2023

January 1: Twenty-nine years after the armed uprising, militia, insurgents, support bases and sympathizers of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) gather in the Caracoles, headquarters of the Good Government Councils, to remember the armed uprising that took place on January 1st, 1994.

January 5: hundreds of people march in Chicomuselo, in the Sierra Madre of Chiapas, “to demand an end to the violence unleashed by organized crime that intends to impose mining in the region with the complicit silence of the authorities.”

January 12: the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) determines that the accident of a trailer that transported migrants in Chiapas in 2021, which left 56 dead and more than 100 injured, represented a violation of the rights of these people, for which reason it issued a recommendation to the National Institute of Migration (INM).

January 22: hooded men with bullet-proof vests and high-calibre weapons announce the creation of a new self-defense group called the “Indigenous Council” located in the Sierra de Chiapas area, due to the lack of response from the authorities to the growing wave of violence

January 24: he Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH) presents its latest report “Episodes of Forced Internal Displacement in Mexico 2021”. In the case of Chiapas, second nationwide, there were nine episodes of displacement that affected 7,117 people and six municipalities.

January 25: more than 5,000 Catholics from the different municipalities of the Diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas make a pilgrimage to the city “to manifest all the abuses and injustices, violence and insecurity that we are experiencing and to boost our hope”

February 7: 42 families have to flee their homes in the Ejido Saltillo in the municipality of Las Margaritas after they were attacked by a group of people supposedly belonging to the Alliance of Social Organizations and Unions of the Left (ASSI), an organization that is said to be related to the mayor of Las Margaritas, Bladimir Hernandez Alvarez.

End of february: February comes to a close with road blockades in different municipalities of Chiapas to demand attention to different social demands.

March 1^st: armed men murder Petrona Lopez Perez, partner of a commander of the Self-Defense Group “El Machete” from Pantelho,

March 8: Thousands of women take to the streets to demand equality, and a dignified and safe life.

March 22: a group of seven peasants, some of them ejido authorities from the Nueva Libertad ejido in Frontera Comalapa are kidnapped while traveling to Palenque.

March 31: the perpetrator of the murder of the human rights defender, Simon Pedro Perez Lopez, is sentenced to 25 years in prison. Relatives of the victim affirm that the sentence is “insufficient” and ask to investigate the masterminds of the homicide.

April 4: the bishops of the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas express their “concern about the social breakdown that is increasing due to the generalized violence in the municipalities of Chicomuselo, Frontera Comalapa, La Trinitaria, Comitan and Las Margaritas”, among others, where “the dispute over the territory is deteriorating every day along with the social fabric.”

April 6: A group of about 50 hooded, armed, and uniformed men indicate that San Cristóbal, Chamula, and Betania are free, autonomous, and that they do not want any cartel, since they are not part of any such group. They point out that they are already vigilant and that as self-defense, they will take care of and ensure peace.

April 12: after a visit to Chiapas, the international organizations Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI) and Front Line Defenders publicly declare that they had identified “a clear pattern of criminalization against indigenous defenders who defend the rights of the environment, territory, autonomy, and self-determination of their communities.”

April 17: Jeronimo Ruiz Lopez, alias “The Artisan” is shot dead outside his home. He was the leader of one of the groups of artisans in the Santo Domingo market and who, together with his cousin Narcizo Ruiz, led the Association of Traditional Market Tenants of San Cristobal de Las Casas (ALMETRACH), allegedly linked to shock groups known as “motonetos”.

April 19: San Cristobal Diocese Social Ministry warns of the increased generalized violence in Chiapas as well as its impacts.

April 20: Hundreds of indigenous people from the parish of Chalhichuitán go on pilgrimage to denounce the increase in the sale of drugs and alcohol in their communities as well as the violence it has entailed, particularly against women.

April 21: 25 civil society organizations (CSOs) and networks express their “deep concern” at the “overflowing violence” in San Cristobal de Las Casas linked to the growing presence of armed groups.

