We are gathering together in this Bulletin a chronology of the events from August 1 to 15, 1999. The information has come from the state and national press and from denunciations and press conferences held by various organizations and bodies.

8/1/99: The Chiapas government withdrew the police that had been guarding the communities of Canaan and Rafael Cal y Mayor in Santa María Chimalapas. Zoques and Zapotecas lifted their blockade in Tapanatepec, Oaxaca (this was later denied by the communities affected).

8/1/99: Closing of the First "Democratic Teachers and Zapatista Dream" Encuentro between teachers and zapatistas in La Realidad. The EZLN asked the democratic movement to support the UNAM student movement and the Electricians Union, who are against the privatization of that sector.

8/1/99: Gilberto de Los Santos, candidate for the state PRD leadership: A strategy is being put in place in Chiapas to boycott the formation of an opposition alliance for the year 2000 elections.

8/2/99: Emilio Rabasa Gamboa visited Chiapas. He met with journalist Amado Avendaño, in order to propose that he be a link between the government and the zapatistas. Emilio Rabasa insisted on a direct meeting with the EZLN.

8/2/99: Arturo Luna Reyes, Bishop of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, stated that lumber, cattle and drug trafficking interests are behind the Chiapas government's attempts to appropriate Oaxaca land in the Chimalapas region, and, by building a highway between Cintalapa and Oaxaca, the chiapaneco government is provoking violence.

8/3/99: Emilio Rabasa stated that the Secretary of Government, Diodoro Carrasco, is willing to meet with Subcomandante Marcos and "to negotiate the five conditions of the EZLN and to answer each one of them," and the solution cannot be unilateral. Emilio Rabasa said the armed conflict will not be resolved "with hate, rancor, division or intolerance, and even less with arms."

8/3/99: Benigno Aladro, Senator and member of the COCOPA, said that this commission is reviewing the five points the EZLN set as a condition for renewing dialogue.

8/3/99: Ernesto Zedillo, President of the Republic, stated that privatization is not a step backwards, "economic reform will allow the government to fulfill its responsibilities to those who have the least."

8/3/99: Roberto Albores Guillén and José Murat, Governors of Chiapas and Oaxaca respectively, agreed to intermediation by the Secretaries of Agrarian Reform and the Environment, in order to resolve the problems in Los Chimalapas.

8/4/99: Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía, Independent Senator, expressed his belief that Albores Guillén's government is escalating a conflict of serious dimensions in the region of Los Chimalapas, by publishing, in newspaper display ads, and on radio and television programs, completely false reports of what happened five years ago. He said the government is trying to inflame chiapanecos and to provoke a lynching and confrontations against him.

8/4/99: The Mexican Army reinforced their 15 camps and checkpoints in the Selva Lacandona, and they set up others in the towns of Cintalapa, Paraíso and in the mountainous region. They also reinitiated patrols in those areas close to zapatista communities. The Flores Magón Autonomous Municipality reported that, in that region alone, 6000 soldiers arrived on July 15, under the pretext of "planting little trees" in the Montes Azules biosphere reserve. They added that, on Thursday, the 22nd, 70 eight-ton trucks entered the region, along with 5000 Army troops. They believe that the purpose of the Army presence is to support the redistricting process, since the new municipal seat will be Palestina, which will have the new name of "Lacandonia." They reported that, on July 24, the Army entered the community of Francisco Villa and set up a camp.

It was reported that the Army is keeping some 30 indigenous communities in the cañada of Taniperla, and within the reserve, under a state of siege. Meanwhile, there are 20 military camps and 8 checkpoints along a stretch of approximately 200 kilometers on the Palenque-Marqués de Comillas highway. The command centers for the new settlements are located in Cintalapa, Palestina and Taniperla. Among the military camps that have been reinforced are those established in Crucero Corozal, Frontera Corozal, Boca Lacantún, Crucero Real, Monte Libano, Ocotalito, Taniperla, Crucero Palestina, Yaxchilán, El Calvario, San Caralampio, San Quintín, Chancalá, Pico de Oro and San Jerónimo Tulijá, among others.

