From the Editors

Between Tuesday and Thursday, alleged members of organized crime groups sustained shootouts and maintained intermittent roadblocks at different points on the highway located between the municipality of Frontera Comalapa, Chiapas, and the border with Guatemala due to the dispute over territorial control, residents reported.

They assured that one of the most critical points is located in the town of Nueva Independencia, popularly known as Lajerío, where during yesterday afternoon and evening the men who reside in the area fled into the mountains or to the bank of a river, because one of the cartels is recruiting them.

“They’ve picked up (kidnapped) a lot of people. The armed and hooded men are in the center of the community waiting for the night to take the men out and take them away. Almost all the houses (approximately 200) are empty,” said a resident of the region, who said that people are defenseless because there is no presence of public security forces in the area.

“We left the houses because (the gunmen) are coming in and taking out young people to recruit them. And there is no help to defend us. Today they started doing it and that’s why most of us left. In Lajerío there is the biggest problem and they say there are deaths.”

Other locals reported that this situation began on Tuesday, after the murder of a local transport leader; They assured that the blockades and skirmishes began that day among alleged members of the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación and the Sinaloa Cartel.

They indicated that since then there have been no classes in Frontera Comalapa and all activities were suspended. “The streets are desolate because people are afraid and sheltered in their homes,” warned one resident; “The authorities have not shown their face,” he claimed.

Those affected reported that there have been roadblocks in the town of Pacayalito, the exit to the municipality of Motozintla, located in the mountains of the state, as well as in the Tres Maravillas ejido, in the direction of Chicomuselo.

Also, in Sabinada, next to Guadalupe Grijalva, where several skirmishes have occurred, and in the detour of Nuevo México, Santa Rita and Paso Hondo (a few kilometers from the border with Guatemala), the exit to Comitán.

“Everything has been closed since Tuesday and although they opened for a little bit, there have been permanent roadblocks since Wednesday night,” they maintained.

They added that in the municipality of Mazapa de Madero, located in the same area, there was also a shootout yesterday, “they burned a truck and left a narcomanta (narco-banner) addressed to the organization called Maíz; that it has no choice but to accede to what the cartel that dominates the border area wants.”

Meanwhile, in Chicomuselo, neighboring municipality of Frontera Comalapa, according to some residents the situation was also tense yesterday because since Wednesday the entrance was obstructed; “You can’t leave or enter.” In this context, it was reported that activist Fredy Milton Morales Zunun was detained, but hours later he was released.

On the other hand, at the request of the National Human Rights Commission, the State Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection agreed to implement precautionary measures in the Nuevo Morelia ejido, in Chicomuselo, where alleged workers of a company, supported by armed men, have been removing barite extracted from a mine since last weekend.

Frayba asked AMLO to guaranty security in Caracol 10

The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center asked President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to urgently guaranty “the life, security and physical and psychological integrity of residents of the Moisés y Gandhi region,” belonging to Caracol 10, where Gilberto López Sántiz, a support base of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN, Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional) was shot and [seriously] wounded on the 22^nd of this month.

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada, Friday, May 26, 2023, https://www.jornada.com.mx/2023/05/26/estados/026n2est and Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee