Overview
- Parents say newly admitted students who entered on July 19 were subjected to violent initiation rituals that included forced labor, denial of water and sanitary access, sleep deprivation and abandonment.
- Roughly 70 admitted students have been removed or left the Escuela Normal Rural Mactumactzá after reports of collapses, convulsions, fractures and at least one case of severe dehydration that required hospital care.
- The Fiscalía General del Estado of Chiapas says it has received at least five formal complaints and has assigned metropolitan prosecutors and a specialized, multidisciplinary team to investigate possible crimes.
- Families have filed complaints with state and national human-rights commissions and are asking authorities to inspect the internado system, remove the student committees blamed for the abuses, and reallocate affected students so they do not lose their admission places.
- Parents and coverage point to prior deadly and serious novatada incidents at Mactumactzá in 2017–2019 to underline the risk, and they say many victims are indigenous students with limited Spanish who faced barriers to reporting or leaving the campus.