8/4/99: Noe Castañon León, President of the Redistricting Commission and of the Supreme Court of the State of Chiapas, announced that 22 new municipalities, almost all of them in zapatista lands, will be added to the 111 in the state of Chiapas, by the end of the year at the latest. He added that the creation of the following nine municipalities are under review: Taniperla, Amparo Aguatinta, San Quintín, El Limar, Patihuitz, El Censo and San Jerónimo Tulijá.

8/5/99: In the Congress of the Union, the PRD held the Governor of Chiapas, Roberto Albores, responsible for any "spilling of blood" that might occur, since, through his desire to slander Independent Senator Pablo Salazar, he is trying to precipitate a confrontation among the indigenous of Los Chimalapas who live in Chiapas and Oaxaca.

8/5/99: The PRD in Chiapas postponed the release of the results of the election of that party's state leader, until after the resolution of irregularities presented by the five lists of candidates participating.

8/5/99: The "Ricardo Flores Magón" Autonomous Municipality denounced that Public Security Police and PRIs, Carlos López Díaz and Ricardo López Sánchez, had been holding Pedro López Hernández, an EZLN sympathizer, for twelve days in the Nueva Palestina ejido, where he was being held prisoner in a Public Security Police camp latrine. Pedro Gómez Aguilar and Jesús López Hidalgo, who had been accompanying him, were released, while López Hernández remained held.

8/5/99: Approximately 20 Chiapas NGOs demonstrated against the visit by Francisco Labastida Ochoa, an aspirant for the PRI nomination for the President of the Republic, saying: "We have not forgotten the police-military operations in the Autonomous Municipalities."

8/6/99: Carlos Payán, Acting President of the COCOPA, called on the federal government to stop the "provocations by the Governor of Chiapas, Roberto Albores Guillén, in opening a new battle front in Los Chimalapas" At the same time, he asked for guarantees for Senator Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía, because he could be the object of attacks following "Albores' irresponsible attitude." He added that, since he had become interim governor of Chiapas, Albores had been provoking a "a strategy of low intensity warfare."

8/6/99: Roberto Albores and José Murat, Governors of Chiapas and Oaxaca respectively, called for the intervention of the Federal Army in Los Chimalapas region, in order to reforest the region consumed by fires in previous years.

8/7/99: Francisco Labastida Ochoa visited Chiapas as a candidate for the presidency of the Republic. He called for a peaceful solution to the conflict with the EZLN and asked that they [the EZLN] transform themselves into a political force after the year 2000 elections. He stated that, if he were to become President, he would commit himself to not persecuting the rebels, to providing a negotiator of stature, to participating directly at the end of the peace process and to incorporating the rebel commanders into public security forces once peace accords are signed.

8/8/99: In Zinacantán, Chiapas, Francisco Labastida, proposed the disarmament of civilians, excluding the EZLN. He stated that "there is no exchange of gunfire, there are no military operations," but rather a "climate of hostility, of permanent tension," that must be resolved with patience and flexibility and through attention to the causes of poverty. He rejected the "violent changes and those that are the product of deception." Concerning Roberto Albores' government, he stated: "I see it as a state that is making a positive transformation, not just for the respect for the rule of law, but also because it is achieving () strong promotion of investment and attention to demands. I say he is quite stubborn - in the good sense - half stupid." He noted that he had come to try to close the "wound" that Chiapas meant for the entire country, for the "insulting" inequalities and the poverty of the indigenous peoples. He added: "Don Samuel will soon be retiring, we'll see who comes in as bishop."

8/8/99: Humberto Roque Villanueva, aspirant for the PRI nomination for the presidency, condemned interim governor Roberto Albores Guillén's bias, because of the logistical and economic support he has lent Francisco Labastida Ochoa's political campaign.

8/10/99: Roberto Madrazo, aspirant for the PRI candidacy for the presidency, presented - to Fernando Gutiérrez Barrios, the President of the Commission for Internal Processes of the PRI - a challenge to the Governor of Chiapas, Roberto Albores Guillén and Francisco Labastida, for the support the chiapaneco governor has given to Francisco Labastida's campaign efforts.

