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Chiapas al Día, No. 137
CIEPAC
Chiapas, México
December 5, 1998

TATIC

On November 3 this year, Samuel Ruiz García, the Bishop of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, celebrated his 74th birthday.

Tatic, as he is affectionately called by the Chiapaneco indigenous, was born in the city of Irapuato, in the state of Guanajuato, on November 3, 1924, the eldest of five brothers. After his primary studies, he entered the Seminary in the city of León, in the same state. Between 1947 and 1949, he studied at the Gregorian Pontifical University, where he studied for a degree in Dogmatist Theology; from 1949 to 1952, he specialized in Sacred Scriptures at the Biblical Pontifical Institute in the same city of Rome. He was ordained on April 2, 1949. With his studies completed, he was assigned to a teaching position in his diocese in the Council Seminary of León, where he was subsequently named rector. On November 14, 1959, 10 days after he turned 35, Pope John XXIII named him Bishop of Chiapas. Tatic wanted to be consecrated in the cathedral of San Cristóbal de Las Casas during the fiesta of San Pedro, and, for the first time in more than 400 years, a Bishop of Chiapas would be consecrated in the state on January 25, 1960. In 1964, the Chiapaneco Diocese was divided in two: one, with the a majority mestizo population (Tuxtla Gutiérrez), and the other with an indigenous majority (San Cristóbal de Las Casas). Later the Diocese of Tapachula would be formed.

The marginalization, poverty and neglect of the indigenous population was what initially precipitated his defense of their rights. Later, the Papal Delegate, Luigi Raimondi, promoted the Second Missionary Congress of Mexico, where the indigenous' presence fostered the ties between the diocese and the indigenous population, and allowed them to become more aware of their reality. From this arose the initiative for preparing catechists from the indigenous communities themselves, which led to the creation of the Diocesan Schools of catechists, where indigenous laypersons would take an important role in the evangelization of the Diocese. Later, the Pre-Deacons, Deacons and Tuhuneles would emerge. In addition to the Second Vatican Council, Don Samuel's participation in the organizing meeting for the Medellín Conference - where he was assigned in Melgar to give the presentation, "The Evangelization of the Indigenous in Latin America" - were two events which profoundly influenced his life. In Melgar, they invited him to head the Presidency of the Episcopal Commission of Indigenous of the Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM), for a second period.

The reflections about the missions and their experiences brought with it the renovation of the evangelization, the need for dialogue and for becoming immersed in indigenous cultures. Jtatik, or simply Tatic, then learned some of the languages of the indigenous peoples. He traveled to all corners of his Diocese, even to the most abandoned communities, coming into contact with the deepest misery and the profound marginalization and injustice to which the indigenous peoples were subjected, and he raised the voice of those without voice. He also traveled to different parts of the world, through Central America, Brazil, the Federation of Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, India and Australia, among many other countries.

Years later, the Regional Seminary of the Southeast (SERESURE) was formed, where new priests were educated for a new evangelization. In 1969, 52 Latin American Bishops met for a month in order to bring themselves up to date on the continent's pastoral. Following this, there were other Latin American meetings, such as the one in Rio Bamba, in Ecuador, where the participants were incarcerated, and ones in Brazil, in Tehuantepec and in San Cristóbal de Las Casas in 1978.

In 1974, during the government administration of Dr. Manuel Velasco Suárez, with the active involvement of the Diocese of San Cristóbal, the First Indigenous Congress was held, with the participation of more than 2000 indigenous from the four ethnic groups with the greatest presence in Los Altos, the Selva and the North of Chiapas, for the purpose of celebrating the 500th anniversary of the birth of Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas. At this event, the indigenous made clear their primary demands: land, health, education, nutrition, an end to the army's harassment of the communities, an end to repression by the ranchers and landowners' gunmen, the construction of roads, credit, commercialization and better prices for agricultural products, among others. Here, Tatic explicitly stated the Church's preferential option for the poor, for the oppressed and marginalized peoples, for the indigenous. This was a crucial event for the Diocese and for Don Samuel Ruiz. From this arose the Diocesan Assemblies, where the indigenous' participation was reflected in the voice of the Church. The Diocese saw itself committed to accompanying the Christian peoples, immersed in the popular processes in the Tzeltal, Tojolabal, Chol, Tzotzil zones, and in the city of San Cristóbal itself. Neither the trips, the denunciations, the negotiations nor the pastoral letters could move it away from the inextinguishable option for faith, which is the option for justice, with a prophetic vocation which was not, nor is, separate from political conflicts when they injure the interests of those who have tried to dominate and to trample on the rights of the indigenous peoples.

Beginning in 1980, when the "scorched earth" policy was applied against the Indian peoples in Guatemala, which produced the arrival of more than 45,000 Guatemalan refugees, Tatic and his Diocese played a dominant role in aiding the indigenous population, with the founding of the Christian Committee for Aid to Refugees. In 1988, he founded the "Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas" Human Rights Center, an extremely important body, which has enabled the violations of the most fundamental human rights of the state's indigenous and campesino peoples to be denounced. This has also generated systematic attacks, disparagement, intimidation and harassment, even of the pastoral agents, who have been imprisoned and expelled, and has even led to the taking of the lives of Diocesan catechists.

In 1992, he took over the management as president of the International Christian Secretariat of Solidarity with Latin America (SICSAL), inheriting it from the Bishop Emeritus of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Sergio Méndez Arceo, and he acted as a member of the Consultative Body of the national newspaper "La Jornada". From 1994 until June of 1998, he presided over the National Intermediation Commission (CONAI), which, along with other names of nationally renowned moral character, he supported through his good offices in the mediation between the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) and the Federal Government. Various other initiatives of peace were owing to him during this period, as well, such as the founding of the Civil Peace Camps and the Commission of Community Reconciliation, among others.

Tatic's pastoral work has transcended the borders of the state, and even of the country and other nations. He has been invited to all the continents of the world, and he has received various recognitions for his evangelical services to the most unprotected and for his defense of human rights, among them the "Paolo E. Borcellino" recognition, of Italy; Roque Dalton Medal, CONCISES; Benito Juárez Medal, Mexico; Letelier Moffitt Medal, US; Oscar A. Romero Medal, Italy; Honorary Doctorate from the University of Tubinga, Germany; Leon Felipe Prize, Spain; nomination as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997; Raúl Follereau Medal, Italy; Honorary Doctorate from the University of Barcelona, Catalonia. In addition, he is also a member of the Peace Council, which brings together various leaders from different religious denominations all over the world and three Nobel Peace Prize winners.

On November 4, 1995, Co-adjutant Bishop Raúl Vera López, O.P. arrived at the Diocese. He was born on June 21, 1945 in the city of Acámbaro, state of Guanajuato. In 1968, he graduated in Chemical Engineering from the Autonomous National University (UNAM) of Mexico, and that year he entered the Novitiate of the Order of Preachers. He finished his philosophy studies with the Order of the Dominicans and studied Theology at the Superior Institute of Ecclesiastical Studies, which he completed in Bologna, Italy, where he obtained his degree from the Pontificate University of Saint Thomas of Aquinas in Rome in 1976. He was ordained as a priest there on June 29, 1975. He acted as Chaplain in a parish in Bologna, Italy from 1975 to 1976, and, for the subsequent two years, he was a university chaplain in Mexico City. He was a Novitiate Teacher for the Order of Preachers from 1997 to 1985; a member of the Provincial Council of the province of Santiago of Mexico for the Dominican fathers from 1981 to 1987; a member of the Provincial from 1985 to 1987; university chaplain from 1985 to 1987; Coordinator of the Secretariat for the Dominican Family and advisor for the Marriage Encounters Movement. Then, in November of 1987, Pope John Paul II himself named and consecrated him as Bishop of the city of Altamirano, state of Guerrero, on January 6, 1988 in the City of Rome. He then presided over the Episcopal Commission for Sacred Life between 1988 and 1994; he was a member of the Department of Sacred Life of the CELAM between 1990 and 1994; and he participated in the Third Latin American Episcopate Conference in Santo Domingo in October of 1992 and in the Synodal General Assembly of Bishops in 1994.

It did not take Bishop Raúl Vera López, O.P. long to understand the circumstances in which the indigenous of Chiapas were living. He also has fallen victim to an attack by the alleged paramilitary group, "Los Chinchulines": in 1996, he was detained for hours by this group, who threatened to assassinate him, in the Temó-Chilón highway. On November 4, 1997, during a pastoral trip through the Northern Zone with Bishop Samuel Ruiz, they were once again the object of an assassination attempt by the "Peace and Justice" paramilitary group.

The Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas was created on March 19, 1539, and in 1545 Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas arrived in Chiapas. It is the fifth oldest on the continent, and Don Samuel Ruiz García's episcopal service is the longest in all Chiapaneco history. A total of 39 bishops have passed through this Diocese. It currently takes in a territory of approximately 36,821 square kilometers of "jungle" (selva), mountains and plains, where about 1.5 million persons live, distributed over approximately 2000 communities, in 42 municipalities, are the highest in state and national marginalization levels, and where the majority are indigenous. It is divided into 7 Pastoral Teams (Tzeltal, Chol, Tzotzil, Centro, Sur, Sureste and Chab), and it is organized into Health, Human Rights, Youth Pastoral, Infant Catechism, Women's Groups and Ministries groups. The people actively participate in the Diocesan Assemblies, as the People of Faith, where lay representatives from each community find a space for sharing and working together. It has about 8000 catechists, 173 religious persons from 34 Congregations, 31 Diocesan Priests, more than 30 Religious Priests, 26 Lay Missionaries and 105 permanent indigenous and campesino Deacons.

The search for new campesino ministries has resulted in community organizers, health agents, those responsible for cooperatives or agents of economic promotion and human rights promoters, among others. The diocesan process is also trying to find better training for aspirants to the priesthood; to strengthen the reflection groups and the Ecclesiastical Base Communities, workshops for analysis and Indian Theology, in order to gain a better understanding of the reality and to change the unjust structures of oppression, the translation of texts, Bibles, Catechisms, etcetera. In January 1995, Bishop Samuel Ruiz convened the Third Diocesan Synod, which will culminate in 1999. It is the third Synod since the creation of the Diocese more than 400 years ago, and its objective is to review the Diocesan process, to consolidate the achievements which have been obtained in the rise of an indigenous church and to promote and consolidate the preferential option for the poor. In this process, the indigenous have managed to have an important voice in the formation of the people's church. The indigenous have made the Church their own; it is in their hands. Because of this, the survival of hope, of faith, of justice and of the search for peace, are guaranteed for those who have been able to resist domination and the powers for more than 400 years.

Without a doubt, Don Samuel Ruiz García's role in the defense of the rights of the Indian peoples has earned him all kinds of distinctions. Those who have seen themselves threatened by his interests have vilified him, attacked him verbally and physically. These attacks have been in various forms, at particular moments. They have come from the federal government, in the voice of President Ernesto Zedillo, who has even accused him of being an advocate for the "theology of violence", and there have been attacks by paramilitary and military groups in Chiapas. Don Samuel's presence is such that almost all the state gubernatorial candidates have visited him during their political campaigns. Similarly, legislators from various countries, political parties, bishops, personalities, solidarity groups, ambassadors, among many other state, national and international actors, consider him a reference point, a necessary interlocutor, in order to approach the reality of Chiapas. Meanwhile, a large part of the "coleta", the non-indigenous, community of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, is announcing in the local paper, "La Noticia", that "there are 335 days left until Samuel Ruiz García resigns". And so, day after day, they continue the countdown. The Diocese itself is aware that it is the regime-in-power's worst enemy. Nonetheless, the support of various of the country's dioceses, of the indigenous themselves who arrive, making pilgrimages to the Cathedral of Peace - and which they fill with 10,000 indigenous - the pilgrimage of the diocese to Mexico City last year, which drew solidarity to it during its walk, and many other demonstrations: all of these speak to the great support which the diocese enjoys.

Its support within the indigenous community, its involvement in Indian Theology, the church incarnate in the people, its profound ecumenical spirit, its work for peace, among other elements: all make the Diocese a political actor, as well, due to its strength and impact in the state. Chiapas cannot be understood without the presence and history forged by the Diocese through Don Samuel Ruiz García. His departure will involve a repositioning by the various actors who are trying to weaken it, for the purpose once again of trying to reach their objective: eliminating what they consider to be their worst enemy. The challenge for Bishop Raúl Vera is not small. Nonetheless, the church is in the people; that is where its hope and its strength lie. The poor, the indigenous, have resisted centuries of domination and injustice. Now they are stronger, more organized, more conscious, more hopeful.

The time of the jubilee year, as a period of transition for the Bishops, is made more difficult, because the actors who are opposed to the Diocese are attempting to prevent Don Samuel from leaving cleanly, which is why the campaigns and attacks in the press have become more intense of late: and they are coming from journalistic and media arenas which lean towards the government and towards the most belligerent power groups. Meanwhile, the government is trying to test Don Raúl's mettle, with actions designed to measure his reactions.

