From: "Siddharth Chatterjee" <siddhart-AT-mailbox.syr.edu>
Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 16:44:19 +0000
Subject: M-I: Massacre in Chenalho


Date sent:        Sun, 28 Dec 1997 15:20:53 -0500
Subject:          M-G: Report on Events, etc. Dec 26
From:             "ORIONTEC" <oriontec-AT-prodigy.net>
To:               marxism-general-AT-jefferson.village.Virginia.EDU
Send reply to:    marxism-general-AT-jefferson.village.Virginia.EDU

   Many people on this list may have already seen this 
information,so sorry if it's a redundant post,but there is some 
important infromation and address's below.

_______________________________________________
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 17:39:45 -0600 (CST)
>From: Janik Amarela Varela Huerta 
<amarela-AT-breogan.iimas.unam.mx>

 In an abhorrently brutal act, at least 45 persons were 
masacred in the rural community of Acteal, Chenalho yesterday
afternoon. According toinicial community reports, a group of
approximately 60 local Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) 
members entered into the community on December 22, shooting randomly 
into the air.  Men, women and children dispersed interror, seeking 
refuge. Unfortunately, no space was found safe, norsacred.  The first
confirmed reports count 9 men, 21 women, 14 children,and one baby dead
in and around a small church at the edge of Acteal. Allhad been killed
by gunshot wounds of high-calibre arms and exploding bullets,
generally of exclusive military use.

This is not the first time that Acteal has been targeted 
with institutional violence. On Monday, November 24, two 
truckloads of uniformed and fully armed military personnel (60-75
soldiers) entered into Acteal.  According to reports by community
members at the scene, the soldiers came into the community supposedly
looking for weapons. They immediately began to strangle one community
member, and threatened to kill him if he did not tell them where arms
were being stored. After throwing him to the ground, a group of women
stepped forward demanding to know what right the soldiers have to
treat their compa~ero in that manner. The women were then also beaten;
one suffered a broken arm and a 12- year-old girl was badly hurt.
After searching a number of houses, ransacking them as they went, the
soldiers retreated from the community. No weapons were found. 


A Little bit of Background

The municipality of Chenalho is located in the region 
known as"Los Altos"  or the Highlands of Chiapas, some 70 kilometers
from the vastly turisted colonial town of San Cristobal de Las Casas. 
But until these recent "explosions of violence" most foreign visitors
and Mexicans alike had never heard of Chenalho.

Chenalho is an area rich in high-altitude coffee, timber, 
sheep and cattle, corn, bean and other vegetable crop production --
and yet,poor in health, education, minimal sanitary conditions, food,
clean water,basic respect for human rights, and justice. Like so many
indigenousregions in Mexico, the local population=b4s misery had been
convenientlyhidden from the public eye.  Some of the more obvious
indicators include: 

Illiteracy rate - 51 %
Inhabitants without drainage or sewage systems  - 88%
Inhabitants without electricity  - 78% 
Inhabitants without access to running water  - 56%
Inhabitants living in homes with dirt floors  - 91%

But today the suffering of the people of Chenalho is 
no longer kept a secret. It has become the focus in the most recent
chapter in Mexico's "Undeclared Civil War." 

Since May of this year, there have existed rumors of 
war. One school teacher was mysteriously killed, and people were
beginning to complain of increased political tensions in the
communities. Since that time, there have appeared signs of
paramilitary groups forming in the communities Los Chorros and Colonia
Puebla. Violent confrontations, on September 1, 7resulted in at least
30 persons killed and 17 houses the Civil Society Las Abejas were
burnt to the ground in the community of Los Chorros -- with the
inhabitants losing all of their personal belongings.That same day some
60 members of Las Abejas fled their community in fear for their lives.

But for a time, there appeared the fleeting hope that 
the conflict could be resolved peacefully. There was agreement 
amongst the CivilOrganization - Las Abejas, by community 
representatives of the PRD and Zapatista sympathizers, and the 
politically-plural coffee producer organization Union Majomut, that 
there must be a dialog and a peaceful resolution to the on-going 
violence and political turmoil. The PRI municipal government even 
made some gestures that they might attend such a meeting.  After two 
aborted sessions for dialog (because the PRI government 
representatives refused to sit down and talk), the first "peace 
dialog" was actually held on December 5 in the community of Las 
Limas.

