This Human Rights Center has received information from adherents to the Other Campaign from the ejido of Jotolá, municipality of Chilón, about the imminent risk of aggression by members of the Organization for the Defense of Indigenous and Peasant Rights (OPDDIC from its Spanish acronym), and possibility of irreparable injury to their lives and physical integrity.

Confirmation that the Mexican Federal Government has participated in illegal activities evidenced through declassified documents revealing the creation of paramilitary groups in Chiapas.

An employee of the Human Rights Center Fray Bartolome de Las Casas (Frayba) was brutally attacked on September 18th. The attack occurred in Ejido Jotola, in the municipality of Chilon. The attackers were armed and are members of OPDDIC – the Organization for the Defense of the Rights of Indigenous and Campesinos. Because of the seriousness of the attack, please find below the Frayba press release in its entirety.

Today, June 19th, at approximately 3:15pm, Diego Cadenas Gordillo, director of this Human Rights Center, was driving his vehicle on the way to his house in this city. He encountered a pickup truck parked on the opposite side of the street and noticed that the lens of a photographic camera was sticking out of the driver’s side, focused on him. Seconds after passing the truck, he heard that the camera was activated on two occasions.