To the National Indigenous Congress
To the Indigenous Council of Government
To the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
To Human Rights Defenders
To the Free and Alternative Media
To the National and International Media
To National and International Civil Society,
Sisters and brothers:
The time has come to sow our corn and beans, with the little rain that fell, our cornfield was watered. It is also time to sow the word-made-history of our Martyrs, because while they were praying and fasting, a group of violent paramilitaries shot at them with weapons used exclusively by the Mexican Army in Acteal, on December 22, 1997, where they were displaced and working for peace, which ended up being watered with their own blood.
With regard to the violence of 1997-1998, we learned that Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon is in Mexico. We wonder why he came with blood on his hands, to reap what he sowed from the crimes he committed: 11 unarmed peasants murdered in the community of El Charco, 17 peasants murdered in Aguas Blancas, the 8 peasants of El Bosque and the Acteal massacre committed in the framework of the Chiapas 94 Campaign Plan? Zedillo’s presence in Mexico makes a mockery of justice and of the victims and survivors of the crimes committed during his government.
The impunity in the Acteal Case is causing ridicule and death threats, so much so that the day before yesterday, May 20, a confessed material author of the Acteal Massacre and paramilitary, freed in 2010 by the misnamed Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, threatened to kill a survivor of Acteal, because it bothers him that Las Abejas de Acteal have not forgotten and that they continue to denounce and demand truth and justice for the Acteal Massacre.
In the face of this intimidation, we hold this paramilitary and the Mexican State directly responsible for the physical and psychological integrity of our compañera, along with her family, as well as that of all the survivors of Acteal.
This new paramilitary aggression is a direct consequence of the impunity that prevails in the Acteal case. In spite of this reality, we will not be silent, we will not stop telling the truth and demanding true justice as our children and young people have already said in their letter read before this communiqué. In the same way, we again insist that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issue the report on the merits of Case 12,790 Manuel Santiz Culebra and others (Acteal Massacre).
The reality we live in today is more dangerous than in 1997, because the paramilitaries have become hired killers, for example, there are more drugs and alcohol. In some communities, armed men arrive and play on the soccer field, turning them into a refuge for hired killers, because there are still communities that are called neutral zones or peace camps.
We also know that the displaced families in the main village of Chenalhó, who suffer and cry for lack of food and without conditions to return to their homes.
On the other hand, the governor affirms “Without education there is no transformation” “Chiapas can!” But the reality is different, there are communities where boys and girls do not go to school. Since 2023, teachers left out of fear to never return, and we think that, as long as the complicity of the authorities with organized crime does not end, and without real security “Chiapas cannot!”
In some places shots are heard, although not all the time, which means that there was no disarmament on the part of the Pakal Immediate Reaction Force (Pakales). The military, National Guard and police camps do not guarantee the tranquility of the communities, and some have seen signs of complicity with those who mistreat and threaten confrontations. The operations of the Pakales were applauded spectacles, the hired killers went into hiding, now they walk around at any time of the day, and nothing happens. We are living in a violent normality disguised as peace.
We remember that in the times of the PRI governments in 1997, during the events prior to the Acteal Massacre, the police of the Public Security of the State of Chiapas, together with the paramilitaries, robbed houses and stores of members of Las Abejas de Acteal and of the support bases of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), crimes that to this day remain unpunished. Now, in times of the Morenista government, it happened that last April 24, the Mexican Army, National Guard, Pakales, Ministerial Intelligence Investigation Agency, State Preventive Police, Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection of the Federal Government, detained without arrest warrants two EZLN support bases in the community of San Pedro Cotzilnam, official municipality of Aldama Chiapas; in addition to this arbitrary detention these security forces and the military stole a car, a motorcycle and a large amount of cash.
Meanwhile, we have learned that there is another righteousness, which is slow in coming, but it comes: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed poisonous weeds among the wheat, and went his way. When he had produced grain, the weeds appeared. And the master’s servants said unto him, Lord, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? hath it weeds? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. And the servants said unto him, Wilt thou that we go and cut it down? And he said, Nay, lest in cutting down the weeds they root up the wheat also. Let them both grow together; When the time of harvest comes, I will say to the sowers, Gather the tares first, bind them in bundles to burn them, but keep the wheat in my barn.” (Cf. Mt. 13:24-30)
Sisters and brothers, once again we share with you the pain we feel, knowing that the people of Palestine are being murdered by Israel in many ways: bombed, with massive evictions, prisoners in their own land turned into a concentration camp, with hunger and diseases used as weapons that increase the thousands of dead that seem not to matter to the world, nor to some media that do not respect the truth, since every day they justify the genocidal actions of Israel, even if the dead are children. In the face of such infamy, let us join our voice to the voices shouting the urgency to stop the genocide in Gaza!
Therefore we demand:
-Of the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum, to consider breaking diplomatic relations with the government of Israel, until the fire stops and the siege that prevents the entry of humanitarian aid is broken.
– Of the government of Chiapas, to give real guarantees of security, to establish the rule of law and that the Pakal Immediate Reaction Force does not act as a criminal group that steals from the native peoples or any other citizen in Chiapas.
We do not forget our brother Simón Pedro and Father Marcelo, now united with our martyrs, they also sowed with their lives the path of non-violent resistance: LET US WORK TOGETHER FOR A DISARMED AND DISARMING PEACE (Cfr. Pope Leo XIV).
From Acteal, House of Memory and Hope.
Sincerely,
The Voice of the Civil Society Organization Las Abejas de Acteal
The Board of Directors.
Statement by the Abejas de Acteal published by the Abejas on May 22nd, 2025.
Tranlsation by Schools for Chiapas.