Community members from the municipality of Nicolás Ruiz called to form an alliance of resistance against acts of violence and the groups that commit them. These are residents who blocked the way for migrant traffickers who use different municipalities as trafficking routes in the state of Chiapas. Now they propose “not allowing fear and trepidation to invade and divide us”, which is why they call to be part of the Alliance for Security and Good of our Territories.
Municipality of Nicolás Ruiz, Chiapas. Mexico March 21st, 2024
Statement for historical memory and for the current struggle. Only the people save the people
To the EZLN
To national and international civil society
To the organizations in defense of our Mother Earth and our territories
To the national and international press
To national and international human rights organizations To the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights
We greet you and we want to tell you that we are here, we continue in our own fight to respect our right to autonomy and self-determination. Today more than ever we reaffirm that only the unity of peoples will be the force to achieve peace and there is nothing more powerful than the clear awareness of being subjects of collective rights.
Today marks the 28th anniversary of our three companions José Lara Santiz, Alfonso Moreno Álvarez and Guilibaldo Ramírez Reynosa, who were executed by the Mexican Army, through a military and police operation at the Gran Poder property to strip us of our lands, where more than 30 compañeros were injured and more than 100 illegally deprived of their freedom. These events were committed within the framework of the implementation of the counterinsurgency strategy in Chiapas.
Today more than ever we remember our fight for the recognition of our lands, which had been dispossessed by the caciques and farmers and “legalized” by the Mexican State. To defend our rights, we suffered the military and public security attack of the state of Chiapas, on March 21st, 1996. This response of the Mexican State and the current responses to the demands of the people is still in force, repression and militarization is the result of the lack of attention to the demands of indigenous peoples.
Today we share our feelings of ratifying the fight in defense of life and peace. That is why we call on all peoples to be united to defend our territories, our peoples and above all to fight together.
Only people save people, we call on the people of our surroundings to seek unity to form an “Alliance for Security and Good of our Territories”, with the aim of making an alliance of resistance in favor of life and not allow fear and trepidation to invade us and divide us, together we can take care of ourselves because we do not want more events to be repeated such as what happened on March 1st, 2024, when a group of people from disorganized crime entered our territory to carry out their illicit work.
We reaffirm our demand to the Mexican State to respect our territories, we ourselves know how to take care of and protect ourselves, we do not need more armed people, we demand respect for life and dignity. The Mexican State is well aware of what is happening and we demand that it control its people, because government institutions and high officials are where the actions of these groups are allowed and protected.
Today more than ever we ask for national and international solidarity to be attentive and demand that the Mexican State stop the violence in our territories.
Never again a Mexico without us. The struggle continues.
Original article published in Chiapas Paralelo on March 22nd, 2024.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.
Communal Property Authorities of Nicolás Ruiz