The humanitarian crisis, a product of the violence that has been overflowing in the border region between Guatemala and Chiapas for the past three years, has escalated in recent days with the increase in confrontations between armed groups and the execution of eleven civilians in the community of Nueva Morelia, municipality of Chicomuselo, in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas.
Inhabitants of the border region report that, since last Thursday (9), armed groups presumably members of the Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) and Sinaloa (CDS) cartels have increased their activities in the region, particularly in the communities of Piedra Labrada and Lázaro Cárdenas, where an increase in violent confrontations was reported.
On Monday (13) the aggressions for the control of territories in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas resulted in the massacre in Chicomuselo. Through anonymous reports and images shared on social networks, the execution of the civilians was confirmed.
Meanwhile, national media reported that sources from the Diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas informed that among the victims there was the murder of two female servants of the Catholic Church. An anonymous report to the EFE news agency states that among the victims are a 15 year old boy, five men and five women.
The local media emphasize that, despite warnings from the population to the authorities about the incursion of armed groups since last week, no operations were carried out to contain the violence, even though the barracks of the 101st Infantry Battalion of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) is located 28 kilometers from Nueva Morelia.
A day after the executions were made public, in a brief communiqué, the Chiapas State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) confirmed the murders and assured that a group made up of members of the Army and the National Guard went to the scene of the events to remove and identify the bodies.
“In order to guarantee peace in the area, investigations are being carried out and the Inter-institutional Group is carrying out patrols in the region with the purpose of determining responsibilities,” stated the FGE.
Mining, at the center of the dispute
As this newspaper has documented, since the end of 2022, armed groups have entered the Nueva Morelia ejido to use intimidation to extract barite from a mine that was closed for not having environmental permits.
By May 2023, Avispa Mídia recorded that organized crime groups were operating in the region, first to collect the barite that had been extracted by the Canadian mining company Blackfire Exploration and abandoned in a place known as “La Plataforma.”
Anonymous reports claimed that, months after the evacuation of the material, armed groups reactivated mining operations without any authorities showing up at the site.
It is worth noting that, tired of the violence that plagues the region, on October 12, 2023 thousands of residents of Chicomuselo took to the streets to protest to demand an end to the crisis in the border region. However, days after the demonstration, an armed group assassinated professor Artemio López Aguilar, who participated as coordinator of the march against drug violence.
In Chicomuselo there are 10 mining concessions in force and two that have expired, but since 2009, after the murder of environmental activist Mariano Abarca, the extraction of barite has stopped.
Testimonies compiled by the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center in a report presented in February of this year show that the extraction of the mineral continues with the consent of environmental authorities and security forces such as the National Guard.
Despite the fact that the region is plunged into violence, which has caused the displacement of thousands of people, as we go to press, the state and federal governments remain silent about the massacre.
This article by Nañi Pinto was published by Avispa Midia on May15th, 2024.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.
Illegal exploitation of a mine is behind the clashes in Chicomuselo, Chiapas, according to the residents.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel illegally exploits a barite mine and the tension in Chicomuselo grew due to the presence of the Sinaloa Cartel in the area, according to residents. “They wanted to protect the material,” says an inhabitant displaced after the confrontations.
On January 4, Juan and his family spent the whole day lying on the floor of their house, waiting for the shooting to calm down. It lasted about 7 hours and only when the confrontation ended did the army entered the Nuevo Morelia ejido, in the municipality of Chicomuselo.
The next day the farmer -whose real name we will not say to safeguard his safety- woke up worried that the fighting would continue, convinced that he had to get out of there.
His family and neighbors agreed and on January 5 almost all of the 700 inhabitants of Nuevo Morelia decided to leave in a caravan.
They feared that something might happen on the road and asked the army to escort them out of Chicomuselo, but the soldiers refused.
The villagers took to the road, grabbing what they could – some clothes, some documents – and leaving what they could not carry: their plot of land, their animals and their dead.
