Protest by displaced families Colonia Puebla (@Kuuntik)

On the morning of March 28, a hundred state police evicted more than 200 displaced indigenous people from the municipality of Chenalho when they blocked the toll road between San Cristobal and Tuxtla Gutierrez to demand that the government guarantee the return of some 80 families. The operation left 14 civilians injured and, according to the authorities, 13 policemen.

Javier Lopez Santiz, representative of the 241 people from Puebla Ejido who have been displaced since May 27, 2016 due to the post-electoral conflict in Chenalho, reported that “we were the 241 displaced, among men, children and women, some pregnant, and they launche tear gas at us; we have four injured: Pedro Lopez Mendez, Alberto Hernandez Mendez, Uvencio Arias Gomez and a girl, plus ten others beaten.”

After the eviction, the displaced people went to the offices of the State Commission on Human Rights (CEDH in its Spanish acronym), based in San Cristobal de Las Casas. After the last violent events in main town of Chenalho at the beginning of the month, the families moved to this city until they obtained the necessary conditions for their return.

For more information in Spanish:

Policía desaloja bloqueo de desplazados de Chenalhó (La Jornada, 28 de marzo de 2017)

Desalojan a indígenas desplazados que exigían con bloqueo el retorno a su comunidad (Proceso, 28 de marzo de 2017)

Desalojan a desplazados de Chenalhó que se manifestaban en la carretera de SCLC (Chiapas Paralelo, 28 de marzo de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ :

Chiapas: conflicto partidista desata violencia en el municipio de Chenalhó (27 de marzo de 2017)

Chiapas : Dos muertos y decenas de heridos en Chenalhó por disputa de la alcaldía (9 de marzo de 2017)

Chiapas : Restitución en su cargo de alcaldesa de Chenalhó hace temer nueva situación de violencia (22 de agosto de 2016)