The Acteal massacre was a

massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...

of 45 people attending a

prayer meeting A prayer meeting is a group of lay people getting together for the purpose of prayer as a group. Prayer meetings are typically conducted outside regular services by one or more members of the clergy or other forms of religious leadership, but the ...

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Indigenous townspeople, including a number of children and pregnant women, who were members of the

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

group Las Abejas ("The Bees"), in the small village of Acteal in the municipality of Chenalhó, in the

Mexican state A Mexican State (), officially the Free and Sovereign State (), is a constituent federative entity of Mexico according to the Constitution of Mexico. Currently there are 31 states, each with its own constitution, government, state governor, a ...

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

. Right-wing paramilitary group Máscara Roja murdered the victims on December 22, 1997, while the

Government of Mexico The Federal government of Mexico (alternately known as the Government of the Republic or ' or ') is the national government of the Mexico, United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the ...

first admitted responsibility for the massacre in September 2020.

History

The Las Abejas activists professed their support for the goals of the

Zapatista Army of National Liberation The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (, EZLN), often referred to as the Zapatistas (), is a far-left political and militant group that controls a substantial amount of territory in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico. Since 1994, t ...

(Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional - EZLN), including their rejection of applying violent means. Many suspect this affiliation as the reason for the attack, and government involvement or complicity. Soldiers at a nearby military outpost did not intervene during the attack, which lasted for hours. The following morning, soldiers were found washing the church walls to hide the blood stains. Some of the pregnant women who were part of the prayer group were intentionally stabbed and shot in the belly to kill their unborn children. The EZLN and many Chiapas residents accused the ruling

Institutional Revolutionary Party The Institutional Revolutionary Party (, , PRI) is a List of political parties in Mexico, political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 as the National Revolutionary Party (, PNR), then as the Party of the Mexican Revolution (, PRM) and fin ...

(PRI) of complicity, and following the change of government in 2000, survivors alleged that the investigation was being stalled, with authorities refusing to question or arrest suspects in the attacks. Las Abejas, composed of people from 48 Indigenous communities in the highlands of Chiapas, engaged in activism, issuing communiqués that denounced violence through actions centered around fasting and prayer. In November 2006, 100 men and 100 women members of the Abejas organized a peace and justice caravan to

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

, to show their support for the Popular Assembly of the Oaxacan People (APPO) and denounce the repression and violence perpetrated by the state and federal governments. They also delivered at least three tons of food, water, and medicine to the APPO. On August 27, 2007, Martín Rangel Cervantes, writing in national daily '' El Universal'', stated that a federal judge assigned to the Acteal case sentenced, on July 22, 18 persons for their responsibility in this massacre. Each one got 40 years in prison. , the Supreme Court decided to reopen the case due to the consistency of the reports made by different organisations pointing to the lack of accessibility of data of the case. In 2014 the US Supreme Court turned down a case filed by the survivors of Acteal massacre against Connecticut resident and former Mexican President

Ernesto Zedillo Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (; born 27 December 1951) is a Mexican economist and politician. He was the 61st president of Mexico from 1994 to 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from the Institutional Re ...

on grounds of "sovereign Immunity" as a former head of state. On October 20, 2015, a group of Las Abejas group had a public hearing before the

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the IACHR or, in the three other official languages Spanish, French, and Portuguese language, Portuguese CIDH, ''Comisión Interamericana de los Derechos Humanos'', ''Commission Interaméricaine des ...

. In July

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, the government announced it was taking twenty actions to repair the damage related to the massacre, including recognition of the deaths caused by the paramilitary forces related to the government and the

. An ''Acuerdo de Solución Amistosa'' ("Friendly Settlement Agreement") is scheduled to be signed by 30 collateral victims of the massacre on September 3, 2020, that will include money for infrastructure projects in the region. The

National Human Rights Commission A human rights commission, also known as a human relations commission, is a body set up to investigate, promote or protect human rights. The term may refer to international, national or subnational bodies set up for this purpose, such as nationa ...

said the 30 signers have agreed to lead peaceful, productive lives, and that the government has agreed to respect the rights of individuals who choose not to sign. Survivors of the massacre had requested the creation of Truth Commission in December

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, a few days after the inauguration of President

Andrés Manuel López Obrador Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican former politician, political scientist, public administrator and writer who served as the 65th president of Mexico from 2018 to 2024. He se ...

. On September 2, 2020, the Secretariat for Home Affairs admitted to having responsibility for the massacre. Alejandro Encinas Rodríguez, Undersecretary for Human Rights, officially admitted that the Mexican government had responsibility for the massacre, and he offered a public apology to the victims. This announcement and the signing of the Friendly Settlement Agreement ended the lawsuit filed in the

by the victims. However, Fernando Luna Pérez, a victim speaking for ''Las Abejas'', requested that the investigation continue and that former President Zedillo be tried.

List of victims

References

External links

ABC-news item on the involvement of the government in the massacre

Procuraduría General de la República, November 1998 (archive.org)
Article on the peace and justice caravan to OaxacaReport of the Human Rights Center Frayba
* ttp://www.narconews.com/Issue48/article2948.html Ten Years Later, It’s Time to Recognize the U.S. Government’s Responsibility for Actealbr>Newly declassified info: "Breaking the Silence"
{{Authority control 1990s murders in Mexico 1997 crimes in Mexico 1997 murders in North America Massacres in 1997 20th-century mass murder in Mexico Chiapas December 1997 crimes December 1997 in Mexico Massacres committed by Mexico Massacres in Mexico Political scandals in Mexico 1990s disasters in Mexico Terrorist incidents in Mexico

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Zapatista Army of National Liberation Massacres of Indigenous Mexicans

History

List of victims

See also

References

External links