Urgent Action! Members of Abejas de Acteal Abritrarily Detained and Deprived of their Liberty!

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico
August 7, 2026.
Urgent Action No. 3

Arbitrary Deprivation of Liberty of Members of Las Abejas de Acteal

We at the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba) express our deepest concern and strongly condemn the illegal and arbitrary detention of our comrades José Alfredo Jiménez Pérez and Eusebio López Guzmán, members of the civil society organization Las Abejas de Acteal, which occurred today in the community of Centro Nuevo Yibeljoj, in the municipality of Chenalhó, Chiapas.

According to witness accounts, the arrest took place between 7:00 and 8:30 a.m., when a delegation from Las Abejas de Acteal was reconnecting the electricity service for Mr. Sebastián Jiménez Santiz, a member of Las Abejas de Acteal and an employee of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas.

When a group of people from the community reportedly approached the house and initially detained comrade Eusebio López Guzmán, comrade José Alfredo Jiménez Pérez began recording the incident with a cell phone while attempting to mediate the situation; he was then arbitrarily detained.

Since June 15 of this year, community authorities had cut off the electricity service, despite the fact that Mr. Sebastián Jiménez Santiz is in poor health.

Las Abejas de Acteal report that today’s action had been communicated to the Chenalhó municipal government and the Government Delegation so that they could provide security measures; however, they failed to act, and the situation has escalated.

We therefore demand that state and federal authorities take urgent action to secure the release of our fellow human rights defenders, José Alfredo Jiménez Pérez and Eusebio López Guzmán.

We also demand that the safety and well-being of the families of Las Abejas de Acteal, who are residents of the Yibeljoj community, be guaranteed.

We call for national and international solidarity by signing this urgent petition and writing to Mexican authorities to put an end to these violent actions against our comrades in Las Abejas de Acteal.

Go to the link above and scroll to the bottom to sign your name! Thank you!!

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Original text at Frayba published on August 7th, 2026.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.