Mexico Urgent Action 29 August 2002
There are very alarming reports of more tragic acts of violence in Chiapas, bringing to four the number of Zapatista civilian supporters who have been killed by members of paramilitary groups during the present month. That is to say that three Zapatista civilians have been killed, and at least one seriously injured, since our last week's urgent appeal concerning the assassination of José López Santis, in the November 17th Autonomous Muncipality, and the armed attack on the Zapatista checkpoint in La Culebra, in the Ricardo Flores Magón Autonomous Municipality (see the Urgent Action of 22 August).
In the opinion of the respected Mexican journalist Hermann Bellinghausen, "with each passing day what is happening is shown to be a concerted action on the part of the various paramilitary groups operating in the selva (Lacandona) and the northern region to harass and provoke the (Zapatista) communities in resistance." Representatives of the Autonomous Municipality of Olga Isabel believe that the paramilitary attackers are seeking to provoke the Zapatistas into an armed response "because they (the paramilitary group) have said that that is what they want us (the Zapatistas) to do." Herman Bellinghausen states that the recent movements of Mexican army personnel towards the interior of the cañadas of the Selva Lacandona and in the northern region of Chiapas "far from having halted the paramilitary violence, appear to have stimulated the increase in violence", and that the events of this past weekend coincided with the unusual troop movements carried out between Sunday and Monday (August 25th and August 26th) Hermann Bellinghausen cites reports from various sources regarding more than one hundred truckloads of soldiers having arrived at the 39th Military Region headquarters. He also mentions Zapatista reports regarding approximately three hundred trucks, tanks, and armoured cars in the military base in Tonin´ as well as about two thousand soldiers en route towards Palenque on the international highway. (The Mexican army, for its part, acknowledges that there have been recent troop movements. However, the army states that such movements are due to routine rotations of army personnel that take place several times a year.)
La Jornada also reported, on August 28th, that paramilitary group members have been distributing written materials in Ocosingo and Altamirano, as part of an anti–Zapatista propaganda offensive.1
On August 25th, 2002, Antonio Mejía, a member of the Zapatista Olga Isabel Autonomous Municipality was shot to death by armed PRI supporters belonging to the paramilitary group Los Aguilares. This group, which is named for its leader Sebastián Aguilar, a former soldier, has reportedly been in existence, in the (official) municipality of Chilón, since 1994. Sr. Mejía was with his wife at the time of his death. She herself managed to escape from the gunfire.
Some days before the murder, another member of the autonomous municipality had been kidnapped by PRI supporters. The kidnapped man was released – after promising that he would cease to belong to the autonomous municipality and after being forced to pay a fine. While being interrogated by his kidanppers, this man was asked questions about Antonio Mejía, who, he was informed by the kidnappers, was going to be "disappeared".
The Zapatista authorities of the Olga Isabel Autonomous Municipality reported that on the following night (Monday, August 26th) more heavy weapons firing was heard in the communities in resistance.
(Important note: the Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities do not coincide geographically with the official municipalities of Chiapas. The autonomous municipalities are made up of indigenous communities, and sometimes of groups of individuals within communities, which, as collective entities, have made the decision to put into practice the type of autonomy that was agreed upon in the San Andres Accords. They do not accept any government programmes, and build and run their own schools and clinics – through their own efforts and sometimes with the support of national and international solidarity. They register their own births and deaths and have their own justice system, which is based on indigenous tradition as well as on Zapatista ideals of social justice. At times, the competence of the autonomous municipalities is even recognized by their non–Zapatista neighbours.)
The Olga Isabel authorities also reported that the paramilitary group members have threatened that if they (the Zapatistas) do not abandon the autonomous municipality they are going to be kidnapped and forced to hand over a large of sum of money. The authorities commented that they "know that these people (the paramilitary) are paid to do all of this, and now they have begun with assassinations ... We blame this paramilitary group for the assassination of our compañero Antonio Mejía .– And we also blame the federal and state governments. We have filed legal reports of being harassed by the paramilitary, and they (the two levels of government) know about the paramilitary group's existence and its actions."
2) Also on August 25th, 2002, in the community of Amaytic (in the official municipality of Ocosingo) in the Ricardo Flores Magón Autonomous Municipality, an official of the autonomous municipality , Lorenzo Martínez Espinosa, and a community rural agent, Jacinto Hernández Gutierrez, were assassinated in the course of a meeting between Zapatista and non–Zapatista community officials, the ostensible purpose of which was to deal with a marital problem involving a local couple. Eyewitnesses were able to identify at least eleven of the attackers.
After the attack, many of the other residents of the community temporarily fled from the area. Thus no one was present when the Public Security Police, an official of the Public Ministry, and personnel from the Chiapas state police investigation agency arrived on the scene of the crime at, according to the police's own statement, 3pm. In view of the fact that the journey from Ocosingo to Amaytic takes five hours and the assassination occurred at 10am, human rights organizations consider that the police arrived with "suspicious" promptness.
In the opinion of non–governmental human rights organizations, this assassination was premeditated, and it cannot be dissociated from the other acts of violence to which the Zapatista autonomous municipalities have been subjected in recent months. In contrast, the state government is portraying the incident as having been caused by intra–community conflict stemming from disputes related to traditional indigenous customs. Moreover, at least a part of the "official" news media is trying to blame the Zapatistas for the recent upsurge of violence.
The Ricardo Flores Magón Autonomous Municipality Authorities reported that seven other Zapatista civilians were injured in the incident in Amaytic, one of them seriously.
In their August 27h press release, a number of prominent non–governmental human rights centres and social organizations (including the Fray Bartólome de Las Casas Human Rights Centre of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre and the Fray Francisco de Vitoria Human Rights Centre of Mexico City, and the Fray Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada Human Rights Committee of Oconsingo, as well as the National All Rights for Everyone Network of Civic Human Rights Organizations and the Community Defenders Network of Chiapas) made the following statement with regard to the assassinations that took place in Amaytic and the social context in which they took place:. :
This incident occurred in the context of escalating violence in which people belonging to the Zapatista National Liberation Army (the Zapatistas), whether they be ordinary civilian supporters or authorities of the autonomous municipalities, have been the object of physical attacks and legal harassment. In the last month alone, there have been a number of incidents all of which have been characterized by a lack of effective investigation on the part of the judicial authorities of the state of Chiapas, and, in consequence, by the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators (of the incidents).
In relation to these occurrences, repeated legal reports have been filed with regard to the presence, actions, and responsibility of alleged paramilitary groups, such as OPDIC(Organization for the Defence of Indigenous and Campesino Rights). OPDIC was formed in 1995 as a means of counteracting the Zapatista movement. It is led by the PRI state congressman Pedro Chulín, who has also been described as a leader of the paramilitary organization MIRA (Revolutionary Indigenous Anti–Zapatista Movement), which has operated in a number of municipalities including Ocosingo, Altamirano, and Oxchuc.
These events have made plain to us the following features of the counter–insurgency strategy (that is being applied in Chiapas):
The actions of armed groups with ties to public servants.
The implementation of social programmes that continue to cause divisions and confrontations within communities.
State government reconciliation initiatives that do no more than manage the conflict.
The impunity resulting from the failure (on the part of the federal and state governments) to take action with regard to the crimes committed since 1995 by members of these paramilitary organizations.
The threats that have been made regarding the eviction of the communities that have settled within the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve and adjoining areas of the Selva Lacandona.
The incidents described above are even more alarming in the light of the multiplicity of reports that we have received, at least during the present month of August, regarding an increase in troop movements and in military incursions into the cañadas and other parts of the Selva Lacandona. This gives rise to acts of intimidation and harassment directed against the civilian population. It also contributes to fortifying a climate of impunity and human rights abuse.
On August 9th, Reyna Martínez Orgeta, an indigenous social activist, was found dead in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
On August 18th, near the community of Majomut in the San Pedro Polhó Autonomous Municipality , the Zapatista supporter Mariano Pérez Gómez was threatened and attacked by members of a paramilitary group linked to the Municipal President of the official municipality of Chenalho, Armanmdo Vázquez Pérez. A report in the newspaper La Jornada describes how Zapatista supporter Mariano Pérez escapied from his attackers by throwing himself over the side of a very steep incline. Despite falling some 200 metres, and although his attackers continued to hurl rocks at him, he was not seriously hurt.
In March 2002, the International Civilian Commission for Human Rights observation made its third visit to Chiapas. The Commission has just published the report of its latest visit a report that has been signed by a number of European parliamentarians and intellectuals, including the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler. The report refers to the Chiapas paramilitary groups as being part of a counter–insurgency plan in which paramilitary strategy, directed from the highest levels, is designed to control, destabilize, and exercise selective repression within indigenous communities.. In accordance with this counter–insurgency strategy, incidents of paramilitary violence are disguised as and officially attributed to problems deriving from conflicting land claims, from political animosities, from religious conflicts, from family disputes, etc.
Please write to the Mexican government and to the government of the state of Chiapas to express your dismay at learning of these latest acts of violence directed at Zapatista civilians.
Politely pointing out that very many human rights observers consider these acts of violence to be part of a planned effort on the part of the Mexican state to wear down the resistance of the civilian Zapatista communities, please stress the need for a change in Mexican government policy.. Please ask: for:
Please remind the federal government of its international obligations under ILO Covenant 169 to respect the rights of the indigenous peoples of Mexico.
Please write to the Canadian government to request them to make known to the Mexican government Canadian concern regarding the alarming increase in the level of violence and social tension in Chiapas.
ADDRESSES:
For Mexico:
Lic. Vicente Fox Quesada
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de Los Pinos
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec
C.P. 11850, México D.F, MEXICO
FAX: 011 52 55 522 4117 OR 516 9357 OR 515 1794 vicente@fox2000.org.mx or radio@presidencia.gob.mx or go to www.gob.mex and from there to interactivo to send a message
Gobernador Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía
Governor of Chiapas:
Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Chiapas
Av. Central y Primera Oriente
Colonia Centro, C.P. 29009
Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas
Mexico
Fax: 011 52 9(61) 612 09 17 salazarp@prodigy.net.mx
Please send copies to:
Lic. Ricardo Sepúlveda
Unidad paara la Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos
Secretaría de Gobernación
Bucareli 99, primer piso, Col. Juarez, México D.F., CP 06699, MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 546 5350 546 7388 segob@rtn.net.mx
(Lic. Sepúlveda is in charge of the recently–created governmental body for the promotion and defence of human rights.)
Dr. José Luis Soberanes Fernández
Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Periférico Sur 3469, Col. San Jerónimo Lidice, C.P. 100200, México D.F., MEXICO
FAX: O11 52 55 681 7199 correo@cndh.org.mx
Lic. Mariclaire Acosta, Subsecretaria de Derechos Humanos y Democracia
FAX: 011 52 55 117 4334 327 3195 macosta@sre.gob.mx
Her Excellency María Teresa García Segovia
Ambassador for Mexico
45 O'Connor St, suite 1500, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1A4
FAX: 613 2235 9123 info@embamexcan.com
For Canada
Hon. Bill Graham
Minister of Foreign Affairs
125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
FAX: 613 996 9607 Graham.b@parl.gc.ca
Ms. Susan Gregson, Director
Human Rights, Humanitarian Affairs and International Women's Equality Division (AGH)
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
B4 125 Sussex Drive
FAX: 613 943 0606 susan.gregson.agh@dfait-maeci.gc.ca
More violent attacks on Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities in Chiapas
There are very alarming reports of more tragic acts of violence in Chiapas, bringing to four the number of Zapatista civilian supporters who have been killed by members of paramilitary groups during the present month. That is to say that three Zapatista civilians have been killed, and at least one seriously injured, since our last week's urgent appeal concerning the assassination of José López Santis, in the November 17th Autonomous Muncipality, and the armed attack on the Zapatista checkpoint in La Culebra, in the Ricardo Flores Magón Autonomous Municipality (see the Urgent Action of 22 August).
In the opinion of the respected Mexican journalist Hermann Bellinghausen, "with each passing day what is happening is shown to be a concerted action on the part of the various paramilitary groups operating in the selva (Lacandona) and the northern region to harass and provoke the (Zapatista) communities in resistance." Representatives of the Autonomous Municipality of Olga Isabel believe that the paramilitary attackers are seeking to provoke the Zapatistas into an armed response "because they (the paramilitary group) have said that that is what they want us (the Zapatistas) to do." Herman Bellinghausen states that the recent movements of Mexican army personnel towards the interior of the cañadas of the Selva Lacandona and in the northern region of Chiapas "far from having halted the paramilitary violence, appear to have stimulated the increase in violence", and that the events of this past weekend coincided with the unusual troop movements carried out between Sunday and Monday (August 25th and August 26th) Hermann Bellinghausen cites reports from various sources regarding more than one hundred truckloads of soldiers having arrived at the 39th Military Region headquarters. He also mentions Zapatista reports regarding approximately three hundred trucks, tanks, and armoured cars in the military base in Tonin´ as well as about two thousand soldiers en route towards Palenque on the international highway. (The Mexican army, for its part, acknowledges that there have been recent troop movements. However, the army states that such movements are due to routine rotations of army personnel that take place several times a year.)
La Jornada also reported, on August 28th, that paramilitary group members have been distributing written materials in Ocosingo and Altamirano, as part of an anti–Zapatista propaganda offensive.1
THE TWO LATEST ACTS OF PARAMILITARY VIOLENCE
On August 25th, 2002, Antonio Mejía, a member of the Zapatista Olga Isabel Autonomous Municipality was shot to death by armed PRI supporters belonging to the paramilitary group Los Aguilares. This group, which is named for its leader Sebastián Aguilar, a former soldier, has reportedly been in existence, in the (official) municipality of Chilón, since 1994. Sr. Mejía was with his wife at the time of his death. She herself managed to escape from the gunfire.
Some days before the murder, another member of the autonomous municipality had been kidnapped by PRI supporters. The kidnapped man was released – after promising that he would cease to belong to the autonomous municipality and after being forced to pay a fine. While being interrogated by his kidanppers, this man was asked questions about Antonio Mejía, who, he was informed by the kidnappers, was going to be "disappeared".
The Zapatista authorities of the Olga Isabel Autonomous Municipality reported that on the following night (Monday, August 26th) more heavy weapons firing was heard in the communities in resistance.
(Important note: the Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities do not coincide geographically with the official municipalities of Chiapas. The autonomous municipalities are made up of indigenous communities, and sometimes of groups of individuals within communities, which, as collective entities, have made the decision to put into practice the type of autonomy that was agreed upon in the San Andres Accords. They do not accept any government programmes, and build and run their own schools and clinics – through their own efforts and sometimes with the support of national and international solidarity. They register their own births and deaths and have their own justice system, which is based on indigenous tradition as well as on Zapatista ideals of social justice. At times, the competence of the autonomous municipalities is even recognized by their non–Zapatista neighbours.)
The Olga Isabel authorities also reported that the paramilitary group members have threatened that if they (the Zapatistas) do not abandon the autonomous municipality they are going to be kidnapped and forced to hand over a large of sum of money. The authorities commented that they "know that these people (the paramilitary) are paid to do all of this, and now they have begun with assassinations ... We blame this paramilitary group for the assassination of our compañero Antonio Mejía .– And we also blame the federal and state governments. We have filed legal reports of being harassed by the paramilitary, and they (the two levels of government) know about the paramilitary group's existence and its actions."
2) Also on August 25th, 2002, in the community of Amaytic (in the official municipality of Ocosingo) in the Ricardo Flores Magón Autonomous Municipality, an official of the autonomous municipality , Lorenzo Martínez Espinosa, and a community rural agent, Jacinto Hernández Gutierrez, were assassinated in the course of a meeting between Zapatista and non–Zapatista community officials, the ostensible purpose of which was to deal with a marital problem involving a local couple. Eyewitnesses were able to identify at least eleven of the attackers.
After the attack, many of the other residents of the community temporarily fled from the area. Thus no one was present when the Public Security Police, an official of the Public Ministry, and personnel from the Chiapas state police investigation agency arrived on the scene of the crime at, according to the police's own statement, 3pm. In view of the fact that the journey from Ocosingo to Amaytic takes five hours and the assassination occurred at 10am, human rights organizations consider that the police arrived with "suspicious" promptness.
In the opinion of non–governmental human rights organizations, this assassination was premeditated, and it cannot be dissociated from the other acts of violence to which the Zapatista autonomous municipalities have been subjected in recent months. In contrast, the state government is portraying the incident as having been caused by intra–community conflict stemming from disputes related to traditional indigenous customs. Moreover, at least a part of the "official" news media is trying to blame the Zapatistas for the recent upsurge of violence.
The Ricardo Flores Magón Autonomous Municipality Authorities reported that seven other Zapatista civilians were injured in the incident in Amaytic, one of them seriously.
In their August 27h press release, a number of prominent non–governmental human rights centres and social organizations (including the Fray Bartólome de Las Casas Human Rights Centre of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre and the Fray Francisco de Vitoria Human Rights Centre of Mexico City, and the Fray Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada Human Rights Committee of Oconsingo, as well as the National All Rights for Everyone Network of Civic Human Rights Organizations and the Community Defenders Network of Chiapas) made the following statement with regard to the assassinations that took place in Amaytic and the social context in which they took place:. :
This incident occurred in the context of escalating violence in which people belonging to the Zapatista National Liberation Army (the Zapatistas), whether they be ordinary civilian supporters or authorities of the autonomous municipalities, have been the object of physical attacks and legal harassment. In the last month alone, there have been a number of incidents all of which have been characterized by a lack of effective investigation on the part of the judicial authorities of the state of Chiapas, and, in consequence, by the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators (of the incidents).
In relation to these occurrences, repeated legal reports have been filed with regard to the presence, actions, and responsibility of alleged paramilitary groups, such as OPDIC(Organization for the Defence of Indigenous and Campesino Rights). OPDIC was formed in 1995 as a means of counteracting the Zapatista movement. It is led by the PRI state congressman Pedro Chulín, who has also been described as a leader of the paramilitary organization MIRA (Revolutionary Indigenous Anti–Zapatista Movement), which has operated in a number of municipalities including Ocosingo, Altamirano, and Oxchuc.
These events have made plain to us the following features of the counter–insurgency strategy (that is being applied in Chiapas):
The actions of armed groups with ties to public servants.
The implementation of social programmes that continue to cause divisions and confrontations within communities.
State government reconciliation initiatives that do no more than manage the conflict.
The impunity resulting from the failure (on the part of the federal and state governments) to take action with regard to the crimes committed since 1995 by members of these paramilitary organizations.
The threats that have been made regarding the eviction of the communities that have settled within the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve and adjoining areas of the Selva Lacandona.
The incidents described above are even more alarming in the light of the multiplicity of reports that we have received, at least during the present month of August, regarding an increase in troop movements and in military incursions into the cañadas and other parts of the Selva Lacandona. This gives rise to acts of intimidation and harassment directed against the civilian population. It also contributes to fortifying a climate of impunity and human rights abuse.
OTHER VIOLENT INCIDENTS THAT HAVE OCCURRED DURING THE MONTH OF AUGUST, 2002:
On August 9th, Reyna Martínez Orgeta, an indigenous social activist, was found dead in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
On August 18th, near the community of Majomut in the San Pedro Polhó Autonomous Municipality , the Zapatista supporter Mariano Pérez Gómez was threatened and attacked by members of a paramilitary group linked to the Municipal President of the official municipality of Chenalho, Armanmdo Vázquez Pérez. A report in the newspaper La Jornada describes how Zapatista supporter Mariano Pérez escapied from his attackers by throwing himself over the side of a very steep incline. Despite falling some 200 metres, and although his attackers continued to hurl rocks at him, he was not seriously hurt.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
In March 2002, the International Civilian Commission for Human Rights observation made its third visit to Chiapas. The Commission has just published the report of its latest visit a report that has been signed by a number of European parliamentarians and intellectuals, including the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler. The report refers to the Chiapas paramilitary groups as being part of a counter–insurgency plan in which paramilitary strategy, directed from the highest levels, is designed to control, destabilize, and exercise selective repression within indigenous communities.. In accordance with this counter–insurgency strategy, incidents of paramilitary violence are disguised as and officially attributed to problems deriving from conflicting land claims, from political animosities, from religious conflicts, from family disputes, etc.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please write to the Mexican government and to the government of the state of Chiapas to express your dismay at learning of these latest acts of violence directed at Zapatista civilians.
Politely pointing out that very many human rights observers consider these acts of violence to be part of a planned effort on the part of the Mexican state to wear down the resistance of the civilian Zapatista communities, please stress the need for a change in Mexican government policy.. Please ask: for:
- immediate steps to disarm and disband all of the paramilitary groups operating in Chiapas. (request to both levels of government)
- the withdrawal of the Mexican army from indigenous communities.(request to the federal government)
- a thorough reform of the Chiapas state police forces.(request to the Chiapas government)
- For appropriate sanctions to be taken against public servants who are found to have ties to paramilitary groups responsible for acts of violence. (request to both levels of government)
Please remind the federal government of its international obligations under ILO Covenant 169 to respect the rights of the indigenous peoples of Mexico.
Please write to the Canadian government to request them to make known to the Mexican government Canadian concern regarding the alarming increase in the level of violence and social tension in Chiapas.
ADDRESSES:
For Mexico:
Lic. Vicente Fox Quesada
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de Los Pinos
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec
C.P. 11850, México D.F, MEXICO
FAX: 011 52 55 522 4117 OR 516 9357 OR 515 1794 vicente@fox2000.org.mx or radio@presidencia.gob.mx or go to www.gob.mex and from there to interactivo to send a message
Gobernador Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía
Governor of Chiapas:
Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Chiapas
Av. Central y Primera Oriente
Colonia Centro, C.P. 29009
Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas
Mexico
Fax: 011 52 9(61) 612 09 17 salazarp@prodigy.net.mx
Please send copies to:
Lic. Ricardo Sepúlveda
Unidad paara la Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos
Secretaría de Gobernación
Bucareli 99, primer piso, Col. Juarez, México D.F., CP 06699, MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 546 5350 546 7388 segob@rtn.net.mx
(Lic. Sepúlveda is in charge of the recently–created governmental body for the promotion and defence of human rights.)
Dr. José Luis Soberanes Fernández
Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Periférico Sur 3469, Col. San Jerónimo Lidice, C.P. 100200, México D.F., MEXICO
FAX: O11 52 55 681 7199 correo@cndh.org.mx
Lic. Mariclaire Acosta, Subsecretaria de Derechos Humanos y Democracia
FAX: 011 52 55 117 4334 327 3195 macosta@sre.gob.mx
Her Excellency María Teresa García Segovia
Ambassador for Mexico
45 O'Connor St, suite 1500, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1A4
FAX: 613 2235 9123 info@embamexcan.com
For Canada
Hon. Bill Graham
Minister of Foreign Affairs
125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
FAX: 613 996 9607 Graham.b@parl.gc.ca
Ms. Susan Gregson, Director
Human Rights, Humanitarian Affairs and International Women's Equality Division (AGH)
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
B4 125 Sussex Drive
FAX: 613 943 0606 susan.gregson.agh@dfait-maeci.gc.ca