:: ACTEAL
ACTEAL, ONE YEAR LATER
CHIAPAS: A STILL EXPLOSIVE SITUATION...
During the last
year, there has been considerable discussion about the December
22, 1997, massacre on both national and international levels.
Acteal, in the county of Chenalho, an unknown village that
did not even appear on the maps of Chiapas, is now a word
well-known by millions of people in the world. Although the
massacre is an extreme case of violence, more and more frequently
in the last few weeks the situations seems at the point of
further outbreaks of recurrent violence in various zones.
In many ways, the situation in the indigenous communities
of Chiapas has deteriorated in the last year. The most
flagrant increase in the militarization is the county
of Chenalho,
with the arrival of 2,000 troops after the massacre. Still
today there is a presence of military camps in some tens
of communities, mainly in the region of Acteal and the
autonomous county seat of Polho, and it is calculated
that there is
one soldier per family in this region.
Many analysts think that as a consequence of the massacre
the changes in the federal government, replacements such
as the Secretary of State Francisco Labastida Ochoa and
the coordinator for the dialogue Emilio Rabasa Gamboa,
as well
as the governor of Chiapas, Roberto Albores Guillen,
represent a hardening rather than an improvement of the
official
policy regarding Chiapas.
Paradoxically, the initiatives of the state government
to pacify the state seem to have generated more tensions.
For
example, in the spring, the governor reestablished
the "rule
of law" by dismantling four autonomous Zapatista counties
in police-military operations in each of which participated
more than a thousand elements of the armed forces. In these
operations dozens of Zapatista simpathizers were detained,
and in the case of El Bosque there was a violent confrontation
between Zapatista simpathizers and police and army members,
a result of which were the deaths of eight Zapatistas and
two policemen. After these operations the presence of the
armed forces was reinforced in these places, and hostility
against the Zapatista support bases intensified.
The implementation of the state plan for "remunicipalization" announced
in July also has generated many conflicts in the zone, due
to the fact that new centers of government and power will
be determined. In addition, the local elections of October
were characterized by widespread abstentions and a broad
victory for the PRI that won in the entire conflict zone.
The opposition parties denounced irregularities all over
Chiapas and disputed the results in dozens of counties. Due
to the little consideration that the denouncements received,
the opposition declared that they would organize mobilizations
and occupation of municipal buildings before January 1 when
the new legislations will begin their work. Concurrently,
violent incidents, threats and killings in the communities
have increased, like for example in Las Margaritas, El Bosque,
Nicolas Ruiz and Tumbala.
In various locations, increased activity of paramilitary
groups has been reported. The Attorney General
of the Republic is investigating 16 "armed civilian
groups". A
week before the first anniversary of the massacre in Acteal,
Chiapas Governor Roberto Albores Guillen presented a bill
in the state congress titled "Amnesty
for the Disarmament of Civil Groups in the State
of Chiapas". This bill
proposes amnesty to armed groups, extinguishing all penal
action for possession, bearing and stockholding of fire arms
and explosives. Furthermore it includes the possibility to
offer work in exchange for the turning in of arms. For some
analysts this bill could in fact be carried out with the
intention to offer impunity for the murders and violent acts
committed by paramilitary groups. The federal government
appears to be interested in the COCOPA assuming the role
of the mediation and not the role of support which it has.
For their part, the EZLN was quite clear in reminding the
COCOPA of its actual role according to th law, and moreover
solicited from the COCOPA the creation of a new mediation
body.
Another preoccupying aspect in the stagnating peace
process is the disappearance of the mediation
between EZLN and
the federal government. The self-dissolution
of the CONAI (National
Intermediation Commission between the federal
government and EZLN) last June was presented by its president
Bishop Samuel Ruiz as a denouncement of the permanent
aggression
by the government against the mediation body
and
the Diocese of San Cristobal. It is still to
be seen if
the COCOPA
will play a future role in the mediation. At the same time, another actor with increasing
importance, the civil society, made promises
in November to support
the national consultation proposed by the EZLN
about the implementation
of the San Andres Accords. The consultation is
expected for March 21, 1999, and the EZLN hopes
with this
consultation to mobilize civil society and in
this way civil society
will
convert itself into a lancing-point to change
government policy regarding indigenous people. However,
while
the government continues to not fulfill the conditions
of
the EZLN for resuming
dialogue -- such as the implementation of the
San Andres Accords, an end to militarization and the
liberation
of the Zapatista political prisoners -- any incident
could
convert
itself in a drama with bloody consequences.
The international community also continues
to be attentive to the situation in Chiapas.
On
December
11 of this
year, the president of the Working Group on Indigenous
People
of the United Nations Organization (UN), Erica
Irene A. Daes,
expressed her concern about "the violations
and the situation on human rights in the indigenous
communities in
Mexico, especially in Chiapas". She expressed her opinion
that the government must comply with the San Andres Accords.
Daes" statement coincides in general with the point
of view of other international non-governmental organizations
(NGO) and the Subcommission on the Prevention of Discrimination
and the Protection of Minorities of the Human Rights Commission
of the UN earlier in the same month. In this framework, it
is preoccupying that during the past year there has been
an intensive campaign against the presence of foreigners
who act as international human rights observers in Chiapas.
Legal Follow-Up to the Massacre
After the Acteal
massacre on December 22, the authorities detained 96 persons,
including 11 ex-public servants. Almost a year after the
fact, all are in prison awaiting their trials. Among them
is the PRI ex-mayor of Chenalho, Jacinto Arias Cruz, accused
of supplying arms and protection to the executors, who is
being held without release until sentencing. The charges
against the ex-officials are transportation of fire arms
intended for exclusive army use, assault and qualified homicide
by omission.
The prosecutor systematically accused the detained of "organized
crime" (according to his consideration the closest possibility
for a charge against presumed paramilitaries). Nevertheless,
the judges in charge maintained this qualification only for
three persons. However, it seems almost impossible that some
90 persons executed 45 persons by being coincidentally in
the same place on the same time.
The relatives of the accused protested in the state capital
to seek freedom for the prisoners, until now without
result. The present mayor of Chenalho, Pedro Mariano
Arías
Pérez, commented to SIPAZ in July, "The majority
are innocent. We do not trust the investigation by Attorney
General of the Republic." On the other hand, Las Abejas
("The Bees") identified at least 100 presumed paramilitaries
that are still free. In a conversation with the representative
of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) in Chiapas,
Luis Jimenez Bueno, he stated that there are more existing
arrest warrants against presumed authors of the massacre,
but that they have not been executed in order "to not
make the situation in the county more tense".
In July the families of the victims of the massacre accepted
35 thousand pesos per relative killed and between 10
and 25 thousand for each wounded according to the severity
of their injuries. However, for The Bees the quantity
of
the
compensation is irrelevant: "It does not give
our deaths back, and it will not change our lives."
In mid-December it became known that 11 pubic servants
received a ruling of administrative deprivation,
which means that
the officials will not be able to hold a public office
for five to ten years. We recall that in the first
months after
the massacre, there were resignations and in other
cases abandonments by public servants that had arrest
warrants
against them. Therefore, the commentary of a representative
of the CNDH in Chiapas is not surprising, when he
said to us that there exist arrest warrants against high
officials but that they have not been made public
so
as to avoid
the
accused escaping from justice.
Concerning the explanation of what has happened in
the massacre, there are still two contradictory
versions. For some Mexican
human rights organizations the lines of investigation
consider the facts isolated; in this way it loses
its political-criminal
dimension that would value the massacre as an act
of genocide or state terrorism. The official version
inclines
to understand
the massacre as a result of a conflict between
families and/or religious groups, removing all federal
and
state government
responsibility. According to the Attorney General
of the Republic Jorge Madrazo Cuellar, on December
20,
when
presenting
his report: "The White Book About Acteal", "...
another important cause is the creation of an absolutely
anti-constitutional institute, which is the autonomous council
of Polho... and the already non-existance of the ‘rule
of law’ in the county of Chenalho." Furthermore,
he added that he could affirm "that if the Mexican army
would have been present in Acteal on December 22, 1997, the
events never ould have taken place." The Vicar of Justice
and Peace of the Diocese of San Cristobal, Gonzalo Ituarte,
criticized these conclusions. Among other things, he pointed
out that the armed forces were indeed present at a distance
of a few hundred yards from the massacre, and, moreover,
accusing the Zapatistas of being the cause of the massacre
addresses "indirect causes" yet ignores that the "direct
cause" was the presence and actions of paramilitaries.
The Displaced People of Chenalho: Little Hope of Return
Due to the massacre
in Acteal, six thousand new refugees were counted in the
county of Chenalho. But the drama of the displacements had
begun already before the tragic incident in Acteal, in September
and October of 1997 when some four thousand had to flee their
communities after receiving death threats. Among the now
more than ten thousand refugees are 2,500 that belong to
the civil society organization "The Bees".
The displacements have been a traumatic experience at many
levels: for receiving death threats, for material losses
(to abandon or see their homes destroyed, to lose belongings,
animals and harvest, etc.), for the separation from their
relatives (not all decided to leave), for the impossibility
to work, and so on.
Like the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center
pointed out in their last report "Acteal: Between
Sorrow and Struggle", in Acteal the trauma of the massacre,
which has effects at personal, familiar and social-communal
levels, is added to this. Immediately after the massacre
The Bees felt especially defeated; they did not know what
to do and waited for others to tell them. They felt worthless.
However, every person and community has the natural and cultural
resources that will permit them to recuperate from trauma,
such as the passing of time, security, affection and faith.
In the case of The Bees, faith is the central element; they
have regular prayer and fasting sessions, and every month
on the 22nd they celebrate an anniversary mass, which helps
them to keep spirits high in spite of their difficulties.
Living conditions of the refugees do not allow a worthy
development of the people. Although the situation has improved
since they arrived a year ago, their state of health and
hygiene is still deficient: there are multiple diseases and
lack of latrines and drinking water.
Displaced children suffer another consequence due to displacement,
which is that they cannot attend school. In Acteal, The
Bees have constructed a school with tin and plastic,
but they
lack study materials and teachers to give the courses.
The displaced children have already lost one school year,
and
if nothing changes they will loose another.
The situation of the refugees is far from easy, and maybe
what costs most is to accept the dependency which this
situation creates. More than a year ago they had to leave
their homes
without taking anything, only the clothes they were wearing.
They had to depend on humanitarian aid to clothe themselves,
to protect them from the cold, for their food and medicines.
Vicente, a representative of The Bees, commented to us: "We
are ashamed to ask for help, we are not used to begging.
We never asked for anything when we were in our communities,
not even from the government. But it is not that we wanted
to leave our communities and to have to ask for help." Some
humanitarian organizations such as Caritas believe that the
emergency phase has passed and that the refugees should look
for ways to become self-sufficient.
Furthermore, humanitarian aid can generate envy among
the ones that do not receive it. In an interview with
SIPAZ,
Jimenez Bueno from the CNDH said that they had received
several letters (directed to the governor of Chiapas)
in which PRI-supporters
from Chenalho complained about the fact that they did
not receive government attention nor humanitarian aid,
yet
they also had needs.
Besides the difficult life conditions, the refugees
live in a situation of daily insecurity due to the
fact that
the paramilitaries that threatened them still walk
free in the
land around the refugee camps. According to Vicente,
the PRI-affiliated paramilitaries count some 150
persons and
are still present in ten communities of Chenalho.
For this reason, the refugees cannot safely work their
lands. During
two recent months, refugees from The Bees originating
from Los Chorros returned in small groups for a few
days to
prepare their upcoming coffee harvest. They declared
to the Fray
Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center that the
paramilitaries are rearming themselves and that they
are planning another
attack against their organization. In these conditions
a return of The Bees to their lands of origin is
impossible
because the security of the refugees cannot be guaranteed.
Recommended Action
Join the campaign
of the National Assembly for Peace by sending Christmas cards
by fax or e-mail to the Mexican president, the secretary
of state and/or the governor of Chiapas with the text: "Acteal:
Never Again a Christmas Without Us".
Dr. Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León
Presidente de la República
Fax : (int-52-5) 271 1764 / 515 4783
webadmon@op.presidencia.gob.mx
Francisco Labastida Ochoa
Secretario de Gobernación
Fax : (int-52-5) 546 5350 / 546 7380
segob@rtn.net.mx
Lic. Roberto Albores Guillen
Gobernador del Estado de Chiapas
Fax. (int-52-961) 20917
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