SUMMARY

The conflict between the peoples of Santo Domingo Teojomulco and those in Santiago Xochiltepec can be traced back to the closure of the gold mine in Teojomulco in 1935. When the former miners tried to expand their ways of acquiring a livelihood, which meant moving into arable lands already used by others, tensions grew. As early as 1935 there were clashes with large numbers of casualties. Since then, Teojomulco has been involved in a number of land disputes that have turned violent, not only with the Xochiltepec. One of the most popular explanations for the reasoning behind the massacre of 2002 is that there had recently been a federal ruling that Xochiltepec owned hundreds of acres that the Teojomulco inhabitants claimed.

Adding to this there had also been incidents earlier in the year that heightened the tension between the groups. A large number of Teojomulco citizens were said to have marched into Xochiltepec in and fired weapons, though without causing physical damage. Teojomulco people, however, pointed to the killing of one of their citizens which they blamed on Xochiltepec.

Murders, and revenge murders, were fairly common in this part of Mexico, at this time. Massacres, like the one at Agua Fría, were uncommon, but not unheard of. In a region where there was no police close by it was not uncommon that people took the law into their own hands. The level of violence thus seemed able to escalate over time until it reached a level where massacres were used as a tactic.

The non-state conflict between Santo Domingo Teojomulco and those in Santiago Xochiltepec is first included in UCDP data in 2002. In late May of that year a violent massacre, carried out by people from Teojomulco against people from Xochiltepec, resulted in over 25 battle-related deaths.