Las Abejas de Acteal Civil Society Organization
Sacred Land of the Martyrs of Acteal
December 21st, 2024
To the National Indigenous Congress
To the Indigenous Council of Government
To the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
To the Vicariate of Justice and Peace of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas
To Human Rights Defenders
To the Free and Alternative Media
To the National and International Media
To the National and International Civil Society
Sisters and brothers:
Twenty-seven times twelve (months), bloom in our hearts the dignified memory of our 45 sisters and brothers of Acteal.
Plus, the four unborn babies, nine thousand eight hundred and fifty-five times, are reborn giants and immortal.
The death imposed by those who think they own the world and people, like Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon and the Mexican Army, who, through their paramilitaries, committed the great crime on December 22, 1997 in Acteal; THIS DEED IS OVERCOME BY OUR DIGNIFIED MEMORY, OUR WAYS FOR PEACE AND LIFE, IS THE STEP BY STEP TO BUILD A MORE JUST AND HUMANE WORLD.
The bad governments in office, along with the rich and powerful, are giving continuity to the policies of death and extermination, created from power in the 1990s. That is why they ordered the killing of our brother Simón Pedro Pérez López, that is why they ordered the killing of Father Marcelo Pérez Pérez Pérez. The same governments propitiate and allow the violence of organized crime, which breaks and destroys the peaceful coexistence in the communities.
The violence that plagues and torments our communities is not only a business of the manufacturers of weapons and drugs of organized crime, but also the ones who promote and administer the commercial activities come from the bad governments in office, along with their strategy of murdering social activists, human rights defenders and the defenders of Mother Earth in Chiapas and Mexico. WHAT WE SAY IS THE TRUTH!
We remind you that justice will not come from governments, judges, police, military, national guards or any official institution, because they themselves are responsible for the violence that is destroying us. They will be able to organize theaters and simulations of “justice” to deceive the innocent, who think that the Mexican government can change. The bad governments along with the rich and powerful will continue to impose their fear and darkness, to maintain their power and privileges. BUT, TO US WHO ARE THE SURVIVORS OF CRIMES AND MASSACRES, THOSE OF US WHO BUILD AND WALK IN PEACE, WHO ARE THE GUARDIANS OF THE MEMORY OF ACTEAL, WHO HAVE RECEIVED NOTHING BUT IMPUNITY AND DISDAIN FROM THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT. FOR THIS REASON, NO ONE CAN DECEIVE US.
In light of the persistence and conviction in the search for justice for crimes against humanity and State crimes committed in Mexico, we celebrate and salute the family of comrade Antonio González Méndez who, through their constant and tenacious struggle, have achieved the historic sentence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) for the forced disappearance committed by the paramilitary group “Development, Peace and Justice” in the northern zone of Chiapas, which occurred on January 18, 1999, condemning the Mexican State responsible for this grave violation of human rights.
The sentence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights regarding the forced disappearance of comrade Antonio González Méndez confirms, as we have denounced along with other human rights defenders, the strategy of counterinsurgency warfare, inscribed in the Chiapas 94 Campaign Plan, and the forced disappearances, the forced displacements in the Northern Zone of Chiapas, as well as in the Highlands, the events such as the Acteal Massacre, which are the result of the war, which has not yet come to an end.
Just like the family of comrade Antonio González, we, the survivors of the Acteal Massacre, struggle so that the death of our relatives finds justice and for this reason, in the context of the commemoration of the twenty-seventh anniversary of the Acteal Massacre, we remind you in the name of the 45 women, men, girls, boys, elderly men and women, plus the 4 unborn babies, that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has an unresolved matter that has been prolonged for an unreasonable amount of time, we urge it to hold the Mexican State responsible for the massacre, and in light of the facts that corroborate that it was THE STATE that was responsible for the crimes against humanity.
There is no doubt that impunity in the Acteal case and in other cases of crimes committed against members of organizations in Chiapas and throughout Mexico has caused the serious human rights crisis in Mexico and the unstoppable violence in Chiapas.
Let us not fall short, nor be conformist in the search for justice and for memory and truth; let us continue to be those women and men who are honest, persistent, who do not forget, who do not retreat, and who are always determined to denounce and work to demand the longed-for true justice and urgent peace in our communities.
Today, twenty-seven times twelve, more, nine thousand eight hundred and fifty-five times: our dignified memory blossoms, in the face of the winter of the State’s impunity, it blossoms in every glance which sees us and in which we see ourselves with the translucent light that strengthens our thoughts and hearts, it blossoms for those who listen to the word that comes from our deep pain, that has become a voice demanding justice, which we sing together in a single song for truth and memory.
Twenty-seven times twelve, more, nine thousand eight hundred and fifty-five times, our demand for justice and truth for the cowardly murders of both our brother Simon Pedro and Father Marcelo, Martyr for Peace.
Twenty-seven times twelve, plus nine thousand eight hundred and fifty-five times, we name and keep in our thoughts and hearts our 45 sisters and brothers, plus the 4 unborn babies massacred by the PRI and Cardenista paramilitaries of the municipality of Chenalhó.
HERE IN ACTEAL DEATH WILL NEVER AGAIN HAVE DOMINION.
Acteal will always be the heart of the non-violent struggle, Acteal, is the House of the Memory of Simon Pedro, here will live forever the worthy and true word of Father Marcelo, together with our Martyrs of Acteal.
From Acteal, House of Memory and Hope, twenty-seven times twelve, plus nine thousand eight hundred and fifty-five times: SHINE THE LIGHT OF TRUTH AND PEACE.
Sincerely yours.
The Voice de la Civil Society Organization Las Abejas de Acteal.
For the Board of Directors:
Victorio Pérez Paciencia, President
Oscar Hernández Gómez, Secretary
Alfredo Jiménez Pérez, Vice President
Juan Pérez Sántiz, Treasurer
Por los representantes de las y los sobrevivientes de la Masacre de Acteal:
Manuel Gómez Ruiz
Germán Jiménez Luna
Original text published by Las Abejas de Acteal on December 22nd, 2024.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.
#MemoriaVerdadYJusticiaParaActeal