Prosecutor probing vigilante town killed in southern Mexico
MEXICO CITY (AP) - A prosecutor handling the case of an Indigenous town beset by violence has himself been killed in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas.
The state attorney general´s office said prosecutor Gregorio Pérez Gómez was found shot to death in his car on a street in the state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez, late Tuesday.
Pérez Gómez´s body had six bullet wounds. The office did not say whether his death may have been linked to his work in the township of Pantelho, where a group of self-described vigilantes has been fighting what it claims are drug traffickers.
In July, a couple of hundred armed men descended on Pantelho, burned vehicles and at least a dozen homes, vandalized the town hall and abducted 21 people. That conflict had caused hundreds of Indigenous residents to flee.
Earlier this month, about 370 people who had fled the confrontations returned to villages in the township, according to a local priest. The Rev. Marcelo Pérez said the villagers had agreed to return after government-sponsored peace talks began.
Officials say a newly formed vigilante group called "El Machete," has formed armed brigades, pledging to fight the incursion of drug cartels in the largely Indigenous mountain communities of Chiapas.
A white handkerchief hangs from a home's door in Pantelho, Chiapas state, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, after abductions and the burning of homes and vehicles. Indigenous mountain communities in the southern state held talks with government officials days after their newly formed vigilante group called "El Machete" abducted residents they accused of being criminals and burned vehicles and homes. (AP Photo/Emilio Espejel)
The vigilantes, who appear to include members of the Tzotzil Indigenous group, are calling themselves a "self-defense force," a phenomenon seen for years in some western Mexican states.
After El Machete announced its presence last month, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he would not accept the presence of the so-called self-defense forces, which have often themselves been allied with criminal gangs.
Tzotzil Indigenous people who had been displaced as a result of the recent violence between a self-defense group called the "El Machete" and alleged criminal groups, hold hands during a Mass on their return home, the result of talks between government authorities and the vigilantes, in Pantelho, Chiapas state, Mexico, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021. The vigilante group had burned homes, vehicles and abducted residents they accused of being criminals, causing many to flee the area. (AP Photo/Emilio Espejel)
