After winning a state-sponsored lottery, a Mexican pre-school’s good luck turned into a nightmare after a local gang attacked them. The José Mara Morelos y Pavón kindergarten in El Nacimiento, Chiapas, won roughly $940,000 in a lottery. The lottery was inspired by President Lopez Obrador’s attempt to sell his plane. Initially, families celebrated the victory by arranging school repairs and community gifts.
Los Petules, a gang, learned about the money. Instead of repairs, the criminals demanded that families spend their money on weaponry for an impending attack on a rival gang. Families objected. “We received 20 million pesos however the paramilitary gang, the Petules, stated the cash was for them to purchase weapons and we didn’t agree,” Melesio López Gómez, a man at Mexican pre-school informs El Imparcial.“They threw us out of our homes,” Gómez told Mexico News Daily.
Soon after, Los Petules made death threats to four members of the group. Marcelo Santiz López, a fifth member, claims the gang shot him in the abdomen and robbed him. After the attack, they seized the bank card necessary to access the reward money. After months of such brutality, the entire community approximately 28 houses decided to flee from the city. Seeking safety in nearby San Cristóbal de las Casas. Dispossessed households in San Cristóbal have protested, asking that the federal government disarm Los Petules and make it safe for them to return to their homes.
They also claim to have petitioned the Chiapas Attorney General’s Office and other officials, but no one has answered. In Mexico, where gangs and drug cartels control many districts, crime is pervasive. In certain cases, the Mexican military has given up on enforcing the regulations. Instead of works to keep the peace between rival legal organizations.