28 November, 2000

PARA-MILITARY REPRESSION & IMPUNITY IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO

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Introduction
November 3, 2000
November 12, 2000
Demands
Action
Get Involved

INTRODUCTION

Since 1994, Federal and State security forces have systematically violated the economic, civil, social, political and cultural rights of farmers and activists in Chiapas, working to implement a community development model that guarantees the rights of all citizens, including the collective rights of indigenous people.

State repression and impoverishment worsened notably in 1997, when State-trained and armed paramilitary forces began to operate widely throughout Chiapas.

Very recently, for the first time, members of PAZ y JUSTICIA, one of the most notorious paramilitary groups, were detained by State security forces, based on charges laid against them for a wide range of crimes by the Chiapas Network of Community Human Rights Defenders.

In response to the detentions, PAZ y JUSTICIA members have carried out further threats and attacks. Attention is needed now, to keep international pressure on the authorities in Chiapas and Mexico, to begin to see justice applied in Chiapas.

NOVEMBER 3, 2000
San Cristobal de las Casas

The Chiapas Network of Community Human Rights Defenders condemns the new wave of threats and aggressions made by the paramilitary group PAZ Y JUSTICIA against the Zapatista sympathizers, displaced from the town of "Tierra y Libertad" in the Municipality of Yajalon.

Threats have been made against the displaced populations [women, children and men] and their community Human Rights Defenders in the hope that the legal cases that have been brought against a number of detained members of PAZ Y JUSTICIA will be abandoned.

On the night of November 1st, PAZ Y JUSTICIA carried out armed meetings in the communities of San Ramon, Esperanza Takinukum and Rancho Peña (Municipality of Yajalon). In these meetings, shots from high caliber weapons were fired into the air; over loudspeakers, threats were made against displaced campesinos from "Tierra y Libertad".

In addition, in each of these towns, wives of the detained PAZ Y JUSTICIA members made explicit threats against specific members of the "Tierra y Libertad" community that had agreed to testify against their husbands.

The Network of Community Defenders has made this information available to the Special Unit of the National Prosecutor's office that deals with paramilitary groups. The Network has also asked the Prosecutor's office to guarantee the safety of all witnesses in cases brought against members of PAZ Y JUSTICIA.

November 12, 2000
Ejido Morelia, Municipio Altamirano, Chiapas

Víctor Manuel Santiz Pérez, a member of La Red de Defensores Comunitarios por los Derechos Humanos, presented the following information concerning acts of harassment against the autonomous municipality of 17 de Noviembre.

On November 9, 2000, a Mexican Army helicopter patrolled Ejido Morelia, the head of the autonomous municipality of 17 de Noviembre, in a threatening manner. This produced panic in the community children who were attending school at the time. The helicopter passed very close to the homes of the community and, for over ten minutes, filmed the entire area of the ejido.

The police of the municipality of Altamirano carried out an operative on the same date, between Altamirano and Morelia. The police installed a checkpoint at the entrance of Altamirano, and stopped and searched every vehicle that passed through this point.

We denounce these acts, as they are intended to intimidate the civilian population as part of the low-intensity war that the federal government has carried out against the indigenous communities of Chiapas for the past six years.

DEMANDS

With respect to the recent detention of the 11 members of the paramilitary group "Paz y Justicia," the Network of Community Human Rights Defenders demands:

1. That the National Prosecutor's Office (PGR) continue with full investigations and take the decisions necessary towards the complete dismantling of "Paz y Justicia," and other illegal para-military units. This necessarily implies that the many remaining arrest warrants be served on the Paz y Justicia members still at large.
2. That the PGR investigate the source of all money, weapons and training that Paz y Justicia has received!
3. That the PGR investigate those public officials in the Chiapan State Government that, for the last six years, have protected and given total impunity to Paz y Justicia members.
4. That the PGR and all State and Federal Security forces guarantee the peace and stability of the State of Chiapas, in the face of acts of violence and retaliation that may be taken by Paz y Justicia.
5. That the PGR's office secure the safety of the witnesses from "El Paraíson" and those members of the Chiapas Community Defenders Network who have provided the evidence necessary in order to detain the leaders of Paz y Justicia.
6. That the Federal Judiciary objectively review all cases which have been brought against "Paz y Justicia", so that those criminal cases will end with the rightful prosecution and sentencing of those responsible for these acts of destabilization and violence [including illegal detention, disappearances, torture, murder].

ACTION

Please call, email and sending letters of concern, setting out the above demands, to:

Presidente de La Republica Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon
Fax: (52)-5-515-3717, or 515-5729
E: webadmon@oppresidencia.gob.mx

Gobernador del Estado de Chiapas Lic. Roberto Albores Guillen
Tel/Fax: (52)-961-20917, or 961-12418
E: comsocgo@correo.chiapas.com

Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Fax: (52) 5-631-2633
E: cndh@laneta.apc.org

Gobernador Electo de Chiapas Pablo Salazar Mendiguchea
Tel/Fax: (52) 961-44162, 62, 64, 65
E: p@blosalazar.chiapas.net.mx

*****

"In our own Defense"
The Chiapas Network of Community Human Rights Defenders
Calle Tapachula No. 25, Barrio El Cerrillo
San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, México
Tel/Fax: 011-52-967-80537
Email: reddedefensores@dojo.tao.ca

GET INVOLVED

Are you interested in supporting human rights and rights-based development work in Chiapas [providing funds for grassroots organizations; going on educational delegations to the region; hosting educational events in your community]? Please contact our Washington or Toronto offices.

RIGHTS ACTION

Rights Action --with offices in Guatemala, Washington & Toronto (Canada)-- raises funds for rights-based community development and human rights projects in Southern Mexico, Central America & the Caribbean, and educates and advocates in the US & Canada about international development and human rights issues.

E: info@rightsaction.org
W: www.rightsaction.org

United States:
Rights Action (US) (formerly Guatemala Partners)
1830 Connecticut Av, NW
Washington DC 20009, USA
T: 202-783-1123

Canada:
Rights Action (Canada)
Box 73527
509 St. Clair Ave W.
Toronto ON, Canada, M6C-1C0
T: 416-654-2074

Guatemala:
T: [502] 251-9803
T/f: [502] 232-1437
partners@guate.net