By: Chiapas Paralelo

Representatives of the 86 rural communities and the 18 neighborhoods in the town of Pantelhó, asked Chiapas Governor Rutilio Escandón Candenas, and the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), to dismantle the Los Herrera armed group, because if they do not dismantle it, they will take up arms to expel them from the municipality.

They demanded that the FGE execute the arrest warrants against leaders of an armed group that they say operates in that municipality and has already caused several armed attacks.

In a petition signed by 87 Rural Agents of the administration, 14 Commissioners and Ejido representatives, “as representatives of all the people of Pantelhó,” they denounced some of the violent events that have occurred in that municipality so far this year, and accused an armed group that they said intends to return to impose itself by force of arms.

They pointed out that in that municipality with about 25,000 inhabitants with a population of 95 percent indigenous Tsotsil people, violent events have occurred that have terrorized the civilian population and many of those violent events are attributed to Los Herrera.

They pointed out that on March 1, 2023, a woman named Petrona López Gómez was murdered in the community of San José Tercero, and that for this case the ministerial investigation was practiced by the Indigenous Justice Prosecutor’s Office. “The citizen José Guadalupe Herrera Abarca is presumably responsible for this act.”

On June 3, a man named Armando Pérez Gutiérrez was murdered in the community of San José del Carmen in this municipality. There was no ministerial investigation of this act “and it is presumed that this murder was carried out by José Guadalupe Herrera Abarca’s people,” they accused.

“Last Friday, June 23, at approximately 5 pm in the municipal seat, the citizen who in life responded to the name of Vicente Hernández Ruiz was killed, apparently with a firearm called a shotgun, no ministerial investigation was carried out into this unfortunate act, It is presumed that said execution was carried out by José Guadalupe Herrera Abarca’s people,” the complainants said.

They pointed out that on June 30 at approximately 6 p.m., “an armed group from the community of Tzanebolom municipality of Chenalhó, went to attack the community of San José Tercero municipality of Pantelhó, so that these events left several injured, as well as a dead man named José Velasco Méndez. And, in the same way, there was no ministerial investigation into these acts.”

They reported that “on July 1, at approximately 10 a.m., José Guadalupe Herrera Abarca’s people entered the municipal seat of Pantelhó armed with heavy caliber weapons. They damaged the facilities of the municipal presidency and vehicles that belong to the municipality, with firearms, as well as burning a house. Their armed action that same day caused the death of Gabriel Gómez Gómez.”

“This person was near a gas cylinder and it exploded causing serious burns, so he was transferred to the hospital of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, where he lost his life. His relatives did not want to make any complaint about these acts.”

On the other hand, leaders of the 86 communities pointed out that they “have not yielded to aggressions against the people by the hitmen that José Guadalupe Herrera Abarca commands, who have gone so far as to threaten agents of the communities and neighborhoods that if they do not support him, they will kill their relatives.”

They accused that in addition to Herrera Abarca, another of the leaders of that armed group is Jhovanny Gamaliel Aguilar Moreno, “who is also destabilizing the municipality of Pantelhó, he is always inciting violence.”

Jhovanny Gamaliel Aguilar Moreno is related to one of the 18 who were disappeared by the Los Machetes group on July 26, 2021. Those men were violently taken out of their homes and taken in an unknown direction.

They pointed out that relatives of the disappeared “enjoy privileges from the State Government as direct relatives of the disappeared, consisting of monthly payments for rent, food and cash, when the indigenous comrades who died at the hands of Los Herrera have not received any economic support. And, as they have not procured justice, much less administered it, there are approximately 200 homicides committed to the detriment of our indigenous brothers.”

In addition to Herrera Abarca, Rubén Herrera Gutiérrez and Arturo Ramos Salazar were alleged leaders of that armed group; the latter, they said, “is the one who economically finances the Los Herrera criminal group.”

They pointed out that the founders of the group Austreberto Herrera Abarca and his son Dayli de los Santos Herrera Gutiérrez, are in prison accused of various crimes they committed in this municipality and they did a lot of damage.”

They also denounced that the Herrera group “is allied with the armed group called Los Ciriles, which belongs to the community of Tzanebolom, municipality of Chenalhó. This alliance is in order to destabilize the municipality and thus be able to remove the Municipal Council.”

They said that before “this chaotic situation” the municipality is going through, they decided to meet on July 6 in the Ejido Roblar Chixtontik, with all the communities and neighborhoods that make up the municipality of Pantelhó, where they agreed “that if the Federal and State Government do not take action on the matter, the people of Pantelhó will rise up in arms again and do justice on our own,  and we hold the state and federal government responsible for what happens in the town of Pantelhó, for what may happen in the coming days if the state and federal government does not act.”

They indicated that “people do not trust the Government, for that reason they do not make their corresponding complaint about events that take place in the municipality.”

They asked the governor and the FGE (State Attorney General) to execute the arrest warrants that they have in the case against Jose Guadalupe Herrera Abarca, who they say is hiding in Rancho Baltazar.

Leaders of the 86 communities demonstrated their support for Alberto González Santiz, as Councilor President of Pantelhó municipality, with whom they have maintained a little more tranquility, “since from the start of his administration we have seen change in the municipality with public works, as well as attention to the people since he listens to our needs. Therefore, once again we request that you intervene in the matter.”

They denounced that: “it seems that they want to minimize this government that he heads, that nothing happens in the municipality of Pantelhó. In fact, we know that throughout history they have treated us as third-class people and they have also considered us as indigenous people who are worthless and we also know that they have tried to extinguish the state and federal system of government.”

“In addition, the mestizo population of Pantelhó sees us as objects, for this reason we have agreed in assembly that we will defend ourselves as a place and with what we have in our power in order to demonstrate that we are the majority and that we have the full right to do so,” they warned.

Originally Published in Spanish by Chiapas Paralelo, Wednesday, July 12, 2023, https://www.chiapasparalelo.com/noticias/chiapas/2023/07/advierten-lideres-de-86-comunidades-de-pantelho-se-alzaran-en-armas-sino-desarticula-gobierno-a-grupo-armado-de-los-herrera/ and Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee