And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: This message is forwarded to you as a service of Zapatistas Online. Comments and volunteers are welcome. Write [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send submissions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 10:47:17 -0700 Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Major Void <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Multiple recipients of list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: New Military Incursions into Indigenous Villages New Military Incursions into Indigenous Villages By Pilar Franco Inter Press Service 11-JUN-99 MEXICO CITY, (Jun. 10) IPS - Human rights groups denounced new military occupations of areas of southeastern Mexico inhabited by indigenous sympathizers of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN). The town of La Realidad, considered the political stronghold of the Zapatista rebels in the southeastern state of Chiapas, was invaded by around 800 soldiers and police yesterday, while 700 security agents, backed by helicopters, entered La Trinidad. Human rights and church groups like the Fray Bartolome de las Casas center said the local residents did not put up resistance to the security forces. The occupations followed similar operations in nearby villages by security agents last week, which forced hundreds of indigenous people to take refuge in the bush surrounding their villages, where they remained today without food or shelter. Rights groups calculate the total number of people displaced by the violence in Chiapas over the past four years at 15,000. Since the EZLN burst onto the scene in the impoverished southeastern state on January 1, 1994 and agreed to an armed truce with the government after 12 days of fighting, the rebels and their supporters have declared a number of local municipalities autonomous. The incursions by police and army troops into autonomous villages and towns could lead to arbitrary searches and arrests of indigenous residents, local activists warned. The parliamentary peace commission decided last night to ask the government for detailed information on army operations in the conflict-ridden state of Chiapas. "We must know precisely what is happening, so that a new problem does not take us by surprise later," said Senator Carlos Payan. The lawmaker's concern was based on previous incidents, such as the killings a year ago of eight indigenous residents of the villages of Union Progreso and Chavajeval, in the municipality of El Bosque, and the December 22, 1997 massacre of 45 displaced indigenous people in Acteal. "The El Bosque killings were a sequel to what occurred in Acteal," according to the Fray Bartolome de las Casas human rights center. "In both cases authorities attempted to distort and cover up events, and impunity has reigned." No one has been punished for the killings in Union Progreso and Chavajeval or the consequent ransacking of the communities. And the Fray Bartolome de las Casas center stated yesterday that the Acteal massacre was the work of Chiapas police officers. The rights organization is defending 85 indigenous people it considers innocent, who were arrested and tried in connection with the Acteal massacre. Five of the indigenous prisoners submitted a document to the federal judge presiding over the case, "blaming police for the massacre that took place in the Catholic church of Acteal," said Arturo Farela, president of the Fraternity of Evangelical Churches. The Jesuits, meanwhile, demanded the release of two indigenous catechists arrested 10 days ago along a road in the Chiapas municipality of Chilon. "The attacks, provocations and hostilities must end," the Jesuits stated in a communique released today. "Serious and committed dialogue is the only route to achieving peace with justice and dignity in Chiapas and throughout the entire country." Peace talks between the EZLN and the government of Ernesto Zedillo have been suspended since mid-1996. The communique "vigorously protests" not only the detention of the two catechists, but "the climate of harassment" which it said had forced thousands of local Chiapas residents to flee their homes. Catholic priest Heriberto Cruz reported the murder of an indigenous man in another Chiapas community, Guadalupe Jolnapa, in the context of an attack on the village on June 7 by paramilitary groups and police. In another southern state, Oaxaca, more than 100 women and children in the area of Loxichas have been seeking for the past two years the release of their husbands and other family members accused of belonging to a smaller insurgent group, the Popular Revolutionary Army, which made its first public appearance in June 1996, and operates in the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NPC Information Associates "Intelligence for the Underdog!" [EMAIL PROTECTED] 770-457-6758 Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
