The self-defense group El Machete asked the Congress of Chiapas to reverse the appointment of the municipal council of Pantelhó made up of “hitmen.” Photo Cuartoscuro
The self-defense group El Machete asked the Congress of Chiapas to reverse the appointment of the municipal council of Pantelhó, made up of “hitmen” from the Los Herrera group.
In a statement read this Tuesday in the presence of dozens of armed men, it said that the legislature “made a mistake by leaving as authorities those who financed the group that has murdered and disappeared dozens of innocent people.”
Through a video posted on social media, it added that the appointment “makes it clear to us that Congress and the Government Secretariat have complicity with the murderers of this town by leaving a relative on the municipal council and those who have killed” dozens of people.
On its last day of activities on Monday, September 30th, the Congress of Chiapas appointed a municipal council in Pantelhó, where normal elections were not held without extraordinary elections due to violence, which was made up of relatives and people close to the leaders of the criminal group Los Herrera, without taking into account the self-defense forces of the town, El Machete.
The outgoing legislature appointed Juan Gómez Sántiz as president of the municipal council; Martha Odilia Trejo Hernández as trustee and Alberto González Sántiz, Rebeca Cortés Hernández and Cleyimtin Rubén Herrera Gutiérrez as councilors.
“To the people of Pantelhó, to the outgoing Congress and to the incoming government we made it clear that we will continue defending our communities and our people who have suffered the most from the conflict that has been going on for several years between the hitmen of Los Herrera and their civil army, as the criminal hitmen call themselves,” said El Machete.
The group warned that “Los Herrera will not govern our town in any way. It is a decision of the majority,” while asking the new federal government to “have the capacity to act in a humane manner towards the most unprotected.”
At the same time, hundreds of residents of Pantelhó went to Congress this Tuesday to demand that the 40 deputies who took office hours before reverse the appointment of the municipal council, but as of 7 p.m. they had not been received.
Since July 2021, Los Herrera and El Machete have been involved in a shoot-out for power in Pantelhó, which has left dozens dead and injured, as well as dozens of displaced families.
Original article at La Jornada, October 1st, 2024.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.