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l last September 28, The assembly of groups of Zapatista Autonomous Governments (ACGAZ) Governments in common – which belong to the new structures that the Zapatistas have created in their self -criticism process – announced a complaint in which they detail a series of attacks that began to suffer from last April. The aggressions occur in the town of Bethlehem, in the peasant region of the snail Dolores Hidalgo, official municipality of Ocosingo, Chiapas, and civil groups have participated in them, accompanied by Federal Army, Municipal Police of Ocosingo and the State Attorney General’s Office.
As in the worst times of PRI governments, an attack against Zapatista communities is disguised as an alleged agrarian conflict: a group of civilians claims the ownership of land that belong to the Zapatistas. Then, state justice, which almost never operates in this country and also so quickly, fails in favor of complainants. Then, in official vehicles, the Federal Army, the Prosecutor’s Office of Chiapas and the Ocosingo Police come to strip the Zapatista support bases. To climb the provocation, the State forces burn houses, commit robberies and spread the dispossession operation in their pages and social networks.
The Zapatistas, who have learned to resist and continue to bet on dialogue, gave themselves the task of documenting everything. They registered dates, procedures and, in addition, they found the lie that supports the entire operation: the lands that want to snatch were already paid by the State to the landowners and finqueros who claimed compensation after the 1994 uprising.
It is very important to note that the lands that want to snatch the Zapatistas are lands that are already worked in common, that is, they are lands where Zapatista communities and non -Zapatista communities work. Another relevant fact is that these lands are very close to others where, in a self -managed way, an operating room is built to which Zapatista and non -Zapatista communities will have access. Therefore, and because they are their lands, the attacks are more serious: a threat to the common, an attack against a new civilizational commitment.
The context of this new attack is even more delicate. This is the second repressive incursion by the Federal Army to Zapatista territory so far from the government of Claudia Sheinbaum. The first occurred in April 2025, when forces of the National Guard, the Federal Army and the so -called immediate reaction forces Pakal (FRIP) entered the autonomous territory to illegally stop two support bases, falsely accused of kidnapping. In the operation, state forces stole a car, a motorcycle and a strong amount of cash. As a result of the complaints and mobilization of the Zapatistas and their bases and support networks, the detainees were released.
To the above we must add the complex Chiapas scenario, marked by state and criminal violence that were exacerbated since 2021 with the Rutilio Escandón government. Today Consul in Miami, Escandón is also a member of the “Tabasco Group” and character close to Adam Augusto López, who has been questioned by the links of his operators with the criminal group The barredorawhich operated in Chiapas, Tabasco and Veracruz. For his part, the current governor of Chiapas, Eduardo Ramírez (2024-2030), marked from his first days of management the line to follow: the fight against insecurity. Thus, the task of creating an elite police, the frip or Pakaleswhich has been pointed out for human rights violations in their operations: arbitrary arrests, torture, abuse of authority, robberies, threats, extortion. To the violence of Pakales The one that was already installed in all of Chiapas must be added, and that is manifested in constant confrontations, traffic of people, forced displacements and the increase in the number of missing persons.
“Our attempt to seek dialogue was in vain. Many times we have said that we do not want war, what we want is life in common, but they are forcing us to defend ourselves,” said the Zapatista Maya. His words should be heard in that context: constantly violated and stripped peoples, willing to act in defense of the territory and life.
Former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador insisted that the army did not act without the person in the presidency of the country knowing or ordered. In these new aggressions against the Zapatistas in which the Army participates, questions arise: President Claudia Sheinbaum is aware? Did she order the operations? Who wants to force the Zapatistas to defend themselves? Let it be clarified will be important to prevent the conflict from climbing. And respect for the territories of the Zapatista peoples and their autonomy is also important.
* Sociologist
