We are gathering together in this Bulletin a chronology of events from August 16 to 24, 1999. The information has come from the state and national press and from denunciations and press conferences held by various organizations and bodies.

8/16/99: The Mexican Army attacked indigenous with tear gas in the Amador Hernandez ejido.

8/17/99: Emilio Rabasa, Coordinator for Dialogue and Negotiation in Chiapas, announced that the federal government is preparing a new political initiative to resolve the Chiapas conflict, and "he hopes it will be as inclusive as possible!" Because of this, he has been listening to the Episcopal Commission, non-governmental organizations and human rights defense groups, in order to incorporate their proposals.

8/17/99: Leaders of the Ricardo Flores Magon Autonomous Municipality said that they have kept the structure - made up of 100 towns in the Selva Lacandona - of the rebel territory intact. They said they are now facing a massive invasion by the Mexican Army, and, at the same time, an onslaught by paramilitary groups supported by Roberto Albores Guillen's interim government.

8/17/99: The National Indigenous Congress called for the carrying out of peaceful actions of civil resistance in order to demonstrate their rejection of the expansion of Army forces into the Amador Hernandez ejido.

8/17/99: The Lawyers Network and Lawyers for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples organizations were created.

8/17/99: Manuel Collazo Gomez, leader of the Organization of Evangelical Peoples of Los Altos of Chiapas (OPEACH), denounced that the Secretary of Government, Luis Alfonso Utrilla, had "threatened him," with incarceration if he would not sign a public ad calling for Independent Senator Pablo Salazar Mendiguchia to be investigated and punished for his alleged responsibility in Los Chimalapas.

8/18/99: The Mexican Army began the return, at the border of Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas, of 25 of the 73 UH-1H helicopters that could not be used because they were defective.

8/18/99: The Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights said the Law for Dialogue and a Dignified Peace in Chiapas -approved on March 11, 1995 - is being violated, and "Article 129 of the Constitution and the International Pact of Civil and Political Rights, of which Mexico is a party, are being infringed."

8/18/99: The COCOPA demanded precise and detailed information on recent military movements in the conflict zone from the Secretary of Government, Diodoro Carrasco. Gilberto Lopez y Rivas stated that "it is now time for Cervantes Aguirre (Secretary of National Defense) to respond concerning the military situation in Chiapas," an issue which he has categorically refused to discuss with COCOPA members, he noted. He added that Emilio Rabasa is denying that 400 soldiers have been positioned in Amador Hernandez, and that he only admits to 270 having arrived in that community. The roads, he insisted, are the direct responsibility of the Department of National Defense, and their purpose is to allow patrols in the communities of zapatista influence. "They are elite troops, specially trained to be positioned at the back of rebel positions."

8/18/99: Federal legislators sent a letter to the US Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, expressing their concern over the deteriorating human rights situation in Chiapas and protesting the treatment given to US human rights observers who had been expelled from Mexico.

8/18/99: London newspaper Financial Times, predicted the transfer of Mexican Petroleum (Pemex) following the year 2000 elections.

8/18/99: The Coalition of Autonomous Organizations of Ocosingo (COAO) stated that the situation is "tense and serious" in the community of Amador Hernandez, municipality of Ocosingo, and that federal and state governments are provoking a confrontation between the EZLN and the Mexican Army. Meanwhile, zapatista Autonomous Municipalities San Manuel, Ricardo Flores Magon, Maya and Francisco Gomez all rejected the construction of roads in the Selva Lacandona, , because, they say, they are being used by the Department of National Defense for "military" purposes, and not for social development. It was reported that the Mexican Army is trying to build 4 bridges that would be of strategical advantage for the Army in Ocosingo: from the Jatate to the Sajulja ranch; in the Santo Domingo ranch; in the town of Brasil, where there is a military camp, and, lastly, in the ejido of Las Tazas. Zapatista authorities in San Manuel accused interim Governor Roberto Albores Guillen of having delivered 60,000 pesos to members of the paramilitary organization Anti-Zapatista Indigenous Revolutionary Movement (MIRA), headed by Vicente Perez Castellanos. "They gave them money in exchange for accepting work" in the resurfacing of the road that joins Nuevo Real with the community of Las Tacitas.

