(Part II of 2 Parts)

Note: The following newspaper sources from Chiapas and Mexico City have been used in the preparation of this Bulletin: Cuarto Poder, Expresso, El Observador de la Frontera Sur, La Jornada and Reforma.

1. - RED MASK: This group has been known since 1994, but they demonstrated their existence following the suspension of negotiations between the EZLN and the Government (September 1996) with the appearance of signs against Bishop Samuel Ruiz and Subcomandante Marcos, saying: "you want to know who I am, we'll see you in hell," which appeared between Oventic and the municipal seat of San Andrés Larráinzar. Community denunciations placed their members in the communities of Tivó, Santiago El Pinar, in the municipality of San Andrés, and in the Callejón parish, municipality of San Juan Chamula. The activities of this group are primarily directed against EZLN support bases and against the Rebel Council of San Andrés Sacamch'en de los Pobres. Their bases are PRI militants. Some sources identify this group as being responsible for the massacre in Acteal, Chenalhó.

2. INDIGENOUS REVOLUTIONARY ANTI-ZAPATISTA MOVEMENT (MIRA): They became known to the public in the second half of 1997, with their main centers of operation in the municipality of Oxchuc; in the communities of San Fernando, 20 de Noviembre and Santa Rosa, in the municipalities of Huixtán, Oxchuc and Chanal. Denunciations from the urban zone of Oxchuc state that their training center is the sports field of the Agricultural Technological School, and that they have made written, anonymous threats against PRD municipal activists. Their links with PRI Federal Deputy, Norberto Sántiz López, a native of that municipality, have been publicly denounced. The communities of the ARIC Independiente and of Tzomán denounce that they do recruiting work in the municipalities of Altamirano, Ocosingo and in the rebel municipality of Tierra y Libertad on the border with Guatemala. According to press reports, MIRA's presence has gradually been extended. On 6/9/98, it was reported that Norberto Sántiz and Alonso López Gómez (federal and local deputies) beat up some campesinos in Oxchuc, and they have even been implicated in some assassinations. On 6/10/98, police were accused of recruiting indigenous in Oxchuc and of being responsible for the assassination of 9 indigenous persons, opposed to the PRI, over the last 10 months, in addition to receiving $750 pesos per month (in Oxchuc and Ixhuatán), with economic support from the state government. The Reforma newspaper, on 7/10/98, reported that in Ocosingo, between 30 and 45 indigenous youth, dressed in black, are training during the night, two and four times a month, and receiving a payment of $850 pesos, It stated that they have been recruited by Nicolás García Flores, and are trained by Abelardo González Jiménez. According to witnesses, the Mexican Army, stationed in Monte Libano, is selling weapons to the PRI's at half price. It is also reported that, in the communities of the Selva Lacandona, residents observed, from April to July of 1998, 48 armed men in the mountains, with PEMEX uniforms, blonde hair, light eyes, short haircuts, fat, tall and with "very strange" boots.

3. - PEACE AND JUSTICE: With a presence in the municipalities of Salto de Agua, Tila, Sabanilla, Tumbalá and Yajalón, they made themselves known on July 14, 1995. They are affiliated with the official party (PRI) and directed by PRI State Deputy and evangelical, Samuel Sánchez Sánchez. They control the Northern zone through checkpoints, ambushes, the closing of Catholic churches, control of production, displacements of populations opposed to the government, etc., and have caused dozens of deaths and thousands of displaced. Many of their members belong to the Campesino Teachers Solidarity (SOCAMA) organization, and a large percentage of them practice the evangelical and Protestant religions. The primary targets of their attacks have been directed the Catholic Church (catechists, bishops, pastoral agents and priests), arguing that it is they who have given cover to the formation of the Abu'Xu (Arriera Nocturna) organization, coordinated by the PRD, Organized Civil Society and EZLN support bases. On 7/4/97, they signed a "Productive Development Agreement" with the State Government for $4,600,000.00 p4eos ($460,000 USD). Mexican Army General, Mario Renán Castillo, Commander of the 7th Military region, headquartered in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, signed this agreement as an "Honor Witness." The El Observador newspaper reported, on 11/15/97, that "the PRI group Peace and Justice participated in General Mario Renán's send-off (...) headed by local PRI Deputy, Samuel Sánchez, and by another former military director of the Tila council, Marcos Albino Torres López. Accused of being a paramilitary group () they are considered responsible for more than 50 assassinations of zapatista and PRD indigenous and for the attack against the diocesan bishops () the general's farewell included a private dinner with the governor of the state." On 5/20/98, PRI Deputy Samuel Sánchez accused Bishop Samuel Ruiz García of having his armed group, "Abu'Xu," and of being responsible for 89 deaths and 27 kidnappings, this paramilitary group claims. On 7/7/98, members of SOCAMA and Peace and Justice met with Esteban Moctezuma, Secretary of Social Development (SEDESO), in order to evaluate the funds which had been delivered to the paramilitary group, which has publicly admitted, through PRI deputy, Samuel Sánchez, to being armed.

