Chiapas, captive territory ( english.elpais.com )

EL PAÍS travels along the border of the poorest state in Mexico, a region dominated by criminal groups. From the city of Tapachula to the Lacandon Jungle, passing through the towns of Frontera Comalapa and Chisomuselo, this story illustrates the fight between cartels, the abandonment of the state, the murders, forced displacements, kidnappings and extortions, along with the efforts made by the local and migrant populations to survive

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These six images — distributed along nearly 400 miles of the border between Chiapas and Guatemala — illustrate the ongoing battle for control over the poorest Mexican state. Chiapas is a disputed territory, victim of the struggle between the two most powerful criminal groups in the country: the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (or the CJNG, its acronym in Spanish). Amidst the fighting, the population is trying to survive, trapped in an armed conflict reminiscent of what has gone on in the states of Tamaulipas, Michoacán or Guanajuato — a kind of violence that was foreign to Chiapas until recently. The cradle of the last guerrilla movement that was born in the Americas — an image of the country’s inequalities, adventure tourism and extreme poverty —, Chiapas now looks to the border with Guatemala and its trail of murders, kidnappings, forced displacements and extortions.