Shortly after giving mass in the Iglesia de Cuxtital in San Cristóbal de las Casas on the morning of October 20th, Padre Marcelo Pérez Pérez, defender of life and fearless spokesperson against the plague of violence and organized crime that now rages in Chiapas, was shot by assassins on a motorcycle while driving toward the the Iglesia Guadalupe in the very heart of town. While his righteous path will continue to guide all who loved him, the loss of Padre Marcelo leaves a hole in the heart of an entire population.
From our different geographies here in the north, we condemn the violence that terrorizes the communities of Chiapas and grows worse every day. We see nothing but negligence and complicity on the part of the authorities at all levels of government in a crime perpetrated against the peoples of Chiapas. This act of terror against Padre Marcelo, a man of the church and a voice for los pueblos, evidences the absolute lawlessness that exists in Chiapas today and constitutes a grave violation against psychosocial well-being of his followers and all who work for peace and justice.
We will not be convinced that the intellectual author of the crime was a man on a motorcycle.
This brutal crime follows a series of denunciations by the EZLN and Frayba Human Rights Center of the incidents of intimidation and siege of the BAEZLN community of 6 de Octubre by heavily armed groups from the nearby community of Nueva Palestina. According to the most recent update on the 18th of October, the aggressors have begun felling trees and building houses on the solares adjacent to the community. Having watched years of organized crime empowered by local governments against the BAEZLN communities in Nuevo San Gregorio and Moisés y Gandhi, this forced occupation of the community is a very familiar scene.
It is with both alarm and rage that we call for the attention of the newly inaugurated President Claudia Sheinbaum to the escalation of violence that has been ignored and downplayed by the government of her predecessor, López Obrador. JUST AS OUR COMPAÑEROS ZAPATISTAS WARNED THREE YEARS AGO, WE INSIST THAT THERE IS A CIVIL WAR ABLAZE IN CHIAPAS AND THAT THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE ARE SUFFERING DAILY THREATS TO THEIR WELL-BEING.
However, knowing that the apparatus of the State that is Mexico relies on this kind of chaos to displace the peoples from its path of extractivism, it will do nothing to protect and defend the peace in Chiapas. The “second floor” of the Cuarta Transformación promises to be more of the same that we saw under AMLO.
That being said, in these, Jornadas en Contra de la Guerra Contra Los Pueblos Zapatistas (Days of Action to Stop the War Against the Zapatista communities)we call out to our brothers and sisters in the international community, to signatories of the Declaration for Life, and defenders of human rights around the globe to speak out against the incessant terrorizing of the peoples in Mexico. To demand an end to the war against the Zapatistas is to demand an end to the war against the peoples. Our struggle is for life!
We demand a full investigation into the intellectual authors of the assassination of Padre Marcelo!
We demand an end to the onslaught of aggressions against Zapatista communities!
We demand an end to the violence against the defenders of water, territory and life, the indigenous peoples of Mexico!
#JusticiaParaPadreMarcelo
#AltoALaGuerra
#EZLN