4. - LOS CHINCHULINES: They have been known since 1988. Through the cover of CROC, the former interim governor of Chiapas and native of that region, Elmar Setzer Marseille, gave them much support. They are known publicly as the "Luis Donaldo Colosio" Revolutionary Youth Front, having taken that name on May 23, 1995, at a meeting in the community of Temó. They gained strength during 1994, but it was in May of 1995 when they carried out their first actions, with the support of PRI Federal Deputy, Rafael Ceballos. They operate basically in the municipalities of Chilón and Yajalón, with the community of Bachajón being their main center of operations. When the municipal presidency of Chilón was taken on 4/18/96, they established alliances with the municipal leaders of the Cardenista Front of National Reconstruction Party (PFCRN), the Chiapaneco Democratic Party (PDCH) and the National Action Party (PAN), in order to call for the removal of the municipal president, Manuel Gómez Moreno, Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD) activist. On 5/5/96, at the commemoration of the first anniversary of the Chinchulines' attack in Bachajón, the groups in conflict reconciled, except for the main leaders of the Chinchulines, who were left without the majority of their bases. At this point they renewed their efforts and captured new bases, with their main center of operations in the Guaquitepec community in the municipality of Chilón, leading to the assumption that this group is continuing to rebuild itself. It is known through the press that their paramilitary training center is in the Joibé predio, in Chilón. This group has directed their activities against PRD activists, the Jesuit Mission in Bachajón and the Arriera Nocturna Campesino Organization (OCAN). On 5/16/98, residents of Bachajón, Chilón, demanded that the law be enforced against the Chinchulines, who were continuing their harassment. On 5/22/98, the press announced that 14 of the 26 Chinchulines prisoners might be released from the Cerro Hueco jail; on 6/4/98, Governor Albores Guillén's intervention was announced, in the review of the cases, and, on 6/13/98, this led to the release of 10 of the 26 Chinchulines prisoners, who, on 5/5/96, had destroyed, set fire to, and looted 40 houses, burning alive and executing by coup de grace Genaro Hernández and Sebastián Gómez Feliciano.

5. - SAN BARTOLOME DE LOS LLANOS ALLIANCE: With a presence in the municipality of Venustiano Carranza, founded in early 1995, PRI affiliated, it acts primarily against the comuneros of the House of the People of the Emiliano Zapata Campesino Organization (OCEZ), a member of the FAC-MLN. On 5/26/98, it was reported that 500 persons had been thrown off their lands, and in addition, that there were 34 deaths, 4 disappearances, hundreds detained, tortured and imprisoned for political reasons, due to actions by the police, caciques and the Alliance.

The comuneros have had internal conflicts, because, between the caciques and the cattle ranchers, they have managed to convince some campesinos to encourage a change in land ownership from communal to ejidal or small ownership, causing their expulsion by the comuneros. This dates from 1964. Those expelled have affiliated with the OCEZ-CNPA (which arose from the OCEZ-House of the People in 1988), and others have affiliated themselves with the OPEZ (which arose from the OCEZ-CNPA in 1994). The OCEZ-CNPA and the OPEZ are not paramilitary organizations, but some of their members have united, on a short-term basis, with the Alliance, whose primary nucleus is the comuneros of Paraíso el Grijalva, who carried out the massacre of 9 comuneros of the House of the People on October 6, 1984. The Alliance is also made up by the village, 3 de Marzo (OCEZ-CNPA), shopkeepers from the municipal seat, PFCRN militants, proprietors and landowners of the region (the Orantes, Gordillo, Avendaño, Hipólito Pedrero, Darío Borraz - former municipal president -families stand out), Comuneros of the Barrio El Convento, San Pedro (Los Baños) and the Peoples' Armed Forces (FAP), which the OCEZ-CNPA has publicly recognized as their activists. During its founding, the local press recorded the presence of PRI Federal Deputy Eucario Orantes, who holds strong cattle ranching interests. Those operating in this group who have made public appearances are: Bartolomé Mendoza Hidalgo (president of the organization), Bartolomé Vázquez Solano, José Manuel Solano Gordillo, Manuel Espinosa Martínez.

