Complete Closure of San Cristobal January 11, 2022
At this moment, all exits from San Cristobal are sealed. This includes the roads to Arcotete, to San Juan Chamula, and to Comitan, as well as marker 46 km of hwy 190 to Tuxtla-Gutiérrez. Photos on facebook during the day showed the roadblock to Comitan formed by an awkwardly parked bus and armed men in black masks. They are purportedly members of Motonetos, a nativist gang, many of whom come from San Juan Chamula. They are more widely recognized simply as the Chamúlas. Their intention is to completely close the city until their jailed leader is set free. Even if he is not here anymore.
Meanwhile, in Barrio San Felipe Ecatepec, located near one of the roadblocks, there was a mounted resistance earlier today with stones and machetes that was rebuffed with gunfire. This took place not far from a busy Soriana grocery store. As this road is the toll-free alternative for the 190 to Tuxtla, 63 pesos, the resisters are defending their right to free passage, both Libre and Gratis. Moreover, it is yet another flashpoint in a civil conflict that is flaring throughout Chiapas.
Increasingly, it seems that the indigenous Zapatista struggle has been infiltrated by outside commercial forces, particularly narco cartels. Holding a city hostage is not unprecedented for a Mexican mafia that wants a leader released from captivity. In Cancun, in 2017, motorcycle gunfire and grenades terrorized the city into releasing a Gulf cartel kingpin from custody. More recently, Culiacan, in Sinaloa, fell under siege when El Chapo’s son was arrested, causing AMLO to yield and injuring his presidency in the failing war with organized crime.
One thing that is clear is that crime certainly seems organized today in San Cristobal. The guy in jail is Martin Pale Santiz, and he is the alleged leader of the Motonetos, an enforcement gang for an even larger organization, called COMACH, which is some inane acronym for a bogus environmentalist collective. Community involvement led to his capture, and Santiz, nicknamed El Gemelo, or the Twin (never a good sign when someone has a cryptic nickname), presently sits in a Tuxtla-Gutiérrez jail cell awaiting charges, or some other outcome.
“The Uprising has never ended,” cries one intrepid journalist, Eri Ebe, a longtime expat from Brooklyn. He first reported two days ago that a rare arrest had been made on the north side of town, on the other side of the river, in Barrio San Ramon. The suspect was unnamed at the time, but numerous locals identified him as the head of the Motonetos motorcycle gang, which has been launching violent assaults since the beginning of last summer. The sense among casual observers is that these young Tzotzil bikers—red and black is the purported gang color—are bent on protecting native ways, mostly by assaulting obnoxious foreigners, but the outrage in San Ramon, as in San Felipe today, suggests that resentments against the Motonetos are wide and deep. These gangsters are not protecting much of anything.
An orange darkness falls over San Cristobal, as we conclude our first day of captivity. I hear no gunfire, nor do I detect the slightest alarm on the faces I meet. Here it is not difficult to live within the city’s bubble. Nevertheless, the standoff outside our gates is unsustainable. Of course it has to be, with AMLO’s National Guard parked just down the street. The potential for more violent confrontation is real. So is the threat to investigative journalists like Eri Ebe, who dares to post his news and opinions for all to read. I suppose, I should be concerned as well; however, one fringe benefit of low self-esteem is that paranoia is never a problem. For now, good night and good luck from the other side of the line.