Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 02:09:22 -0600 (CST)
From: Sendic Estrada Jimenez <sestrada-AT-fcfm.buap.mx>
Subject: M-NEWS: E;NYT,Mexico Steps up a war of words in Chiapas, Jan 10 (fwd)






---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 14:35:00 -0600 (CST)
From: Chiapas95 <owner-chiapas95-AT-eco.utexas.edu>
Reply-To: Chiapas 95 Moderators <chiapas-AT-eco.utexas.edu>
Subject: E;NYT,Mexico Steps up a war of words in Chiapas, Jan 10

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

>From PeaceNet:

** Topic: Mexico Steps Up A War of Words in Ch **
** Written 10:23 AM  Jan 10, 1998 by tburghardt in cdp:reg.mexico **
 http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/mexico-chiapas.html
 
                              -----
_________________________________________________________________
 
           MEXICO STEPS UP A WAR OF WORDS IN CHIAPAS
_________________________________________________________________
 
     The New York Times
     January 10, 1998
     By JULIA PRESTON
 
     MEXICO CITY -- The government's efforts to calm the turmoil
in the southern state of Chiapas seemed to be in disarray Friday.
Just as the state's new governor was holding a cordial meeting
with a leading Catholic bishop, the armed forces accused the
prelate of aiding armed Zapatista rebels.
     
     In the capital, President Ernesto Zedillo lashed out at the
Zapatistas, abandoning the careful tone he had used to discuss
the Chiapas conflict since the killings on Dec. 22 of 45 Indians
who were rebel sympathizers.
     
     Zedillo accused the guerrillas of "deliberately and
systematically" blocking the government from taking social
services to struggling Indian villages and accused them of
creating a "perverse cycle" of poverty in the state.
     
     At a midday news conference in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the state
capital, top military commanders displayed tables laden with
uniforms, radio equipment and several semiautomatic rifles that
they said were captured on Jan. 1 in a raid on a hilltop campsite
set up by Zapatistas.
     
     Among the items said to be part of the cache were two
volumes of a theology text written by Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia,
the head of the diocese where the recent violence occurred. The
books, which were translated into the Tojolobal Indian language,
were titled "For the Good of Jesus Christ, My Brothers."
     
     Most of the other documents the officers presented were
Zapatista war-strategy manuals and crude field diaries of
Zapatista fighters.
     
     When asked if the documents were intended to show links
between Ruiz and the armed rebels, Gen. Jose Gomez Salazar, the
top army commander in the region, said simply, "It is obvious."
     
     Gomez's remarks came as the governor, Roberto Albores
Guillen, made a peace overture to Ruiz by traveling to the
highlands to confer with him. Albores took over Wednesday night
after Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro resigned.
     
     Since the Zapatistas staged a brief uprising in Chiapas on
Jan. 1, 1994, the armed forces have made no secret of their
suspicion that Ruiz has been collaborating with the guerrillas.
So it was notable that the military chose to renew its attack on
him Friday, since the Roman Catholic Church is virtually the only
local institution still trusted by the pro-Zapatista Indians who
were the targets of the December violence.
     
     Ruiz has said he supports the Zapatistas' demands for
broader justice for Chiapas Indians, but not their armed tactics.
Unidentified gunmen tried to assassinate the prelate on Nov. 4 in
an ambush near a pro-government village.
     
     Priests in the diocese reported that a suspicious fire
destroyed a small room Friday in a church where the bishop often
officiates.
 
     In one Indian community on Friday, dozens of unarmed women
and children who support the Zapatistas lined up shoulder to
shoulder to block troops from entering the village. After several
hours the troops withdrew from the village, Morelia, with no
violence. It was the latest in a series of tense standoffs
between villagers and soldiers patrolling towns where the
Zapatistas enjoy support.
     
     In a report made public late on Thursday, the National Human
Rights Commission, an agency of the government, urged Albores to
dismiss 12 state officials, including the police chief and
government secretary. The commission said the officials were
guilty of "grave negligence" in the December killings.
 
     Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
 
                              * * *
_________________________________________________________________
 
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** End of text from cdp:reg.mexico **


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