6. - LOS AGUILARES: They have been known in the municipality of Chilón since 1994. They are assumed to be a group of criminals and family members who act against groups challenging their local power and special interests. They are also assumed to have a relationship with "Peace and Justice" and with the "Chinchulines," although they do not have the same characteristics as the paramilitary groups, since they are more identified as a criminal group. Up to this point, they have wounded and assassinated campesinos in some communities, and they returned to their harassment actions in January of 1998. Some of their members have been detained this year.

7. - LOS TOMATES: They have been known since 1998, in the municipality of Bochil, where the PRD, the CIOAC and the EZLN have a strong presence. On 5/16/98, it was reported that Los Tomates assassinated a builder. On 5/28/98, it was reported that they had assassinated Arturo Hernández Pérez in early May, and that Juan Zapata, Municipal President Apolinar Díaz Díaz and Eleazar Zenteno (Municipal Treasurer) were involved. Subsequently, on 6/12/98, it was announced that they had been detained and charged with assassination, rape, robbery and injuries, such as in the case of Jesús López Hernández, assaulted on 12/31/97.

8. - LOS QUINTOS: Known in the municipality of Venustiano Carranza. On 6/13/98, an attack was committed against the Committee of Poor Campesinos. In Laguna Oquil, armed attacks were recorded, and it is said that there are around 70 trained and heavily armed men, led by Luis Aguilar Espinoza and his brothers. On 5/26/98, it was reported that they entered the Laguna Oquil predio, and that they had black uniforms, boots, backpacks, portable communications equipment, that they exchanged gunfire and that they were hooded. "The manner in which they are progressing, their displacements and movements show that they are agents with military training, not just 'humble' campesinos," the organization noted.

9. - LOS PLATANOS: In the municipality of El Bosque, days after the Mexican Army had assassinated 9 indigenous zapatista support bases in the communities of Union Progreso and Chavajeval, on 6/13/98, there were reports of this group, made up of 80 PRI tzotzil youths, trained by the police and the Mexican Army. They were accused of having received a shipment of 40 weapons and of being tied to PRI local Deputies, Alonso Lopez Gomez and Norberto Santiz Lopez and to the municipal president, Sebastian Lopez Santiz. They are said to be commanded by Felipe López López, Andrés Hernández Hernández and "Fausto," who are in charge of training. Public Security Police are stationed in this community, and it is where the military attaché of the US embassy was detained. It has also been the site of ambushes and assassinations. The police left from this community for Union Progreso in December 1998, provoking the displacement of more than 40 families.

10. - LOS CHENTES: "Despite the multiplicity of denunciations against an armed group which operates in an unauthorized settlement called 'La Libertad,' located alongside the Military Base of Los Sabines, the authorities have still done nothing to break up this group, known as 'Los Chentes,' perpetrators of various homicides, assaults, batteries, robberies and rapes, committed during the course of just one year in that region, 10 kilometers to the west of this capital (Tuxtla Gutiérrez)," reported Cuarto Poder on 1/26/98. The origins of this problem date back to 1987 and have to do with land takeovers. The newspaper reports that "It is 1996 () when the leader of the Democratic Xi'Nich organization, Mario Landeros, makes his appearance. It is an organization created by government officials in order to divide Xi'Nich. Among those officials are Mario Arturo Coutiño, Jack Demóstenes, Uriel Jarquín (who piled up the bodies massacred at Acteal), among others. Then the armed group known as "Los Chentes," appears, made up of several brothers, who are given those nicknames because they are the sons of a subject by the name of Vicente González. A series of attacks are then initiated against trucks delivering soft drinks, gas, beer, etc., and, in addition, the stealing of wood, objects of value and cattle, in the community itself, as well as in Plan de Ayala, Berriozábal and Lázaro Cárdenas, municipality of San Fernando." On 2/3/97, the mayors of Tuxtla, San Fernando and Berriozábal called upon State Judicial Police to intervene and to disarm them. "The request was never dealt with, and the operation was never carried out due to the negligence of the official." On 4/6/97, a group of heavily armed subjects, headed by Santana Osorio Juárez, Maria del Carmen, López Hernández, Orel Hernández Gómez, and the brothers Rosel and Abel González, entered "El Sabino" ranch and kidnapped Jose Luis Gamboa and his nephew. Other members of the band raped a young woman. On 4/14/97, they disarmed a group of judicial police and later released them. On 7/21/97, they assassinated the brothers César and Hernán Espinosa, and left two wounded. On 1/10/98, they broke into a house, whose owner, after denouncing the events, was shot at by this group.

