File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/marxism-international.9706, message 152


Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 19:46:52 -0600 (CST)
From: Sendic Estrada Jimenez <sestrada-AT-fcfm.buap.mx>
Subject: M-I: E;TheNews, EPR Consents to Cease-fire, Jun 5 (fwd)


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 20:50:44 -0500 (CDT)
From: Chiapas95 <owner-chiapas95-AT-mundo.eco.utexas.edu>
To: chiapas95-AT-mundo.eco.utexas.edu
Subject: E;TheNews, EPR Consents to Cease-fire, Jun 5

This posting has been forwarded to you as a service of 
Accion Zapatista de Austin.

FRONT PAGE

The News
Mexico City, June 5, 1997.

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EPR CONSENTS TO CEASE-FIRE

The News Staff And Wire Services

In the wake of a Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) cease-fire, legislators
and analysts applauded Wednesday the rebel group's decision to lay down its
arms but offered mixed reactions about whether the armistice will have an
impact on the July 6 elections.

"While the peaceful electoral road is the only way to ensure change, I am
not convinced that the EPR's decision will increase voter turnout because
people are still scared that if they vote against the ruling party they will
face repercussions," National Action Party (PAN) Deputy Carmen Segura Rangel
told The News.

Juan Antonio Reboulen Bernal, a political analyst with the Center for
Strategic National and Foreign Political Studies, offered a different
perspective, however.

"With the EPR calling a cease-fire, more people in the state of Guerrero are
bound to show up at polls on election day," he said. "Citizens are not as
likely to abstain if the threat of violence has been lifted."

He also said the state of Guerrero is inclined to vote for the leftist Party
of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) at the federal level, so the EPR
ceasefire could be especially beneficial for the leftist party.

Some, like Segura Rangel, maintain the EPR's decision runs contrary to its
idealogy and as such, may not be as permanent as most would like.

The group has shown its belief that violence -- not elections and democratic
processes -- is the way to bring about change, she said, and the fact that
it now professes its their belief in peace as a vehicle for successful
electoral change is contradictory.

The PAN deputy also advocated dialogue between the government and the EPR to
"resolve the dispute and illustrate that violence is not the correct avenue
for change."

PRD Deputy Pedro Rene Etienne Llano offered a similar perspective Wednesday,
saying citizens should look to legislative bodies for "real change."

Commenting on the cease-fire's impact on the upcoming elections, Etienne
Llano said the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) will be able to better
coordinate the electoral process in the affected areas because the threat of
violence has been removed.

Late Tuesday, the EPR, a year-old rebel group whose clashes with the Army
have left nine dead over the last two weeks, said it hoped to show respect
for ''the electoral fight as well as other forms of struggle'' against the
Mexican government, Associated Press reported.

The group said it would not undertake ''offensive military actions'' from
now until July 15, according to a statement published Wednesday in a Mexico
City daily.

Last weekend, members of Guerrero state's Federal Electoral Institute urged
the rebel group to declare a unilateral truce. It also appealed to the Army
to refrain from human rights abuses.

On Wednesday, the Guerrero state government's Human Relations Commission
called on the Army and the rebels to cease their hostilities and start
negotiations.

The Army has stepped up patrols in Guerrero, a state in southwestern Mexico,
after battles with guerrillas in late May killed five soldiers and four
rebels. They were the first substantial confrontations since the year-old
rebel movement staged a series of hit-and-run attacks across the country in
August, killing 18 people.

Tensions have been high in Guerrero ahead of the July 6 elections in which
the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, could lose the
congressional majority it has held for nearly seven decades.

A number of Guerrero lawmakers will be elected, as will governors in six
other states and Mexico City's mayor. The lower house of Congress and about
a third of the Senate will be replaced.

In Guerrero, PRI leaders have increased their criticism of the center-left
opposition, accusing it of ties to rebels and drug traffickers. There have
also been unconfirmed reports of Army abuses in Guerrero after the May
clashes. Human rights activists traveled to Guerrero last weekend to
investigate.

More than 30 people have been killed since the EPR first took up arms on
June 28, 1996, the first anniversary of a massacre of 17 campesinos by state
police officers.

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[FRONT PAGE]


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