And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: This message is forwarded to you as a service of Zapatistas Online. Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 11:13:33 -0800 Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Commandante Null <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Multiple recipients of list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: New Source of Tension Between Gov't and Zapatistas DRUGS-MEXICO: New Source of Tension Between Gov't and Zapatistas By IPS Correspondents MEXICO CITY, Jan 18 (IPS) - A new source of tension has emerged between the Mexican government and the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN): marijuana crops grown in the area under rebel influence. The government admits that plantations destroyed by the army in the southern state of Chiapas last week did not belong to members of the EZLN. Nevertheless, the Zapatistas issued three communiques Sunday denying any ties with the drug trade, and arguing that the government's stated concern over the crops was designed to pave the way for army operations, ''the Zapatistas are not, and have no dealings with, drug traffickers,'' the EZLN declared. ''By their own decision, Zapatista communities are prohibited from planting, trafficking and using drugs,'' said one of the communiques, which added that the marijuana crops discovered by the army ''belonged to non-Zapatista indigenous'' groups. According to the EZLN, ''with the collaboration and advice of soldiers and police,'' indigenous people in Chiapas who do not support the Zapatistas have been ''planting drugs to give government forces the legal pretext they need for their military incursions.'' Tension between the government of Ernesto Zedillo and the EZLN flared up last Wednesday when the rebels and their sympathisers clashed with 450 military police sent to the town of Aldama to destroy marijuana crops. Aldama is located in the impoverished state of Chiapas, on the border with Guatemala, where the EZLN, headed by ''Subcomandante Marcos'', rose up in arms on Jan. 1, 1994, demanding democracy and respect for the rights of indigenous people. An armed truce was agreed by the government and the rebels after less than two weeks of fighting. The insurgents explained Sunday that they had refrained from destroying the crops ''in order to avoid a clash with paramilitary'' groups. They added that they had tried to block the passage of the federal troops ''due to amply justified fears that a new military post would be installed in that already militarised zone.'' Peace talks between the government and the rebel group have been suspended since September 1996. The EZLN insists it will return to the negotiating table only if the government demilitarises the region - where it says more than 50,000 army troops are posted - and complies with accords previously signed by the two sides. In a statement released Sunday, the secretariat of the interior dismissed the EZLN's argument that soldiers were helping local residents opposed to the Zapatistas to grow drugs in Aldama. The secretariat said the soldiers were sent last Wednesday to destroy 58 plantations of illegal crops, not to attack local residents. ''Once the task was completed, the public forces withdrew from the area,'' the declaration added. But the EZLN said that as the army troops tried to enter town, they attacked Zapatista sympathisers. ''The army hides its brutality behind the fragile pretext of fighting drug trafficking,'' but ''they are the main promoters of drug crops, and important beneficiaries of trafficking'' activities, the insurgents charged. The statements released by the guerrillas added that ''the federal government has carried out a smear campaign in the media, trying to identify the Zapatistas with the drug trade.'' The government coordinator of the negotiations in Chiapas, Emilio Rabasa, told a news conference last Friday that evidence had been found that drugs were being grown in some areas under Zapatista influence, and that military operations against the drug trade would continue to be carried out in the state. Rabasa once again urged the rebels to return to the negotiating table, and invited them to help eradicate illegal crops in the conflict zones. Senator Pablo Salazar of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), a member of the congressional peace commission (COCOPA), demanded Rabasa's resignation, arguing that the official's statements aggravated the confrontation with the EZLN, rather than ''promoting channels for the dialogue it has repeatedly called for. ''It is clear that at the start of this new year there is a new strategy to wear out the EZLN,'' and that the reports on drug crops in areas under Zapatista influence ''are part of that strategy,'' said Salazar. Deputy Gilberto Lopez y Rivas, with the centre-left opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), ruled out any possible ties between the Zapatistas and the drug trade. ''I suppose there could be some plantations in isolated communities, where the poverty of indigenous people forces them into contacts with drug traffickers. But it cannot be said that they are Zapatistas.'' Since the conflict broke out in Chiapas, ''there has been no sign of links between the EZLN and the drug trade. Moveover, the Zapatistas' rejection of that activity is well-known,'' he stressed. (END/IPS/tra-so/fv/mp-ff/sw/99) NPC Information Associates [EMAIL PROTECTED] 770-457-6758 "Intelligence for the Underdog!" -- To unsubscribe from this list send a message containing the words unsubscribe chiapas95 to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Previous messages are available from http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/chiapas95.html or gopher://eco.utexas.edu. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
