On Tuesday night, members of the Independent Central of Agricultural and Campesino Workers (CIOAC) [1], shot up and burned the offices of the state police and the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) in Pichucalco, to protest the arrest of one of its members. A uniformed man was injured and a campesino apparently died in the scuffle. [2]

The version of the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) is that through the Northern District Prosecutor’s Office, they began the corresponding investigations into the events that occurred on the night of this May 1, 2023 in the facilities of the Command of the FGE’s Investigative Police, with sub-headquarters in the municipality of Pichucalco,  where an agent was injured, after a group of people identified as members of the organization called CIOAC, attacked the aforementioned place with firearms.

They pointed out that around 10:00 pm on Monday, the group of people carrying long and short weapons, entered the parking lot of the Command of the FGE’s Investigative Police with sub-headquarters in the municipality of Pichucalco, beginning to shoot at the staff of said offices, demanding the release of a detainee, who responds to the name of Rafael “N,” who had just been apprehended for his probable responsibility in the crime of Danger of Contagion and Spread of Diseases.

After this attack, an agent of the Investigative Police was injured, who has still not received medical attention, because the attackers are preventing the wounded from accessing medical personnel.

Elements of the Investigative and State Preventive Police went to the scene for the purpose of restoring order.

These incidents caused chaos and panic in the municipality, because in addition to the peasants, transporters adhered to this peasant organization were mobilized.

Unofficially, Floriberto Gómez Sánchez, a CIOAC leader in Pichucalco, was shot dead in the scuffle, and another person nicknamed El Pato was wounded.

In response to these actions attributed to the police, they gathered to attack and burn the headquarters of the state investigative police and the state police in Pichucalco.

In addition to the National Guard, members of the Mexican Army mobilized tonight to Pichucalco to restore order and guarantee peace and security to the general population.

[1] For more information on Chiapas violence involving the CIOAC, click here.

[2] A day after this report, several local newspapers confirmed that Floriberto Gómez Sánchez died in the attack, as well as another CIOAC member, Ramón Trinidad, alias “El Pato,” with the same surnames as Floriberto. All articles confirm that a state police agent was injured, while one states that the CIOAC attacked with AR-15s.

Originally Published in Spanish by Chiapas Paralelo, Tuesday, May 2, 2023, https://www.chiapasparalelo.com/noticias/chiapas/2023/05/cioac-ataca-a-tiros-y-quema-oficinas-de-la-policia-estatal-en-pichucalco-para-rescatar-a-uno-de-sus-miembros-detenidos/ and Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee