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee

IN CHIAPAS, the 3 ARRESTED IN POSSESSION of ARSENAL FACE TRIAL

By: Gustavo Castillo

The Specialized Regional Control Prosecutor’s Office obtained from a control judge based in Chiapas an indictment against three alleged members of a criminal group for their probable responsibility in the crime of carrying a firearm for military use. Chiapas is one of the territories disputed by groups linked to the Jalisco Nueva Generación and the Sinaloa Cartels, federal authorities pointed out, although the office of the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) did not specify to which criminal organization the accused belonged.

According to information from the Judicial Power of the Federation, the Public Ministry filed charges against Aristóteles Benítez Ríos, Miguel Ángel González Guajardo and Salustio Jorge Santiago. Members of the Mexican Army arrested the three in possession of 13 different caliber long arms, a Barrett rifle, 28 handmade explosive devices, nine grenades (seven fragmentation and two of different calibers), 71 chargers, 6 thousand 712 cartridges of various calibers, a drone and four tactical vests with ballistic plates, as well as vehicles, according to information from the FGR. In addition to being subject to criminal proceedings, the court ordered the precautionary measure of preventive prison.

==Ω==

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada, Thursday, July 21, 2022, https://www.jornada.com.mx/2022/07/21/estados/029n4est and Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee

Check out the Journal of Zapatista Thought & Horizon: https://chiapas-support.org/2022/07/21/new-grietas-a-journal-of-zapatista-thought-horizon%ef%bf%bc/