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SIPAZ Action Alert December 24, 1997

Massacre in Acteal (Chenalho), Chiapas - Paramilitary group kills 45 Tzozil Indians

On Monday, December 22, an armed group of supporters of the ruling PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) massacred 45 displaced indigenous persons who had sought refuge from earlier violence in Acteal in the county of Chenalho in the Chiapas highlands. The victims were Zapatista supporters or members of the peasant organization "the Bees" (Sociedad Civil Las Abejas, a group with politics similar to the Zapatistas but which does not support armed struggle). They were attending Mass in the Catholic church when the shooting started.

Witnesses who were present who succeeded in fleeing to San Cristobal de las Casas reported that the attack had been planned several days earlier. They said that the attackers included at least 60 heavily armed men from the communities of Los Chorros, Puebla, La Esperanza, and Quextic.

Javier Jimenez Luna, a member of the Bees from Acteal, and leaders of the autonomous council of Polho affirmed that the group of refugees was attacked from several sides so that they could not escape.

The Mexican Red Cross reported 45 deaths, including nine men, 21 women, 14 children and one baby. Nineteen others were wounded and are being treated in the Rural Clinic and in the Regional Hospital of San Cristobal de las Casas. The reported number of casualties may rise as more information becomes available.

Background

The December 22 massacre takes place in the context of a wave of violence in Chenalho in recent months that has resulted in dozens of deaths, numerous wounded, and at least 2,000 internal refugees.

The large majority of the displaced indigenous who sought refuge in Acteal are originally from Tzajalucum, Chimix and Quextic. Those who came from the first two had fled after being attacked last month by a PRI paramilitary group who burned a number of houses and stole food stores.

Since the beginning of December, the PRI supporters had threatened to attack the refugees. However, a dialogue between the constitutional municipality of Chenalho and the autonomous municipality of Polho was initiated with the assistance of CONAI (National Mediation Commission, presided by Bishop Samuel Ruiz) and COCOPA (Commission for Agreement and Pacification of the Mexican Congress). They agreed to a halt to the violence, mutual tolerance, support for the displaced from all sides, and rebuilding of houses that were burned. As a result the violence was temporarily checked.

However the autonomous council of Polho did not attend a dialogue meeting on December 19, citing a lack of security. At that time, the PRI representatives suspended the dialogue process, complaining that the Zapatistas had kidnapped Vicente Perez from the community of Pechequil. A commission headed by Gonzalo Ituarte, Executive Secretary of CONAI, later found this individual "safe and sound." It turns out that he was part of a group of 20 families from "the Bees" who were being held against their will in Pechequil by PRI supporters. Currently he has taken refuge in the community of Acteal.

According to the Fray Bartolome de las Casas Human Rights Center, the Secretary of Government for Chiapas, Homero Tovilla, had been informed about the threats to attack the refugees. The human rights group reported that, far from preventing the attack, state police (Seguridad Publica) officials who were 200 meters from where the attack took place did nothing to intervene even after it had begun.

In fact, according to a number of reports from displaced persons, the majority of the acts of violence in the county of Chenalho during recent weeks have been undertaken with the backing of the police. Meanwhile, last month's attempt on the lives of the bishops of San Cristobal de las Casas has gone unpunished, and no end is in sight to the continuing escalation of the violence.

This tragedy takes place in a context of extreme tension, with the talks between the Zapatistas and the federal government suspended for more than a year. We may ask to what degree the implementation of the San Andres Accords on Indigenous Rights and Culture (signed in February 1996 but still not fulfilled) might have contributed to averting this tragedy.

Recommended Action

Please send faxes or letters as son as possible to the officials listed below, asking them:

• to give immediate attention to the victims of this tragedy and to repair damages;
• to ensure free access to the area by the communications media and human rights groups;
• to investigate this attack, including the role of state police (Seguridad Publica) and to apply appropriate sanctions;
• to disarm the paramilitary groups that operate in the area;
• to fulfill the San Andres Accords regarding Indigenous Rights and Culture as well as international agreements that the government has signed that commit it to respect the rights of indigenous peoples.

We also request that you contact your members of congress or parliament, informing them of the escalating violence in Chiapas and asking them to communicate their concern about the situation to the Mexican government.

PLEASE RESPOND AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

Thank you.

The SIPAZ Team
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas

Addresses:

Lic. Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon
Presidente de la Republica
Palacio Nacional
06067, Mexico, D.F.
Fax: int-52-5-516-5762 / 515-4783

Emilio Chuayffet Chemor
Secretario de Gobernacion
Bucareli 99, 1er piso
Col. Juarez
06699 Mexico, DF - Mexico
Fax: int-52-5- 546-5350

Jorge Madrazo Cuellar
Procuraduria General de la Republica
Paseo de la Reforma No. 75
Col. Guerrero
06300 Mexico, D.F.
Fax: int-52-5-626-4419

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CIVIL OBSERVATION MISSION

10 November and 1 December, 1997

OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS ABOUT THE SITUATION THAT PREVAILS IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF CHENALHO

Press Bulletin for the Mission, 3 December 1997

I.- Context

Recurring journalistic observations have made public the conditions of insecurity and ungovernability in Chiapas. The violence has been particularly agitated in the municipality of Chenalho in the Chiapas Highlands and in Tila and Sabanilla of the Northern Zone. The 4th of November 1997, the bishops of the Catholic Diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Samuel Ruiz Garcia and Raul Vera Lopez, as well as their entourage of catechists and pastoral agents who accompanied them, suffered an assassination attempt. This fact was read as a sign of the ungovernability and impunity of the paramilitary groups and as an attack on the role of the National Commission of Intermediation.

All of this, in a context of the suspension of the San Andres Dialogues, has had the consequence of an increase in violence and a continuing violation of fundamental rights of diverse social sectors of the Chiapas population.

II.- Description of the Mission

In the face of such facts, a group of national and international civil organizations and public figures preoccupied by resolution of the conflict in a context of peace, dialogue, and respect of human rights convoke the realization of this National and International Civil Mission of Observation for Peace in Chiapas.

The Mission was announced in Canada, the United States, Central and South America, and Europe, corresponding with 44 people of the various convoked groups. Its objective was: Conduct an observation visit to the countryside of two conflict zones, and to observe and document the human rights situation and implications for the peace process. To accomplish this, we formed three observation groups. The first was to visit communities in the municipalities of Chenalho and Pantelho, interviewing local and state authorities. The second was to visit Sabanilla, the third Tila.

III.- Facts Observed in Chenalho

The observation group consisted of 32 persons who verified that around 1,000 indigenous people from the communities Yibeljoj, Los Chorros, Beunpale, Majomut, and Aurora Chica were found to be displaced near Polho, in the mountains of X'oyep and Xolomtoj, and in the outskirts of Pantelho, places of difficult access. Sixty percent are children, and there are elderly, teenagers, and adults without distinction by political party or church. The conditions of health, clothing, housing, and food are critical, as they only have a few ripped plastics to guard them from the constant rain and only have the clothes on their backs, which is insufficient and wet. They have no food, potable agua, nor conditions to purify water. ALL OF THEIR PERSONAL BELONGINGS WERE ROBBED OR BURNED. Refugees are found in locations of unhealthy conditions, which can propitiate the development of epidemics such as cholera.

The displaced persons of Yibeljoj, Los Chorros, Beunpale, Majomut, and Aurora Chica fled to the mountains during the months of September, October, and November, taking refuge first in neighboring communities, from which they had to leave due to constant incursions by armed PRIista groups trained by the Public Security police. With great pain they denounced that the PRIistas, transported in vehicles belonging to the municipal president, harvested and robbed the coffee crops that the displaced people had planted and grown. Fourteen people were denounced who were identified as ringleaders of the paramilitary group in the community of Los Chorros, as well as others from the communities from Canolal and Aurora Chica who presumedly received orders from town council authorities.

For the interviews that were conducted, the official in charge of the 83rd Brigade of the Infantry located in the municipal seat of Pantelho, responding to solicitation to provide methods of security, pointed out that he could not authorize conditions of security for the Mission because a general condition of insecurity existed. Previously, in an interview with the Commander of the Public Security police Absalon Gordillo Diaz, said that 60 men are at their command in Chenalho and that there were conditions of security to visit the communities of Tzajalucum and Pechiquil. Moreover, persons wearing Public Security police uniforms in Majomut carried AK-47 arms, which are used exclusively by the Federal Army, implying a mixing of state and federal levels.

In an interview with members of the Council of Polho, we were informed that the autonomous municipality is composed of 32 communities, totaling approximately 8,000 people in the municipality of Chenalho. In relation to the origin of the displacements, they reiterated that armed attacks occurred on the communities where there had been murders, from which the communities are now taking refuge in the mountains in conditions of general deficiency.

The Autonomous Council of Polho emphasized their will to dialogue under conditions that would be acceptable for all. On our route through the communities, the inhabitants of Chenalho informed us that there are displaced people in Xcumumal and Cacateal as well. We were informed that in the latter location, on 3 December, there had been shots fired and that 1,000 people of the community left to take refuge in the mountains. Sunday, 30 November, residents of the community Yabteclum, handed over to the Mission a detailed and signed denouncement regarding the transport of arms in a municipal ambulance on 9 November at 8:30 to the house of Senor Manuel Arias Ruiz. This fact was shared in the interview that the Mission had on 2 December with the General Procurator of Justice of the State

Passing through Tzajalucum, a community abandoned by all of its inhabitants, we saw three houses and three cars which had been burned. In Pechiquil, in a large group predominantly composed of young people, we conducted interviews in the house of Ex-Municipal Agent of the area, Senor Hilario Guzman Luna, who pointed out that all the community was PRIista, of Presbyterian and Pentecostal religious traditions. Likewise, he told us that on November 19 people dressed in black who were "tall" entered the community, firing their guns, so that 20 families had to flee.

In this community the members of the Mission felt a great tension, particularly because various young people between the ages of 15 and 25, dressed in black, with military demeanors, mixed among the people and observed from the roofs of the houses. They impeded the communication of some people with those of the Mission. Colleagues of the Mission recognized a member of the organization of Las Abejas of Tzajalucum. A letter that arrived for the Mission on the 3rd of December from Las Abejas confirmed our suspicions that the people at Tzajalucum had been kidnapped by PRIistas and paramilitaries from the community of Pechiquil. In an interview with the Governor Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro on December 2, he was informed of this grave situation and he promised to guarantee their lives, including the security of the people and their goods, and to elucidate the responsibilities of these grave facts.

The Civil Observation Mission intended to interview the authorities of the town council of Chenalho; nevertheless, they were not found in the location, in spite of the fact that we had solicited an interview since the date of 27 November.

Information Bulletin from SIPAZ, 15 December 1997

Violence in Chenalho: thousands of displaced persons

In September of 1997, a latent conflict exploded in the municipality of Chenalho. Because of this, thousands of indigenous people had to flee their communities due to intimidation, violence, and the burning of their houses by paramilitary groups and, according to some testimonies, Public Security police and the military. The displaced people met up in other communities in the mountains or in the coffee plantations -- without a roof over their heads, without clothes, without food, and without medicine. The situation is very critical, worsened by the constant rain and the low nighttime temperatures. During the violent confrontations in this municipality, dozens of indigenous people have been murdered in a half year's time, the majority of them bases of support for the EZLN. The struggle occurs between militant PRIistas and Cardenistas [Party of the Cardenist National Reconstruction front] on one side and the Zapatista sympathizers on the other. A third actor that has been made victim of these confrontations but who is not recognized as a part of either the PRIistas or Cardenistas is "Las Abejas de Chenalho," members of the Civil Society who have the same demands as the Zapatistas but do not support the path of armed struggle.

The violence is concentrated in the communities around Polho, headquarters of the rebel autonomous municipality of Chenalho which was established 13 April 1996. Near to Polho is located a gravel deposit, and the 16th of August 1996, the city council decided to legalize or formalize the exploitation of this deposit, prohibiting its use by individuals. According to a representative of Las Abejas, before this fact, the gravel deposit was being exploited by Cardenistas who charged high prices. In this way the tensions and polarization of the municipality began to magnify.

