Justice Needed for Victims of 1997 Acteal Massacre, Says Amnesty International Hispanically Speaking News
go to original December 24, 2012

Acteal: Ten Years of Impunity - A documentary that tells the truth about the crime of state that occured in December 22, 1997 in the tsotsil community of Acteal, as part of the strategy followed by the mexican government against the organized communities of Chiapas. (Koman Ilel)

Amnesty International demanded Saturday that the Mexican government and the state of Chiapas assure that justice be done for the victims of the 1997 Acteal massacre.

The organization recalled that on Dec. 22, 1997, 45 Tzotzil Indians, mostly women and children of the pacifist group Las Abejas (The Bees), were murdered at Acteal village in the Chenalho municipality of Chiapas state.

Las Abejas was founded in 1992 by an indigenous group seeking peace and the defense of community rights through a peaceful solution to local conflicts, as well as the release of people unjustly imprisoned, Amnesty International said.

It said that authorities failed in their duty to prevent the massacre, which was perpetrated by a group that they themselves had armed and trained.

The international organization said that after 15 years the authorities “continue to fail in their fundamental duty to conduct an independent investigation into the incident and bring to justice everyone responsible for it.”

Amnesty International recalled that in 2009 the Supreme Court decided to free the people accused of participating in the massacre due to procedural irregularities in the trial.

“Without justice in this and other cases, the authorities condemn the communities to constant fear and the danger of more violence,” Amnesty International said.

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