11. - LOS PUÑALES: Since before 7/6/97, a group of PRI's from La Floresta community, municipality of Comitán, headed by Fausto Gómez Díaz (businessperson, owner of a car dealership and a sawmill in the area), began organizing an armed group with the help of the Federal Army and the Public Security Police. Made up of around 30 persons who have large caliber weapons, among them the so-called "cuernos de chivo." The Army gave them around 12 of those weapons. In addition, Public Security Police, in January 1998, delivered 60,000 pesos as salary to the paramilitaries who go by the name of "Los Puñales." At 7 PM on 1/14/98, they appeared publicly in Floresta, firing seven shots into the air, carrying large caliber weapons, and wearing black uniforms with white tunics. They operate in the SOCAMA zone of influence, in the communities of Tulancá, La Floresta, Joaquín Miguel Gutiérrez, municipality of Comitán; in San Jose la Florecilla and Mexiquito, municipality of Amatenango del Valle. The Army has given them permits to exploit the wood, and they have already set up a sawmill in Joaquín Miguel Gutiérrez. They appeared again on January 16 in San José la Florecilla, and they entered the community lands. When they were discovered by dogs who began barking, and a resident of the community who had approached in order to observe them, they withdrew. They appeared once more in San José la Florecilla on February 14. The persons who allegedly lead this group are: Fausto Gómez Díaz, Fidel Bermúdez Hernández and Graciano Gómez Hernández, and they meet in the home of the Rural Judge of La Floresta, according to the denunciations. Two Public Security policemen, who are natives of that community, have returned, and they are accused of training them in a camp close to La Floresta. One of them is José Velasco. On February 10, Gustavo Morales, of the San Caralampio community, left his house headed towards Comitán and was kidnapped. There is still no information as to his whereabouts, and it is presumed that Los Puñales were responsible. The Army has increased their patrols in the communities of Tzajalnish, Natiltón and Frontera Mexiquito, and it is an area where drug traffickers are present, with 70 armed persons caring for their "fields."

12. - LOS CARRANCISTAS: The local newspaper, "El Observador," revealed the presence of this "armed group" on 4/15/98, in the municipality of Suchiate. The leader, Julio Avendaño Santiago, in his second press conference, gave the government of Roberto Albores a 30 day ultimatum to arrest and charge the leaders of the State Emiliano Zapata Proletarian organization, Hernán Villatoro Barrios and Horacio Enríquez Escobar, accused of being "paramilitaries," in order to avoid a seditious uprising by seven thousand men in the Soconusco and Coastal zones of Chiapas. If they were not charged, they threatened to execute them themselves. "Barely 300 meters from the dividing line between Mexico and Guatemala, where the 'Zapata Two" camp is located, Avendaño noted that 60% of his people have artillery and training in order to meet the needs of their struggle," the newspaper reported. This armed group has its base of operations in different communities in the municipality. The bishop of the Diocese of Tapachula, Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, met with this group in order to seek a peaceful resolution.

