The operation took place after the dissemination of alleged hooded ejidatarios with high caliber weapons questioned the signing of a reconciliation agreement in the municipality, and accused authorities of being part of a group of alleged criminals called “Karma.”
Early Friday morning, the elite police group of the Chiapas government, Pakal, entered the community of Sañojá, in the municipality of Tila, inhabited by indigenous people of the Chol ethnic group; there they detained 20 people, among them 4 minors, two of them small children and a woman, according to the ejidatarios (communal farmers).
The government of Chiapas, in a brief communiqué, said that it was “an inter-institutional operation in the municipality of Tila, to execute various arrest warrants and searches derived from investigations, with the firm objective of combating criminal groups.”
The operation was carried out to arrest those who on Wednesday, March 26, appeared in a video posted on a Facebook page, armed and hooded individuals who identified themselves as members of the “Frente Comunitario Semilla Tierra y Territorio” (Community Seed Land and Territory Front).
In the video they question the Pact of Civility signed on March 13 by three groups of residents of Tila who have differences among them regarding the use of 130 hectares of land where the municipal seat is located.
It should be recalled that in June 2024, at least 12,000 inhabitants of the town were displaced due to the dispute over the 130 hectares. To settle the differences, ejidatarios who promote autonomy, traditional ejidatarios and residents of the municipality of Tila signed a Pact of Civility in which they agreed to settle their differences through legal means.
In the video released on March 26, the masked and armed people, who also claim to be ejidatarios, say: “We saw the need to prepare ourselves militarily to defend the town, because the government has not given us solutions, the only thing it has sent us are its military narcos and hired killers who come in to intimidate and murder humble and innocent people who are comrades in struggle. That is why we had no choice but to take up arms in our hands to defend the people.
They accuse a local congressional deputy of being part of an organized crime group called “Karma,” in which former members of the paramilitary group Paz y Justicia participate.
After learning of the video of the armed men, the group of autonomous ejidatarios explained that they signed the Pact of Civility and delivered a letter to the state government delegate in which they disassociate themselves from the video of the armed men and assure that they would continue peacefully; they mentioned that proof of this is that they carried out all the procedures for the legal election of the local agrarian authorities.
However, despite distancing themselves from this fact, early Friday morning the group of elite police, about 500 of them, entered the Sañoja community and detained 20 autonomous ejidatarios, two 15 year olds, a woman and two infants.The autonomous ejidatarios maintained that the government “betrayed” them because, they said, members of the “Karma” group also participated in the operation, disguised as police and military personnel. They demanded the release of those detained.
Hours later, two videos were released of alleged ejidatarios, hooded but unarmed, in which they insist that the early morning operation involved elite elements and people they claim to be part of a group called “Karma.”
So far no government authority has informed how many people were detained and what their legal status is.
Original text by Ángeles Máriscal published in Chiapas Paralelo on March 28th, 2025.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.