The continuation of the attacks of aggression, defamation and attacks against the Diocese and the bodies which belong to it, can be expected, because what this church is building, in its journey with the people, is a life project, completely human, with fraternity and solidarity as Christians, and as a people of God. This can only disturb those who promote the project of death which has left us with misery, repression, assassinations, massacres, militarization and paramilitarization, misery, neglect and marginalization.

We shall now give just some examples of the attacks against the Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas from January 2, 1994 until June of 1998. From January, 1994 until April of 1997, the following were identified as presumably responsible for these attacks: the Mexican Federal Army, Paramilitary Groups (Peace and Justice and Los Chinchulines), the Civic Front of Authentic Coletos, Public Security Police, Federal and State Judicial Police, ranchers, White Guards, Municipal Presidents, Municipal Committees of the official PRI party, communities with a majority PRI militancy, the National Immigration Institute, the Department of Government, State Government radio and television stations, PRI Deputies, traditional Catholics such as Los Amatulis, the Labor Party (PT), shopkeepers and the Campesino Teaching Solidarity (SOCAMA), among others. During this first time period, we have:

- Attacks on 3 Parishes: Comitán, San Cristóbal and Tila in the Border, Los Altos and Northern regions.

- Attacks on 15 catechists and ministers in Tila, Sabanilla, San Cristóbal, Tumbalá and Bachajón.

- Attacks on 14 pastoral agents in Tila, Tumbalá and Chilón in the Northern zone.

- Sexual attack on a religious person in Ocosingo, Selva zone.

- Imprisoning and detentions without legal basis (4 cases) of priests in Palenque and Tumbalá.

- Defamation (25 cases) against the Diocese of San Cristóbal, Tila, Simojovel and Sabanilla.

- Deportation and detention (7 cases) of priests in Yajalón, Tumbalá, Venustiano Carranza, Chanal, Altamirano and Salto de Agua, in the Selva, Central and Northern zones.

- Governmental defamations (14 cases) in San Cristóbal and Tila, in Los Altos and Northern zones.

- National defamations (23 cases) of the Diocese in Tumbalá, Simojovel, Palenque and San Cristóbal in the Northern and Los Altos zones.

- Journalistic defamations (14 cases) concerning the Diocese in San Cristóbal and Chilón.

- Interrogations and harassment of religious persons in Altamirano, Tila, Ocosingo and Salto de Agua.

- Attacks against churches (16 cases) in Tila, Sabanilla, Tumbalá and Huixtán in the Northern and Los Altos zones.

- Churches closed or in the hands of paramilitaries (45 cases) in Sabanilla, Tila, Chenalhó, Huixtán and Chanal.

- Assassinations of catechists (4 cases) in Simojovel, Tila and Sabanilla in the Northern zone.

- Death threats (13 cases) against priests and bishops in San Cristóbal, Bachajón, Tila, Palenque, Simojovel, Teopisca, Las Margaritas, Sabanilla and Chenalhó in the Northern and Los Altos zones.

From the beginning of 1997 through June of 1998, attacks against the Diocese were mounting:

- 2/14/97: In Tila, catechist Margarita Martínez receives several knife wounds by Peace and Justice members.

- 3/28/97: In Yabteclum, Chenalhó, PRI members surround the church with a wire fence.

- 3/30/97: In Yabteclum, Chenalhó, 5 catechists are threatened with death by armed PRI members.

- 4/7/97: In Salto de Agua, the priest is interrogated and harassed in Mexico City by the National Immigration Institute.

- 4/17/97: The priest in Salto de Agua is deported by the Secretary of the Interior (Gobernación).

- 11/4/97: In San Cristóbal de Las Casas there have been about 70 newspaper articles against the Diocese and Don Samuel Ruiz, with libel and defamations, by the state paper, Cuarto Poder, by journalists Luis Zárate, Carlos César Núñez Martínez and Pepe Figueroa.

- 5/30/97: In Tila, 200 PRI members demonstrate, demanding the departure of parish priest Heriberto Cruz Vera.

- 6/11/97: In La Trinitaria, pastoral agents are interrogated by the Federal Army.

- 6/14/97: The parish priest of Huixtán is prohibited from entering the country, accused of carrying out ministry services without the authorization of the National Immigration Service.

- 10/6/97: In El Limar, Tila, a church is taken over and closed by Peace and Justice, which admits it has closed a total of 14 churches.

- 10/97: In El Limar, Tila, catechists are threatened with death, along with another 14, from the same number of communities, by Peace and Justice.

- 10/7/97: In Tumbalá, two Passionist religious are detained, harassed and threatened by Public Security Police.

- 10/12/97: In Galeana, Simojovel, catechist Lucas Sánchez is assassinated by armed PRI members.

- 10/15/97: In La Paz, Simojovel, catechist Mariano Gómez Sánchez is assassinated by armed PRI members.

- 10/15/97: In Los Moyos, Sabanilla, Peace and Justice close a church and do not allow the entrance of the priest.

- 9/4/97: In San Antonio Naranjal, Simojovel, catechist Rafael is assassinated.

- 9/97: In Sabanilla, catechist Mateo is assassinated by Peace and Justice.

- 9/15/97: The parish priest of Chenalhó, Miguel Chanteau, receives a death threat from the Municipal President, Jacinto Arias Cruz.

- 9/18/97: In Los Chorros, Chenalhó, armed PRI members close the church, which, months later, will be used as the facilities for a military camp.

- 9/23/97: In Los Chorros, Chenalhó, 6 catechists are threatened with death by armed PRI members.

- 9/4/97: In El Crucero, Tila, the bishops, priests and catechists are subjected to an ambush, resulting in the wounding of three catechists.

- 9/6/97: In San Cristóbal, there is a murder attempt against Maria de la Luz Ruiz, Don Samuel Ruiz' sister, by Miguel Méndez Toporek, who was recently released from prison.

- 9/7/97: In Sibacjá, Ocosingo, during the Indian Theology Meeting, Public Security Police maintain close surveillance and harassment.

- 12/2/97: In Tzaquil, Tila, Peace and Justice burn a church, as well as one in Miguel Alemán.

- 12/2/97: In Panwits, Tila, Peace and Justice close a church.

- 12/15/97: In Cacateal, Huitiupán, parish priest Joel Padrón is threatened with death by PRI members if he enters the communities of Chanival or Cacateal.

- 12/15/97: In El Limar, Tila, Bishops Samuel Ruiz and Raúl Vera, parish priest Heriberto Cruz Vera and the Papal Nunciate, Justo Mullor, during his visit to the area, have an altercation with Peace and Justice militants, when asking to have the church reopened which that group had closed.

- 12/22/97: In Acteal, Chenalhó, paramilitaries attack a chapel where indigenous are praying, leaving 45 dead, among them boys and girls, women and the chief catechist of the area, Alonso Vázquez Gómez; Victorio Vázquez Gómez, health worker for the Diocese; María Luna Méndez, representative of the Parish Council of Chenalhó.

- 1/12/98: In San Cristóbal, Bishop Samuel Ruiz García is threatened in writing by Professor Jorge Soriano.

- 2/26/98: The parish priest of Chenalhó, Miguel Chanteau, is expelled from the country.

- 3/11/98: In Sabanilla, the chapel is fired at 7 times with high-caliber weapons by PRI members and Peace and Justice.

- 3/9/98: In San Andrés Larráinzar, the Santiago El Pinar church is closed by armed PRI members who had already been identified as members of the "Red Mask" paramilitary group.

- 3/24/98: In Tumbalá, the vehicle in which parish priest Jaime Rangel and another person were traveling was fired upon.

- 3/31/98: In Comitán, religious persons from the parish of San Sebastián were detained for several hours and notified to appear in San Cristóbal before Immigration agents.

- 6/3/98: In Nicolás Ruiz, catechist Marcelino Daniel is detained and taken to the Cerro Hueco jail, then released the following day. Another 5 catechists are threatened with being imprisoned, accused by the state government of destabilizing the municipality.

- 6/1/98: In Navil, Tenejapa, Deacon Sebastián is detained by Public Security Police, accused of having weapons which the priest had blessed.

- 6/3/98: In Navil, PRI members and Public Security Police enter the church with weapons.

- 6/10/98: In Chavajeval, El Bosque, the church and the Sacrament are profaned by Public Security police, the army and the Judicial police.

"THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF THE LAW: IMPUNITY"

(Excerpt, Part XXV)*

Article 16: Protection of cultural items and places of worship.