13. - SOCIAL JUSTICE: At the end of July 1996, the Broad Front of Organizations for National Liberation (FAO-LN) demanded "jail for the Social Justice paramilitary group, commanded by Hernán Villatoro Barrios, Horacio Enríquez Escobar and Israel Molina Santiago, who have spearheaded the terrorizing of campesinos in the Soconusco coast of the state of Chiapas, throwing them off their lands, torturing and kidnapping people." After Martín Hernández Gutiérrez, the president of the "Alonso Rodríguez Gamboa Human Rights Committee," completed a 27 day hunger strike, demanding justice, the FAO-LN asked that "the law be enforced against all paramilitary groups which exist in the region and the state."

14. - CIVIL FRONT: It was announced in Cuarto Poder on 4/28/98, that "a total of 18 communities and ranches in the municipality of La Independencia agreed this weekend to form a civil front, for the purpose of counteracting the activities of the rebel municipalities of "Tierra y Libertad," located in the Amparo Aguatinta ejido, in the municipality of Las Margaritas. The campesinos and indigenous reached agreement on this, along with state and municipal government officials, with the community of Rio Blanco, of the municipality of La Independencia. The Government delegate of the Third Border region, Francisco Torres Vera, said that the 19 ranches and ejidos belong to the Organization of the Selva, and they are located within the micro-region where the self-named rebel municipality Tierra y Libertad operates. "In order to counter the council's battering ()," he said that a training course would be given to municipal agents, which would be conducted by State government personnel, noted the report. Days later the "Tierra y Libertad" Autonomous Municipality, in the community of Amparo Aguatinta, was attacked by a large police-military operation, more than one thousand strong, accompanied by PRI's, culminating in the taking of prisoners, files being destroyed and other damage. In addition, the PRI's were put in power, with the support of the Army and Public Security Police, who still remain in the region.

15. - CLANDESTINE REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATION (OCR): On 11/7/97, the local newspaper, Expreso, reported that in the municipality of Sitalá, in the Northern-Selva zone, which was governed at that time by the PRD opposition, this group had caused a "wave of violence," especially in the community of Golonchán Viejo, "which threatens to be extended to nearby municipalities," causing the municipal president there, and the local deputy of the same district, to call for the intervention of the Department of Government. A committee of municipal PRD officials was kidnapped on July 28. On August 11, three children from the same community were poisoned, leading to the families' displacement. On October 13, a confrontation with this group, which left two dead and two wounded, led to the displacement from the municipal seat of PRI, as well as of PRD, activists. Since then, a police detachment has been set up there, who loot stores and homes. "Now that the displaced are trying to return to their places of origin, they cannot, because there is a group of armed persons in Golonchán Viejo, with high-powered weapons, who say they are White Guards, and who have the governor's complete support in possessing those weapons, and in doing whatever they feel like," denounced PRD municipal officials at that time. On November 4, the municipal judge and other council officials were attacked when they tried to testify concerning the killing of animals in the community. As a consequence, municipal authorities demanded that this PRI group be disarmed, and that the Public Security police officers in the area who were involved with armed group, be replaced. It should be remembered that there was a massacre of indigenous in this community in 1980, and that it was governed by the PRD alone from 1985 to October 1998, when the PRI regained the municipal presidency.

16. - CHENALHÓ: Since 8/4/96, Las Abejas organization has been denouncing that armed groups were being formed in the zone, with their primary centers of operation in the communities of Yabteclum, Los Chorros and Puebla. The PRI's in this zone began their organizational work as members of "Peace and Justice," and, later, as "First Force." At this point, they do not have a name which identifies them, and it is even said that they are members of "Red Mask," which perpetrated the Acteal massacre, but this cannot be confirmed. Because of this, they are referred to as armed PRI groups, although there are members who belong to the Cardenista Front Party (PFC). Their activities had been gradually increasing in the municipality in 1997, until they culminated in the Acteal massacre, where 45 persons were killed, primarily women.

17.- LOS DEGOLLADORES: Known in the municipality of San Juan Chamula, their activities are related to questions of "witchcraft," and some of their members are located in the municipal seat. At this point, it is assumed that, as a group, it has now been dispersed, and there is even talk that they have disappeared.

