By: Elio Henríquez, Correspondent
San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas

[Excerpt from the first La Jornada article dated June 3.]

Seven indigenous people died and three were injured during an armed attack committed yesterday evening in the locality of Polhó, municipality of Chenalhó, where inhabitants of the Santa Martha ejido, belonging to the same municipality, are sheltered, official sources reported.

Residents of the area, close to Acteal, said that “they attacked the more than 200 displaced persons” from Santa Martha who left their homes in October 2022, because of an internal agrarian conflict. One of their representatives, who requested anonymity, commented that the attackers belong to an armed group that left Polhó. “We know that they attacked Fernando Ruiz, the owner of the house where the displaced are living.

“I came to pick up a wounded man who is one of the displaced and we transferred him to the municipal seat of Chenalhó. There were several deaths. We heard the sound of gunfire,” he added. He maintained that one of the deceased is the son of Fernando Ruiz. “I saw about three or four dead in a car when I went to pick up the wounded young man named Manuel Gomez.”

He said that, “according to some displaced persons, among the aggressors there were also residents of Santa Martha who had warned that they would attack the owner of the house in which the displaced are staying.”

In this area, on December 22, 1997, a paramilitary group murdered 45 members of the pacifist civil organization of Las Abejas.[1]

Note

[1] The massacre of 45 Las Abejas members on December 22, 1997 took place in Acteal, just one or two miles up the road from Polhó. The paramilitary violence leading up to, during and after the Acteal Massacre caused an estimated 9 thousand residents of the area to leave their homes and seek shelter. Polhó is an autonomous Zapatista community, the municipal seat of San Pedro Polhó autonomous municipality, belonging to the Caracol of Oventic. In 1997, Polhó accepted many thousands of those who displaced to seek refuge, both Zapatistas and non-Zapatistas.

[BELOW – Article dated June 4.]

Polhó residents fear for their lives after attack that left 7 dead

By: Elio Henríquez, Correspondent
Polhó, Chiapas

Due to the lack of conditions for personnel of the Indigenous Justice Prosecutor’s Office to enter the community of Polhó, municipality of Chenalhó, it was not until Saturday morning, 18 hours later, that they picked up the bodies of four of the seven people shot dead on Friday, including a 3-year-old boy.

Representatives of the more than 200 residents from the Santa Martha ejido who have been refugees in Polhó since the beginning of October 2022, said that the “attack” in which seven people died and three were injured was committed around 5 p.m. on Friday [June 2].

Although the State Attorney General’s Office reported in a statement Friday night that the deceased were displaced, Manuel Gómez Velasco, representative of the indigenous people, said that they only “defended themselves,” and the six deceased belong to the group of alleged aggressors, headed by Gilberto Pérez Gómez, who lost his life along with his wife, his son-in-law, his 3-year-old grandson and two of his bodyguards.

The other victim, he added, is Oliverio Ruiz, the son of Fernando Ruiz, the owner of a warehouse that they rent to the displaced persons from Santa Martha.

“The attack was against the more than 200 displaced people, because they wanted to finish us off,” said Gómez Velasco, one of its representatives, who reiterated that “armed men arrived and directly came to attack us. We have always told the state and federal governments that the people of Santa Martha are looking for a way to finish us off. They fired everywhere at the displaced.”

The staff of the Office of the Prosecutor of Indigenous Justice attested to the bodies of Gilberto Pérez who was lying next to his truck in the middle of the road with a high-caliber weapon at his side; of his son-in-law Antonio Pérez Pérez, and his three-year-old son, who were inside the unit that had more than 50 high-powered bullet wounds.

The agent of the Public Ministry also attested to the body of Oliverio Ruiz, who since Friday night was transferred by relatives to his house, located in front of the site of the shooting, to be waked.

Several houses had holes from bullet impacts. A transformer of the Federal Electricity Commission was damaged, so the area was left without power.

According to residents, Angelina Gómez Pérez, Pérez Gómez’s wife, died the night of the attack while being taken to a hospital, as did the two brothers and bodyguards, Antonio and Gilberto Jiménez Pérez, who were in a Ford Estaquita pick-up truck, identified as members of a group nicknamed Los Ratones.  Amalia and Estela Perez Gomez, ages 11 and 19, daughters of Perez Gomez, are hospitalized.

José Vázquez Gutiérrez, assistant human rights defender, said that “there is no security for the displaced, although we have requested it from the government. All communities are very afraid.”

He pointed out that “it was an attack against the displaced, but they responded because Oliver Ruiz, son of the owner of the house in which they live, was already dead. That’s when the shooting started, that’s why they responded.”

For its part, the state government reported that “it is presumed that this aggression was between individuals and occurred when driving through the area aboard a vehicle, people were attacked with gunfire.”

He said that: “immediately after learning of the violent events that occurred in the Polhó community, he activated the attention protocol to guarantee security in that region.”

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada, Sunday, June 4, 2023, https://www.jornada.com.mx/2023/06/04/estados/021n1est and Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee