According to a video translated by Borderland Beat, “a new armed group has emerged in a video in the Chiapas municipality of Frontera Comalapa, Chiapas. Within this broadcast they claim to defend indigenous citizens from extortion by an opposing cartel. Their direct attack is against the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The following video was recorded near Frontera Comalapa, Chiapas:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJVAQ9p-OP0

Borderland Beat translates the video as follows:

“To all authorities, communities and indigenous representatives. We’ve gathered today, Sunday, January 22, 2023. To announce the group called “Consejo Indígena” (Indigenous Council). The reason for this council is to defend our communities from extortionists, kidnappers of the so-called Jalisco New Generation Cartel. We know that they are extorting our communities under the command of Juan Valdovinos Mendoza aka “El Señor de los Caballos” (The Lord of the Horses) or Vladimir Lopez Orantes.

Let it be clear that we the indigenous brothers and sisters will not allow these rats to enter. We will defend our communities and our indigenous people. Any person who mentions these names in the communities we will bring order in our ways and customs. We also address the indigenous brothers and sisters of Chicomuselo. We will support them and not allow for them to fend for themselves because they are being harassed by the organization called El Maíz.

They are dedicated to extortion and have disappeared many of our indigenous brothers and sisters. We are publicly fighting against this organization called El Maíz. Vladimir Lopez Orantes aka El Ruso is the main boss ordering executions, disappearances, fee collections, and extortions here. He is originally from the town of Santa Teresa Llano Grande, municipality of Frontera Comalapa, Chiapas. Juan Valdovinos Mendoza aka Don Juan, is the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in Chiapas. He’s a compadre of Vladimir López …”

Source: http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2023/01/frontera-comalapa-chiapas-consejo.html

UPDATE

The whereabouts of 2 Chiapas ejido leaders, missing since March, are still unknown

By: Elio Henríquez, Correspondent

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas

Yesterday, one month after the disappearance of Jordán Gordillo Genovez and José Marín Carvajal Méndez, president and secretary, respectively, of the Nueva Libertad ejido commission, in the municipality of Frontera Comalapa, residents claimed that “nothing is known about their whereabouts.”

“We have no indication of where they are, or who has them; We no longer know what to do or to whom we can turn to look for them,” said the locals, who requested anonymity.

“People in the community are very worried; Everyone wants to do something, but we don’t know what to do. Today (Saturday) marked a month since they disappeared and nothing is known about them,” they stressed.

They added that on Sundays and every night, the inhabitants of the town make prayer chains to ask that Gordillo Genovez and Carvajal Méndez return safely.

They recalled that the whereabouts of both have been unknown since March 22 after they crossed through the Center for Integral Attention to Border Transit (CAITF), located 10 kilometers from Comitán, which is permanently guarded by federal security forces.

They added that in total “seven members of the Nueva Libertad ejido and communal property directorate, where about 750 families live, disappeared, but five of them returned alive, little by little, safe and sound. The first of these was the secretary of the supervisory board, Axel Yibrán Martínez Pérez, 22, on March 25; four days later, treasurer Hernán Aguilar Morales, 57, and member Raymundo Sandoval Córdova, 51, arrived in the community on their own.

On April 2, the chairman of the supervisory board Luis Ambrosio González León, 53, and the treasurer Yobani Vázquez Méndez, 43, returned.

The villagers consulted explained that none of them wanted to give details of what happened “due to fear.” They also did not provide data on what happened to the managers who have not returned because, they said, they do not even know where they had them.

The seven men left Nueva Libertad on March 22, between 7:30 and 8 a.m., heading to Palenque for a tourist trip. However, once they passed through the CAITF, contact with them was lost.

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada, Sunday, April 23, 2023, https://www.jornada.com.mx/2023/04/23/estados/024n2est and Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee