My boxing club was attacked by arsonists

Who seem oddly cozy with the local police

January 16th, 2023

Something extremely wild happened to me last night. I found myself in the crossfire of an intense street fight which resulted in my friends and I being pelted with rocks and a motorcycle being torched.

This story is so crazy that I think that I should begin by asking the reader to watch the following security camera footage, because I think that it lends credibility to what might otherwise be a wholly incredible tale.

We also held a press conference to denounce the police. Those of you that Spanish will find this video very interesting. You can also find another video of the same press conference here.

As many of you will know, I live in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico. I moved here in the Summer of 2021.

Last night, I witnessed several men attacking the guests attending a house party in Barrio Revolucion. During this attack, one motorcycle was stolen and another was lit on fire. The attackers also threw rocks and fireworks at the party-goers, but thankfully no one was injured.

I am writing this because I believe that I witnessed more of the attack than anyone else did. I think that these events are important because it appears that the police of San Cristobal are either incredibly incompetent or are actually colluding with criminal organizations.

Before I begin, I think I should say something about myself. I am from Canada, but I have been living in San Cristobal for over a year. During that time I started training at a boxing gym in Barrio Revolucion on Calle Presidente Avila Camacho. I also spent some time living in a room above the gym.

Last night I attended the birthday party of my friend Victor at this boxing club, which is called Tierra Roja. It was a good party and a good time was being had.

I was close to the door of Tierra Roja when a young kid entered. He was probably between 18 and 23 years old. He was dressed in black and was wearing a baseball hat. I don´t believe that he knew anyone at the party. He was looking for something.

He asked me for perrico (cocaine) and I told him I couldn´t help him and that he was in the wrong place if he was looking to buy drugs. But I didn´t tell him to leave. He entered into the party, presumably to ask other people for drugs.

Shortly thereafter, I saw someone I know with his arm around this kid, escorting him out. It was clear that he was being bounced, but it wasn´t done in an overly-aggressive way. I didn´t think twice about it. These things happen everywhere.

Not long afterwards, there was a loud bang close to the door. I turned to see what had caused the noise, and saw a burning fire cracker. Someone had thrown a firecracker through the door. That´s not normal, I´m thinking. What the hell?

At this point, I think that someone is playing a practical joke or something, so I stick my head out the door and am surprised to see the kid from before, along with several other men. I think there were four to six of them. They all had something in their hands and were advancing aggressively. It took me a second to realize that this was no joke - we were under attack. I was able to duck back inside just as they started pelting the house with fireworks and rocks.

I immediately raise the alarm. Someone yelled ¨they´re armed¨, and the whole party was thrown into chaos very quickly. Soon, Victor arrived on scene. Not only was this his party, we were also at his house. He took control of the situation and locked the door. Some people wanted to go out to confront the attackers, but Victor was more interested in de-escalating the situation.

The men outside continued to pelt the house with rocks while we all tried to understand what the hell was happening and decide what to do about it.

A short time later, someone opened the door and we saw a motorcycle in flames. The bike, which belonged to one of Victor´s friends, had been knocked over, doused with gasoline, and torched. I found out later that a second motorcycle, which belonged to another of Victor´s guests. All this happened incredibly quickly.

So now we had to put out this fire. We were concerned the gas tank might explode. Some people went in search of water, others threw dirt on the flames. I grabbed a broom and tried to put out the flames with it, which was an impossible task.

The attackers were still present at this point, but they´ve stopped throwing things for the moment. Victor goes to talk to them, trying to figure out who they are and why they´re attacking his party.

Next, the police show up in full force, with a whole bunch of vehicles and heavily-armed personnel. There were at least four cruisers, and I believe that there were some cops mounted on motorcyle as well.

And here is the craziest part of the entire story, which I wouldn´t believe if I hadn´t seen it with my own eyes. Instead of fleeing at the sight of the police, the attackers welcome their arrival. The young guy, who started the whole fight, seems actually to be telling the cop in the first squad car what to do. The cops made no effort to arrest either him or his friends. Nor did they do anything to put out the fire. They only stopped for a moment and then just kept going. I believe that one cop got out of one of the vehicles and stood around with a giant machine gun for a minute, but as soon as he had appeared, he was gone. It was surreal. There´s a flaming motorcyle in the street, there´s an intense situation which threatens to turn into a brawl, and the police just cruise right on past without doing anything. Why did they even bother leaving the station if they weren´t going to do sweet fuck-all?

So there we are, trying to put out the fire with brooms and the dirt from flower pots. People are hauling water in bottles and buckets, but it´s not nearly enough. The whole situation is made more difficult by the fact that the attackers are still present, antagonizing those of us who are trying to put out the fire. Victor is trying to de-escalate, and other people are backing him up. Eventually, the two groups start throwing rocks at each other, and the Tierra Roja group is able to chase the attackers off.

By now, the streets are full of neighbours, who wanted to know what was going on. Victor went out to explain what he knew about what had just happened, and I gave my version of events as well.

During this time, the cops kept circling the area. The neighbours kept calling out to them, trying to get their attention, but were ignored.

Eventually, after the excitement had calmed, a bunch of cops did show up, and there was a big meeting in the street with dozens of neighbourhood residents, all of whom were angry with the police for failing to do anything to help the situation. The neighbours all seemed to be of the opinion that the police was useless, and that were working with (or for) some kind of criminal organization that the attackers were associated with.

The police took Victor´s information, but to my knowledge they did not take any pictures or conduct any real investigation. It really seemed that the police were more interested in pretending to do their jobs than in actually doing them. The police had some lame-ass excuses for their inaction, and got defensive when neighbour residents accused them of failing to help.

It´s worth pointing out here that I have no idea if these attackers were connected with biker gangs or cartels. But the fact that they had no fear of the police suggests that there is some kind of collaboration between the police and some criminal organization that they are a part of. But I won´t pretend that I have any proof of this. Maybe the cops were just being cowards.

I think that it is important that people know about these events, because I think that it shows that the police of San Cristobal are unlikely to offer real assistance in the case of a real emergency, especially one involving bikers or other gang affiliates. If people want security, it seems that they will have to take matters into their own hands.

I also want to say that none of this should be blamed upon Victor, his house-mates, or the members of the Tierra Roja boxing club. Tierra Roja is an athletic club that offers affordable fitness classes to people in the neighbourhood, and its members have nothing to do with biker gangs.

Personally, I have benefitted tremendously from being part of the Tierra Roja community, and I hope that people do not form a negative opinion of this club as a result of these events. The members of Tierra Roja are the victims here, and the attackers have nothing to do with us.

Hopefully this account is helpful. If anyone has any questions, they can reach out to me at thecrowisamessenger@riseup.net.