A group from Cáritas and the Trust for the Health of Indigenous Children of Mexico, in coordination with the parish of San Andrés Apóstol, were going to deliver humanitarian aid to families displaced by the situation of violence.
An armed group attacked pastoral agents who were on their way to deliver humanitarian aid to families displaced by violence in the communities of Santa María Magdalena (Aldama) and Santa Marta, wounding a sister of the Dominican congregation of the Queen of the Holy Rosary.
According to a statement from the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas, the events occurred yesterday morning, when a group from Cáritas and the Trust for the Health of Indigenous Children of Mexico in coordination with the parish of San Andrés apóstol, They were going to deliver humanitarian aid to displaced families, due to the situation of violence.
Upon reaching the Cotzilnam community located in the town of Aldama, the humanitarian convoy was attacked by an armed group. The shots with a high-caliber weapon presumably came from inhabitants of the Santa Marta Sector.
From this attack, the religious María Isabel Hernández Rea, belonging to the congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Queen of the Holy Rosary and pastoral agent of the diocese of San Cristóbal who collaborates in the parish of San Andrés Apóstol located in the municipality of Hidalgo City.
The Diocese of Chiapas pointed out that due to the attack, the humanitarian aid that would be delivered to vulnerable families could not be taken to the communities, which are suffering from a food crisis and basic services.
In the letter signed by the Bishop of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Rodrigo Aguilar Martínez, he urged the Mexican State to disarm and dismantle the armed civil groups in this area and together with those who provide them with weapons, the full weight of the law.
We condemn this attack and the previous ones that the communities have suffered and we join in the urgent request for the facts to be clarified and those responsible, intellectual and material, for this attack and those that the peoples of the city have had to suffer. this zone.
The religious authorities expressed their concern because the underlying problem in the region has not been resolved, which has escalated into violence with daily attacks in different communities of the Aldama municipality, the document concluded.
Diocese of San Cristóbal condemns attack on humanitarian aid caravan
He commented that during the attack, the religious María Isabel Hernández Rea, 52, a member of the congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Queen of the Holy Rosary and who collaborates in the parish of San Andrés Larráinzar, was injured by a bullet in her right leg. . The nun is recovering successfully in a private hospital in this city.
He added: “We don’t want another Acteal. We don’t want any more injuries and deaths. We don’t want any more displaced people. We do not want more suffering of women, girls and boys. We do not want more weapons in our villages ”.
He stated that it is necessary to guarantee “the safety of the vulnerable population in the communities of Chiapas”, while expressing concern “because the underlying problem has not been resolved” between Aldama and Santa Martha, so “it has escalated violence with daily attacks in different points and different communities ”of the first municipality.
He argued that “several times, whether privately or publicly, we have denounced this situation before the federal and state government bodies, and called for the disarmament of these paramilitary groups.”
Separately, the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) reported that the corresponding investigation folder is being integrated “for the violent events registered in Aldama.”
Source: jornada.com.mx, milenio.com