Amid questioning of his security cabinet, Eduardo Ramírez takes office for the 2024-2030 term.
Under the argument that “peace will return to Chiapas”, Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar began his administration this December 8, with a deployment of armored patrols and police of the “Pakal Immediate Reaction Force” group, which was introduced hours before he was formally sworn in.
The new governor also informed that the “People’s Security Secretariat” headed by Oscar Alberto Aparicio Avendaño -who until before his appointment was Zacatecas’ Undersecretary of Police Operations- was given the power to investigate crimes.
This work will be done in coordination with the Attorney General of Chiapas, Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca. Regarding the Prosecutor appointed to the position just this past November 28, a hundred civil society organizations expressed their concern by pointing him out as “a perpetrator of human rights violations.”
“This appointment further aggravates the human rights situation in Chiapas. During his performance in public service, Llaven Abarca has proven to be detrimental, especially in his role as Secretary of Public Security and Citizen Protection during the government of Manuel Velasco Coello. His administration was characterized by the excessive use of public force, repression of human rights defenders, arbitrary detentions and torture, acts that remain unpunished,” they said.
In his swearing-in ceremony, Eduardo Ramírez said that part of his strategy for the pacification of the state, will go hand in hand with the actions of the security forces under his charge, who will act against those who commit common crimes such as extortion and highway robbery. “All common crimes we will go all out with courage. Here there is no place for fear. Here there is no reason to fear, the law will be applied,” he assured. He made no reference to the organized crime problem affecting Chiapas.
Days before, when presenting the members of his security cabinet, the governor assured that he had set a deadline of 100 days to obtain results, and gave a period of 6 months “to keep the state of Chiapas peaceful”.
Hours before the inauguration, the Prosecutor Llaven Abarca and Secretary Oscar Alberto Aparicio Avendaño, gave the starting signal to the group “Fuerza de Reacción Inmediata Pakal” (Pakal Immediate Reaction Force) which for now has 10 armored vehicles and 200 police units.
In the event, Aparicio Avendaño said that the security work will be coordinated with the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection of Mexico, the National Intelligence Center, the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA), the Mexican Navy and the Attorney General’s Office.
It should be noted that in Chiapas there are regions taken over by organized crime, who have a dispute among themselves for the control of the territories, and even in the election of some of the current government authorities.
The event to swear in the governor for the 2024-2030 term was attended by Admiral Pedro Raymundo Morales Ángeles, Secretary of the Marines, who arrived on behalf of President Claudia Sheinbaum, as well as the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Ricardo Monreal, a man close to the new governor, according to Eduardo Ramírez himself; former governors of Chiapas and current governors of other entities attended, as well as the national leaders of MORENA and the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM), among other guests.
The new governor announced the implementation of projects that in past six-year terms have been rejected by the indigenous communities, such as the San Cristóbal de Las Casas-Palenque highway.
“It has an approximate length of 153 kilometers, in its first stage 96 kilometers will be built, it will be to Palenque and will pass through the municipalities of Salto de Agua Chilón and Ocosingo (…) It will not be granted to the private investors, the toll booths will be administered by the communities, the gas stations will belong to the communities, the restaurants will belong to the communities and the tourist inns and markets. By January, we will have the resources for this construction,” said the Governor.
Another project he announced for his administration is the creation of “the industrial southern border, a horizon of opportunities. We have seen how the new government of the United States of America has challenged Mexico [on the issue of international immigration containment on the southern border].”
“We, in the midst of a crisis, see an opportunity and I see a great opportunity in Chiapas, particularly our industrial southern border, for this zone to be declared tax free,” and this will be a pole of attraction for industries that want to establish themselves in the border and this -according to the governor’s projects- will be an incentive for migrants to establish themselves in this region and not to move to the northern border.
Eduardo Ramirez said on his first day in office that his highest aspiration was to be governor of Chiapas. “I have reached my goal. I don’t want to go down in history, I want to write it,” he told his guests.
Original text and photos by Ángeles Mariscal published in Chiapas Paralelo on December 8th, 2024.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.