Residents of the so-called Sierra-Frontera in Chiapas report that criminal groups are recruiting young people and young adults, which is why they have decided to leave their homes.
At the beginning of August, and on the occasion of the refuge of residents of Chiapas in Guatemala, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) acknowledged that the recruitment of young people by criminal gangs, right on the border between Mexico and Guatemala, had caused the recent displacements.
On this occasion, the residents stated that in the ejidos Paso Hondo and Bella Vista del Norte, in Frontera Comalapa, “one of the organized crime groups entered and forcibly took more than 60 people, all men.” And not satisfied, it threatened to return for more people.
They accused the cartels of kidnapping, murdering and threatening them, which has led them to flee their communities “so that we can protect ourselves from so much violence, a word that falls short for those who disappear and die.”
The inhabitants of Frontera Comalapa and Amatenango de la Frontera asked for the support of “all sectors that make up civil society” to live in peace.
“The cartels control us, prevent us from working and also take away the little we have, in addition to using us for their own interests and not those of the community,” they said.
In Frontera Comalapa, the communities from which its inhabitants have left are: Paso Hondo, Santa Rita, Verapaz, Ejido 24 de Febrero, Tampico, ejido Bella Vista del Norte, Barrio Nueva Delicias, Guadalupe Grijalva, La Sabinada, ejido Tres Maravillas, Barrio Monteverde, ejido Anonal and Nuevo Comalapa, among others.
In Amatenango de la Frontera they are: Nueva Morelia ejido, Michoacán Rancheria, Pacayalito ejido, Social Welfare Neighborhood, New Liberty Neighborhood, Flor de Mayo Neighborhood, New Memory ejido, Palestine ejido, New Amatenango ejido, Belén Neighborhood, Platanillo Neighborhood, El Pino Neighborhood, New America Neighborhood, to name a few.
Source: cambiodemichoacan
