Zapatista communities in the Chiapas region of Mexico have been under sustained attack from paramilitary groups since September 6th, one year after the previous invasion of their lands last September. The attackers, from the groups Pas Y Justicia ('Peace and Justice...') and Union Hidalgo, have been shooting at farmers on land of the autonomous municipality of La Dignitad as they attempted to peacefully resist without arms, forcing residents to flee their land. Around 70 people are said to be displaced while 14 remain missing.

Campasino leader Hugo Blanco says: 'Lately the attacks on Zapatista communities are intensifying, the principal and strongest attack is the one that the autonomous Zapatista community of San Marcos Avilés is suffering... These attacks and the continued detention of Francisco Sántiz López and Alberto Patishtán Gómez, are the spearhead of the attack to crush the zone liberated from neoliberalism, where the people govern themselves through the Good Government Juntas. [The Juntas] are seen as the great enemy by the transnational corporations as they are a living example of the fact that "Another World is Possible.. A World where Many Worlds Fit”'.

The paramilitaries are said to be financed by the ex-PRI candidate Carlos Cleber González Cabello. Paz Y Justicia emerged in 1995 after a failed military assault on the EZLN (the Zapatista National Liberation Army).

The violence has led to an outcry from solidarity groups around the world, along with active movements in the country known as the 'Other Campaign'. Meanwhile, Zapatista spokespeople have called on the newly formed Yo Soy 132 movement to unite behind the resistance. Yo Sol 132 is a mass protest movement for 'real democracy' which sprung up in opposition to the biased election coverage earlier this year.

For more on the Zaptistas and U.K based solidarity work www.kiptik.org