Dominican nun shot dead while delivering food

A Dominican nun was shot in the leg as her humanitarian relief team was shot by paramilitaries in Mexico's southern Chiapas state.

Dominican Sister María Isabel Hernández Rea, 52, was shot in the leg on November 18 while trying to bring food to a group of Tzotzil indigenous people displaced from a fraction of the municipality of Aldama. They had been forced to flee due to a land dispute.

The injuries sustained by Hernández, part of the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Rosary and pastoral agent of the diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, were not considered life-threatening, according to the diocese. She went to the community with the diocesan team of Caritas and a non-governmental group that promoted the health of indigenous children.

"This action is criminal," said Ofelia Medina, actress and director of the NGO, Fideicomiso para la Salud de los Niños Indígenas de México. "We haven't been able to get close (and) people are experiencing a food emergency because of the daily gunshots."

In the comments provided by the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center based in Chiapas, Medina said: “On the day of the shooting, we had a little courage and our colleagues said: 'Let's go', and it was organized a trip. The food was delivered and they were shot. "

In a November 18 statement, the diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas said that violence has increased in the municipality and that humanitarian assistance has not arrived. He asked the government to disarm the paramilitaries and "punish" the intellectuals behind the attack, along with those "who caused the suffering of the communities in the area"