UPDATE: Security Forces and Soldiers Disappear Two Zapatista Support Bases
New attack on autonomy
After 55 hours of disappearance by Security Forces and soldiers, compañeros José Baldemar Sántiz Sántiz and Andrés Manuel Sántiz Gómez were handed over to the San Cristóbal de Las Casas Control Court and Trial Court.
The crime for which they are being detained is unknown; we will continue to document the situation.
We appreciate the solidarity; public pressure made their return alive possible.
The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center A.C. (Frayba) received urgent information from the Assembly of Collectives of Autonomous Zapatista Governments (ACGAZ), Caracol 02 Oventic, Chiapas, as follows:
On April 24th, 2025, at approximately 3:30 p.m., in the community of San Pedro Cotzilnam, official municipality of Aldama, Chiapas, Vicente Guerrero Autonomous Region, in a major joint operation involving approximately 39 vehicles from the National Guard, the Mexican Army, the Pakal Immediate Reaction Forces, the Ministerial Intelligence Investigation Agency, the State Preventive Police, and the Federal Government’s Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection, accompanied by two vehicles with armed civilians, warrantless searches of the homes of Zapatista Support Base families were carried out. They violently broke into the homes and detained Tzotzil compañeros José Baldemar Sántiz Sántiz, 45, and Andrés Manuel Sántiz Gómez, 21. The convoy then continued toward the municipality of San Andrés Larráinzar.
This occurs in the context of serious surveillance and harassment by these police and military forces, which we recently documented at the Rebel y Revel Arte Gathering [1] convened by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation at the Caracol de Jacinto Canek in Tenejapa and the CIDECI (National Center for the Defense of Human Rights) in San Cristóbal de Las Casas. There were patrols and checkpoints at intermediate points, interrogating and intimidating those attending the meeting. It should be noted that security patrols are rare in these locations.
Since the beginning of this year, various communities, social organizations, and human rights organizations in Chiapas have denounced serious human rights violations committed by members of police and military operations, which have included violence against residents, robberies in their homes, and arbitrary detentions.
We ask that national and international solidarity be monitored for the actions we will be reporting.
[1] https://frayba.org.mx/hostigamiento-vigilancia-rebel-revel
Sign the Urgent Action to demand that the Federal and Local Governments present the Zapatista Support Base comrades José Baldemar Sántiz Sántiz and Andrés Manuel Sántiz Gómez alive: https://frayba.org.mx/actualizacion-fuerzas-de-seguridad-y-militares-desaparecen-2-bases-de-apoyo-zapatistas
April 27, 2025
San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas
First Update of Urgent Action: 01
Original article from Frayba, April 27th, 2025.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.