<html>
<body>
<font size=3><br>
This message is forwarded to you by the editors of the Chiapas95<br>
newslists. To contact the editors or to submit material for posting
send<br>
to: <chiapas-i@eco.utexas.edu>.<br><br>
Massacre in Chiapas: Six Women, Three Men, Two Children, Assassinated
in<br>
Montes Azules<br>
Indigenous Communities and Human Rights Organizations Warned State
and<br>
Federal Governments of Threats, but Authorities Failed to Act<br><br>
By Al Giordano<br>
The Other Journalism with the Other Campaign in Chiapas<br>
November 13, 2006<br>
<a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2339.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2339.html<br><br>
</a>Today, Monday, November 13, presumed paramilitaries committed a
massacre in<br>
the Montes Azules jungle region of Chiapas, killing nine indigenous
women<br>
and men and two children.<br><br>
The assassinated, according to a hand-written document received by
Narco<br>
News from inside Zapatista civilian communities in the region,
are:<br><br>
Marta Perez Perez<br>
Maria Perez Hernandez<br>
Maria Nunez Gonzalez<br>
Petrona Nunez Gonzalez<br>
Pedro Nunez Perez<br>
Eliver Benitez Perez<br>
Antonio Perez Lopez<br>
Dominga Perez Lopez<br>
Felicitas Perez Parcero<br>
Noila Benitez (8 anos)<br>
A recently born infant yet to be baptized<br><br>
The details of the massacre, in a very isolated area, far from urban
and<br>
media centers, are still sketchy, but the warning signs that violence
on<br>
this scale was brewing in the region have been known by state and
federal<br>
officials all along. They were specifically warned by human rights<br>
organizations last July and August, but in lieu of taking positive
action,<br>
their police and other agencies merely aggravated the problems since
then.<br><br>
The dead lived and worked in the Ejido Dr. Manuel Velasco Suarez II,
known<br>
as Viejo Velasco Suarez, a farming community established in 1984 through
an<br>
agreement with the Mexican government. They and their previous
generations<br>
had lived in other parts of the Lacandon Jungle that, in 1972, had
been<br>
declared a "nature preserve." Then, as now, the ecological
imprimatur turned<br>
out to have more to do with looting Mother Nature than protecting her:
the<br>
creation of the Montes Azules biosphere served to grant the Mexican<br>
government monopoly control over exploitation of hardwoods and other
natural<br>
resources. As part of the environmental show and simulation, 66 families
of<br>
the Lacandon indigenous group " a population that today numbers in
the<br>
hundreds, descendants of Maya peoples of the Yucatan Peninsula that
had<br>
emigrated to Chiapas centuries ago" were declared sole stewards of
more<br>
than 600,000 hectares of rainforest, but on the condition that they
cede<br>
economic rights to the government over the land.<br><br>
Since then, members of other Maya indigenous peoples " primarily
Tzeltal and<br>
Chol" have lived under siege by the government, its police agencies,
its<br>
Armed Forces, the Lacandones, and other communities of Tzeltales (from
the<br>
town of Nueva Palestina) and Choles (from the town of Frontera
Corrazal)<br>
that had allied with and benefited from the deal. The remaining
indigenous<br>
communities in the region found themselves under permanent attack
since<br>
then. Conflicts in the zone led to the 1984 agreement that created
Viejo<br>
Velasco Suarez and other communally farmed communities, protected,<br>
supposedly, by law: Flor de Cacao, Nuevo Tila, Ojo de Agua and San
Jacinto<br>
Lacanja, all in the same region as the world-renowned ancient Maya
temples<br>
and ruins at Yaxchilin, near the gigantic Usamacinta River that is
Mexico's<br>
border with much of Guatemala.<br><br>
The eleven deaths in today's massacre come " as massacres often
do" at a<br>
time when the Mexican federal government has returned to the bad old days
of<br>
large scale repression (in Atenco last May, and in Oaxaca at present).
At<br>
times like this, paramilitaries and police agencies are emboldened by
the<br>
signals sent from the top, and increase their historic aggressions
against<br>
those "especially indigenous" communities perceived as being in
the way of<br>
economic interests.<br><br>
The federal government of Vicente Fox and his Interior Minister
Carlos<br>
Abascal (the Butcher of Oaxacaa) was warned as recently as this year
about<br>
the time bomb of violence threatening Viejo Velasco Suarez and the
other<br>
communities in the Montes Azules regions.<br><br>
<br>
Early Warnings<br><br>
On July 19 of this year, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights
Center<br>
issued an alert titled "Threats of Eviction and Harrassment
Against<br>
Indigenous Peoples in the Lacandon Jungle." Known as the Frayba
Center,<br>
this organization was founded by former Catholic Bishop Samuel Ruiz and
is<br>
respected throughout the world as thorough and honest in its
work.<br><br>
The human rights organization alerted that it had received reports
that:<br><br>
<br>
"on Saturday, July 14, the (state of Chiapas) Public Security
police<br>
installed itself near the community of Ojo de Agua in El Progreso,<br>
threatening to violently evict the families of that community, families
that<br>
are defending their right to the land as indigenous peoples
"We who live in<br>
San Jacinto Lacanja, Flor de Cacao and Viejo Velasco are also
threatened<br>
with eviction."<br><br>
The Frayba Center stated in its July 19 alert:<br><br>
<br>
"In the opinion of Frayba this is an historic problem with a series
of<br>
irregularities and clumsiness by institutions and functionaries that<br>
disregard previous agreements, manipulate parties to the conflict
generating<br>
more problems, threaten violent eviction to force the communities
and<br>
organizations to "sit down and negotiate" or don't understand
the<br>
commitments assumed during negotiations with the communities in
dispute."<br><br>
The Frayba Center demanded that government authorities take measures
to<br>
"guarantee the personal security and integrity of the families"
of the four<br>
threatened indigenous communities, that they respect the 1984 agreement
and<br>
others that granted them their lands, and that international
treaties<br>
guaranteeing such protections for indigenous peoples be
respected.<br><br>
A few weeks later, representatives of that organization, together with
a<br>
delegation of North Americans from Global Exchange, as well as the
NGOs<br>
Maderas del Pueblo (Hardwoods of the People) and Xia Nich, went on a<br>
fact-finding mission to the afflicted communities. Global Exchange issued
a<br>
detailed seven page report, which explains much of the background history
of<br>
the conflict and, also, interestingly, the difficulties and
obstacles<br>
presented to their attempts to visit the communities.<br><br>
The report concluded:<br><br>
<br>
"While the exact reasons for the exclusion of these four communities
from<br>
the land legalization process are unclear, geographical and
political<br>
factors offer an important clue. Three of the communities "Flor de
Cacao, San<br>
Jacinto Lacanja, Ojo de Agua el Progresoa" are located in a terrain
where<br>
there are still precious woods that the Lacandon community wants to
exploit,<br>
according to Miguel Angel Garcia from Maderas del Pueblo. They are also
on<br>
the banks of the Usumacinta River, one of the most important sources
of<br>
pristine drinking water in the region. "Plan Puebla-Panama,"
the government's<br>
proposal for economic "modernization" for the country, also
contemplates the<br>
construction of hydroelectric dams on the Usumacinta. Additionally, many
of<br>
the individuals who testified believe the reason that the Lacandon
community<br>
and comuneros want the land for themselves is so they can develop it
for<br>
tourism purposes, as the archaeological site of Yaxchilan is located
nearby,<br>
and the Lacandon community engages heavily in the tourism business.
The<br>
fourth community, Viejo Velasco, because of its affiliations with the
EZLN,<br>
also is likely perceived by the Mexican government to be an impediment
to<br>
the maximization of profit. Indeed, shortly after our visit to El<br>
Desempenio, government officials violently evicted the EZLN civilian
support<br>
base community Chol de Tumbala that was similarly in the process of
securing<br>
their land claims. Federal, state, and local government officials
should<br>
take immediate steps to guarantee the integrity and safety of Ojo de Agua
El<br>
Progreso, Flor de Cacao, San Jacinto Lacanja, and Viejo Velasco.
These<br>
communities are entitled "under both the covenant of 1984 and the
agreements<br>
reached at the Limonar roundtable" to land security. The local,
state, and<br>
federal government should immediately take action to stop the
threatened<br>
illegal evictions and restore the families who have fled to their lands,
if<br>
those families wish. Fairness and justice demand nothing
less."<br><br>
The international human rights organization sent its findings to
Mexican<br>
president Vicente Fox, his Interior Minister Carlos Abascal, to
Chiapas<br>
Governor Pablo Salazar Mendigucha and various bureaucrats under each
of<br>
them.<br><br>
Instead of taking action to correct the wrongs, the state and
federal<br>
governments set in motion the events "and gave signals that
would be<br>
received as impunity by the opponents of these communities that have<br>
violently threatened them" that brought about, today, the massacre
of<br>
eleven indigenous civilians.<br><br>
<br>
Escalating Aggressions<br><br>
According to a hand-written chronology of the events since then,
received<br>
today by Narco News, authored by members of the afflicted communities,
the<br>
aggressions against them increased after the Fox and Salazar
governments<br>
were informed:<br><br>
<br>
September 19: at 4:30 p.m. comuneros from Nueva Palestina came armed
with<br>
machetes, rifles, shovels, pickaxes and stones. They destroyed the home
of<br>
one family. At 8 p.m. they shot bullets into a building where women
and<br>
children slept.<br><br>
October 4: Comuneros from Nueva Palestina attacked two farmers in their
bean<br>
field with guns, destroying the crops.<br><br>
October 8: Members of the government-allied Nueva Palestina community
met<br>
and agreed to attack the inhabitants Viejo Velasco Suarez.<br><br>
October 9: The attack was carried out and the home of one family razed;
that<br>
afternoon they kidnapped a community member who was seriously wounded
in<br>
the altercation.<br><br>
And in another handwritten document sent to Narco News, dated
Saturday,<br>
November 11, community members explain that the comuneros from Nueva<br>
Palestina shut off their water supply, leading the community of
Viejo<br>
Velasco Suarez to turn the water back on and expel eleven of the
occupying<br>
comuneros from their community. The document contains the names and<br>
signatures of the 11 men expelled.<br><br>
It says:<br><br>
<br>
"We ask the Palestinas, the state and federal governments, to
respect this<br>
agreement to cease the violence in both parts of our community. We hold
the<br>
government responsible for anything that happens"<br><br>
"On Wednesday, November 1, 2006, the Palestinas began to close the
tap for<br>
piped water through today, Saturday, November 11 of this year. That is
why<br>
the original groups of this community take the following action" we
totally<br>
disassociate ourselves from the Palestina groups and we don't want them
to<br>
keep harassing us in this community of Viejo Velasco, where each one of
them<br>
signs his agreement to leave and to never return so as not to cause
more<br>
problems with the original residents."<br><br>
<br>
According to an email just received from the families of the
dead:<br><br>
<br>
"The aggressors have been residents of the community of Nueva
Palestina, and<br>
in common with the sad occurrences of the Acteal Massacre (of December
22,<br>
1997, also in Chiapas) the families of the victims confirm that there
are<br>
now various police roadblocks put up around them."<br><br>
According to a communique tonight from Maderas del Pueblo, the
attackers<br>
were from Nueva Palestina, and they came at dawn: "four
subcomuneros from<br>
the aggressor group who came to the community strongly armed with
intentions<br>
of violently evicting the families that lived there."<br><br>
Two days later, today, six women, three men, and two children from
this<br>
afflicted community are dead. At press time, various human rights<br>
organizations and the Good Government Council in Roberto Barrios of
the<br>
civilian bases of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN, in
its<br>
Spanish initials), as well as the Other Journalism with the Other
Campaign,<br>
are investigating the details of another massacre forewarned.<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
</font><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.freedomarchives.org</a></font></body>
</html>