18. - TOMÁS MUNTZER: Tomás Muntzer is the name of a community located on the side of the highway that goes from Cuxuljá to Altamirano, and which belongs to the municipality of Ocosingo, founded in the early '90s by the former Governor, Patrocinio González Garrido. Its founding had the full support of the head of the Department of Agrarian Reform in Chiapas, Jorge Obrador Capellini. Its objective was to break up the communities of Chulná, Campo Virgen, El Carrizal, San Agustín, and other OCEZ activists, who now form part of the FAC-MLN. It is a community which acted as 'shock troops,' made up of PRI militants, and financed primarily by landowners in the area, such as Ernesto Ortega, Roselia Liévano and Sebastián López Méndez, who was known as "El Pepsi," a rich cattleman, businessman and main Pepsi Cola dealer in the municipality of Tenejapa. After Patrocinio left the government, this group was left without support, and it was further weakened when its main leader, Ernesto Ortega, was assassinated. Some of its members went on to form part of the EZLN support bases, others to the ORCAO of Ocosingo, and another to the OCEZ, while the minority who did not want to join any organization were expelled from the community and formed another village, which remained unorganized. This group did not reach the level of a paramilitary group, but was, rather, a den of gunmen and White Guards in the area, serving in the National Campesino Confederation (CNC), affiliated with the PRI, which formed part of the Citizens' Defense Committee of Ocosingo, made up primarily of cattlemen and businessmen in the area.

19. - RUBÉN JARAMILLO: On 2/11/98, the press noted this "paramilitary" group, with sophisticated arms, who had already perpetrated attacks in the municipality of Tecpatán and at the 52 kilometer point of the Villahermosa-Malpaso highway. This group's activities are more along the lines of those of common criminals. The MOCRI, CNPA and UMOI organizations immediately denied its existence, since the community with the same name are made up of MOCRI militants. Since this incident, there have been no reports of this alleged group.

20. - OPDDIC: On 7/14/98, PRI militants confirmed that political candidates in Ocosingo were surrounded by paramilitaries such as the OPDDIC organization, "a paramilitary organization made up of community leaders in order to confront those who do not share their ideas, and which is backed by Federal Deputy, Norberto Sántiz López, who goes to all their meetings and backs the agreements." In response, the same dissident PRI's threatened the PRI with a punishment vote in the electoral contest of October 4, 1998. This is one of those cases where the term "paramilitary" could be being applied indiscriminately to any group. Subsequently, the press recorded no more actions or information concerning this group.

21. - OCOPECH: In the municipality of Huitiupán, this organization is accused of being a "paramilitary" group, perhaps quite arbitrarily, since it is more characteristic of a criminal group. It was revealed on 7/11/98, that OCOPCH armed groups were operating in Huitiupán, with the involvement of the municipal president, Emiliano Pérez Gómez. It is assumed that they carry high powered weapons, they carry out attacks and they hide out in La Boquilla. They are identified as Labor Party militants, affiliated with OCOPCH. They have been operating for some time, and they have been held responsible for holdups on the roads in Jose Ma. Morelos I. Pavón and Zacatonal de Juárez. The criminals have settled in the towns of Enrique Rodríguez Cano and La Loma, of the same municipality. Along with the municipalities of Simojovel and El Bosque, the struggle against the opposition, whether it be the PRD, OCEZ or CIOAC, has been going on for many years. But the gunmen and White Guards left the PRI in 1994, and they have reorganized through the Popular Campesino and Workers Organization of the State of Chiapas (OCOPECH), who have been carrying out ambushes since 1996 against catechists and EZLN militants, Since 1997 there have been assassinations by PRI people of the region, and they have threatened to not allow priests to enter some of the communities, such as in Chavinal and Cacateal in the municipality of Huitiupán. In December 1997 they warned Father Joel Padrón (parish priest of Simojovel) that he would be assassinated if he entered the community. The actions of these groups in the zone have been centered around members of the Catholic Church, EZLN support bases and the CIOAC.

22. - TENEJAPA: On 2/16/98, the press announced that tzotzil indigenous from the municipality had revealed that the PRI mayor, Sebastián Sántiz "contracted the services of some 20 persons, whom he armed in order to use them as shock troops to protect himself from his political enemies." And, due to internal conflicts among PRI militants for municipal power, conflicts inside the UNAL, among other interests, resulted in the imposition of another municipal president. Months later, the government carried out a police-military operation in the municipality (5/24/98), arguing that an EZLN guerrilla training camp existed in the community of Navil. As a result of the operation, the state government managed to weaken the UNAL, accused of having been protected by the previous interim governor of Chiapas and of being a municipality where stolen cars were hidden.

23. - LA TRINITARIA: On 3/1/98, the press reported that in this municipality "residents of the new settlement, Rafael Cruz Ocaña, previously Santa Lucía la Galera, denounced the presence of a paramilitary group, as well as harassment and threats by Nelson Latin Acosta," who re-sells the same land to campesinos. The Cuarto Poder newspaper stated that "Nelson Latin Acosta arrived in the community accompanied by 10 to 11 heavily armed persons, the majority in civilian clothing, and one wearing a 'pinto' uniform, like those used by the Mexican Army () The same inhabitants denounced that it appeared that these persons had come from Rancho Nuevo (military barracks), and that captains and lieutenants had participated, who go out hunting at nighttime in the mountains () Nelson Latin Acosta had at first proposed arming people, like in the sugarcane zone ()" This could be a case of a group of White Guards or gunmen.

24. - NICOLÁS RUIZ: Due to the police-military operation carried out in this municipality on 6/2/98, PRD residents of the municipality, according to the local press, in September blamed interim Governor Roberto Albores Guillén for any violent events which might occur in the future, since, according to their denunciation, the Secretary of Government, Arely Madrid Tovilla, was financing and providing political protection to at least 80 PRI's who were going around armed in the municipality.

25. - CHAMULA: After the police-military operation of 4/7/98, legal authorities confirmed that arms trafficking existed in the municipality, and that even municipal officials were often heavily armed. A municipality governed by the PRI, it is the only one which does not allow other political parties to campaign there, which permits the expulsion of thousands of indigenous evangelicals, and which even prevented the municipal elections in September 1998, without the authorities enforcing the law.

26. - ALTAMIRANO: On September 1, 1998, La Jornada reported that representatives of the zapatista community 7 de Enero had stated that "We have known that the PRI's have been arming themselves in the community of Puerto Rico. For four months their leaders have been going to the Federal Army barracks in Altamirano () A short time ago, the PRI's held a meeting in the Livestock Association of Altamirano, in order to discuss whether or not their party members were willing to carry arms in order to resist the zapatistas."

27. - SIMOJOVEL: There have been attacks in this municipality by a group which has not been identified by name, but which has been identified with PRI and Labor Party (PT) militants. With the presence of campesinos from the Central Independent of Agricultural Workers and Campesinos (CIOAC) and EZLN support bases, on December 5 and 8, 1997, two CIOAC activists were assassinated with large weapons (Filiberto Pérez López and Francisco Sánchez González, respectively). This organization denounced that the attacks, repression and assassinations of their activists had been increasing, especially since June 1997. On September 8 and 22 of the same year, the campesinos Rafael Gómez Ruiz and Froylán Zenteno, respectively, were also assassinated. The CIOAC "noted that they have suspicions concerning the groups in power in that region, who are possibly forming a paramilitary group in order to stop the CIOAC's progress, since those responsible used R-15's and AK-44's in the last assassination," Cuarto Poder noted on December 9, 1997.

28. - FRONTERA COMALAPA AND CHICOMUSELO: Groups of armed gunmen have been active in these municipalities against campesino organizations such as the OCEZ-CNPA, the OCEZ and the Campesinos and Indigenous Organizations Front (FOCI), an organization which has declared itself to be in rebellion against the government, and which has set up a rebel auxiliary office of the Municipality of Tierra y Libertad in Paso Hondo, municipality of Frontera Comalapa. These groups of PRI's and armed gunmen have allied themselves with a charismatic religious group with a presence in the Tres Maravillas community in Comalapa, who have waged a propaganda campaign against the Catholic Church and priests belonging to the Diocese of San Cristóbal. In Paso Hondo and Ciudad Cuauhtémoc - according to young persons who have been invited to train as paramilitaries - there have been denunciations that they are the main centers of control of these groups. In November of 1997, PRI municipal presidents called on rural and municipal agents to form Public Security Municipal Councils, in order to coordinate Public Security Police with the Judicial Police. However, the campesinos consider these councils to be for the purpose of watching over independent organizations and for facilitating the formation of paramilitary groups. The residents denounced that Roberto Gomez was paying $600 pesos bimonthly to young persons to be recruited for paramilitary groups in Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, and that Paso Hondo Public Security police would train them.

29. - AMATENANGO DE LA FRONTERA: Since November of 1997, a conflict has been developing in the community of El Pacayal, where the majority of the ejido members are in the PRD, but a PRI minority is trying to impose an ejidal commissioner. Because of these conflicts, the PRI's armed themselves and kept several PRD families kidnapped. As a result, 57 PRI's were incarcerated in Cerro Hueco, and the State Committee of the PRI paid 283,000 pesos in bail for their release. After being released, they continued their constant threats against the community. In this municipality, which had been governed by the PRD, the municipal president interceded, calling on the PRI's for harmony. Following the October 1998 elections, the PRI retook control of the municipal government.

"THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF THE LAW: IMPUNITY"

(Excerpt, Part XXVIII, and last)*

EPILOGUE

The San Cayetano young persons continue their monologue with the mute soldiers: "We are the same Mexican citizens. If you are really Mexicans and defend the patria, you'd never have to threaten a campesino. But you come here to frighten us, as if we had a great enemy who is not Mexican, and who comes to invade our Mexico." (Petrich, B. A New Culture of Resistance in San Cayetano, Viva México. La Jornada, 9/19/97, p. 8)

Exactly thirty years ago, 100 United States soldiers reached the town of My Lai in Vietnam by helicopter, and, when they didn't find the enemy, they killed 350 civilians over a period of several hours, the majority women, children and old ones () that same morning, another group of United States soldiers began an assault on the town of My Khe, and, once more not finding any enemy forces, they assassinated all the women, children and old persons they found, between 60 and 155 civilians () No one has taken responsibility for the Vietnamese blood and their United States counterparts () the official investigators of the incident in that town concluded that it had to do with the troops having not been adequately trained in the Geneva Convention. (Cason, J. and Brooks, D. La Jornada, 3/17/98, p. 55)

The International Red Cross has already stated that, in Chiapas, protection work means speaking with all the parties, "even the well or poorly named paramilitary groups, in order to make them understand that there are some basic laws of war which cannot be broken." (Muñoz, A. La Jornada, 3/5/98, p. 17)

Carlos Montemayor asks if, in Chiapas: "This policy of social undermining (employed by the Mexican government) can be considered a low intensity war." And the answer is: yes! War is not necessarily the abolition of the law, that is why they do not want the Second Protocol of the Geneva Convention or international observers. The social undermining is more serious than a declared war. It is the brutal abolition of the law, not just for the massacres that completely end human lives, but also for other violations that are as, or more ,serious, because every minute of every day they are translated into the impossibility of working, of being educated, of living, in thousands of families. This disappearance of power is brutal, and the nomenclature of "low intensity war," I insist, falls short. It is criminality of unimaginable dimensions. Four years later, we can understand that the federal government has not tried to prevent the war. That the government has only been administering the war." (Montemayor, C. Proceso #1113, p. 41)

"Our living and working conditions, which are already bad enough, are impacted even more greatly by this state of war. This war, not publicly declared by the government, is something real in the communities, constant and of 'high intensity.' Because every day there are more deaths and more blood. The low intensity was before, not now. They are killing leaders and threatening priests: that is high intensity."

Statement of Moisés Gandhi. First Forum-Meeting of Health Workers, February of 1997

Thanks to our readers for following the situation in Chiapas during 1998.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Note: If you wish to be placed on a list to receive this English version of the Bulletin, or the Spanish, or both, please direct a request to: ciepac@laneta.apc.org and indicate whether you wish to receive the bulletin in plain text or as a Word 7 for Windows 95 attachment.

Note: If you use this information, cite the source and our email address. We are grateful to the persons and institutions who have given us their comments on these Bulletins. CIEPAC, A.C. is a non-government and non-profit organization, and your support is necessary for us to be able to continue offering you this news and analysis service. If you would like to contribute, in any amount, we would infinitely appreciate your remittance to the bank account in the name of:

CIEPAC, A.C.
Bank: Banamex
Account number: 7049672 Sucursal 386
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, México.
You will also need to use an ABA number:
BNMXMXMM

Thank you! CIEPAC

Telephone:
in México: 01 967 674 5168
from outside Mexico:: +52 967 674 5168