Massacre in Chenalho

EZLN communique
in response to the massacre of Acteal, Chenalhó
(23 December, 1997)
EZLN communique
announcing the conclusions of its investigation into the massacre
(26 December, 1997)
Statement from the Mexican Interior Ministry
(28 December, 1997)
EZLN communique
responding to the December 28th statement from the Mexican Interior Ministry
(29 December, 1997)
EZLN communique
regarding the latest results of its investigations into the massacre
(4 January, 1998)

Massacre in Acteal, Chiapas

Behind the current Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico, is a bishop who understands the reasons for the indigenous uprising. Bishop Samuel Ruiz, head of the Dioces of San Cristobal, has many of the same demands that the Zapatista National Liberation Army does, such as social justice for the poor and a society free of exploitation.
  Subcommander Marcos, in his essay The Southeast in Two Winds, refers to Bishop Samuel Ruiz, head of the Diocese of San Cristobal, as a force of opposition to government attempts to exploit the poor and indigenous communities of Chiapas: "Hoping to modernize the absurd system of exploitation and extraction which prevails in Chiapas, Patrocinio Gonzalez [Govenor of Chiapas] comes up against the stubborness of religious and secular figures who support and preach Catholicism's option for the poor". While historically, the Catholic Church has been an ally of land-owning elites and conservatives opposed to social and economic change, Ruiz has chosen an alternative pathway of religious teaching by promoting social justice for the poor.

New Perspectives Quarterly (NPQ), Spring 1994, Vol. 11, No. 2.
One of Mexico's most prominent novelists and a member of the official Mexican Commission for Human Rights, Carlos Fuentes is author, most recently, of Return to Mexico: Journeys Behind the Mask. Subcommandante Marcos, the spokesman of the Chiapas rebels, has said that Fuentes is his favorite writer. Fuentes spoke with NPQ editor Nathan Gardels shortly after the draft settlement between the Mexican government and the Chiapas rebels was signed.

Some analysts predict that the CIA will launch Cold War- style covert operations against the rebels. On the eve of the initiation of the peace talks between the Zapatistas and the government, February 21, Ralph McGehee, who spent 14 years overseas as a CIA operations officer, said that in this sort of negotiations you always have technical operations against the rebels to gather information on the leadership and members, and their negotiating position.
   He suggested that the Agency might deploy a close support team to the area, to gather information on the guerrilla leadership, members and negotiating position and give it to the Mexican government.

"Satellites, telecommunications equipment, infrared rays track (the indigenous peoples') movement, locate its centers of rebellion, mark on military maps places to plant bombs and death."- Subcomandante Marcos in Mexico: The Long Voyage from Sorrow to Hope, 1994 Outside the spotlight of major media coverage and public awareness, the United States is quietly backing into a potentially wrenching military conflict south of the border, as U.S. financing, training, technology, intelligence, arms, advisor and political commitment are provided to bolster a shaky and corrupt Mexican regime- a regime that is steadily acquiring an arsenal to wage war against its own people, if they dare to seriously challenge the entrenched status quo. The hundreds of Mexican civilians who have already died at the hands of government troops and police during 1994 and 1995 alone, like the hundreds of millions of dollars in imported weaponry for Zedillo's army and the billions in bail-out money for the ruling elite, may -tragically- be only the beginning, if current U.S. policies are allowed to continue. Peter Lumsdaine

Joe Piette, a shop steward with National Association of Letter Carriers, asked everyone who had a relative, a neighbor or a co-worker who had become a victim of drugs to raise their hands - - almost all present did. Drug use affects the whole working class. That's why unions should be protesting against the CIA, he pointed out. Furthermore, the U.S. and corporations use the drug issue as a cover to put down peoples movements overseas. Since U.S. companies shut down here to profit from low wages overseas, our unions have a stake in supporting those peoples movements for better wages and conditions. He explained how the U.S. let the Mexican government use helicopters, supposedly given to fight drugs, against the rebellion in Chiapas two years ago, in part a struggle against NAFTA. (Dec. 14, 1996)

The rebels have lost nearly all their political momentum. As the peace talks faltered over deep differences between President Ernesto Zedillo and Zapatista leaders, the guerrillas' international limelight faded while the army reinforced its control across the state, setting up garrisons in the most remote corners... At least 20 people have been killed this year in other violence in Indian communities outside the Zapatista-controlled zone, and thousands of peasants were displaced from their homes. There are signs that both pro- and anti-Zapatista civilian groups are arming themselves with guns.