Without affecting the regulations of the Hague Convention of May 14, 1954 for the protection of Cultural Items in case of Armed Conflict, it shall be prohibited to commit hostile acts directed at historical monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of the people, and to use them in support of the military effort.

The Mexican Army is stationed in the lower reaches of the hill, right where the San Cayetano cemetery is located. "They don't even respect our dead," Antonio Gómez, resident of the ejido, said angrily. (Balboa, J. La Jornada, 8/27/97, p. 3)

PRI officials in Chanal informed the Secretary of Government (Arely Madrid Tovilla) of their decision to not permit priests and catechists into the Catholic church, which has been closed since 1994. (Mariscal, A. La Jornada, 3/10/98, p. 6)

They (the soldiers) came in to loot the little church we have, they left everything that was inside the church thrown onto the floor, they even moved the patron saint, the host, they threw everything about; cups which we had bought to serve in the little offering to our patron, everything was left dented. (Residents of San Pedro Guerrero New Center. Ojarasca. La Jornada, 3/11/98, p. 7)

The Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas has had to confront a hidden aggression, which, up to this point, has resulted in 36 churches closed, destroyed or profaned () churches burned, closed, profaned, destroyed, prohibited from performing mass, and, in some of them, occupied by the Mexican Army and the State Public Security police, in indigenous communities in eight municipalities of the Selva Lacandona, Los Altos and Northern regions of Chiapas () In Tila, the PRI Peace and Justice organization has profaned churches in Corosil, Huanal, Jolnixtié and Libertad Jolnixtié. Six more were closed: Miguel Alemán, El Limar, Panwits, Crucero, Masojá Grande and Patastal. In El Limar, considered to be Peace and Justice's primary center of operations, the church's vestibule was occupied by the Army and Public Security police () In the municipality of Huixtán, the San Fernando Church is notable for having been closed for all Catholics, and it is forbidden to attend the Eucharist under the threat of jail.

In Yabteclum, municipality of Chenalhó, the catechists' house was fenced in with wire. But even more serious is the prohibition by PRI municipal authorities and agents of the arrival of a new priest, who was to substitute for Father Chanteau, who had been expelled last February 26 by the National Immigration Institute () The church is also closed in the municipality of Chanal, the priest was forbidden from entering the community and the community gathers in private homes () Tumbalá, San Andrés Larráinzar and Ocosingo are the other municipalities where churches have been closed, destroyed or profaned. In the community of La Estrella, in Ocosingo, the Mexican Army half-destroyed the chapel () According to the Bishop of the Diocese of Tuxtla, the Department of Government should intervene in order to enforce freedom of worship, in communities such as Chenalhó, where Article 130 of the Constitution was violated. (Balboa, J. and Mariscal, A. La Jornada, 4/6/98, p. 6)

"If thousands of people are going to die, then let them die, because it is very seriously affecting our international prestige, and a world of foreign investment is going to Venezuela and Brazil. The entire Army needs to go in to Chiapas, in order to disarm whoever needs to be disarmed." (Luis Enrique Grajeda Alvarado, Director of the Nuevo León Management Center, 1/20/98)

"The lynch mob climate we have here is going to promote acts which no one will lament, because they are going to be explained as the consequences of a supposedly improper position." (Samuel Ruiz García, Bishop of the Diocese of San Cristóbal, 4/2/98)

*Excerpt from the document, "The Unbearable Lightness of the Law: Impunity; Three Months from Acteal", by "Alternative Popular Communication, Working Group", from 4/11/98

Onésimo Hidalgo and Gustavo Castro Soto
Center for Economic and Political Investigations of Community Action, A.C.
CIEPAC is a member of the, Mexican Network of Action Against Free Trade (RMALC) www.rmalc.org.mx, Convergence of Movements of the Peoples of the Americas (COMPA ) www.sitiocompa.org, Network for Peace in Chiapas, Week for Biological and Cultural Diversity www.laneta.apc.org/biodiversidad, the International Forum "The People Before Globalization", Alternatives to the PPP http://usuarios.tripod.es/xelaju/xela.htm, and of the Mexican Alliance for Self-Determination (AMAP) that is the Mexican network against the Puebla Panama Plan. CIEPAC is a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Economic Justice http://www.econjustice.net and the Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Caribbean (EPICA) http://www.epica.org.


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Translated by irlandesa for CIEPAC, A. C.


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