Mr. Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Constitutional President of Mexico
The Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI), an international organisation that defends the rights of Indigenous Peoples, makes an urgent call to the government you lead to increase the efforts it has been making to protect the rights for life, integrity and security of the Tsotsil People of Aldama, Chiapas.
According to information received by IPRI through prominent human rights defenders on the , on January 9 and 10, 2022, armed aggressions were recorded against the Chivit, Stzelejpotobtik, Yeton, Xuxchen, Tabac, Juxton, Coco and Cabecera communities of the municipality of Aldama, Chiapas. One of the projectiles hit Mr. Lorenzo Gómez Ruíz, who unfortunately passed away while receiving medical attention at the San Cristóbal de Las Casas hospital. Meanwhile, Mr. Javier Hernández de la Torre is severely injured as a consequence of these aggressions.
One of the organizations affiliated with IPRI in Mexico, the Human Rights Centre Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, a well known organisation with more than 30 years of work in the area, has reported that within only three days, the inhabitants of the aforementioned communities have received 49 firearm attacks.
The armed aggressions, according to the inhabitants themselves, come from the Sector Santa Martha community, Chenalhó, and occur within the context of the dispossession of a part of the ancestral territory of the inhabitants of Aldama. The acts of armed violence against the aforementioned Tsotsil communities started in 2016 and remain unpunished. This has already caused the loss of lives, forced displacement of families and the loss of their means of subsistence.
This grave situation continues despite the fact that the Aldama community members have Precautionary Measures issued by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) through the Resolution 15/2018 of the 24th of February 2018 (MC-882-17) and Resolution 35/2021 of the 23rd of April 2021 (MC-284-18).
IPRI has also been informed, through the testimonies of the community members themselves, of the efforts made by your government to attend to the situation of violence and displacement in the region. Nevertheless, the last incidents are evidence of the need to strengthen the actions and the compromise of your government to protect the rights for life, integrity and security of the Tsotsil People of Aldama, urgently complying with the actions indicated in the precautionary measures granted by the IACHR.
IPRI stands in solidarity with the families and communities of Messrs. Lorenzo Gómez Ruíz and Javier Hernández de la Torre, and calls for an investigation with due diligence to elucidate the facts and penalise those responsible, as well as repair the damage caused to the victims, their families and communities.
IPRI will be attentive to the evolution of the situation in Aldama and compliance with the aforementioned precautionary measures, with the certainty that your government will meet the responsibilities derived from the international obligations of the Mexican State for the protection and respect of the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Yours faithfully,
Joan Carling
Executive Director
The Indigenous Peoples Rights International
Mónica Chuji Gualinga
Deputy Director for Latin America
The Indigenous Peoples Rights International
c.c.
Mr. Adan Augusto López Hernández. Secretary of the Interior.
Mr. Alejandro de Jesús Encinas Rodríguez. Deputy Secretary of Human Rights, Population and Migration.
Ms. Rosario Piedra Ibarra. President of the National Human Rights Commission.
Mr. Rutilio Escandón Cadenas. Constitutional Governor of the State of Chiapas.
Ms. Victoria Cecilia Flores Pérez. Secretary of Government in Chiapas.
Mr. Juan José Zepeda Bermúdez. President of the Human Rights State Commission.