April 23:, approximately 4,000 migrants from Central and South America and other countries leave Tapachula, Chiapas, on a Via Crucis towards Mexico City, to denounce “highlight the ordeal of migrants in Mexico.”

May 3: Cesar Hernandez Feliciano and Jose Luis Gutierrez Hernandez, Tseltals from the town of Chilon, are sentenced to two years in prison. In October 2020, they had been detained during a peaceful demonstration against the construction of a National Guard barracks in the community territory of San Sebastian Bachajon without having been previously consulted.

May 9: Frayba presents its reṕort “Chiapas, a Disaster. Between Criminal Violence and State Complicity”.

May 10: Searching mothers demand answers and justice for their disappeared children.

May 16: Indigenous people of the Chol ethnic group in the town of Sabanilla expel people accused of being drug dealers and linked to organized crime.

May 18: Mothers seeking justice for femicides and disappearances hold sit-in in Tuxtla.

May 22: Gilberto Lopez Santiz, an indigenous Tseltal member of the Support Bases of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (BAEZLN) is the victim of an armed attack.

May 26: Different voices denounce attacks on the EZLN.

May 26: several human rights networks warn about “the resurgence of violence that is taking place in different territories of Chiapas”, particularly in several municipalities on the border with Guatemala.

May 30: State and federal security forces retake control of Frontera Comalapa, a municipality where clashes between members of the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels took place the previous week, especially in the town of Nueva Libertad (Lajerío). These clashes led to the displacement of at least 3,000 residents.

June 6: civil organizations express their deep concern about the escalation of armed violence in Chiapas and its serious consequences for children and adolescents.

June 7: dozens of journalists from Chiapas march in Tuxtla Gutierrez to demand that the authorities do justice for the murders and attacks against journalists, in addition to guarantee the exercise of its informative work.

June 8: the global action ‘Stop the War against the Zapatista Peoples’ is held in solidarity with the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) for the attacks it has suffered.

June 20: Human rights organizations and networks of journalists and media outlets warn about “the hostile climate against the press in the state of Chiapas derived from the climate of violence that exists in various regions of the state, mainly due to events related to the actions of armed groups and organized crime.”

From June 19 to 22: members of the Regional Organization of Coffee Growers of Ocosingo (Orcao) attack three Zapatista autonomous communities located in the region of Moisés and Gandhi with firearms and burn plots of land, denounces the National Network of Civil Human Rights Organizations All Rights for All (Red TDT).

June 23: Attacks against Zapatista Communities Are Not “Serious or Widespread“, declares AMLO

June 26: a group of approximately 5,000 inhabitants from various communities in the municipality of Frontera Comalapa march in order to demand that authorities guarantee peace and security in the region.

June 27: Armed group kidnaps 14 workers from Secretary of Security. They are released three days after.

June 28: a new pilgrimage is held in Chicomuselo to make visible the growing violence in that municipality.

July 3: a new self-defense group called “Civil Army of the Pantelho Indigenous People” is formed in the municipality of Pantelho against of self-defense group “El Machete”.

July 5: thousands of Catholics from the diocese of San Cristobal make pilgrimages in at least seven municipalities to demand that the authorities cease the violence caused by armed groups and guarantee peace and social stability in the state.

July 9th: thousands of men, women, boys and girls, Catholic and evangelical parishioners make a pilgrimage to Las Margaritas, where their religious leaders ask to stop the increase in violence in all its forms.

July 12: the 87 rural agents of the 2023 administration and 14 presidents of Pantelho ejidos, ask the state authorities to “execute the arrest warrant against Jose Guadalupe Herrera Abarca and others”, allies who, they claim, have murdered at least five people in the last four months.

July 23: The operation called ‘Regional Task Force’ is sent to the Border, including the municipalities Suchiate, Frontera Hidalgo and Metapa Domínguez, due to recent violent incidents allegedly related to organized crime activities

July 26: the International Tribunal for the Rights of Nature issues a ruling condemning the Mexican State for “crimes of ecocide and ethnocide” in the construction of the Maya Train.

