# Acteal massacre (22 December 1997)

URL: https://allhistories.com/mexico/timeline/1997-acteal-massacre
Location: Acteal, Chiapas
Themes: Politics

Paramilitaries linked to local PRI supporters kill 45 Tzotzil Indigenous people, including women and children, as they pray in a chapel in Acteal, in the municipality of Chenalhó, Chiapas. The victims belong to Las Abejas, a pacifist Catholic group sympathetic to the Zapatistas. State police stationed nearby fail to intervene during hours of shooting.

## Why it matters
Acteal became the starkest symbol of the counterinsurgency violence in Chiapas and the state's responsibility for paramilitary groups.

Ruler at the Time: [Ernesto Zedillo](https://allhistories.com/mexico/rulers/ernesto-zedillo)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Acteal massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acteal_massacre)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica topic lookup — Acteal massacre](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Acteal+massacre)
- [Wikipedia — Neoliberal & Democratic Transition (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Mexico#Neoliberalism_and_the_end_of_the_PRI_era)