8/10/99: Lumber of the People of the Southeast, Action Network for Pesticides, Jalisco Association in Support of Indigenous Groups, and Franciscan Family International, in a letter to the Secretary of the Environment, Julia Carabias, questioned the presence of the Army in the Montes Azules reserve in Chiapas for their alleged participation in reforesting in the region.

8/10/99: The 'All Rights for All' National Network of Human Rights Organizations - made up of 48 groups in the country - met with the Secretary of Government, Diodoro Carrasco, in order to express their concern for the spiral of violence in Chiapas and the death threats. They presented the "SOS Chiapas" initiative, a document which addresses the need to reactivate the peace negotiations.

8/10/99: Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía, Independent Senator and candidate of the opposition alliance in Chiapas, said that Governor Roberto Albores Guillén, by trying to resuscitate the conflict in Los Chimalapas, was attempting to block the construction of an opposition alliance for the year 2000 elections, and that he wanted to "to wrap the social ethos in an absurd warlike spirit, in order to defend a land and a sovereignty threatened only in his fevered imagination."

8/11/99: The Xi'Nich organization denounced the detention of two of its members when 24 soldiers entered the Mariscal community, and on August 7, when 19 other soldiers entered the community of El Pedregal, municipality of Ocosingo.

8/11/99: Norberto Sántiz López, identified as one of the leaders of the MIRA paramilitary group and PRI Federal Deputy, attended the 51st Session of the Subcommission for the Protection of Minorities of the UN Human Rights Commission, in Geneva, Switzerland.

8/11/99: The COCOPA and the Episcopal Commission for Reconciliation in Chiapas met in Mexico City, for the purpose of finding a solution through dialogue in Chiapas. Senator Carlos Payán stated the possibility that someone would manage to ignite the Chiapas conflict with a view to the year 2000 elections. He said this conflict in Chiapas could be used as a scene of confrontation in order to wreak political profit.

8/11/99: Meeting between the EZLN and the National Caravan in Defense of the Cultural Heritage (August 12 to 15 in La Realidad).

8/12/99: On at least two occasions, the Chiapas government bought up all the editions of La Jornada in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, in order to prevent the distribution of information addressing their repressive policies in the state.

8/12/99: The interim governor visited San Quintín, in the Selva Lacandona, where he gave a ferocious speech against the zapatistas, said he would not take one step backwards, and called on chiapanecos to demonstrate in support of his policies. He added that the EZLN is a paper tiger.

8/12/99: The Episcopal Commission for Reconciliation in Chiapas visited the state, for the purpose of overcoming the stalemated dialogue between the EZLN and the federal government. They met with Governor Roberto Albores, and they announced a new proposal for mediation, national and civil in nature, that would be presented to the parties in conflict. They met with representatives of the displaced and led an act of reconciliation in the municipality of Chilón.

8/13/99: In San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Emilio Zebadúa, election advisor, stated that the threats of political judgments and administrative complaints against him were for the purpose of preventing him from continuing his visits in Chiapas and drawing up an analysis of the political-electoral situation in the state prior to the year 2000 elections.

8/13/99: Raúl Vera López, coadjutant Bishop of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, said: "The election process is creating many conditions and difficulties for the achieving of peace. Nor can we discard the possibility that the powers will engage in violent acts." Meanwhile, the President of the Mexican Episcopate Conference (CEM), Luis Morales, noted that the presidential candidates "cannot forget or leave out the Chiapas problem." The Episcopal Commission bishops visited the northern region.

8/13/99: Deputies from Oaxaca and Chiapas, members of legislative committees - except for the PRIs - agreed that both states should investigate in depth all available documents (resolutions, decrees and agreements), in order to solve the border, agrarian and environmental problems of Los Chimalapas.

8/13/99: Cruz Aguilar, ejiditario from Los Chimalapas, said: "The governors of Chiapas - including Albores Guillén prior to July of this year - never helped us in the defense of our rights as ejiditarios."

8/14/99: A Mexican Army bus fell into a ravine located along the Tuxtla-San Cristóbal de Las Casas highway, causing 16 serious injuries.

8/14/99: Representatives of the PRD, PT, PVEM and PAN parties and the Movement of Hope for 2000 - headed by Senator Pablo Salazar - warned that Governor Roberto Albores' actions regarding the conflict in Los Chimalapas had exacerbated the political and social climate. The counterinsurgency strategy developed in our state - promoting purported disarmament of purported zapatista militants - have not only violated the law for Concordance and Peace, but it has also deepened the social contradictions inside indigenous communities in the conflict zone.

8/14/99: Subcomandante Marcos denounced that the zapatista indigenous communities are now suffering a true campaign of terror, led by the Mexican Army and the Public Security Police of Chiapas. This was stated during the National Encuentro in Defense of the Cultural Heritage, which was attended by 400 persons from 20 union, student, non-governmental and intellectual organizations.

8/14/99: The Episcopal Commission for Peace in Chiapas stated that the failure to ratify the San Andres Accords led not only to the suspension of dialogue between the government and the EZLN, but also to a series of unilateral actions that have created vacuums, in particular in the rule of law, a situation that culminated in violent incidents such as the Acteal massacre.

8/15/99: The Mexican Army - between 400 and 500 heavily armed soldiers, of which 300 descended by parachute, and others in 14 helicopters from the barracks at San Quintín and Ibarra - seized the community of Amador Hernández. They set up barbed wire around their position, at the entrance to the Montes Azules biosphere reserve. At the same time, military overflights, checkpoints and patrols were increased between Guadalupe Tepeyac and San Quintín, the stretch of road along which La Realidad is located. Marcos stated that the "largest oil reserve in the world" is located in the Amador Hernández Valley, and the reserve also encompasses the Corralchén sierra, in the Montes Azules reserve, and the Santa Cruz sierra. Military checkpoints were similarly reinforced between Las Margaritas and La Realidad. The Commander of the 39th Military Region, Fermín Rivas Garcia, confirmed that some 400 soldiers went to the community of Amador Hernández "in order to protect" the company that is building the (militarily strategic) 19 kilometer road between that community and San Quintín, where one of the most important military facilities in Ocosingo is located.

8/15/99: It was reported that the military siege had been intensified, with approximately 10,000 soldiers, fifty camps and absolute control of the highways, with 15 checkpoints in the cañadas and valleys of the northeastern Selva Lacandona, and that they penetrated, for the first time since the appearance of the zapatistas, into communities in the Montes Azules reserve. This is considered to be the second massive mobilization of troops in this region since 1995, when 5000 soldiers arrived, and another 5000 in July for a purported reforestation program. Among those new camps and installations - which are being called Montes Azules Reforestation Camps - are: Frontera Corozal, Bonampak crossroads, La Arena, Laguna Suspiro and the mountains close to La Culebra and Santa Rita. In their passage through the valleys and Cañadas of the Selva Lacandona, they have set up checkpoints, the majority of them intermittent, in indigenous communities such as El Limonar, Cintalapa, La Culebra, Arroyo Granizo, El Paraíso, Crucero Palestina, Ocotalito, La Arena, Calvario, San Jose, Patihuitz, Lindavista, Jardín, Laguna Ocotal, San Gerónimo Tulijá, Monte Líbano and Taniperla. All of these communities are being patrolled day and night.

8/15/99: Gilberto López y Rivas, COCOPA member, said that this commission cannot be an accomplice to the encircling of the EZLN.

8/15/99: General Fermín Rivas García, Commander of the 39th Military Region, said that 400 members of the Mexican Army went to the community of Amador Hernández, in the municipality of Ocosingo, in order to "protect" the company that is building a 19 kilometer road between San Quintín and Amador Hernández.

8/15/99: The federal government, through the Department of Government, said that it has not favored the use of force to resolve the conflict with the EZLN, and the presence of the Army in Chiapas "is based on constitutional and legal regulations" and it is designed to guarantee domestic public order.

8/15/99: Manuel Bartlett, PRI aspirant for the candidacy for the presidency, stated that the conflict with the EZLN should be resolved immediately, since prolonging it could cause greater problems for the indigenous. He emphasized that is necessary to pick back up the dialogue between the parties, in order to put a definitive end to the conflict.

8/15/99: Antonio Echavarría, Governor-Elect of Nayarit, held a meeting with representatives of the state opposition alliance in Chiapas. He analyzed election strategies for next year's state elections, based on his experience in his state, where the opposition alliance won.

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