Armed attack in Chiapas leaves seven dead and three injured in the Zapatista community of Polhó

On Friday night, a tragic armed attack took place in the Zapatista community of Polhó, located in the municipality of Chenalhó, in the state of Chiapas, leaving at least seven people dead and three injured. The victims were originally from the Santa Martha sector and were taking refuge in the Zapatista community after being forcibly displaced.

The State Attorney General’s Office issued a statement announcing the opening of an investigation for the crimes of homicide and injuries, with the aim of determining and holding accountable the perpetrators of this terrible event that occurred in the Zapatista community.

The attack took place during the night of Friday, when a group of armed men appeared in a warehouse where the displaced from Santa Martha were sheltering and opened fire indiscriminately. As a result of the attack, seven people lost their lives and another three were injured.

Reynaldo Pérez, a human rights defender, declared in an interview with EFE that the attack was directly directed at the house where around 150 victims of forced displacement from the community of Santa Martha, Chenalhó were. These people had been stripped of their land and communal rights since September 2022, when they fled after a seven-day standoff over 22.5 hectares of land.

Pérez highlighted that the armed group arrived at the house with high caliber weapons and fired indiscriminately as in the movies, mainly affecting women, children and the elderly who lived in the camp for displaced persons.

The injured people were taken to a hospital with the assistance of the authorities, while municipal and state authorities arrived at the scene hours later to restore order and begin the corresponding investigations.

It is important to mention that this attack occurred nine months after the forced displacement suffered by the inhabitants of Santa Martha due to the wave of violence provoked by its own inhabitants due to ideological differences related to the distribution of land.

So far, the firing of firearms has stopped, and the authorities are expected to intervene in the next few hours to guarantee the peace and tranquility of the community.

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) had previously warned about the wave of violence and the social crisis in the state of Chiapas, and accused the Mexican government of minimizing the situation.

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