Minutes of terror were experienced by teachers and children from the Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez kindergarten in the municipality of Benemérito de Las Américas, located on the border with Guatemala, when they witnessed the attack on a clinic next to the school by heavily armed men traveling in trucks.
Benemérito de las Américas is another of the towns on the southern border, held hostage by organized crime gangs who, according to testimonies from residents, have been fighting for four days, affecting daily life.
According to two videos circulating on social networks, a group of hooded men dressed in black, heavily armed, traveling in trucks, broke into the town on Wednesday morning.
They immediately opened fire on the facade of the Samher’z clinic that is located in front of the Kindergarten for Girls and Boys. The attack lasted several minutes. So far, it is unknown if there are any victims; no government authority has reported on the events.
In the face of the sound of machine guns, teachers hugged and asked boys and girls to lie on the ground to avoid being hit by the bullets. The scene was recorded with cell phones. Hundreds of small rooms were left on the street.
Residents say that for the fourth consecutive day, Benemérito de las Américas has been the scene of intense shootings, which has plunged the town into a situation of great tension and uncertainty.
Despite the seriousness of the events, residents report that despite the military presence in the area, both from the Navy and the Army, the military does not mobilize.
They report that fear has taken hold in the municipality due to the lack of action by the security forces. In addition, due to the lack of authority, citizens have had problems with services, such as garbage collection, and they say that there are threats that their water service will soon be cut off.
Last May, in the midst of an election campaign, the candidate for municipal president of Chiapas Unido, a party registered locally, Juan Gómez Morales (known as Juan Changarro), survived an ambush on the border with Guatemala, in which his son Jonathan and the fifth councilman Mauro Hernández were killed, while 18 people from his campaign team were injured.
Last July, an Army patrol was attacked on the spot while on patrol; one soldier lost his life.
Source: proceso