The actual wave of violence unraveled in May with the murder of a collaborator of the autonomous municipality, when a group of PRIistas wanted to by force charge the Zapatistas for road work. The situation was made more grave in the middle of September when the 1,111 Zapatistas returned from Mexico City after the founding of the Zapatista National Liberation Front. This demonstration of Zapatista power at the national level incited the PRIistas and Cardenistas of Chenalho to begin a violent campaign against the Zapatista bases of support.

In the ejidos of Pueblo and Los Chorros, the PRIista authorities exacted monetary cooperation to finance arms and munitions in order to prepare the armed attack against the autonomous council of Polho. Those who refused were kidnapped or beaten. There were seven illegal detentions involving torture and 14 houses were burned. As a consequence, 60 families had to flee the community of Los Chorros.

According to witnesses in Puebla and Los Chorros, beginning a few months before, militant PRIistas were trained by 50 Public Security police who have had a camp there since the start of the violence on May 24. This has been denied by the state authorities.

In the following days, there was a shoot-out near the gravel deposit in Majomut in which two PRIistas were killed. After this moment, a series of vengeful acts unfolded that left more people dead and others fleeing in the mountains.

In October, the hostilities continued on both sides, and an increase was noted in the trafficking of arms. Armed groups maintained control of various access routes to the communities where Zapatista sympathizers live. At the end of the month, the number of displaced indigenous people who abandoned their homes for fear of new confrontations magnified significantly.

The press registered that at the end of October there were 15 dead and 25 wounded, some from each side of the conflict. During the month of November, there were various initiatives on both parts to dialogue and seek peaceful solutions, but everything failed in the absence of the other party at the table. The 19th of November, the parish priest, of French origin denounced death threats by the Municipal President of Chenalho for "instigating the violence" and denied such accusations. Two days later, according to the rebel council of Polho, a group of Public Security police led by "guardias blancas" made its way to the community of Aurora Chica to attack the Zapatista sympathizers, leaving two women and two children dead as well as two wounded.

In the following days, the attacks on the communities where Zapatista sympathizers were intensified, with houses burned, goods and crops stolen, and women assaulted. During the last days of November, the number of displaced people was estimated to be between 2,000 and 4,500 persons.

These occurrences do not seem casual but rather part of a tactic of debilitation of the civil society, above all the forces opposed to the government. All of the violent actions are concentrated in the communities around the autonomous municipality of Polho.

The region of Polho makes use of natural resources such as the gravel deposit and economic resources for the cultivation of coffee. Therefore, the autonomous city council has important economic power in the region, and this is a threat to the powers already established. The intensification of the violence during October and November impeded the planters' harvesting of their crops, and now they are going to face a year of poverty. Moreover, the violence destroyed other economic activities and suspended certain projects.

The majority of the acts of violence are accomplished, according to testimonies of the displaced people, by paramilitaries with backing and sometimes complicity of the state Public Security police. In some cases, the army collaborated in the aggression.

November 30 and December 1, a group of 15 people visited the region on a "National and International Civil Mission of Observation for Peace in Chiapas." SIPAZ participated in this brigade. During the visit, the group encountered in a route through the mountains between Yabteclum and Polho some 800 displaced persons from Los Chorros, Yibeljoj, and Majomut. In their press bulletin, the brigade pointed out that, "sixty percent are children. There are elderly, young, and adults without distinction by party or church. The conditions of health, clothing, housing, and food are critical. They only have a few broken plastic tarps to protect them from the constant rain, and they only have the clothes on their backs, insufficient and wet. They do not have food, potable water, nor the conditions to purify it. All of their personal belongings were robbed or burned. Refugees are found in places where there are unhealthful conditions, which can propitiate the development of epidemics such as cholera." Moreover, the mission confirmed that in the community of Pechiquil dozens of Las Abejas members are found against their will and have made a complaint to that respect before the National Human Rights Commission.

The 3rd of December, the subsecretary of the government Uriel Jarquin Galvez declared that "in Yibeljoj there are no burned houses nor has there been a single aggression." Additionally, he said that the government of the state rejects declarations where supposed facts are disseminated " which go in an interpretation opposed to the collective will to advance the reconciliation and in the consolidation of definite peace." However, confronted with the grave situation of the displaced persons in Chenalho, the National Human Rights Commission of the highlands and the jungle requested to the governor Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro that "immediately" he adopt cautious and precautious means to provide food, clothing, and shelter as well as medical attention to the hundreds of displaced persons in the various communities of Chenalho, in addition to guaranteeing their security.