8/18/99: The PRI majority in the chiapaneco Congress named municipal councils for the 7 new territorial districts, many of them in the conflict zone, despite the lack of support by opposition parties. These councils, in violation of the Constitution of the State of Chiapas, will govern until December 31, 2001.

8/19/99: David Tovilla, the PRD Press Secretary, denounced that the state government censored his party's radio and television programs after Gilberto de Los Santos Cruz' state leadership victory was ratified.

8/19/99: Martin Gomez Sanchez, state deputy for the local district in San Juan Chamula, asked for intervention by the Mexican Army there, in order to carry out disarmament operations and to prevent the confrontations that have been occurring between traditional Catholics and Evangelicals.

8/19/99: Fourteen NGOs, dedicated to human rights defense and ecological preservation in Chiapas, said that it should be civil institutions carrying out the reforestation program in the Montes Azules Reserve, and not the 6000 Mexican Army troops.

8/19/99: Public Security Police set up a checkpoint, along with PRI activists, in the community of Eden, municipality of Las Margaritas.

8/19/99: The Miguel Agustin Pro Human Rights Center and Enlace Civil denounced that state police in Chiapas had established a curfew in the community of La Trinidad, in the municipality of Ocosingo. Residents are not allowed to enter or leave their homes between the hours of 8 PM and 5 AM. Anyone who is caught during those hours is detained, interrogated and not allowed to continue on their way for an hour and a half.

8/29/99: The Civil Observation Network said that the presence of a detachment of 400 soldiers in Amador Hernandez means that the Mexican Army is taking up new positions, in order to deliver the final blow to the EZLN. They also stated that the military actions are in violation of the Law for Dialogue and a Dignified Peace in Chiapas.

8/19/99: Carlos Payan, during a meeting between the COCOPA and the Coordinator for Dialogue in Chiapas, Emilio Rabasa, said "you are heading towards confrontation, towards war." After the meeting, Rabasa told reporters: "The government's wish is to avoid war with the EZLN," and that they consider it "irresponsible and imprudent to try to increase the level of social tension, by trying to bring together two movements, the students' and the zapatistas'." He also denied that elite troops had been sent in an attempt to surround the zapatistas.

8/19/99: Three members of the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center were held against their will by PRIs in Taniperla. The Center members had gone to investigate the arbitrary detention of three persons in the community of Viejo Velasco, one of whom, Pedro Gomez Aguilar, has been disappeared since July 23. The PRIs held them for two hours, threatening them and repeating the words, obviously xenophobic: "You are foreigners and you're coming here to hold us back from progress," despite the fact that they were Mexican. They also told them that only Ocosingo municipal authorities could grant permission for travelling there, and if they came back without authorization, they would have to pay the consequences. Lastly, they gave them half an hour to leave the community, threatening that, if they did not do, they would burn the vehicle in which they were travelling.

8/20/99: The Department of Justice in Chiapas opened investigations into the UNAM strikers, accused of having kidnapped two PRI indigenous from Amador Hernandez. On the same day, Governor Roberto Albores Guillen went to San Quintin, close to Amador Hernandez, where he called on the EZLN to end what he called its "blackmail and manipulation." He added that "the EZLN is just a paper tiger, and we are going to show it through actions. I'll assume the risks." Governor Albores said he would not accept acts of destabilization in his state, and, if caravans from Mexico City were to come and set up blockades in the state, the entire weight of the law would be brought to bear: "We hope they do not provoke the government any more and they don't provoke the government of Chiapas."

8/20/99: The Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center said that the actions carried out by the Mexican Army in the Selva of Chiapas "are leading to the brink of the reinitiation of hostilities, like during the first days of 1994."

8/20/99: The SEMARNAP announced that the Mexican Army activities, in the reforestation of "communal village regions" in the Montes Azules biosphere reserve, had been planned since 1995, when the national reforestation program had been created. In addition, it is "just the beginning of activities the ecological restoration program will be carrying out."

