{"id":193194,"date":"2021-11-26T02:23:38","date_gmt":"2021-11-26T10:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=193194"},"modified":"2021-11-26T15:44:14","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T23:44:14","slug":"mexican-pre-school-wins-lottery-gets-menaced-by-paramilitaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mexican-pre-school-wins-lottery-gets-menaced-by-paramilitaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexican Preschool Wins Lottery, Gets Menaced by Paramilitaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parents of a tiny preschool in southern Mexico that scooped a $950,000 windfall on the Mexican national lottery<\/a> have found themselves hounded and threatened by a local paramilitary group. The group, \u201cLos Petules,\u201d wants the money to buy weapons.<\/p>\n

\"Mexican
A protestor demonstrating in front of the Mexican consulate in San Francisco in September, denouncing the Mexican government\u2019s alleged support of paramilitary groups in Chiapas. The sign reads: “Out! Chiapas paramilitaries.” (Image: chiapas-support.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The preschool is located on an ejido<\/em>, a communal farm in the Ocosingo municipality, Chiapas state. Local newspaper El Heraldo de Chiapas<\/em> reports it has just over two dozen pupils. But 28 families living in the indigenous community connected to the school have been displaced by the group and are petitioning the Mexican government for help.<\/p>\n

The families have been forced to flee the ejido<\/em> and are now living in a shantytown on the outskirts of Osocingo City. That\u2019s because of constant death threats, harassment\u00a0 and attacks on their relatives and property by Los Petules.<\/p>\n

Mexico’s ‘Airplane Lottery’<\/h2>\n

The school initially celebrated when it won the money last year on Mexico\u2019s so-called \u201cairplane lottery.\u201d This was a pet project of Mexican President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador. He wanted to cover the costs of his predecessor\u2019s luxury plane, a specially outfitted Boeing 787 Dreamliner, by offering it as a lottery prize.<\/p>\n

Obrador considered the plane a symbol of government excess. He hoped to use it to raise money for hospitals and schools. But the plan was ultimately impractical.<\/p>\n

Instead, a special one-off lottery was organized in which anonymous benefactors were invited to buy tickets that could be donated to poor schools across the country.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the preschool won, the parents were put in charge of administering the prize. A list of the 100 winners was announced in September 2020 and published in Mexican newspapers.<\/p>\n

\n

The parents refused to hand over the money to Los Petules. Instead, they spent part of it on a new roof for the preschool, and they decide to use what was left to improve community infrastructure. That\u2019s when the trouble started.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Last month, according to local reports, the gang attacked women and children in the community, forcing the families to flee. One local official was shot in the abdomen by a man local news outlet Dario de Chiapas<\/em> named Samuel Santiz L\u00f3pez. The act has gone unpunished, the newspaper said.<\/p>\n

Attacks Common<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Armed right-wing groups, often allied with local narcos<\/a>, are common in the region, as are their attacks on indigenous communities. The Equal Times<\/em> reports at least 499 attacks against indigenous land defenders and environmental activists took place in Mexico between 2012 and 2018.<\/p>\n

Indigenous groups claim the paramilitaries operate with the covert support of Mexico\u2019s federal government.<\/p>\n

Up to this point, there has been no answer. The children are suffering, we are in Ocosingo, there are no shelters where we can take refuge,\u201d one of the displaced, Melecio L\u00f3pez G\u00f3mez, told El Heraldo.<\/em> \u201cThey continue to threaten us. They are looking for us, and that is why we are in the shanty town. We have contacts in the community, and they tell us who are looking for us. We can’t do anything.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“We fear for our lives,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe have death threats, and they took all our property. The cattle we had are already being sold to the butchers, so it is urgent that the authorities disarm them, and no police are taking care of us.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Parents of a tiny preschool in southern Mexico that scooped a $950,000 windfall on the Mexican national lottery have found themselves hounded and threatened by a local paramilitary group. The group, \u201cLos Petules,\u201d wants the money to buy weapons. The preschool is located on an ejido, a communal farm in the Ocosingo municipality, Chiapas state. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":193195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13699],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMexican Pre-School Wins Lottery, Gets Menaced by Paramilitaries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mexican paramilitary group Los Petules drives 28 indigenous families from their community farm after pre-school won Mexican Lottery.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mexican Pre-School Wins Lottery, Gets Menaced by Paramilitaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mexican paramilitary group Los Petules drives 28 indigenous families from their community farm after pre-school won Mexican Lottery.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mexican-pre-school-wins-lottery-gets-menaced-by-paramilitaries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-26T10:23:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-26T23:44:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/fuera.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1429\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1193\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mexican-pre-school-wins-lottery-gets-menaced-by-paramilitaries\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mexican-pre-school-wins-lottery-gets-menaced-by-paramilitaries\/\",\"name\":\"Mexican Pre-School Wins Lottery, Gets Menaced by Paramilitaries\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mexican-pre-school-wins-lottery-gets-menaced-by-paramilitaries\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mexican-pre-school-wins-lottery-gets-menaced-by-paramilitaries\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/fuera.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-26T10:23:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-26T23:44:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Mexican paramilitary group Los Petules drives 28 indigenous families from their community farm after pre-school won Mexican Lottery.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mexican-pre-school-wins-lottery-gets-menaced-by-paramilitaries\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mexican-pre-school-wins-lottery-gets-menaced-by-paramilitaries\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mexican-pre-school-wins-lottery-gets-menaced-by-paramilitaries\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/fuera.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/fuera.jpg\",\"width\":1429,\"height\":1193,\"caption\":\"A protestor demonstrating in front of the Mexican consulate in San Francisco in September, denouncing the Mexican government\u2019s alleged support of paramilitary groups in Chiapas. 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