By: Elio Henríquez, Correspondent

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas

Scenarios of violence such as those prevailing in some regions of Chiapas favor the entry of transnational companies for the imposition of megaprojects and the dispossession of natural resources of indigenous peoples, said the bishop of the local diocese, Rodrigo Aguilar Martínez.

“What is seen in a very remarkable way in the Amazon is also happening in Chiapas; for example, in mining and the use of water from dams and lagoons; It is a very strong reality that needs to be addressed,” he said.

In an interview, he said that “the wealth of Chiapas has not produced the effects of the disappearance of degrading poverty of individuals, families and communities, because it remains in some sectors.”

He pointed out that unlike previous years in which, “according to what I have heard without being directly aware, there was control by a drug trafficking group, now there is a struggle between two or more groups to see who has control.”

Chiapas, he added, “is key, because there is a lot of natural wealth, waters, forests, minerals, and also being a border state means that many migrants pass through here who attempt to reach the United States through the entire national territory.”

Authorities from various communities of Chicomuselo demanded in recent days the cancellation of mining concessions in that place located in the mountains of the state, where in November 2009 Mariano Abarca Roblero, an opposition leader to the exploitation of mines, was murdered.

Last May, according to complaints from residents, unidentified individuals began to remove, with the support of armed men, barite extracted a few years ago by the Canadian company Blackfire Exploration Mexico from a mine located in the Grecia ejido, municipality of Chicomuselo.

In the opinion of the representative of the Catholic Church, the violence that prevails in some areas is due to the fact that “the criteria of value have been changing. Before we talked about truth, good and justice, for example, and now we talk about my truth, my good, my justice, and when those particularisms enter, harmony is difficult.

“The religious transcendence has also been diluted. It is already what the human being decides, wants and can do. All this is having an impact on the human relationship when there is already arrogance and the search to resolve it according to one’s own criteria.”

Has the federal government’s security strategy failed? –he was asked.

We would enter into specific aspects of what corresponds to the Executive, Legislative or Judicial Power, at the federal, state and municipal levels. Many factors and people are already coming in. In part, it may be due to that, commitments that have been made since the moments of the electoral campaigns and that then have to be assumed in the exercise of public office.

He warned that as the political campaigns of 2024 approach, “violence may intensify,” so “it is important to review our mind and heart, how all this resonates in my concrete action, and then that we do not collapse, and that if we demand the exercise of authority for security and peace, we commit ourselves too.”

Aguilar Martínez called on authorities of the three levels of government to “seek the common good for all, especially those most needy, not only for those who voted for them, but especially reach those who need it most, integrate them into social development and that citizens commit to collaborate.”

He commented that the greatest expressions of violence are located in the municipalities of Frontera Comalapa and Chicomuselo, but also in Pantelhó, Trinitaria and the jungle.

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada, Friday, August 4, 2023, https://www.jornada.com.mx/2023/08/04/estados/030n1est and Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee