INDEX
Editorial
Chronology
March 7 -14.
NGO Forum
EDITORIAL
(AMDH BULLETIN)
Chiapas conflict keep showing advances and setbacks, ambiguities
and contradictions, revealing its intrinsic complexity. Respect to
people's life, freedom, integrity, information, dignity, and the identity
of communities are hanging by a thread.
It cannot be denied that, specially due to the physical presence in situ,
to the monitoring and communication efforts of several NGO's, new
and greater violations have been prevented and avoided. However, it
is no less true that difficulties in the negotiations still keep human
rights in Chiapas in a great precarious and potentially threatened state.
Regarding those persons directly affected and those who are victim of
several violations, the supposed EZLN leaders and the vast group of
people that have had to abandon their homes, must be specially
mentioned. Recently, the President of the Human Rights National
Commission (CNDH), Jorge Madrazo, informed Congress' competent
commissions that from January 2 to March 1995 the CNDH has
opened investigations on 379 cases of presumed violations, of which
the great majority, 368, pertain to Chiapas and the remaining 11 to
the states of Mexico, Veracruz, Puebla, and the Federal District. He
severely condemned the Municipality of San Cristobal de Las Casas,
which in "an act of true arrogance" did not accept CNDH's
recommendation to investigate and make responsible those Council
members that perpetrated aggressions against the city's cathedral last
February.
It is of course possible for a civil and governmental organization with
the importance of the CNDH, to engage in a more intense and
effective dialogue with the Congress Commission of Human Rights,
and Interior and Constitutional Points. This should be also done and
not only on behalf of CNDH, with the Senate. Now that the growing
plurality, the incipient and critical participation, and promising
dynamics of the debates --precisely due to the Chiapas conflict-- point
to a more real, necessary autonomy of the legislative power, the
human rights topic can get the corresponding top level priority in our
legislators' political agenda.
It is there, in the sphere of the people's representation, and not only
through reports to the executive power, where criticism, denounces
and difficulties in enforcing CNDH recommendations, will be voiced
with greater credibility. These would normally be referred to acts of
authority of a Government official who would no longer be judge and
jury in the discussions over human rights violations. Could this more
intense CNDH-Legislative power dialogue be the way to reach more
autonomous institutional advances, and in this case, more democratic
in the defense of the fundamental rights of the Mexicans?
But all this can be possible, really viable, only in the measure civil
society can be present. It is indispensable to strengthen and broaden,
particularly in crisis situations, the coordination and exchange of
information among the human rights defending organisms,
governmental or not. This, of course, without affecting people's and
groups' independence, and starting from the coincidences and even
explicit and coordinated strategies, as demanded by the situation.
Two examples related to Chiapas can illustrate the convenience of
proposing, justifying and demanding from the members of Congress
the fulfillment of the responsibilities in matters of human rights.
One: Neither the CONRI nor any other civil organizations were
allowed to participate in the debates of the recently approved amnesty
law. In consequence, among other gaps of importance, a specific
chapter is omitted that would deal with guaranteeing and preventing
violations to human rights. And even though the theme of the
displaced groups is mentioned, no explicit solutions to this grave
problem are offered.
Two: Regardless of the enormous efforts carried out in an
independent form and not without small sacrifices, to visit the conflict
zone, on behalf of the Civil Information Commission that was headed
among other by doctor Alfred Lopez Austin, the diffusion of their
communiques --where they pointed out the lack of conditions to
continue the dialogue-- was practically null.
In all, so that moving forward to a just and dignified peace in Chiapas
can be an irreversible reality, the human rights topic must be the
center of specific negotiations and even more --as it has happened in
Central America and other countries-- of previous negotiations to
others more substantial, to create conditions of trust that will allow to
reach positive results. In this regard, there must not be exclusions
whatsoever, to the contrary, the participation of both governmental
and civil organizations that keep working for the enforcement of
human rights in this country must be fully guaranteed.
Oscar Gonzalez
Chiapas Chronology - March 7 - 14, 1995
March 7
Chiapas' refugees and ranchers coincide when pointing out that there
are no guarantees in the Lacandona Jungle, since it is evident that the
prevailing situation is now worse than January's. Such situation is
reflected in Chiapas by: the absence of civil rights for some 20,000
indigenous groups of 237 communities, ejidos, ranches, and places in
the jungle and mountain where for the moment they have taken
refuge; by those 26(?) evictee that want to go back home; by the
death of nine persons since military incursions started in the conflict
region, and by the march of hundreds of indigenous groups that will
arrive in Mexico in a few days.
The National Democratic Convention (CND) outlined the need for
the Mexican Army to retreat to the position it occupied in January 8,
for the installment of "free zones", and the waiving of any legal
action against the members of the EZLN, in order to reach
appropriate conditions for the dialogue; it proposed, at the same time,
the establishment of "a national, democratic, fair, and social economic
model."
At a moment where human rights are the center point in Chiapas'
events, the director of the Human Rights National Commission
(CNDH), Jorge Madrazo Cuellar, in an official visit to Los Pinos
made by members of protection and defense of human rights public
organisms, pointed out that "the fight for human rights is not a
monopolistic function of the State nor a job exclusive of society's
organizations." He also pointed out that "those who think that in
order to have success it is indispensable to learn to be illegal, to
misinform, to extort and to torture," are showing their inability to
truly investigate, their dishonesty, and their total indifference to the
most elemental moral principles. Likewise, and through the president
of Congress' Great Commission, Humberto Roque Villanueva, of the
PRI party's 56th Legislature, offered President Zedillo his
endorsement to the loan granted by the United States to Mexico, as
well as his support for the initiative for the Law for Dialogue,
Reconciliation, and Dignified Peace in Chiapas.
The population of the Lacandona jungle is organized in what is called
the official Rural Association of Collective Interests (ARIC), and the
independent ARIC, which denotes a profound division among the
inhabitants of those communities. However, this does not reduce in
the least the situation of poverty prevailing in those jungle regions,
where military presence is evident, since according to newspaper
reports, the advancement of the military is growing in communities
with Zapatista influence, enforced by small turbine helicopters,
equipped with machine guns caliber 0.50 and rocket launchers -
Blindice, it seems- that make high-speed, low flights.
Boutros Ghali, Secretary General of the United Nations Organization
(ONU), after inaugurating the World Summit for Social Development
and after praising ONU's work, limited himself to promoting
humanitarian assistance to those persons in distress, be it refugees or
evictee, and manifested that the organism can not intervene in the
Mexican State of Chiapas conflict, without the formal request of the
parties involved.
While the Law initiative for Chiapas has been rejected by some
members of the parliamentary fraction of the Democratic Revolution
Party (PRD), it transcended that in the Legislative Commission for
the Dialogue in Chiapas there was a consensus to modify the initiative
and include the name of EZLN in the final text. Such Commission
revealed that the initiative intends to give a political solution to the
conflict with legal coverage, and recognized that the criticisms made
by the EZLN are "perfectly worthy of consideration in the course of
the parliamentary discussions."
During a visit made by Cuauthemoc Cardenas (former presidential
candidate for the PRD) and members of his party, to 15 alleged
members of the EZLN that are in jail, he manifested his solidarity
with those he considered "political prisoners." In response, one of the
detained, Fernando Dominguez, told the PRD representatives that he
had nothing personal to ask for; he only asked them to keep fighting
for a solution to the Chiapas problem and to find peace for the
indigenous people and farmers.
The Committee of the Farmers and Craftsmen Union of the Nahuatl
Sierra of Zongolica, Veracruz, that groups some 3,000 nahuas,
demanded the withdrawal of the Mexican Army and the state police
from the municipalities of Tlaquilpa, Tehuipango, and Tequila,
because they broke into the homes of seven indigenous occupants and
took documents of the organization, and because "the army is going
to the indigenous communities in search of marihuana crops, carrying
a list with the names of 15 people pointed out as supposed members
of the EZLN," but most of them are leaders of the Committee.
Students' representatives demanded a 24-hour closure of "all superior
education institutions" if the government does not respond to the
demands of the student movement in which the following stand out:
the withdrawal of the Army from the conflict zone, the recognition of
"the transition rebellious government of Amado AvendaNo," respect
to the mediator Samuel Ruiz and, "that the expenses of the
government in the search of the Zapatistas" be destined to really
solving the real problem of the entity: poverty.
While it was being informed of the liberation of a 7-year old boy,
recently kidnapped by an "armed group" and of the accumulation of
12 kidnapping cases in the Chiapas entity, representatives of 42
indigenous communities in the state of Oaxaca, affiliated to diverse
political and social organization of the entity, constituted the Popular
Movement of Democratic Organizations of the state of Oaxaca
(MOPODEO), whose representatives pointed out that the inhabitants
of 162 municipalities are part of the vast legion of humans living in
high marginality. In these communities, 736,419 indigenous people of
different ethnic groups, occupying 2,382 villages, hardly survive.
These 168 municipalities represent more than half of the poor people
in the country, resulting in the fact that Oaxaca's poverty is greater
than that of Chiapas," and with whom MOPODEO expressed its
solidarity and demanded from the Mexican government the Army's
immediate withdrawal from the conflict zone and the resumption of
the dialogue between the government and the EZLN.
The Attorney General's office in Tapachula, Chiapas, informed that
the land invaded by Chiapas peasants will not be evicted if the
corresponding arrest warrants are not issued.
MARCH 8
Groups of international observers surveying the conflict zone have
concluded there is a "war situation" since the Mexican Army started
its incursions in the region. After a tour of the indigenous
communities of Ocosingo, Juan Ruiz Luis Jimenez, member of the
Spanish Solidarity Platform with the People of Chiapas, said that
according to some testimonies, the Army has breached universal
rights with actions such as the entry and search of homes and the
arbitrary arrest of some villagers as was the case of peasant Diego
Perez Hernandez.
After the murder of rancher Antonio Hernandez Villanueva at the
Avellanal village, the leader of the Ocosingo Cattlebreeders
Organization Jose Francisco Lopez, charged Bishop Samuel Ruiz
Garcia and local mayor Jorge Rafael Diaz NuNez with being the
masterminds behind the crime. At the same time, judicial police
searched the San Jacinto de Polonia church looking for arms for the
Zapatistas, while the Army set up siege to Las Tacitas community
using more than 300 soldiers that chased and interrogated the
villagers.
Seventeen days after the "March for Dignified Peace with Justice,
Democracy and Freedom," left Tuxtla Gutierrez and Palenque, it was
welcomed at the main plaza of San Miguel Teotongo, Iztapalapa
Delegation by the Emiliano Zapata Revolutionary Popular Unit
(UPREZ).
Ramon Godinez, Secretary General of the Mexican Episcopacy
Conference (CEM) pointed out that far from criticizing the pastoral
work of Bishop Samuel Ruiz, it must be admitted that the efforts of
the Chiapas Bishops (Tapachula, Tuxtla Gutierrez and San Cristobal)
have halted the war in the conflict zone. Also, Aguascalientes Bishop
Rafael MuNoz NuNez, rejected "the convenient excuse that places on
the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) all responsibility
of our current distresses." On the other hand, Javier Lozano
Barragan, Zacatecas Bishop, denied the contents of an interview aired
by Television Azteca in which he would have criticized Samuel
Ruiz's pastoral activities. "It was manipulated in such a way it did not
correspond to what I said."
Mexican actress Ofelia Medina denounced in Paris that in Chiapas "a
silent genocide" is being carried out and that 20 thousand people have
abandoned their communities.
Ecologist organization Greenpeace informed that during a tour of the
conflict zone in Chiapas it concluded that the presence of troops in
that region "responds to a well-defined war strategy and not to a
peaceful occupation, with negative consequences for both the
population and the eco-systems in the zone."
MARCH 9
The President of the National Commission for Human Rights
(CNDH) Jorge Madrazo Cuellar, presented at the Chamber of
Deputies a report saying there are sufficient evidence to document
supposed human rights violations perpetrated last February by some
police groups at arresting alleged Zapatista leaders.
With ten amendments to eight articles of the original proposal, the
Senate passed the Law for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Dignified
Peace in Chiapas. Law was approved with 115 votes of the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), National Action Party (PAN)
and Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). The following part
was removed: "[Military] actions taken in response to any aggression
will not imply that this order [the law] has been challenged." The
other approved changes to the text are: _The rebels are referred to as
"the EZLN, the group of people that identifies itself as an
organization of mostly indigenous Mexican citizens." _Rather than
limiting amnesty to the 30-day start-up period, it will be extended for
"as long as the negotiations continue." _A commission will propose
the location of negotiations and all sides will have to agree on it."
_No one will be allowed to bear arms in the designated location and
"the political and physical conditions for dialogue" will be generated.
_The National Mediation Commission (Conai)is excluded from the
so-called Concord and Pacification Commission and will continue to
mediate the transactions. _The EZLN will be able to participate in a
commission to ensure compliance after negotiations.
For the first time after thousands of soldiers raided the Lacandona
Jungle searching for EZLN leaders, more than three thousand
indigenous residents of 14 municipalities marched to protest for the
Military occupation. They also praised the work of Samuel Ruiz and
expressed the need to support indigenous, peasant and urban women
that commemorated the "International Woman's Day."
Bishop Samuel Ruiz said the Law for Dialogue, Reconciliation and
Dignified Peace in Chiapas" is a "hopeful sign" and an instrument
"we hope will prompt dialogue." However, he insisted, the Law in
only "an instrument and results depend on the way it is used".
The Popular Council of Human Rights in Chiapas demanded
President Zedillo that the proposed amnesty be extended to the "more
than three thousand political prisoners in the country as they were
sent to jail for their participation in the struggle for land, democracy
and justice."
The Mexican Academy of Human rights (AMDH) reported that
between February 27 and March 3, the financial aid package offered
by the United States to Mexico, the investigations into the murders of
Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu and Luis Donaldo Colosio, and the
statements and actions of former President Carlos Salinas, got most of
the attention in the following news programs monitored: Televisa's 24
Horas, Multivision's Para Usted, and Channel 11's Enlace. The
Chiapas case was relegated to a second place. The appearance of
Carlos Salinas "illustrates "the nature of the relationship between
media and power: news programs do not keep themselves at a proper
distance and are therefore unable to express any criticism with respect
to political actors in general. What is evident is a flattering attitude
toward the current administration and a disqualification of dissenting
voices." In the oppinion of the Mexican Academy of Human Rights,
the right to be informed will not be effective if the media continue to
be manipulated.
After covering 1,100 km along 17 days, the approximately three
thousand indigenous and peasant members of the "Caravan for Peace"
headed by Amado AvendaNo, arrived at the Zocalo last Wednesday
March 8. The Zocalo was declared "dignified rebel territory to look
for justice and freedom."
Historian Enrique Florescano said that after studying the indigenous
upraises of the beginning of XVIII Century, his conclusion is that:
"Those movements, called messianic, always had a leader that was
going to change the world, was going to defeat those in power and
replace them with the humble, the poor, the oppressed. The Zapatista
movement no longer has these characteristics as, for the first time,
they have a proposal for the future, not for the past. And contrary to
those ancient movements that never transcended the ethnic frontiers
and were definitely local, the Zapatistas of today have evolved into a
political movement intending to become national. Its core demands
have a national character --overthrow the government, defeat the
Army, establish a new political order and from there, the strictly
indigenous demands: food, health, economy, etc. The indigenous
movements of the XIX, XVIII, XVII, XVI Centuries never attempted
to overthrow the national government. That is the difference."
MARCH 10
The Fray Francisco de Vittoria Human Rights Center informed that
despite the presidential orders to halt the advance of the Army,
Chiapas continues to be militarized and at some locations occupied by
the Federal troops, individual guarantees have been suspended for the
civilians. According with data provided by this organization through
the Plural Commission for Peace in Chiapas, the Conai, Amnesty
International, Greenpeace and other humanitarian organizations, there
are approximately 20 thousand people that have been displaced by the
presence of the Army.
After a tour of the conflict zone, the Information Civilian
Commission reported the death of a pregnant woman and four
children from Las Margaritas that had ran to the jungle when the
Army invaded their community. According to a group of 63
academicians, artists and NGO's forming up the Commission that
visited the Ocosingo, Altamirano and Las Margaritas municipalities,
there are no conditions for dialogue due to the presence of the Army
and a virtual state of war. With respect to Army actions, feature
writer Sergio ZermeNo stated that although there is no evidence of
repression or of "direct assassinations, the reproduction sources of
the indigenous life have been altered." He pointed out that in a
deliberate way communities are split and confronted through an
"accelerated re-settlement program" using the displaced groups from
last year and with the full support of the authorities.
Thirty-three members of the Rebel Government Council delivered to
Interior Secretariat Esteban Moctezuma a petition document
demanding the withdrawal of the Army to the positions it held on
February 8, as well as the creation of free zones to avoid a clash
between the two armies, among other demands.
MARCH 11
At a meeting with Chiapas Governor Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro, the
powerful enterprise groups, cattlebreeders, businessmen and industry
leaders in the state, challenged Ruiz Ferro to launch eviction actions,
in a term of 72 hours, at the more than two thousand properties that
according to them had been seized by indigenous groups. If not, they
threatened with the application of other measures on their own. They
also warned the government they would not allow more land
takeovers.
With some amendments to reinforce the role of the state government
at creating conditions to re-start dialogue, local congress passed the
State Bill for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Dignified Peace in
Chiapas between the federal authorities and the EZLN.
Talking to approximately two thousand university students, Amado
AvendaNo pleaded: "do not leave us alone, organize caravans, go to
the jungle, impede more killings by the Army. Please, coordinate
with the other national universities to help us stop the war."
AvendaNo said that the recently approved Law for Peace and
Reconciliation is "fallacious" as it allows the Army's actions to
continue. He said it was unlikely that in such conditions the EZLN
would accept to re-start negotiations.
According to the Rebel Government led by Amado AvendaNo, the
federal government refuses to discuss the withdrawal of the Army
from Chiapas and come to agreements to put an end "to repression
against indigenous groups not only in Chiapas but also in the states of
Puebla and Guerrero." They deem insufficient the installation of
'discussion tables' to come to any agreement when "our observations
were not taken into consideration at drafting the Law for Dialogue,
Reconciliation and Dignified Peace in Chiapas."
MARCH 12
Zapatista indigenous groups from "resisting communities" in the
conflict zone, informed of Army plans to undertake concealed
actions in the region and that members of the EZLN are already being
chased in the Lacandona mountain and jungle.
With an overdue portfolio of more than 450 million new pesos,
Chiapas businessmen declared a two-year moratorium. The debt will
be restructured with banks as of 1997.
Bishop Samuel Ruiz praised the commission of 80 national and
international intellectuals and observers that visited the conflict zone
to examine the situation. "Their impressions are first-hand and thus
their conclusions must be widely publicized." Their judgement is
accurate, he insisted, in that communities are still being displaced due
to a lack of means of support and their fear of the federal Army.
As of today, the government and the EZLN have 30 days to re-start
dialogue. With the publication in the Official Journal of the
Federation of the Law for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Dignified
Peace in Chiapas, the arrest warrants against Zapatista leaders --
including Subcomandante Marcos-- were formally deferred to April
10. Only if the government and the Zapatistas maintain peace talks,
the suspension of arrest warrants will remain suspended.
The civil organization Economic-Social Development of Mexican
Indigenous Groups (DESMI) and other non-government
organizations held a "national and international crusade for the
immediate liberation of Jorge Santigo Santiago" who has been
accused of being a Zapatista leader. At the same time, Ramsey Clark,
former U.S. general attorney asked President Zedillo the
excarceration of Santiago Santiago, stating that his liberation "is
essential to the peace process in Chiapas." In his petition letter to the
Mexican president, Ramsey said that: "The Mexican government
must chose between freedom and tyranny."
With the purpose of touring the conflict area in Chiapas, the
Parliament Commission of the United Left Party of Spain, arrived in
Mexico today. Besides getting a first-hand impression of the
situation, they also wanted to express their solidarity with those
looking for a just, peaceful and negotiated settlement to the conflict,
and give their support to Bishop Samuel Ruiz, the Party of the
Democratic Revolution, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas and the National
Democratic Convention.
MARCH 13
According to versions of Chiapas cattlemen, the "limited" patrolling
of the Mexican Army in the conflict zone and the lack of guarantees,
are preventing the return of the small owners displaced from 947
properties. This has resulted in a loss of over 200 million new pesos
for damages to the cattle breeding sector.
At making a diagnosis of the losses experienced in the conflict zone,
after 14 months, the leader of cattlebreeders in Chiapas Jorge
Constantino Kanter, said that of the 100 thousand heads of cattle only
15 percent was recuperated. On the other hand, total losses in coffee
production amount 130 thousand quintals, not including personal
consumption crops.
Upon returning home from the mountains, after a month of hiding and
fear, the first thing they saw was destruction, food spreaded all over
the place, domestic animals roaming around, cloths and papers torn to
pieces. A little later they realized soldiers had defecated inside their
homes. First came a great sadness, then indignation "They came here
to make a mess, we feel terribly sorry because we are in such distress"
said laconically a Tzeltal while looking at the soldiers.
In the opinion of the National Democratic Convention (CND), the
recently approved Law for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Dignified
Peace in Chiapas offers the possibility of a political and peaceful
settlement of the conflict but finds some articles inadequate, such as
Articles 1, 4, 6 and 7, which are presented as and 'ultimatum' to the
EZLN and this is inadmissible.
Italian legislators visiting the conflict zone in Chiapas said that a "war
against the indigenous groups and their right to life, their culture and
their dignity "is being carried out. They will ask their government to
include in the agenda of the Security Council of the United Nations
Organization --of which Italy is member-- the Chiapas affair. They
also expressed their solidarity and support to Samuel Ruiz "not only
for his work with the indigenoues groups and his prophetical presence
but because now Samuel Ruiz represents the equilibrating factor that
will allow a true meditation".
The Interior and Constitutional Points commissions of the Chamber of
Deputies will study a fast Amnesty Law for those people held in
prision in connection with the Chiapas conflict. This Bill is
particularly relevant as the approved Law for Dialogue passed last
Sunday, no mention is made to these prisoners. Therefore, this new
Amnesty Law would cover people in jail on charges of being
Zapatistas.
MARCH 14
The pact of Ecologist Groups (formed up by 48 groups and
associations) sent a letter asking the Technical Council for the
Lacandona Jungle headed by UNAM's Principal Jose Sarukhan, that
the environment be included in the peace accords. In their letter, they
claim that not only a dignified peace must be attained but also the
respect of nature has to be guaranteed. People have informed that the
Mexican Army is using bulldozers to make breaches in the biosphere
reserve of Montes Azules. This was unofficially informed during the
"Ecological Crusade for a Dignified Peace with Justice, Democracy
and Respect of Nature."
Tzeltal, Chol and Zoque indigenous groups, members of the Xi'Nich
Coordinator of Social Indigenous Organizations, condemned the
demonstrations of cattlemen, businessmen and hotel-owners against
human rights groups and anyone expressing discontent with the
situation of intolerance in the state."
Fears of rupture of the fragile "truce" between the government of
Ruiz Ferro and the so-called small owners have increased as these
have threatened to evict occupants of more than two thousand
properties in the state.
According to Andres Jimenez, currently living at one of Las
Margaritas shelters, there is a risk of clashes in the region because the
Zapatistas that come back in the darkness of the night to check their
homes could be spotted by the Mexican Army and, on the other hand,
when the Zapatistas come back they "keep pressuring people that did
not leave with them and if they want to do something, we are going to
defend ourselves."
Infantry General Pablo Castellanos Garcia told reporters invited by
the Mexican Army to tour the Zapatista zone of La Garrucha, that the
damages and destruction of homes were caused by the pigs, cows and
horses that enter the houses looking for food."
Twenty million pesos have been spent by the Mexican Red Cross
during the 14 months of the Chiapas conflict. This was informed by
Fernando Uribe, president of the Red Cross, who added that
approximately 20 thousand families are being taken care of at the
various shelters established in that state.
At a meeting in Los Pinos with senators and deputies, President
Zedillo expressed confidence that Zapatista rebels would soon
respond to the government and reiterated that dialogue must be the
way as "nobody in Mexico wants war." President Zedillo pointed out
that the cooperation between the Executive and Legislative to develop
the Law for Reconciliation, Dialogue and Dignified Peace in Chiapas,
is unprecedented and reflects the will of the society to give peaceful
and legal solutions.
In an interview with La Jornada newspaper, spokesmen of the EZLN
stated that Rafal Sebastian Guillen is not Subcomandante Marcos and
that it is impossible "to resume discussions" if the Mexican Army
does not withdraw from the conlifct zone. The interview took place
"somewheree in the Lacandona jungle," and the answers to the
reporters' questions were given in Tzeltal (helped by an interpreter)
and Spanish languages, expressing a hope that the "dialogue could
take place within 30 days and they could see the Army withdrawing
from Chiapas."
The Legislative Commission for Peace and Reconciliation in
Chiapas's spokesman Luis Felipe Bravo, said "it was urgent to
implement the mechanisms provided by the recently approved Law."
At the same time, Interior Secretary Esteban Moctezuma pointed out
the need to review the commitments and procedures established by
the Law and execute them as soon as possibe.
The members of the Caravan for Peace in Chiapas set up their camp
at the Zocalo, in the heart of Mexico City in demand of: resumption
of peace dialogue in Chiapas; withdrawal of the Mexican Army from
the conflict zone, and recognition of the "transition government"
headed by Amado AvendaNo.
According to an article published on a national diary, in Santa Elena,
the municipal capital of Ocosingo, citizens live under a "military law"
since several weeks ago. People are not allowed to gather unless
authorized by the Army, and women are forced to "wash the soldiers'
uniforms and make tortillas for them." These and other human rights
violations are being suffered by the inhabitants of this small village.
There is also the danger of gastro-intestinal illnesses because soldiers
use the three water-supplying wells of the community to take baths
and people have to drink of this water.
NGO FORUM
Citizen Chain for Peace.
With the purpuse to colaborate with the acoomplishment of conditions
that will enable the dialogue and a peaceful solution to the Chipas conflict,
a plural citizen group surges and convokes to the formation of the Citizen
Chain for Peace, which would be integrated by diverse civil groups and
non governmental organizations (NGO's). The convokation is carried out
through the "Manifest for Peace in Chiapas", that contains, among others,
the follwing petitions:
-The retriet of the Mexican Army to positions that eliminate the
presure and the surrounding of the EZLN and the civil population in the
area.
-To establish emmideately "neutral zones" under vigilance of the
International Red Cross.
-That the authorities desist from undertaking legal action against
the EZLN leaders and free those detained.
-To suspend the persecution and harassement to organizations and
persons allegedly or de facto allied to the EZLN.
-Strengthen and support the instances of mediation that already
exist: the Conai and is head, Bishop Samuel Ruiz and the Legislative
Commision in Charge of the Vigilance.
-Insist to the Federal and State Governments thatthey open the
means of communication to the social actors of the conflict in t he state of
Chiapas and that free accessibe guaranteed in hte conflict area to any
organizationoar person.
-Establish a new indefinite military cease-firetko create the
conditions and spaces that propitiate the dialogue.
-Accept as Agenda of Discussion the proposed points by the
Conai and the sides in the conflict.
-Initiate immediately a new round of negotiations between the
government and the EZLN.
-Another consideration is that the Amnesty Law, the
demilitarization of Cgiapas andthe deposition of wapons, must be a result
of the negotiation process and the execution of the traties that result in a
definitive peace.
To promote these points the Citizen Chain for Peace has coordinated a
series of actions in thr Federal District and in the interior of the Republic,
specificly in Chiapas. The most outstanding are:
Information Briagades for Peace: Information Tables about Chiapas on
a one to one basis.
Espacio Civil por la Paz (ESPAZ), Academia Mexicana deDrechos
Humanos (AMDH), Movimiento Ciudadano por la Democracia (MCD)
and "La Corregidora".
Tels. 659 8764, 277 4851, 533 6475 and 523 2114.
Collection of Supplies:
Indispensible: corn, maseca, sugar, beens, rice, paste soap, ionized salt,
maternal milk in powder, disinfecting drops for water, candles, batteries,
matches and flashlights.
Optional: clothes (preferably new and warm).
Medicine: antibiotics, anti-diarrhoetics, anti-parasites, anti-mucousants,
medicine for skin problems, serum against snake bites, alcohol, cotton,
bandages, syringes, and other first aid materials, Because of the type of
illnesses that occursin the area that require special treatement, we are
asking for econ=mic donations.
For more information call the "Centros de Acopio" at:
ESPAZ, Tabasco 262, Col. Roma Tel. 625-2545. Francisco Sosa
320, Coyoacan, Tel. 659 3990.
Xola 181, 3er piso, tel 590 2021.
CND, San Antonio Abad 151, tel. 741 3307.
Bank Accouts:
-Banamex, Suc. 575, account number 4884969, holder Mguel
Alvarez, Mexico, D.F.
- Banco Bital, Suc. San Cristobal de las Casas, Chis. Account
number 11010576, holder Ofelia Medina.
The supplies that will be collected will be taken to their destination
through the diverese caravans that are constantly undertaking the transfer.
For more information about the trips of the caravans, call the follwing
numbers: 525 2545, 590 2021 and 741 3307.
Addresses where to send support messages for peace and dialogue.
Dr. Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, President of the Republic,
Faxes, 271 1764, 516 5762, and 515 9141.
Lic. Esteban Moctezuma, Secretary of the Interior,
Fax: 546 7388.
Lic. Antonio Lozano Gracia, Attorney General,
Fax: 626 4426.
On March 7, 1995 the civil Mission of Information of the citizen Chain
for Peace (made up of 63 intellectuals, artists and NGO's), was invited by
the National commission of Mediation (Conai), to travel through Chiapas
during march 7, 8 and 9, the conflict area to interview the differents
chiapanecan sectors such as the state and municipal authorities, local
political party representatives, villages in general and the inhabitants of
the affected area.
The civil information mission at its return, specially in the municipios of
Ocosingo, Altamirano and Las Margaritas, offered a press conference in
San Cristobal de las Casas, in which they assured that "conditions for
dialogue do not exist due to the high state of militarization and virtual
state of war". The group announced that it will deliver an inform to the
President of the Republic on top of a petition package. It advanced as
well, that it will send to the goverment of the United States a report of the
accusations picked up.