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Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chis. (APRO) The car driver was apparently from the municipality of Chikomuselo in the Sierra Leone region, where organized crime gangs engage in fierce wars for territory.
“We want peace! Xiko Muselo up!” the crowd, some of whom were carrying weapons, could be heard saying as they honked their car horns in a celebratory manner.
This is the second time that the convoy has entered the roads of the border and mountains of Chiapas in a show of strength. In September 2023, similarly, armed men in spell-cast vehicles paraded along the Chamiche-Frontlacomalapá section of the highway, chanting “Viva Sinaloa”.
This Sunday, the Chico Muselo municipality plans to hold “extraordinary partial elections” to renew the town hall. The Institute for Elections and Civic Participation (IEPC) reports that it will not set up polling stations in the municipal seat, where the population has fled violent clashes with drug cartels.
In the town, also known for its mining wealth, residents began 15 days ago to denounce forced conscription and threats against residents to force them to block roads and highways.
Just yesterday, it was reported that a suspension bridge connecting the rural communities of Potrerillo, Buenavista and Turu was destroyed by armed men, five kilometers from the municipal seat, forcing the remaining residents into isolation.
“Last night was a long one, we know nothing about our relatives who were forced to go to the blockade of Vega del Rosario, Siltepec and its surroundings; “We are afraid that something will happen to them, there is no one to contact, we only know that they are in Cerecillo,” said the Chico Muselo resident who moved a few months ago, but whose relatives stayed in town because they did not want to lose the little they had.
Insecurity and violence worse in Chikomuselo
The Parish of San Cristóbal de las Casas, in a public inquiry to the electoral authorities, questioned why the electoral replacement process in the municipality of Chicomuselo was not suspended, given the worsening insecurity and violence in the city.
In a statement signed by Bishop Rodrigo Aguilar, head of the diocese, and Auxiliary Bishop Luis Manuel López Alfaro; the Rev. Miguel Ángel Montoya Moreno, the rector’s secretary, María Reyes; and Coordinator of Social Pastoral Care, Gloria Estela Murua, called on the international community to pay attention to what is happening in the mountains of Chiapas, along the border and in the central region.
The diocese points out that the head of the IEPC, María Magdalena Vila, admitted that they are not sure about the voters’ list, the nominal status or how many people live in the municipality. We know that there are exoduses. So why, the bishops question, carry out the electoral replacement procedure for Xico Muselo if there are no conditions for holding elections?
“The high levels of violence and insecurity experienced by the population have forced them to vote according to the interests of cartels that dispute territories and have led to the forced displacement of residents. Due to the outflow of population, this means that the elections will not be representative of the city’s residents.”
In the document, the diocese urged federal and state government authorities and security forces to create safe conditions for the inhabitants of the border region, who are subject to strategic warfare by criminal groups that seek to eliminate the population for the high profits of land and territory.
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