The Zapatista community of “6 de Octubre,” part of today’s Caracol IX Jerusalén, was formally founded on that day and month of 1997, with lands occupied as a result of the Zapatista uprising of 1994. Since then, its inhabitants have worked them peacefully for the good of the community.
However, now the inhabitants of Nueva Palestina, together with members of organized crime, with the support of the authorities of the municipality of Ocosingo and the government of Chiapas, intend to evict them violently.
Since June of this year, unknown individuals carrying weapons of different calibers and wearing black uniforms have roamed the village, threatened its inhabitants and taken photos. Days later, two Zapatista support bases that went out to work as day laborers were warned that they had to leave the community or they would be removed “by force.” A drone has flown over the town. On September 23rd, the attackers set up huts in the town and dedicate themselves to intimidating rebel sympathizers.
The communal authorities of Nueva Palestina claim to have the support of the municipal leaders of Ocosingo, from the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM) – the mayor Martín Martínez, known for the bad company he hangs out with, is originally from that community – and also the support of the Chiapas government, in the hands of MORENA. Without mincing words, they claim that they will give the aggressors the papers that prove the ownership of the stolen lands. As if that were not enough, they claim that organized crime, with official approval, gave the instruction to expel the Zapatista support bases from those lands. The presence of the CJNG in the region is increasing.
Nueva Palestina, Lacanjá Chansayab and Frontera Corozal make up the Lacandon community. Formed by the presidential decree of 1972, which gave 614,321 hectares of the Desierto de la Soledad to 66 Lacandon family heads, it has become a terrain of operation and dispute for drug traffickers. Although historically the communal property was in the hands of the Lacandon, in the last election the assembly chose a Chol as president of the commission. However, at the beginning of 2024 he was disavowed by the federal agrarian authorities. So, to date, the commission is without leader.
This is a region that is the last frontier in Mexican territory before reaching Guatemala. To the north, it borders communities in resistance, such as the Zapatista village of “6 de Octubre”.
Some Lacandons (including authorities) have become associated with organized crime. Planes loaded with cocaine land on their territory (https://shorturl.at/yHOv). In Frontera Corozal and Nueva Palestina, some community members, a very wealthy minority, are “coyotes” and sell alcohol (an activity linked to the sexual exploitation of Central American migrants). They are armed. They have monopolized land through unfair loans and indirectly control social programs such as Sembrando Vida, renting hectares of “their” land to peasants who do not have any, so that they can participate in the program and work on it.
To exorcise the ghost of the Viejo Velasco massacre in 2006, the communal authorities promoted a technical and political process between 2008 and November 2022 to determine a new polygon of Communal Property for the Lacandon Zone. Agreements were reached with 52 neighboring communities and neighbors. The axis of this negotiation is the Life Plan for the Biocultural Management of the jungle. As part of the negotiation, an agreement was reached with the town of “6 de Octubre,” one of the six polygons within Communal Property.
Until November 2022, everything seemed to be ready for the new decree. However, the authorities of Lacanjá Chansayab filed a legal appeal, claiming that they are the only beneficiaries of the 1971 decree and that the Tseltals, Tsotsils and Chols are invaders of the territory. This stopped everything. A recording was then leaked in which the then deputy Patricia Armendáriz yelled at the authorities of Lacanjá. She demanded that they present a development plan – which would counteract the community proposal of the Life Plan (Plan de Vida) – so that together with her, linked to the Na Bolom Foundation, they could receive financing from international agencies. In the audio, the businesswoman confesses that she personally financed the lawyer who filed the legal action that stopped the process that would define the New Polygon of Communal Property (https://shorturl.at/rWjhU, minute 1:09).
In February 2023, they appointed communal authorities in Frontera Corozal, ignoring the commissioner committed to the agrarian process and the Life Plan. In December 2023, they changed the community authorities in Nueva Palestina, putting in place a commissioner with no management capacity or experience. This is how, on August 30th, the Nueva Palestina community members linked to the PVEM, to the trafficking of undocumented immigrants and close to organized crime, agreed to attack the Zapatista “6 de Octubre” property, accompanied by unknown individuals with high-caliber weapons.
Chiapas is a powder keg. Kidnappings, murders, death threats and blockades extend throughout the territory. Just on September 30th, an armed commando set fire to the municipal presidency of Benemérito de las Américas. In the Sierra and Frontera regions, fighting between cartels continues without interruption, while thousands of residents are displaced. On October 9th, in Ixhuatán there was a heavy armed confrontation, with a death toll of at least two. Residents took the Rizo de Oro barge demanding the return alive of four missing fishermen. Migrants were shot by the Army in Villa de Comaltitlán. The attack against the Zapatista village “6 de Octubre” is a watershed in this escalation of violence. The Caracol de Jerusalén was one of the venues contemplated for the celebration of the Zapatista resistance and rebellion meetings.
It is no exaggeration, in Chiapas civil war is knocking at the door.
Original article by Luis Hernández Navarro, La Jornada, October 18th, 2024.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas