2018

January 3: Rodrigo Aguilar Martínez takes office as bishop of San Cristóbal de Las Casas.

January 9: Tseltal Indians of Amador Hernandez, municipality of Ocosingo, expel from their community 17 soldiers of the Navy that entered their territories without permission.

January 17: The Ejido and Common Property of Acacoyagua, organized in the Popular Front in Defense of Soconusco (FPDS), declare mining activity prohibited in their territory.

January 24: A confrontation took place between two antagonistic groups identified with the President of Oxchuc, María Gloria Sánchez, and the former substitute president Óscar Gómez López in the municipality of Oxchuc, resulting in 3 deaths and 17 wounded.

January 25: Pueblo Creyente organized a pilgrimage to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the death of jTatik Samuel Ruiz and to make demands in favor of life.

January 30: Health workers denounced the repression and criminalization they suffer.

February 5: Civil society organizations from Canada and Mexico, as well as relatives and friends of environmental defender Mariano Abarca Roblero, assassinated in 2009 in Chicomuselo, formally requested the government of Canada to investigate Canadian diplomats who they claim covered up the actions of the mining company Blackfire Exploration that were related to the murder.

February 7: The University of Sciences and Arts of Chiapas (UNICACH) announced the suspension of an honorary doctorate to the Secretary of National Defense, Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, after backlash from the academic community regarding the honorary degree.

February 18: María Gloría Sánchez, mayor of Oxchuc, is stripped of her post by the local Congress and the city council, after the Attorney General’s Office requested her removal in order to initiate criminal proceedings against her for the January 25 conflict. Hours later, deputies and representatives of the government of Chiapas witnessed the election of a people’s council in a popular assembly.

February 27: Social, civil, and indigenous community organizations with a presence in the municipality of Ocosingo held a meeting about the looting, eviction, and militarization in the Lacandon Jungle in Amador Hernandez.

March 4: 54 displaced families from Ejido Puebla, municipality of Chenalhó, began a sit-in to demand that Governor Manuel Velasco Coello put an end to their forced displacement.

March 8, 9 and 10: The Gathering of Women Struggle in the Caracol of Morelia, municipality of Altamirano, took place. It was convened by Zapatista women within the framework of International Women’s Day.

March 15: The Congress of Chiapas approved the appointment of Juan José Zepeda Bermúdez as the new president of the State Human Rights Commission (CEDH) in spite of the doubts that human rights organizations have about him.

March 20: Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba) reported that 145 Tsotsil families in Tabak, Aldama, were forcibly displaced. The Koko’ community of 90 families is isolated because the roads leading into the village are guarded by armed men. Other communities in Aldama, near the border with Chenalhó, who have already lived through armed aggresions, can not work in their fields because of fear of being shot. Some people have had to take temporary refuge in the countryside because of the constant gunfire.

March 21: Frayba and indigenous representatives of 120 communities and tseltal, chole, tsotstil, zoque, and mestizo ejidos reported that they recently documented acts of espionage and harassment by the military against native peoples.

March 22: Displaced people from Chalchihuitan denounced that they continue to live in inhumane conditions which has resulted in respiratory and digestive diseases, lack of food and medicine, and that they continue to experience fear due to the gunfire that has not ceased.

March 26: Displaced peoples from the ejido of Puebla, Chenalhó, began a sit-in in front of the Government Palace of the State of Chiapas due to the lack of attention to their demands.

March 26: The governor of Chiapas, Manuel Velasco Coello, presented his fifth report of activities. He boasted progress in several areas, contrasting different media reports, particularly on security, tourism, and health.

April 3: Frayba reported that the violence caused by paramilitary armed civilian groups in the highlands of Chiapas intensified with the murder of three individuals and the forced displacement of more than 700 people in the municipality of Aldama.

April 10: Thousands of teachers from the National Coordination of Education Workers (CNTE), parents, displaced indigenous people, education students, and members of more than 60 campesino social organizations marched in Tuxtla Gutiérrez against the educational reform and called for the creation of a “national united front.”

April 15-25: The Conversation “To watch, to listen, to speak: Forbidden to think?” convened by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) took place in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.

April 19 and 20: More than 20 organizations, communities, and collectives that make up The Resistance Group to the Extractive Model in Chiapas met for the gathering “Living Peoples! Free from Extractivism,” in Acacoyagua.

April 20: the Council of Speakers of the Community Government of Chilón, elected in 20 regions of the municipality through the System of Uses and Customs, was presented. The next day, the neighboring municipality of Sitalá also presented their Council through the System of Uses and Customs.

April 29: Political campaigns began for the election of governor of the state of Chiapas, scheduled for July 1.

May 2: The Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH) published a report on forced internal displacement in Mexico, indicating that Chiapas was the state with the highest number of internally displaced persons in 2017.

May 6-12: Simojovel’s Pueblo Creyente reported new threats against its organizing process.

June 7: The bishops of Chiapas, in a communiqué entitled “Before the 2018 Elections,” denounced that “the system of political parties has been the cause of divisions and conflicts in communities, through corruption of local authorities, vote buying, coercion with social programs, misleading propaganda, false promises, and distribution of food and other objects to condition the voter.”

June 14: Organizations of the Declaration of Alert of Gender Violence against Women (AVGM) denounced “the lack of commitments by the state government to evaluate the implementation of the measures ordered in the AVGM.

June 27: the report of the Civil Observation Mission to the Coast of Chiapas was presented in which human rights violations by the Mexican State were documented in the context of the September 2017 earthquakes (#7S).

July 1: Mexico holds the largest elections in its history, with 3,400 offices. Andrés Manuel López Obrador is elected president by the “Together We’ll Make History” coalition. In Chiapas, Rutilio Escandón Cadenas of the same coalition is elected governor.

July 13: The Chiapas Institute of Elections and Citizen Participation (IEPC) announced that municipal elections were contested in 67 of 122 municipalities in the state.

August 3-9: Several activities convened by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) took place in the Caracol of Morelia: the Meeting of Networks in Support of the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG) and Comparte 2018.

August 13: The Human Rights Area of the Diocese of San Cristóbal reported that 57 parishes in that diocese collected 40,400 signatures to support an appeal against water reserve decrees.

August 14: Councilmembers, delegates, coordinators, and representatives of the Indigenous National Congress (CNI) of the Northern zone of Chiapas denounced threats and aggressions against them in different incidents in the municipalities of Tila, Salto de Agua, and Yajalón.

August 20: The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) denied authorization to build the Santo Domingo hydroelectric dam in the municipality of Maravilla Tenejapa.

August 29: After Congress modified several articles of the Constitution of Chiapas, Manuel Velasco requested a license as governor of Chiapas in order to legally become senator of the Republic.

First days of September: At least 30 women who had been elected as councilmembers or deputies presented their resignations. There remains the possibility that these resignations were forced, in order for the positions to be occupied by men.

September 4: The Senate gave Manuel Velasco a license to separate from his position as legislator for an indefinite period of time, although in a first attempt this endorsement was rejected. With the endorsement, Velasco returned to Chiapas to finish his term as governor. Several analysts point out that the vote in favor of this license was given in exchange for the Green Party transferring 5 representatives to Morena, allowing the party headed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador to consolidate an absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies.

September 4: Nearly 800 participants in the First Forum Against Hydroelectric Dams in the Border region of Chiapas rejected the Santo Domingo Hydroelectric Project to be built in the municipality of Maravilla Tenejapa.

September 20: Musician Julio César Álvarez Montelongo, better known as Julión Álvarez, reportedly threatened to sue the news portal ‘Chiapas Paralelo’ and the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center for reporting an alleged bribery incident under the artist’s influence.

September 21: Journalist Mario Leonel Gómez Sánchez, correspondent for El Heraldo de Chiapas, was shot outside his home in Yajalón.

September 25: The organization for freedom of expression, Article 19, denounced that reporter Angel Lazo, from Palenque, Chiapas, has received death threats from police in that municipality and from Mayor Carlos Morelos, from the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM).

