SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS
"The bloodstained coffins of children were the grim gifts of history to the people of Chenalho … after 45 people died in a pre-Christmas massacre in Mexico's Chiapas state." This opening statement from Reuter's news reporter Caroline Brothers, in her story dated Christmas day, sums up the horror that confronted the people of Mexico and the world during the 1997 winter holidays.
Shortly before noon on Monday, December 22, a group of 60-70 members of a PRI-backed paramilitary group, Máscara Roja, ["Red Masks"], descended upon the Tzotzil village of Acteal, in the highland Chiapas municipality of Chenalhó, where hundreds of displaced Zapatista supporters and members of the peaceful civilian organization known as "Las Abejas" ("the bees") had taken refuge.
The attackers were armed with AK-47 and M-16 rifles and expanding hollow-tip bullets — weapons which they could only have obtained from military or police sources. They opened fire on the village as many of its inhabitants where attending church services and praying for peace and reconciliation in the municipality.
The slaughter continued as hundreds of people ran toward a nearby river in a vain effort to escape. Forty-five people were killed during the attack (21 women, 14 children, one infant, and 9 men), and more than 25 others were wounded. The bloodbath lasted five hours, during which time the Public Security police stood by — some no more than 200 meters away — and refused to intervene.
Since the massacre, President Zedillo has said the security of Chiapas, as well as the "investigation" into the "incident" will be the responsibility of the federal government. Perhaps as a sign of this new responsibility, the federal army has declared itself on "maximum alert", and troop units from the states of Yucatán and Campeche have been moved into the southeastern jungle zone of Chiapas. A total of 5,000 new troops have now been added to the nearly 30,000 already present in Chiapas; in some areas, such as Chenalhó, there is now one soldier for every twenty inhabitants.
Jacinto Arias Cruz (the mayor of Chenalhó and a known paramilitary leader) and nearly 40 others have now been formally charged with a variety of crimes for their participation in the massacre; and both the Interior Minister (Emilio Chuayffet) and the governor of Chiapas (Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro) have resigned their posts due to political fallout.
Nevertheless, the government continues to insist that the massacre was the result of a "local feud between three families dating back sixty years", rather than an action taken by a government-sponsored paramilitary organization committing mass murder in order to destroy the Zapatista bases of support.
Meanwhile, Chuayffet and Ruiz Ferro have been replaced by even more retrograde figures seemingly intent on waging war on the EZLN, while very little is being done to put a brake on continuing paramilitary activity in Chiapas.
On January 1st, 1998, thousands of Mexican army soldiers began sweeping through Zapatista communities in the highlands and jungle of Chiapas in a supposed attempt to "decommission" weapons from "all the armed groups" in Chiapas. Since the army has fully ignored the weapons in the possession of paramilitary groups (such as those responsible for the Acteal massacre), but has put EZLN communities under full military siege in recent days, it can safely be assumed that the "decommissioning campaign" is directed only at the Zapatistas.
Under the terms of the 1995 cease fire agreement, the Zapatistas are entitled to keep their weapons. Since the signing of the cease fire, the EZLN has abided by the terms of the agreement, despite extreme provocation. For the Mexican government to renege on the very pact that ended the armed confrontation, especially after its refusal to sign the San Andréas Peace Accords, is an obvious provocation that brings the country to the brink of war.
[Sources: Reuters and Internet site of the National Commission for Democracy in Mexico (NCDM).]NEWSLETTER CONTENTS