On 11 July 2019, Salvadora Chávez Rendón and ten other members of the indigenous Nasa people had gone to police headquarters in Chilapa to lodge a complaint against members of the Policía Comunitaria (Community Police) for their involvement in the murder of 5 people in February 2015.

One of the 5 people killed was Salvadora’s husband Ángel Calvario Tlatempa.

The group, which consisted of members of the Frente de Defensa Popular and the Frente Popular Francisco Villa, were returning from the prison where Salvadora had identified prisoner Felipe García as the one who had killed her husband.

As they drove along the highway from Lamazintla to Cantera Rosa they were intercepted by gunmen in civilian clothes who opened fire on the truck. Salvadora was killed and several others were injured, one seriously. The gunmen then set fire to the truck before fleeing.

The violence is linked to a dispute between two communities as to the authority of different groups of community police which has resulted in repeated violence.