In the first weeks of December, the constitutional municipality of Chenalho and the autonomous municipality of Polho began a table of dialogue, with the presence of CONAI and COCOPA, in order to overcome the violence and solve the problem of the displaced people.

Summary of the interview with two catechists, members of the "Las Abejas" Civil Society.

Displaced from the municipality of Chenalho since 14 September 1997

Date of interview: 4 November 1997

The members of the "Las Abejas" Civil Society have the same demands as the Zapatistas, but they do not support the path of armed struggle. Because of their posture, they are between two parties in conflict and have suffered much violence.

What is the organization "Las Abejas" Civil Society?

"Las Abejas" have existed since 1991. Five Catholic catechist brothers ran into each other in the prison El Cerezo I in San Cristobal de Las Casas. We began to organize ourselves for their release, and made a pilgrimage with music, fireworks, and prayers. In Chenalho, we issued several bulletins and magazines. We obtained the freedom of the brothers, and from there on we decided to call ourselves "Las Abejas."

In 1994, the conflict began. We were not in agreement with the use of arms. The Zapatistas have the same path [they also want democracy, peace, justice, and dignity], but we don't want to kill. We want peace and dialogue. We created a new organization "Las Abejas" Civil Society of Chenalho [SCAC], but we are not purely Catholics. Also there are some evangelical Protestants, traditionalists, other sects, and so on. Twenty-seven communities form SCAC. We have contacts in El Bosque, Simojovel, Larrainzar and N. Ruiz.

What are the links with the Ejercito Zapatista?

We agree with the Zapatistas. They know us. SCAC participated in all of the Peace Belts -- two people from every community. We are against the bad government, and we consider that the PRIistas are our enemies, but the gospel teaches us that we should love them. In Los Chorros [100 families belong to SCAC], they think that we are Zapatistas. But we are in the middle.

How did the conflict arise?

The conflict began in 1994 because of a very simple reason: the struggle to take control of a gravel deposit. After the armed uprising, the Zapatistas took over some lands. In Chenalho, masked people took over the ranch where this gravel deposit is located. Ultimately, they weren't Zapatistas who took over this deposit but rather Cardenistas. They sold the gravel at a very high price ($20 for 3 tons). Sympathizers of the Zapatista Army in the autonomous community of Polho were enraged and retook the gravel deposit.

What happened in September?

The Cardenistas, who are sons of the ejidatario landholders, sought support. The authorities agreed to take the land. In Chenalho, on the 17th of September, there was a meeting where collaboration was sought in the form of 100 pesos in order to arm themselves against the Zapatistas. The 18th of September, they [the Cardenistas] began to burn houses. The 21st of September, two PRIistas were killed. We heard that on Sunday there were new confrontations. The Zapatistas stayed in their homes in Polho. It was the PRIistas who left Los Chorros to attack.

How is the situation for the displaced people?

They threatened to kill us. They put together all their money and bought arms, submachine guns, and so on. Shots were heard every night. One time, they shot bullets at my house. I endured it for 15 days. We left to San Cristobal de Las Casas on the 14th of September -- five of us, our families, spouses, children -- and stayed there. Now two of them have all their family here [in Chenalho]. They took our spouses in the middle of the Assembly. We asked them, "where are they?", "what are you doing?", etcetera. They didn't want to inform us about what they were doing. If we returned, they were going to make us pay a fine of 10,000 pesos, according to some, or murder us once and for all, according to others. I heard rumors that my wife is crying, crying. But we couldn't get our families back. We didn't bring anything so that we could disappear without raising suspicions. Because of this, we are suffering now; we don't have clothes, food, work.

Are there any prospects or solutions?

The government is not going to solve the problem. The paramilitaries made agreements with the Public Security, which is why they are unafraid. The PRIistas, allied with the Cardenistas, want to finish off all the Zapatistas [it no longer has to do with only a gravel deposit]. One difficulty for the parties being able to sit down to dialogue is that the Municipal President (Jose Ruiz Perez) is a Cardenista and the author [orchestrator] of this whole problem with the gravel deposit.