file under: pogroms. it appears that a serious investigation would show complicity of the state govt ----- New York Times December 24, 1997 Gunmen Kill 45 Indians in Mountain Hamlet By JULIA PRESTON MEXICO CITY -- A band of gunmen charged into a southern mountain hamlet on Monday spraying rifle fire and swinging machetes, and killed 45 Indians, including 15 children, Red Cross officials said on Tuesday. Thirteen others were wounded. It was the bloodiest violence in the area, Chiapas state in the south, since Indian rebels began an uprising there four years ago. The attack, which survivors said was a prolonged and calculated assault by Indians who support the government on a village crowded with their political rivals, brought swift condemnation from President Ernesto Zedillo. But it still deepened the explosive polarization in Chiapas: Catholic Church leaders accused local officials of ignoring urgent pleas for help as the bloodshed began. Zedillo, in a national broadcast on Tuesday afternoon, called the attack "a cruel, absurd and unacceptable criminal act," and ordered the federal attorney general to investigate, pointedly sidelining senior state officials from his own political party. The killings in the village, Chenalho, a town of Tzotzil Indians, capped an outburst of violence in Indian villages in the pine-forested highlands of Chiapas in which more than 300 people, both allies and opponents of the government, have been killed since 1994. The tensions continue to simmer because the government has not reached a peace accord with the Zapatista guerrillas whose strongholds are in the region. "They came in shooting at about 11 o'clock and we tried to flee into the mountains," Agustin Perez, a resident of the hamlet, said. "Some came in from one side and others came in from another side. We were so frightened, we tried to hide by the banks of a little river that runs nearby. But our children started to cry and the attackers heard them and came after us shooting." Another survivor, Manuel Perez Perez, told reporters in San Cristobal de Las Casas, the largest city in the area: "They attacked us because they know we have no weapons. The shooting started at 11 in the morning and it went on and on all day." Victims who died of bullet wounds and stab cuts included an infant and 14 children. There were no reports that residents of the Chenalho hamlet returned fire during the several hours they were under assault. According to survivors' accounts, several dozen gunmen armed with AK-47 combat rifles and other sophisticated weapons surrounded the hamlet and moved in shooting into a cluster of makeshift dwellings belonging to Indians from several other villages who are sympathizers of the Zapatista rebels, and who were driven from their homes in recent weeks in violent confrontations with pro-government paramilitary bands. The survivors said they had been warned in recent days by armed followers of the government party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, that an attack was planned. The PRI followers remained in the hamlet, attacking anyone who did not flee, until late in the afternoon. Then they reportedly sacked the empty adobe huts and lean-tos of residents who fled, taking money and foodstuffs. The PRI party president, Mariano Palacios Alcocer, on Tuesday condemned the violence and denied that the party had encouraged it. "This is a situation that defies understanding, where there has been no official will to get the violence under control," said Bishop Samuel Ruiz, the leading Catholic prelate in the Chiapas highlands. His relations with the government are in conflict because of his support for grass-roots Indian causes in the state, including the Zapatistas. The Rev. Gonzalo Ituarte, a priest in Ruiz's diocese, said Catholic officials heard reports of killings from panicked Chenalho residents as early as noon on Monday and immediately relayed the information to the state police. "They evidently did nothing," Ituarte said. "We don't know what the authorities will do now, but we know we can't trust them because they had the opportunity to stop this and they did nothing." At least 30 people have been killed this year in Chenalho in violence between a faction of Indian residents who identify themselves as PRI party followers and others who side with the Zapatista rebels. In one hamlet in the township, Zapatista supporters rejected the local PRI government and set up a rebel mayor's office. Behind the conflicts is a complex fabric of generations-old hostilities, including disputes over scarce farming land and religious feuds between Catholics and Protestants. But since the Zapatista uprising began on Jan. 1, 1994, demanding greater justice for the poor Indians of Chiapas, Indians on both sides have armed themselves with combat rifles. Sporadic fighting over the following few weeks was finally ended with a informal cease-fire. Zapatista followers and Catholic church officials have long accused the state PRI government of financing the paramilitary squads of their sympathizers to help them buy guns. Governor Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro, who is a PRI member, firmly denies the charge. But last week he authorized some funds for one well-known paramilitary organization in the region, called Peace and Justice, saying they would be used for peaceful village development projects. Ruiz Ferro attempted to mediate to settle the differences in Chenalho in recent weeks. But the negotiations broke down earlier this month when the PRI faction walked out. Although most witnesses identified the assailants as PRI party sympathizers, Ruiz Ferro did not accept that description, saying at a news conference that he deplored the violence but did not want to "engage in labeling." He pledged to undertake an investigation, but within hours Zedillo announced that federal authorities would take over the case. Zedillo called on the Zapatistas to rejoin peace talks but offered no new measures to induce them to do so. The president postponed a traditional annual Christmas message to the nation scheduled for Tuesday night. Copyright 1997 The New York Times Company