September 26: The Institute of Elections and Citizen Participation (IEPC) declared the implementation of a consultation in Oxchuc to decide if municipal elections will be carried out within the system of political parties or by means of customs.

September 27: A march was held in San Cristóbal de las Casas as part of the Global Day of Action for a legal and safe abortion, despite the fact that its organizers had received death threats since March 2018.

September 29: The parish of Chicomuselo denounced that its priest, Eleazar Juárez Flores, was threatened by the president of the ejidal commissariat of Pablo L. Sidar, from the same municipality.

October 1: The Federal Attorney General’s Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa) suspended all activities of the project “Integral Use of Mineral Resources in the Ejido Nueva Francia” of the municipality of Escuintla.

October 9: One week before the start of the shutdown of the Chiapas state bureaucracy, the Attorney General’s Office (FGE) initiated an investigation against leaders of the movement for the crimes of mutiny, assault on the peace and security of state property, as well as attacks on communication routes.

October 12-14: The National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Indigenous Government Council (CIG) held their second assembly in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.

Since October 19: Thousands of migrants mostly from Honduras arrived in Chiapas with the intention of traveling to the United States.

November 1-9: The first Zapatista film festival entitled “Puy ta Cuxlejaltic” (Caracol Nueva Vida) took place.

November 7: In the community of Chavajeval, municipality of El Bosque, almost all of the inhabitants of the village were displaced after a conflict between inhabitants.

November 9: The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center denounced new attacks perpetrated by an armed group from Santa Martha Manuel Utrilla, in the municipality of Chenalhó, putting at risk the lives of the inhabitants of the municipality Aldama

November 9-13: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) declared that Chiapas is already a “red flag” on freedom of the press and expression.

10 November: A pilgrimage took place in the municipality of Chicomuselo, against militarization and violence, specifically threats against the priest Eleazar Juárez Flores.

November 12: Section 50 of the National Health Workers Union held a march in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, in which more than 10,000 people participated, in response to the State Government’s refusal to resolve their demands.

November 19: Nearly 400 victims of forced internal displacement from different municipalities in Chiapas began a march called “Caravan of Tired Feet” from San Cristóbal de las Casa to Tuxtla Gutiérrez.

November 24: Manuel Velasco Coello, presents his Sixth Government Report. Section 50 of the National Union of Health Workers, displaced persons from various municipalities within Chiapas, and students of the rural teachers school Mactumactzá protested the presentation. According to the media, a group of people carried out acts of vandalism, for which the police used tear gas against the demonstrators, including women and children.

November 25: Most of the displaced people from Chavajebal, municipality of El Bosque, returned to the community after an extensive process of dialogue.

November 25: In the framework of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, a demonstration was held in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, in which protesters denounced that “95 known cases of serious violence against women occurred in Chiapas” between January and July 2018.

November 25: Special elections were held in 10 municipalities in the state of Chiapas.

December 4: the point of agreement in Congress to urge the state government to address the issue of forced internal displacement was unanimously approved.

December 8: Rutilio Escandón Cadenas took office as the new governor of Chiapas. He expressed that his administration will support federal projects such as a massive reforestation campaign as well as the Mayan Train project. He added that he will support the austerity program proposed by López Obrador. Survivors of the Acteal massacre, mothers of murdered women, and teachers demonstrated to demand answers. State riot police intervened to disperse the protesters.

December 10: The Chiapas State Congress appointed Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca as new state attorney general. One hundred civil organizations denounced that as secretary of SSyPC during the government of Manuel Velasco Coello, his administration “was characterized by the use of public force for the repression of human rights defenders.” Members of the police force under his charge were denounced for corruption and for being involved in human rights violations, such as arbitrary detentions and torture.

December 21: The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center reported that nine camps which housed 238 forcefully displaced families in Chalchihuitán were destroyed, in a context of aggressions by the Municipal Union of Chalchihuitán.

December 22nd: Members of the Civil Society of Las Abejas de Acteal and guests commemorated the 21st anniversary of the Acteal massacre. Las Abejas and the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center emphasized that they are not seeking dialogue with the current government, but rather that they will continue to act in order that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) might declare the merits of the case.