According to the residents, there were two neighbors killed during the shootings and about twenty dead in total.
For its part, the Chiapas Attorney General’s Office affirmed that “there are no reports of homicides due to any type of confrontation,” and that “thanks to the coordination with the authorities of the three levels of government, tranquility prevails and security is guaranteed” for the inhabitants of Chicomuselo.
Exploitation of the barite mine
Tension in Nuevo Morelia rose the week prior to the confrontations on January 4, when the Sinaloa Cartel surrounded the community and the Jalisco Cartel – New Generation interrupted their work to exploit the barite mine located in the ejido.
“They wanted to protect the material,” says Juan.
The La Revancha mine was run by the Canadian company Blackfire until 2009, when it was closed down by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (PROFEPA), following the murder of opposition leader Mariano Abarca.
In May 2023, an engineer who had received a refusal from the Nuevo Morelia ejido – in a minute signed at the government delegation – appeared in front of the assembly with armed men. They identified themselves as belonging to MAÍZ, an alleged social organization created by the CJNG, and claimed that they were going to take the barite that years earlier had been extracted by Blackfire.
Subsequently, MAÍZ itself began the exploitation of the mine and began the rehabilitation of the road that the Canadian company used to reach the neighboring Grecia ejido, in whose subsoil most of the mineral is found.
The cartel then entered with heavy machinery and trucks, guarded by armed men.
“It was there when the resistance was disarticulated, we did not get involved with these people who offer weapons and death. Our struggle has always been peaceful and we are totally alien to a logic of armed confrontation,” says a villager.
“There are trucks going up and down all the time and we don’t know where they are taking all this material, or who is buying it.”
What is barite and what is it used for?
Barite is a mineral used for drilling oil wells and it is good business: according to the market research company Mordor Intelligence, until 2028 its market will grow by 5.75% each year.
In a 2020 document called Barite Market Profile, the General Directorate of Mining Development of the Ministry of Economy points out that the production of the mineral in Mexico is mainly located in Nuevo León, Sonora and Coahuila, and states that 4 producing companies operate in the sector and practically only one consumer: the oil industry.
“There are no sales contracts, the producers must be responsible for the logistics and take the mineral to the points of consumption. The barite producer sells (in bulk) barium sulfate directly to PEMEX’s contractors (oil well drillers),” says the document.
Massive displacement from Chicomuselo
The army has already abandoned Nuevo Morelia and the CJNG has permanent surveillance at its entrance.
The majority of its inhabitants – like the residents of the nearby communities of San Francisco Las Palmas, El Limonar and the La Pinta neighborhood – no longer live there because they have been displaced to the municipalities of Comitán, Jaltenango, Ángel Albino Corzo, La Concordia and Tuxtla Gutiérrez.
About ten days later, other families had to leave the communities of Chicomuselo because of the confrontations and the successive confrontation between the army and the same inhabitants, who had built barricades to prevent the entrance of the cartels and rejected the entry of the soldiers, considering them to be in collusion with the criminals.
The Civil Protection Secretariat of Chiapas states that there are 701 people in shelters, but most of the displaced families found refuge in the homes of relatives and friends.
According to the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba), the number of people displaced from the Sierra de Chiapas during January 2024 is around 2,300 and they come from 20 communities in Chicomuselo, 7 in La Concordia and 3 in Socoltenango.
Those who remained in Chicomuselo not only live in fear and on constant alert, but also with economic worries. Due to the control that criminal organizations have over the territory, it is difficult for peasants to reach their plots or to sell their crops, and for transport to travel by road. As a result, there are shortages of basic goods and prices have risen.
In any case, Juan is convinced that he wants to return to Nuevo Morelia.
“We left with tears in our eyes and we want to return to our land because it is our place, where we have to live and where we are adapted to,” he says. “Right now we have little hope, the government has left us alone.”
Original article by Orsetta Bellani in Animal Político on May 15th, 2024.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.