Organized Criminal Syndicate Wars: Indigenous Peoples in Chiapas in the Crossfire

American Indian Airwaves

In Chiapas, Mexico, the territorial divisions between the major drug cartels have broken down resulting in open warfare which has spread to spread to Chiapas. Until recently, Chiapas has been relatively free from cartel violence. The criminal organizations have figured out that they can infiltrate municipal-level politics, run local candidates tolerating their operations, and heavily fund those campaigns (or intimidate or kill the other candidates), and gain control on the ground. The violence in the highland’s region of Chiapas around the communities of Chenalhó and Pantelhó is intense, with approximately 3,000 displaced indigenous (mostly Tsotsil) people. There has been very little media coverage due to the risk and fear of offending the cartels. In addition, the federal government has sent in its National Guard, which has done nothing to stop the criminal violence. Some indigenous peoples have formed their own self-defense militia group, El Machete. Turn in for more. Guest: Richard Stahler-Sholk, Professor of Political Science at Eastern Michigan University, joins us for this segment of the program to discuss how Mayan Indigenous peoples have been mobilizing and resisting the Mexican governments continuous military actions in stealing and dispossessing Mayan peoples lands throughout Chiapas and Jalisco as well as how Indigenous peoples are presently being denied a basic right to education, plus more.