The mayor of Pantelhó is Impeached; Will Be Tried for Homicide

by Elio Henríquez

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chis., 

The plenary of the local Congress, acting as a procedural jury, approved the ruling to remove the jurisdiction of the municipal president of Pantelhó, Raquel Trujillo Morales, which will allow the State Attorney General’s Office to try him for homicide, the PRD mayor himself reported.

Trujillo Morales said that the legislators impeached him Tuesday, but that he will defend his integrity and that of his family, and “will produce evidence of the persecution of which I am the target. First, I swear to God, I will return to my municipality with my head held high.”

In a statement, he added, “I cannot deny my anger and frustration that with my hand on my waist, the institutions that are supposed to guarantee the rule of law lend themselves to this chicanery. I strongly condemn the unprofessional and unlawful attitude of the people and institutions that participated in this despicable act.

As a consequence of the political crisis caused by the July 9 eruption of the Autodefensas del Pueblo El Machete,  on August 18th the state Congress validated  the formation of a municipal council elected on the 9th of that month by the system of usos y costumbres.

Raquel Trujillo won the June 6 elections, but could not return to his municipality due to the presence of El Machete and hundreds of residents of the 86 communities and neighborhoods of the capital, who maintain control. His opponents have demanded that the local Congress ratify the council, presided over by Pedro Cortés López.

These authorities, who govern de facto in Pantelhó, replaced the substitute PRD mayor Delia Janet Velasco Flores, wife of Trujillo Morales, who in turn was appointed in place of Santos López Hernández, imprisoned for the crime of sexual harassment.

Demand for the Release of 26 Detainees

Relatives of some of the 21 residents who  are accused of having links with hired killers and were detained on July 26 in Pantelhó, presumably by members of El Machete, maintain their demand that they be presented alive, before the state Congress ratifies the members of the municipal council.

This article was published on November 11th, 2021 in La Jornada.
English translation by Schools for Chiapas. https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2021/11/10/estados/desaforan-al-alcalde-de-pantelho-raquel-trujillo-morales/

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