Humanitarian emergency in Chiapas

Humanitarian emergency in Chiapas

Written on 16 September 2024. Posted in News

BY WRITER FOR PEACE FOR DEBATES INDÍGENAS

Residents of the parish of Chicomuselo in the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas, have been left to their own devices in the face of drug cartels vying for control of the territory. The exploitation of a barite mine has reignited conflict between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, who are each fighting for control of the region. Inhabitants are used as human shields, and in some communities, their phones are confiscated and they are not permitted to leave. Despite being an emblematic example in the fight for land and nature, the residents of Chicomuselo have received no response from the president or his successor.

Since 2023, residents of various communities in the Municipality of Chicomuselo have had to leave their homes, abandoning their land, animals, crops, and belongings, with all the pain and immense sadness that entails. The cause is always the same: the struggle for territory between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. In their every day, residents endure the presence of armed and hooded men, threats, and armed violence.

One of these communities (whose name we omit for security reasons) is a very clear example of this situation. Before November 2023, it had a total population of 587 inhabitants. However, due to violence in the region, several families began to leave the community. The confrontation between cartels for control of the Chicomuselo barite mine increased forced exodus, and by March 2024, only eight families remained. This means that more than 500 people now live in conditions of internal forced displacement.

One very violent event in the community, and which caused most of the inhabitants to leave, was the confrontation on January 4, 2024, between both cartels. The event began early in the morning and lasted all day and into the next night. As a result, more than 20 people from both groups were killed. There were also civilian victims from other communities and municipalities who had been used as human shields by the cartels.

The barite mine

In 2009, mining extraction in Chicomuselo had stopped due to environmental impact. But on March 18, 2023, an armed group from one of the cartels arrived to loot the barite material and threatened to kill any residents who tried to oppose the mineral's exploitation. From that date until today, the mine has been illegally exploited since the judicial suspension still persists.

Mining extraction is carried out by men, mostly of Guatemalan origin (though it is not ruled out that they may be Kaibiles, elite soldiers of the Guatemalan Army), armed and trained in the use of violence. They have taken over the property and live in the community, instead of being the ejido owners of those lands. The material extracted from the mine is transported out of the community in container trailers, which pass through the municipal seat of Chicomuselo with total impunity. The hypothesis is that the barite is sold in the port of Coatzacoalcos, located in Veracruz.

An important and not insignificant fact is that only 26 kilometers from the barite mine the headquarters of the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA) of the 101st Battalion is located. However, security forces have not only not prevented the exploitation of the barite mine or defended the population but, far less have they intervened in the confrontation between the cartels. Faced with this panorama, suspicions of collusion are more than justified.

A recurring problem

Other communities in the municipality of Chicomuselo that are abandoned include Jolentón (200 inhabitants), Galicia (500), 20 de Noviembre (500), San Antonio del Ocotal (500), La Lucha (300), Las Flores (500), Plan de Ayala (200), Nueva Morelia (600), San Francisco Las Palmas (300), Barrio la Pinta (150), Barrio El Limonal (150), Ejido El Rosario (100), Ejido Las Brisas (100), and Ejido Nuevo Portal (200).

As for the municipality's seat, out of a population of roughly 7,000 inhabitants, we estimate that about 4,000 have left. The flight of the population occurred due to the arrival of armed men from both cartels and their constant confrontations, which leave people from both groups and the civilian population dead, including women, minors, and the elderly. In the aforementioned communities, the population's departure was not prevented.

However, there are other communities within the same municipality of Chicomuselo that also suffer from these confrontations who are not allowed to leave the community and are used as "human shields". Such is the case of Vado Ancho (300 inhabitants), Unión Buenavista (1650), Miguel Alemán (650), and Monte Sinaí (550). To prevent them from asking for help and communicating with the outside world, cartel members take away their cell phones, cut off the electricity for days, and do not allow food or medicine to reach them. Farmers cannot sow or harvest, much less trade their products.

A State that does not respond

Through all means possible, these violations of human rights has been made known to the various federal authorities: the Presidency of the Republic, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), the Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB), the Attorney General's Office (FGR), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE). The origin, development, and escalation caused by barite mining in Chicomuselo has been reported, presenting itself as a humanitarian problem that worsens every day.

If Mexican authorities -President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO, who is about to leave office) and if his successor Claudia Sheinbaum, truly wanted to address the causes of the conflict, denying it, minimizing it, or sending palliatives is not enough. If they want to tackle the root of the conflict, they must first combat trafficking, the black market, and mining exploitation with all available tools.

Instead, the Mexican President and the future first woman president of the country deny, by all means, that the conflict told here is happening. In this way, far from solving the problem, AMLO and Sheinbaum condemn the displaced and kidnapped people in their own communities to resign themselves to this reality. Or, worse, to join the cartel war to guarantee their lives while they await death.

Tags: Indigenous Debates

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