The December 22 massacre of 45 indigenous people, mostly women and children, by a paramilitary group in Chiapas, Mexico was the 25th such massacre in this southernmost state since 1994, according to Bishop Samuel Ruiz. Although many people have been arrested as a result of this assault, no one has yet been tried or convicted. On January 12, an indigenous woman was killed, and her three-year-old daughter and a young man were wounded, when state police fired directly into protesters in Ocosingo. Reportedly, the police refused to transport her to the nearest hospital. Transportation was finally provided by the television crew that filmed the shooting. Later in the month, an indigenous leader was murdered, shot twice in the back outside his home. In a report from the Mexican Attorney General's office, Jacinto Arias Cruz, the mayor of the municipality where the December 22 massacre ocurred, was charged with supplying the automatic weapons used in the attack. He has been accused of sending the weapons to the paramilitary group in a municipal car and trying to cover up the massacre. Both Ariasand the Interior Secretary of Mexico have been dismissed by President Ernesto Zedillo. Currently, more than 40% of the Mexican military occupies Chiapas. Amnesty International and other human rights groups have reported illegal searches and daily acts of aggression in the communities of La Realidad and Morelia. Both villages sympathize with the Zapatista rebels. The Mexican army is using U.S. military aid, such as humvees, armored personnel carriers, and Blackhawk helicopters, to carry out this intimidation. There are no reports of attempts to locate or disarm paramilitary forces. The complicity of the U.S. is both military and economic. It includes the training of military personnel in Chiapas (at Fort Bragg and the notorious School of the Americas) and the sale and donation of equipment ostensibly to be used in the "drug war." U.S. and corporate economic imperialism is perhaps more clearly illustrated by the infamous Chase Manhattan memo of January 1995 that provoked world outrage by stating that the Mexican "government will need to eliminate the Zapatistas to demonstrate their effective control of the national territory and of security policy."READ THIS MEMO In recent testimony before the Human Rights Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives, Reverend Lucius Walker, director of the International Federation for Community Organizing (IFCO), quoted directly from the refugees who have survived the attacks:
Survivors of the massacre at Acteal have testified:
Meanwhile, peace talks have been suspended since 1996, when President Zedillo refused to implement the first set of agreements reached by government-appointed negotiators on "Indigenous Rights and Culture." Those talks took place in San Andres, where at least twice in the past peace talks between indigenous people and the Mexican government have ended in betrayal and death for the Indians. Considering this dismal history, along with President Zedillo's failure to accept recent agreements, there is no reason to believe the Mexican government will negotiate in good faith. Rather than working toward a just and peaceful resolution, Zedillo's government issues proclamations bent on alarming the public in the U.S. and Mexico. Charges are continually made that the indigenous Zapatistas seek "separatism" and "independence." What these courageous people actually demand is to be recognized as part of the Mexican nation and to be treated with justice and human dignity.
-Gloria Still