- One person injured in two days of at least 39 armed attacks on 10 Tsotsil Maya Communities in Aldama.
- We warn of the risk of a massacre in the territory of Aldama, and we hold the government of Mexico responsible.
Today, October 11, 2020, at 9:30 a.m., Hugo Alfredo Pérez Hernández, 37 years old, originally from Tabak in Aldama, Chiapas, Mexico, was wounded in the ribs and the arm by a bullet while driving on a road in his community on his way to the headquarters of his municipality. Due to the severity of the injuries, he is in the Hospital de Las Culturas in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
According to a report from the Permanent Commission of the 115 Displaced Comuneros[1] of Aldama, the attacks continued this morning: “High-caliber shots at different points of attack. Volcán and T’elemax Santa Martha Chenalho, directed at the Tabak community, as well as shooting at passing cars and people. In this attack there is another wounded person.”
Throughout Saturday the 10th and Sunday the 11th of October 2020, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center registered at least 39 armed attacks on the following communities of Aldama: Koko’, Stselejpotobtik, Juxton, Ch’ivit, Tabak, San Pedro Cotsilnam, Yeton, Xuxch’en, Ch’ayomte’, and Cabecera from 27 attack points in Chenalhó[2].The attacks continue up until now…
The Permanent Commission of the 115 Displaced Comuneros of Aldama denounces that the elements of the National Guard and the State Police that are in Santa Martha, Chenalhó and Aldama do not act effectively to stop the armed attacks and protect the population.
In addition to the six people murdered since March 2018, 29 people—including Hugo Alfredo Pérez Hernández—have been injured during attacks against Aldama’s Maya Tsotsil communities by armed civilian groups of a paramilitary nature from Santa Martha, Chenalhó, equipped with high-caliber weapons. These are in addition to the disappearance and subsequent execution of the former municipal trustee of Aldama, Ignacio Pérez Girón, whose body was found on May 5, 2019, at the entrance of the Yalebtay area, municipality of Zinacatán.
The persistent omission and complicity of the government of Chiapas and the federal government, encourages the escalation of violence in the Highlands region. It also increases the risk to the lives of the residents in 13 communities of the Aldama municipality, composed mostly of women, girls, boys, adolescents, and elders.
Therefore, we urge the Mexican State:
- Provide access to comprehensive medical care for Hugo Alfredo Pérez Hernández and Artemio Pérez Pérez, as well as follow-up medical care to the other people injured during the attacks on the Aldama communities.
- Immediately guarantee to the Maya Tsotsil people of the Aldama municipality the right to life, security, and physical and psychological integrity.
- Implement the United Nation’s Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement in order to provide humanitarian assistance to families forcibly displaced from 13 communities in Aldama.
- Promptly and adequately investigate the attacks, and punish, disarm, and dismantle the paramilitary-like armed civil groups in Chenalhó who are directly responsible for the attacks that have caused forced displacement in the Chiapas Highlands region.
- Investigate and punish the authorities responsible for the impunity of these events, as well as the intellectual authors of the large-scale violence that could lead to massacre such as occurred in Acteal, which is difficult or impossible to repair after the fact.
We seek national and international solidarity. Please sign the following urgent action at the bottom of the Spanish version of this article:
[1] A comunero is a person who has rights to the use and enjoyment of communal land as well as the use and benefit of communal assets within a legally recognized agrarian community, established by law and in community bylaws. The comunero also has the rights to transfer their rights.
[2] Yaxaltik, Tok’oy, Tojtik, Tulantik, Volcán, T’elemax, Tijera Caridad, El Puente, El Templo, Xchuch te’, Ontik, Vale’tik, Xchuch te’, K’ante’, El Ladrillo, Chalontik Caridad, El Basurero, Sotzte’tik, Slumka, Pajaltoj, T’ul Vits, Telesecundaria, El Colado, Chino , Rancho Fracción Ak’tik, Panteón, and Centro Santa Marha.