(Oaxaca-City, May 31, 2023, america21).- Mexico’s southern border is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis due to a spiral of violence that intensified at the end of May. Armed conflicts between various organized crime groups over territorial control of the geostrategically important region led to the evacuation of several villages in the communities of Frontera Comalapa and Chicomuselo near the border with Guatemala.
The forced recruitment of young men by the armed groups had also been previously reported amid the shootings in towns such as Nueva Independencia, Nueva Libertad and 24 de Febrero.
Stationed military remains idle
The Human Rights Center Frayba calls on the authorities to protect the population in an urgent action. It also points out that the Mexican state does not put a stop to the criminal gangs, despite numerous military installations on site: “Mexican army troops are stationed in the town of El Jocote. There is a National Guard checkpoint on the highway from Paso Hondo to Frontera Comalapa. In the municipality of Chicomuselo is the largest barracks of the Mexican army in Chiapas”. But according to testimonies, caravans of vehicles with heavily armed people drive past these facilities unmolested, according to Frayba.
The outbreak of violence, which according to initial reports forced up to 3,000 people to flee, comes as no surprise. The local press documented 63 cases of violent in this region since last year disappeared. Eleven of the missing persons belong to the local agricultural authorities.
Schießerei in San Cristóbal de las Casas
To date, the judiciary in the state governed by the centre-left Morena party has not prosecuted these crimes. Mexican human rights organizations are calling on the relevant authorities to intervene urgently to stop the violence and terror in the Chiapas border region.
Other regions of the southernmost state are also increasingly affected by violence. On April 17, 2023, a multi-hour shoot-out in broad daylight in the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas caused panic among the population and tourists. And on May 22, gunmen attacked the Zapatista community of Moisés y Gandhi, killing Jorge López Sántiz of the Zapatista support base seriously injured.
Communities in Chiapas on the run von News Pool Latin America is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 international.