However, it appears that the government was simply 
using the "peace-keepping gesture" as another tactic within a strategy
of"counter-insurgency" warfare.  Just as peaceful resolution began to
appear a possiblity (and opposition groups thought they might be able
to put down their guard), government-backed groups were already
violating the agreements they had signed.

Representatives of the Autonomous Council for the 
Municipality of San Pedro Chenalho denounced the following acts as the
first signs of the government=b4s lack of political will to respect
any negotiated agreements:

-December 11, the house of Zapatista sympathizer Pedro 
Perez Cuchlo was burnt to the ground by members of the governing PRI
party in the community of Chimix.

-December 13, another two houses of Zapatista 
sympathizers are burnt to the ground by members of the PRI; and
another house of Zapatista supporter is riddled with bullets in the
community of Polho, barrio Majomut. 

-On the 14th of December a truck recognized as belonging 
to Sebastian Epech was seen bringing Celestino Perez Jimenez 
and Lorenzo Perez Vazquez -- accused by opposition community members
of belonging to paramilitary groups trained by Public Security forces
-- with weapons wrapped in gunny sacks to the crossroads of the
communities Los Chorros and Acteal. 

Domingo Perez Paciencia, the president of the 
Autonomous Council, accuses the local PRI members -- with the
complacent approval of the state and federal governments -- of
provoking the on-going violence in the region, of firing arms in the
communities and of burning down houses and destroying the belongings
of Zapatista sympathizers. The Autonomous Council admits that their
followers may be supportive of the Zapatista struggle, but that they
are civilians, they are not Zapatista militia, nor are they armed. 

Given the current circumstances, the Autonomous 
Council recognizes that true dialog for a negotiated peace will be
impossible. They say that there is no way of guaranteeing that what is
signed in a dialog will be respected in the communities. They called
for the creation of a Verification Comission; to establish
"Observation Camps" housing representatives of Human Rights
organizations, governmental and non-governmental organizations; that
the state government recall the Public Security Forces now roaming
freely in the region; and that the Paramilitary Groups be disarmed.

As a first step, a "Verifying Comission" was created 
comprised of:three local PRI representatives; three representatives of
the Autonomos Council;  two representatives from the Fray Bartolome
Human Rights Center;two representatives from the State and National
Human Rights Commissions;two representatives of the government
Secretaria for the Atencion of Indigenas Peoples; and two
representatives of the civilian association "Las Abejas".  The
comission=b4s first task was to conduct a two-day tour of the affected
communities in order to verify the accusations being made by both
groups regarding the noncompliance of the peace pact. Following the
tour, the conflicting parties were to meet again on December 19. 

But even those modest aspirations appear to be 
sabotaged from the start. 

AMBUSH in QUEXTIC Result in one person DEAD and 
7 WOUNDED. 

The Fray Bartolome Human Rights Center (CDHFBC) 
informs that a group of some 100 PRI members blocked the 15 members of
the Verification Comission as they were attempting to carry out their
visits to the communities as agreed upon in the last "peace talks." 
The Comission denounced that a group of PRI members ambushed a group
of their own PRI party members (who were not in compliance with the
PRI strategy of a military control of the region), leaving one person
dead and 7 wounded near the community of Quextic. The PRI members also
detained hostage representatives of the Autonomous Council, of the
Civil Organization Las Abejas, and of the Fray Bartolome Human Rights
Center for aproximately two hours.

Meanwhile, the Government General Secretary, 
Homero Tovilla Cristiani, has stated publically that in Chiapas there
are no paramilitary groups.  Especifically in regards to Chenalho,
Tovilla Cristiani says that "there can not exist the armed White
Guards, because in this municipality the land holdings are communal
and there are no large land- holders to pay for paramilitary groups."

But nevertheless, the National Comision of 
Intermediacion (Conai)and the Fray Bartolome Human Rights Center
(CDHFBC) say that the paramilitary violence in Chenalho is, in fact,
nothing new to Los Altos and is part of the government=b4s
counter-insurgency strategy. And, they claim, that the victims of this
government strategy are all of the Indigenas people of the zone: the
PRI, Zapatista sympathizers, civilians without a political party, and
even the very integrants of the paramilitary groups. In the end, the
death and destruction that the current policy sows in the communities
of Chenalho will eventually affect all people living in the region. 

Conai and CDHFBC spokespersons also reiterate their concerns
regarding the serious violations of the "cease-fire" 
agreements between the Autonomous Council and the Constitutional
Municipal Government of Chenalho.  Addicionally, they say that after
the harassment that the Verification Comission suffered last week,
they must suspend activities for the utter lack of security in the
zone.

As a result, their spokespersons have made an urgent 
call to the Mexican Civil Society and to International Solidarity to
demand that the Mexican government be pressured to act responsably in
its efforts to quell the violence in Chenalho.  To date, the
government response has been one of apathy and of turning a blind eye
to the violence. According to CDHFBC declarations, the state is either
incapable of controlling the violence,or is acomplice. 

And in the meantime, the toll of victims continues to 
rise.Estimates of as many as 6,000 persons are now in local 
"campamentos"seeking refuge from the violence directed against them in
their owncommunites; the death count (of reported cases) has surpassed
100,including the most recent masacre in Acteal, and more than 150
houses have been burnt to the ground with the inhabitants losing all
of their belongings in the blaze. In the communities people are
terrified, many fled from their homes at the sight of armed Public
Security Forces approaching with nothing more than the clothes on
their backs. They are now in provisional "security camps," but lack
even the most minimalamounts of food and clean water, and lack dry
clothing, blankets and any kind of real shelter from the rains and
cold. 

The message that the Mexican government sends is a 
signal forpending disaster. The act of openly sending in the Public
Security and uniformed Military Forces to flush out Zapatista
sympathizers in the region represents a new and very dangerous
attitude amongst PRI decision-makers. For the past two years of a very
tenuous "peace process"in Chiapas and then with the stalled Peace
Talks in San Andres Larrainzar,the Zedillo administration has been
very careful with its public image.Counter-insurgency and paramilitary
activities have been on- going in many remote parts of the state, but
the PRI was careful to try and keep its public profile clean. 

But the recent incidents of violence in Chenalho 
appear to be the clearest signs in more than a year that the
government is again looking for a military solution to its social
problems in Chiapas.  Again, the government is sending out an open
invitation to war.

But all of this is still just describing the immediate 
problem. It is difficult to calculate the long-term damage to the
communities that this kind of violence brings.  PRI leaders have been
repeatedly accused of channeling arms and of training local
paramilitary groups.  How does one calculate the time necesary to heal
the wounds of seeing family members ruthlessly gunned down, or
watching on while in one violent act all of one's belongings go up in
flames. In addition, December is the peak season for the coffee
harvest in Chenalho. Yet, because of the violence -- many farmers are
afraid to go out to their fields and a complete loss of this year's
harvest is at risk. This, of course, will mean absolute economic
disaster for the coffee farmers and their families, and adding up the
losses represents milliones of dollars lost throughout the region. 

What to Do? 

It is obvious that one person alone is not going to be 
able to resolve the urgent long term needs for food and shelter and
safety of the people of Chenalho and of Chiapas. We are each
individually just like a drop of water in the desert. But then again,
as recalled in a recent EZLN comunicado...  there is a place for even
the smallest drop of water: 

translated from "El cuento del rabito de la nube."  EZLN 
Comunicado - November 1997

"And then the little cloud began to make a great effort in 
order to rain and finally a single drop came of it. And the little
cloud disappeared, it was transformed into a drop of rain. Little by
little the cloud that was now a single drop of rain went falling to
the ground. Alone it was falling and with nothing below to catch it.
And alone the drop finally landed in the desert. But with so much
silence in the desert, that little drop make a raging noise as it hit
upon a stone." 

The point is that one can never know what will be the 
results of his or her even small action. The important thing is that
we make the effort. On this end, there are several actions that we are
trying to support. First of all, on behalf of the Diocesis of San
Cristobal, thereis a coordinated effort to send material aid, and in
particular corn to the people located in refugee camps in Chenalho. 

If anyone able to make a monetary contribution to that 
effort,direct deposits can be made to the following account:

in the name of:  Caritas de San Cristobal de Las 
Casas, A.C.bank: BANAMEX branch number:   0386 San Cristobal de Las 
Casas account no.: 055249-2  (master account) 

For more information regarding emergency relief, you 
may contact: 

Sister Lourdes Toussaint
Caritas de San Cristobal de Las Casas, A.C.
Apartado Postal 311
29200 San Cristobal de Las Casas, 
Chiapas
Mexico
tel/fax 52-967-86479

But additionally, we are attempting to put together a 
top-quality video with local cameraman Carlos Martinez, who has spent
many days in the communities and in the refugee camps shooting video
and translating the tape from tzotzil to spanish, in order to be able
to present a clearer image of what has happened to these communities.

We realize that a mere letter deploring these violent 
acts is hard pressed to convey the tragedy of the situation. We
believe that an edited video depicting the situation in Chenalho could
become an important tool not only to pressure for peace in Chenalho,
but in all of Chiapas.Chenalho is just one example of the general
state of repression that indigenous people in all of Mexico continue
to suffer under. With that said and done, we are beginning our
campaign to raise the funds to cover production costs of the video. 
And if support above and beyond production costs should come in, that
money will be channeled to direct aid in the communities. 

Because what has happened in Chenalho is a direct 
violation of internationally recognized rights as Indigenous peoples
to self-determination and respect of their traditions, cultures and
beliefs....  we will send copies of the finished video to offices of
the United Nations, to National and International Human Rights
Organizations,as well as to the International Labor Office --
responsible for the enforcement of Treaty Agreement 169 regarding
Indigenous Rights.

If you would like to contribute to the production of this 
video,we are suggesting the following options: 

1. -Commit to sending money - with a US$100 contribution we 
will include your name or the name of your organization in the video
credits as part of the collective effort which has made this possible,
and we will send you a finished copy of the video.  (Please, be in
touch with me via e- mail in order to coordinate the most efficient
means of transfering funds.) 

2. -Show the finished video in your area and sell original 
copies of the tapes to other interested persons or organizations
comitted to protecting human rights.

Compa~eros and compa~eras, don't let the authors of 
these criminal acts get away with robbing the Indigenous people of
their hope and of their vision for a life with dignity and justice for
all.  These cowardly acts commited by government-backed groups must
not be allowed to pass without further incident.  Although we are
small, we are many... and we must try to make a difference.

"A drop of rain? Then the rock awakened the desert 
with the news:

Rapido! Get ready because it is going to rain!=b4
It notified the plants that had been hiding below the 
soil from the brutal rays of burning sun.  And the plants woke up
suddenly and leaned out into the light of day, and for a moment
everything in that desert was covered in green. And then the big
clouds noticed the green from afar, and they said: Over there is great
green expanse where we didn=b4t realize plantswere growing; we are
going to go there and rain in that place.....And they went to rain in
that place that before was only desert,and suddenly the sand became
full with living plants." 

Together we can search for the means to pressure for 
changing this terrifying situation that the people of Chenalho now
live under. Now, with all of this said and done, i would ask of
you.... as friends who believe in the respect of basic human rights
and justice, and as friends to the cause of the independent campesino
farmer, to PLEASE TRY AND MANIFEST SOME FORM OF PROTEST.  Whether that
be a visit or a phone call to your local Mexican consulate, or a call
or letter sent directly to the Mexican heads of state.  It is of
UTMOST IMPORTANCE that the Mexican government know that these
indigenous communities standing up for dignity and respect for their
rights are not alone in this struggle.

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

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


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