Since July 30: checkpoints are installed by armed groups to control the entrance to Chicomuselo.

August 19: Thousands of people hold pilgrimage for peace in Comitan and Palenque.

August 28: the Chiapas judiciary decides to overturn the sentence, issued last May, by which five defenders of territory from San Juan Cancuc had been sentenced to 25 years in prison, accused of the homicide of a police officer.

August 30: within the framework of the International Day of Victims of Forced Disappearance, different groups, activists, organizations and relatives demonstrate in Tuxtla Gutierrez and San Cristóbal de Las Casas.

September 4: Blockade begins on the San Cristóbal-Ocosingo highway, demanding the dismissal of the president of the municipal council of Oxchuc.

September 7: a march is held to denounce violence and demand security in New Palestine, in the municipality of Ocosingo.

September 14: Human Rights Networks demand for ”Urgent Comprehensive Route and Strategy for Real and Sustained Pacification” in Frontera Comalapa and Nearby Municipalities.

September 18: about five thousand teachers who serve just over 150 thousand students of all educational levels in the municipalities of the mountain and border areas of Chiapas, decide to suspend work due to the wave of violence in this region linked to the turf wars between organized crime gangs.

September 24: The Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas speaks out about the increase in violence in the border region.

September 29: More than 200 national and international organizations express their concern over the increase in violence in the state, mainly in the border area with Guatemala, through the communiqué “The civilian population is not a target.”

October 9: around five thousand people, men and women dressed in white, hold a peace march in Motozintla de Mendoza, in the Sierra Madre to demand that state and federal authorities stop the violence generated by the turf war between organized crime groups in the area..

October 10: 60 peasants are kidnapped in Altamirano due to a conflict over municipal power.

October 12: residents and authorities of Frontera Corozal, municipality of Ocosingo, detain eight state police officers and 20 residents, whom they accuse of participating in illegal activities and of “having links with organized crime.”

October 12: Thousands of residents of Chicomuselo hold a march for peace in the capital of this municipality.

October 17: residents of the municipality of Tila demonstrate in front of the Government Palace in Tuxtla Gutierrez in order to request the intervention of the authorities in the face of the insecurity that has worsened in their municipality.

November 12: EZLN announces new autonomous structures in its territories.

November 16: the Tseltal indigenous, Manuel Gomez Vazquez, support base of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), is released, after remaining in prison for two years and 11 months, accused of the crime of homicide.

November 24 and 25: an event is held in Patria Nueva, municipality of Ocosingo to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Movement in Defense of Life and Territory (MODEVITE).

November 25: Members of Diocesan Coordination of Women (CODIMUJ) march in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.

November 27: thousands of residents from 13 communities in the Chiapas municipality of Maravilla Tenejapa are forcibly displaced, after organized crime groups raided the region and kidnapped the municipal president and one of his collaborators.

December 2: Pueblo Creyente (Believing People) denounce the violence that prevails and worsens in the border area of Chiapas with Guatemala. They make reference to a detention suffered by pastoral agents and servants of the Catholic Church of the municipality of Chicomuselo.

December 4: accompanied by the Mexican Army, the National Guard and the state police, approximately 225 people who had been displaced by the violence unleashed at the end of November in the municipality of Maravilla Tenejapa return to their homes.

December 9: Martín Palé Sántiz, leader of the Coordination of Organizations for the Environment for a Better Chiapas (Comach) is executed in the Primero de Enero neighborhood of San Cristóbal de Las Casas.

December 21: The Diocese of San Cristobal and Pueblo Creyente (Believing People) denounce the increase of Narco Violence in Chiapas.

December 21st and 22nd: Las Abejas commemorate the 26^th anniversary of the Acteal massacre.

December 24: The EZLN invites all those who wish to participate, but mainly its sympathizers, adherents and artists, to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the armed uprising in the Caracol of Dolores Hidalgo.