Lack of attention to land conflicts and the growing operation of organized crime groups translates into deaths, rapes and forced displacement of residents.

By: Isaín Mandujano

Civilian organizations, human rights defenders and religious people denounce an unusual increase in violence in Chiapas regions such as the Center, the Highlands and the Border. In their reports – one of which they delivered to the UN special rapporteur – they document that the lack of attention to land conflicts and the growing operation of organized crime groups translate into deaths, rapes and forced displacement of villagers. [1]

Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas (Proceso)

Clashes between organized crime groups vying for land in the Chiapas Highlands, forced displacement, drug executions, forced disappearances and other forms of violence have prevailed in the state during the four years of the government of Rutilio Escandón Cadenas.

The Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, as well as human rights organizations, activists and residents say they are desperate due to the government’s failure to address the conflicts in the state.

In the Jiquipilas Valley and Cintalapa, in the Central region of Chiapas, armed civilians staged a series of clashes for control of territory, extending from the border region, particularly on the Comalapa border, adjacent to the Department of Huehuetenango, Guatemala.

This dispute began in July 2021, after the execution in Tuxtla Gutiérrez of the head of the Sinaloa Cartel Plaza on the southern border, Ramón Gilberto Rivera Beltran, “El Junior.” Between September and October, the fighting intensified with scenes previously seen only in the north of the country: convoys of armored vehicles with heavily armed men, clashes and messages with videos of executions.

Between October 9 and 10 of this year, organized crime gangs clashed in Jiquipilas, which had never happened before. Armed men mobilized in all-terrain trucks and only after the intervention of the Army and the National Guard was calm restored. At least 13 men from a gang were arrested with an arsenal aboard several pickup trucks.

Violence in the Central Region is linked to that in the Border Region, where entire families have been displaced from several communities in Frontera Comalapa. And when they organized to demand the presence of the Army and the National Guard with road blockages, they suffered the consequences.

On September 20, 2022, the leader of the region’s Union of Ejidos, who was asking for a military base in the area, Rolando Rodríguez Morales – also ejido commissioner of the Sinaloa community – disappeared in San Gregorio Chamic, Frontera Comalapa municipality.

Violence in the Central Region is linked to that in the Border Region, where entire families have been displaced from several communities in Frontera Comalapa. And when they organized to demand the presence of the Army and the National Guard with road blockades, they suffered the consequences.

On September 20, the leader of the region’s Union of Ejidos, who was asking for a military base in the area, Rolando Rodríguez Morales – also ejido commissioner of the Sinaloa community – disappeared in San Gregorio Chamic, Frontera Comalapa Municipality.

With several road blockages, campesinos from the communities that make up the Union of Ejidos demanded his appearance alive, but to date, his whereabouts are not known.

Note

[1] This text is an advance of the report published in Number 2399 of the printed edition of Proceso, in circulation since October 23, 2022. The online version of Number 2399 is available for purchase here.

Originally Published in Spanish by Proceso, Thursday, October 27, 2022, https://www.proceso.com.mx/reportajes/2022/10/27/chiapas-violencia-desplazados-hacen-temer-otro-acteal-295927.html and Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee