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<h1><font size=4><b>OCEZ Leader Disappeared in
Chiapas</b></font></h1><font size=3>Posted by
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/users/kristin-bricker">Kristin
Bricker</a> - September 30, 2009 at 2:56 pm <br>
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2009/09/ocez-leader-disappeared-chiapas" eudora="autourl">
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2009/09/ocez-leader-disappeared-chiapas<br>
<br>
</a><b>Neighbors Suspect Police Kidnapped "El Chema" and Will
Kill Him<br><br>
</b>September 30 -- Early this morning, people dressed as members of the
Mexican Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) kidnapped Jose Manuel
Hernandez Martinez, aka "El Chema." El Chema is one of
the leaders of the Emiliano Zapata Peasant Organization (OCEZ). His
whereabouts remain unknown, and fellow OCEZ members fear that he will be
killed. Members of the organization believe that police kidnapped
El Chema, although the kidnappers never identified themselves other than
as CFE employees.<br><br>
According to information that OCEZ member Jose Manuel de la Torre
provided to Narco News, the OCEZ believes that El Chema's kidnapping is
in retaliation for a
<a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue58/articulo3710.html">successful
land occupation and hunger strike </a>that 13 OCEZ members held this past
July. As a result of the hunger strike, the Chiapan government
agreed to legalize 215 hectares of the occupied lands. The
government handed the legalized lands over to OCEZ members two weeks
ago. <br><br>
<b>Details of the Kidnapping<br><br>
</b>According to de la Torre, men dressed in CFE uniforms arrived in the
28 de Julio community, where El Chema lives, to ask residents if they had
any problems with their electricity, or if the CFE could help them in any
way. <br><br>
Today at midnight, ten men in CFE uniforms arrived in 28 de Julio in a
CFE pickup truck. Community residents recognized some of the men as
the same ones who had arrived 15 days ago. The men in CFE uniforms
asked for El Chema, saying that they wanted to know if there was any
problem with the community's electricity. <br><br>
When the men dressed in CFE uniforms located El Chema, he was with ejido
leader Maximino Perez Rodriguez. The men in CFE uniforms kidnapped
both El Chema and Perez Rodriguez. The kidnappers drove the CFE
truck to the Laguna Verde ranch, located about five minutes from 28 de
Julio. In Laguna Verde they transferred El Chema to a gray pickup
truck that was waiting in that community. The gray pickup truck was
filled with eight men dressed completely in black who had covered their
faces with balaclavas. Before driving off, the kidnappers dumped
Perez Rodriguez by the side of the road, only taking El Chema with
them.<br><br>
Laguna Verde residents, aware of the kidnapping in progress, jumped into
a pickup truck and attempted to stop the kidnappers. The residents'
truck reportedly crashed under unknown circumstances, killing one
resident and injuring several others. The kidnappers managed to
escape with El Chema.<br><br>
El Chema's whereabouts are currently unknown, meaning that he has been
"disappeared." OCEZ members suspect that the kidnappers
are police because they had access to a federal government truck and
uniforms. They fear that the kidnappers will kill El
Chema.<br><br>
<b>Government Persecution of El Chema<br><br>
</b>El Chema's effectiveness as a community organizer in the Venustiano
Carranza region of Chiapas has made him the frequent target of government
repression. <br><br>
The government falsely accused El Chema of murder and detained him in
1984. Amnesty International adopted him as a "prisoner of
conscience," and he was freed in 1985.<br><br>
The government has also informally accused El Chema of being the Popular
Revolutionary Army's (EPR's) contact in Chiapas. In February 2008,
federal agents
<a href="http://www.chiapas.contralinea.com.mx/archivo/2008/junio/htm/epr-objetivo-militar-chiapas.htm">
detained and tortured</a> Chiapan math teacher Felipe Hernández Yuena and
his 5-year-old son. During the interrogation, the torturers asked
him, "Do you belong to the EPR? Do you know EPR leaders?
Do you know José Manuel Hernández Martínez, aka El Chema?"<br><br>
The government has never presented any formal accusations, nor any proof,
that El Chema belongs to the EPR. As Narco News has documented, the
government has been known to
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2009/06/oaxacan-political-prisoners-find-new-hope-zapatistas-other-campaign">
accuse effective community organizers of belonging to the EPR</a>, which
is a clandestine insurgent organization. By accusing community organizers
or community leaders of belonging to the EPR, the government justifies
repression, kidnapping, torture, and judicial railroading of these
important community figures.<br><br>
El Chema insists that he does not belong to the EPR. However, there's
plenty of proof that he is a dangerous man to the government, even though
he hasn't taken up arms. His organization has defended single
mothers who wish to sell vegetables in roadside stands, and it has
successfully pressured the government to legalize lands for peasant
communities that had never before legally owned the land they
worked. The OCEZ's primary tactic for land recuperation is to
occupy lands and then pressure the government to legalize them (that is,
give titles to the peasants occupying the lands). Since the
Zapatista uprising in 1994, Chiapas has been the site of constant
low-intensity warfare, and
<a href="http://www.leftturn.org/?q=node/1184">control of land and
territory</a> is at the center of the battle. Even though El Chema
and the OCEZ have never used firearms to occupy land, the mere fact that
they are successfully taking control of territory in Chiapas and putting
it in the hands of peasants places them squarely in the middle of a
war.<br><br>
As a result of its work, OCEZ has suffered detentions,
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2008/09/ocez-rc-member-disappeared-pujiltic-chiapas">
disappearances</a>, and government aggression. In 2008, when
<a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue54/article3129.html">the military
and police entered Zapatista territory under the cover of anti-drug
operations</a>, it also entered OCEZ territory.
<a href="http://chiapasaldia.com/web/?p=334">In a July interview</a>, El
Chema reported that his organization has suffered 37 assassinations since
its founding and currently has over a dozen outstanding arrest warrants,
all poltically motivated.<br><br>
<br><br>
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