8/20/99: Gilberto Lopez y Rivas and Octavio Diaz Reyes, PRD Deputies, called on the federal government to withdraw Mexican Army forces from the community of Amador Hernandez, to end repression and to respect the peace camps in the conflict zone in Chiapas.

8/20/99: Researchers and students from the National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH), NGOs and the UNAM General Strike Council demonstrated in front of the Department of Government, demanding respect for the individual rights of those in the conflict zone in Chiapas. They were seen by Lorenzo Gomez of the Citizens Attention Office of the SEGOB, who told them that "nothing was going on, and nor has there been any violation of freedom of movement or of anyone's free expression."

8/20/99: Fernando Iturribaria, PRI Senator and COCOPA member, stated that there is a war going on in Chiapas, "we are on the razor's edge," and therefore should be acting prudently, "any provocation could lead to a more serious situation."

8/20/99: Mirelle Rocatti, President of the CNDH, justified the increased militarization in Chiapas as "a measure to prevent incidents such as Acteal."

8/20/99: Oil and Gas Journal and experts in oil matters in the US said that the reduction in oil in Tabasco had led PEMEX to accelerate their exploration of wells in the Ocosingo region and in the border region between Chiapas and Guatemala. PEMEX reported oil discoveries in Ocosingo in the US in 1992.

8/21/99: Mariano Diaz Ochoa, the Mayor of San Cristobal, during an extraordinary council session, and along with eight councilpersons and the trustee, declared actress Ofelia Medina "persona non grata,' and gave her 72 hours to leave the city, if not, "we're going to kick her out."

8/21/99: COCOPA members called Governor Roberto Albores' statements "irresponsible and intemperate," saying they only served to "inflame paramilitary groups affiliated with PRI groups. We are warning of a clear political military escalation against the zapatistas."

8/21/99: Anti-riot police and police from various federal and state security forces set up control points at the entrance to Tuxtla Gutierrez and along roads leading to the Selva, in order to detain striking UNAM students.

8/21/99: The Caravan of Chiapaneco Civil Society was harassed at four different checkpoints on the way to La Realidad and in Guadalupe Tepeyac, where Captain Victor Uribe was in charge. They were insulted and threatened with being beat up.

8/21/99: ARIC Independent and Democratic demanded that President Zedillo suspend the construction of the road in Amador Hernandez, Ocosingo, "because the government's objective is to create the conditions for a war infrastructure and to increase the military encirclement of the indigenous people."

8/21/99: Governor Albores Guillen stated that the UNAM and ENAH students in the indigenous region are: "suicidal, and they have come to destabilize the state, and they will have to face justice in Chiapas."

8/21/99: Emilio Rabasa, Coordinator for Dialogue, asserted that, regarding the solution to the conflict, the state of Chiapas cannot do it without the federation, nor can the federation achieve it without the state. He added that the conflict in Amador Hernandez is between individuals: "The construction companies are private, they are not government companies. The work was put out for bid previously by the government, and they were made the responsibility of the private companies that won those bids. There are also individuals on the other side. The zapatista sympathizers are individuals, therefore it is a conflict between individuals."

8/21/99: Mirelle Rocatti, head of the CNDH, stated that the Army's presence in Chiapas had remained constant prior to January 1, 1994, and that it has increased since that date. "In some circumstances, where there has been no military presence, we have had regrettable incidents such as Acteal. As far as what is going on in Amador Hernandez, I would point out that the military presence has, on some occasions, prevented larger confrontations. What the CNDH has recommended and proposed to the President of the Republic, is the gradual withdrawal of the Army from Chiapas."

8/22/99: The Mexican Episcopate Conference (CEM) called for reconciliation in Chiapas, after "so many years of confrontations, fratricidal fights, that have caused regrettable deaths." The Bishop of Tuxtla Gutierrez, Felipe Aguirre, stated that there are "conflicting interests" involved in the events in Amador Hernandez, on the part of the government and "powerful countries" who have their eyes on Ocosingo, a region with important uranium deposits, hydrocarbon reserves and hydroelectric potential.

8/22/99: The Ricardo Flores Magon Autonomous Municipality warned that it would not permit the re-opening and exploration of oil wells in the Selva Lacandona, primarily those located in the towns of El Jardin, Sibal, Villa Las Rosas and Nada, in the Montes Azules.

8/22/99: A group of national observers found the road at Nuevo Momon blockaded.

8/22/99: The Caravan of Chiapaneco Civil Society was detained for more than an hour and a half at the Guadalupe Tepeyac checkpoint.

8/22/99: Comandante Tacho received a delegation of US citizens, to whom he said: "What is real is that there is a new strategy by the government to take up new military positions in the Selva Lacandona under the pretext of building roads."

8/22/99: Governor Albores Guillen ordered the withdrawal of checkpoints that were going to prevent UNAM strikers from getting through to the Selva. He said that no one in that state is being persecuted for their political ideas.

8/22/99: The National Indigenous Congress, the Regional Human Rights Network, the Pro Human Rights Mexican Front, the 1st Delegation of Section X of the SNTE and the Popular Democratic Left Organization, all expressed their opposition to the occupation of the community of Amador Hernandez by the Army, and they demanded guarantees for Ofelia Medina's physical and legal safety.

8/22/99: Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, the head of government of Mexico City, accused the Governor of Chiapas, Roberto Albores, of "breaking the laws and the law," since "he has been threatening all of those who were are seeking a solution of peace in Chiapas, by expelling them from the state." Meanwhile, Amalia Garcia, the national leader of the PRD, demanded that violence in Chiapas come to an end.

8/22/99: SEMARNAP announced that there are 11 irregular settlements of indigenous families in the Montes Azules reserve who should be expelled, since they are a threat to that area, which is under federal protection. They said that the 7000 Mexican Army troops who had been helping in the planting of 7.8 million trees in the Montes Azules, had already completed their work.

8/23/99: The PRD, in a resolution at their fourth National Council, demanded: the resignation of interim Governor Roberto Albores Guillen, that the conflict zone be demilitarized, and that the Army return to their barracks. They noted that it is the President who is responsible for the suspension of the dialogue, for the failure to carry out the San Andres Accords, for waging a war of attrition against all the political actors and a counterinsurgency strategy against the indigenous peoples. They also demanded the unrestricted respect for the human rights of freedom of movement and expression in Chiapas, and an end to attacks against indigenous communities, against students, workers, members of civil society and actress Ofelia Medina.

8/23/99: The CCRI of the EZLN denounced, in an August 22 communique, that Federal Army troops, public security police and PRI paramilitaries cut off road access to La Realidad, set up checkpoints and opened ruts in the road, cutting down trees and collecting rocks by the towns of Nuevo Momon, San Jose, Ojo de Agua and Santa Ana. They added that military mobilization is being stepped up in La Realidad.

8/23/99: One hundred and fifty PRIs kidnapped and beat up a Mexican and two foreigners for three hours at the Nuevo Momon checkpoint. The Mexican woman was sexually assaulted and dragged along the dirt road for several minutes. The foreigners had their cameras, rolls of film, books and personal objects stolen from them.

8/23/99: Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, the head of government of Mexico City, suggested that a political judgment be made against the interim governor of Chiapas, Roberto Albores Guillen.

8/23/99: Ofelia Medina sought protection against an eventual expulsion from Chiapas, at the same time that the organization, Las Abejas, of Chenalho, was recognizing the actress for her solidarity work for the indigenous.

8/23/99: Governor Roberto Albores Guillen organized a march in his own support in the state capital and in other municipalities, with thousands of state workers and PRI organizations. During the act, he reiterated his threats against EZLN bases and sympathizers.

8/24/99: Federal and state legislators and leaders of the opposition parties demanded the resignation of Roberto Albores Guillen, because the governor was encouraging violent, sectarian and exclusionary behavior, leading the entire state to a fratricidal struggle.

8/24/99: The US organization, