THOUSANDS of residents displaced by violence that intensified this week in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas remained fearful on Tuesday of returning to their homes.

Authorities have had to set up camps for more than 4,000 displaced people who fled the town of Tila over the weekend and are working to bring them home, but the displaced are wary.

One of them, Julio Cesar Gomez, fled after armed gangs shot up the town and burned several of his relatives’ homes.