At the beginning of March, Chiapas Governor Roberto Albores Guillen presented his own state legislative proposal concerning indigenous rights and culture. Albores said that this proposal was based on the San Andres Accords and the proposal that President Zedillo had sent to the federal Congress last year. However, the proposal appears to be vague and to not take the San Andres Accords into account, especially regarding the right to free determination and the autonomy of the indigenous peoples. As for natural resources and land, the proposal does nothing other than stipulate penalties for environmental crimes, and it does not grant any rights in this regard to the indigenous communities.

The legislation was introduced at the same time as the preparations for the Zapatista “National Consultation for the Recognition of the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples and for an End to the War of Extermination.” (For details on the consultation, see “Zapatista Consultation,” elsewhere in this issue).

Approval of the ‘Amnesty Law’

On February 25 the state Congress approved the Amnesty Law for the Disarmament of Civilian Groups in Chiapas, and sent it to the federal Congress for its approval. The state government organized hundreds of meetings with communities and organizations in order to promote the law and to obtain the support of the people of Chiapas. In this regard, a representative from a community group in Chilon commented to SIPAZ, “The government consultation was only carried out in PRI [ruling party] areas, and they gathered signatures of ejido [communal landholdings] representatives in order to buy support.”

The proposal that was approved excludes members of the EZLN from the amnesty, as well as those civilian organizations with structures, administration or training similar to the Army’s. Persons who voluntarily turn in their weapons will be offered economic and technical assistance in order “to promote their economic development.” The time period for weapons to be turned in will be 120 days after the law goes into effect.

Meanwhile, the state government announced that, in the five years since the uprising, 15,000 Zapatista sympathizers have left the ranks of the EZLN, and it attributed responsibility for the desertions to Sub-commander Marcos. One example of this, according to the government, was the weapons turn-in by fourteen alleged Zapatista militia at the end of March in Ocosingo, an event accompanied by a large publicity campaign. The EZLN called the matter “a farce and theatrics,” and claimed that the fourteen purported Zapatistas were in fact members of MIRA (Anti-Zapatista Indigenous Revolutionary Movement), a paramilitary group active in the area. Recently there have been other weapons turn-ins by alleged Zapatistas, which have been denounced in similar terms by the EZLN.

Signs of Détente and New Tensions

From 1995 through 1997, the northern region was the most violent region because of the conflicts between the paramilitary group, Development Peace and Justice and PRD (center-left opposition party) and Zapatista supporters.

Recently fourteen families returned to the community of Cruz Palenque, in the county of Tila. They had left the community in 1997 because of threats from PRI and Development Peace and Justice members. In order to effectuate the return, an accord was signed between the community and the refugee families. In a visit by SIPAZ a few days following their return, the families reported that they had not yet received the aid promised by the government in order to rebuild their houses. There is still some distrust in the community between the two groups, but the representative of a family that belongs to Development Peace and Justice expressed goodwill: “What we want now is for all of us to live quietly; that there be no threats, that there be no fear.”

The government’s inter-institutional coordinator for the region, Rodolfo Anlehu, spoke to SIPAZ about these and other returns: “The communities cannot live in peace unless the displaced return. The programs for the return of the displaced are made directly with officials in the communities now, and not with organization leaders [such as Development Peace and Justice].”

The leader of Development Peace and Justice in the municipality of Tila, Diego Vazquez, stated, “We are of the same blood, one single family. We are mistaken to be fighting…The EZLN is not an obstacle, it’s not an enemy. It’s the defender of the poor, of the Indians.” Another leader in Tila, Sabelino Torres, confirmed to SIPAZ that Development Peace and Justice has entered a new stage of reconciliation in the region: “Everything that happened should be forgotten. There has been bitterness and hatred and deaths, but we want to begin all over. There should not be roadblocks…A meeting is planned between Development Peace and Justice and Abu Xu [an organization of Zapatista supporters]. We want to begin again and to live according to our traditions and customs.”

In spite of these words of reconciliation, tension continues elsewhere, such as in the county of Sabanilla where, according to statements by Catholic Church representatives, Development Peace and Justice maintains total control.

Tension also increased in the county of San Andres. On April 7, the PRI mayor-elect took over the county offices with the assistance of 300 police officers. (The Zapatistas boycotted last October’s elections.) These buildings had been in the possession of the Zapatista Autonomous Council since 1995. There were no arrests. San Andres was the seat of the dialogues between the federal government and the EZLN in 1995 and 1996. The day following the dislocation, a group of between one and three thousand (depending on the source) Zapatista sympathizers retook the facilities without confronting the police, who withdrew from the site. The governor decided not to use force to resolve the problem, explaining, “It’s not a legal matter, it’s political.” And he announced the search for a solution through dialogue.

Two police officers indicted in the Acteal massacre of December 1997 made important statements implicating the police in the purchase of weapons for those who perpetrated the massacre. They also accused the former Coordinator for Public Security, General Jorge Gamboa Solis, of being responsible for the impunity with which PRI loyalists are able to carry illegal, high-powered weapons in the county of Chenalho. As a result, arrest warrants were issued in February for the general and the former Attorney General, Jorge Enrique Hernandez Aguilar.

In March, 24 members of the Patriotic Command for the Conscientization of the People (CPCP) were detained. This is a group made up of dissidents from within the federal army. Members of the CPCP organized a march in December 1998 in Mexico City in order to demand reforms in military legislation. They are now accused of the crimes of desertion, disobedience, insubordination and defamation of the army. The 24 new detainees, including the leader, Lieutenant Colonel Hildegardo Bacilio Gomez, join ten others detained in previous months.

Visit of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

In October, the High Commissioner for Human Rights for the United Nations, Mary Robinson, will visit Mexico. During the Human Rights Commission session at the UN in Geneva, she commented to representatives of Mexican NGOs that her visit to Mexico “will not give the Mexican government an easy out.” She also stated that her visit “should be preceded by a visit from the Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions and by a technical evaluation commission.” More than a hundred human rights organizations and national networks had requested that Mary Robinson and the special examiners visit Mexico. In the March-April session, Mexico was on the list of the fifteen ‘priority‘ countries for the Commission.

The human rights organization, Amnesty International (AI), continued to strongly criticize the Mexican government. In its report, “In the Shadow of Impunity,” published in March, AI spoke of systematic human rights violations throughout the country. AI emphasized that they are especially severe in Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero, where armed opposition groups are present. Secretary of Foreign Relations Rosario Green complained that AI had not taken into account, nor recognized, the progress the federal government has made. In response, the Secretary General of Amnesty International, Pierre Sane, stated: “As long as those responsible for the massacres in Acteal, Aguas Blancas, El Charco and El Bosque have not been taken before the courts and legal processes begun, [and] also in view of the fact that army officials and members of paramilitary groups supported by official bodies are involved, the situation has not changed.”

In its annual report, the US State Department also criticized the human rights situation in Mexico. The report documented cases such as extrajudicial killings, disappearances, torture and police corruption. In addition, violence against women and discrimination against indigenous peoples were cited.

During his visit to Mexico in January, Pope John Paul II alluded to the Chiapas conflict, saying: ”There will be no solution without recognition that the indigenous people were the first owners of the lands, and, therefore, the first with rights to them.”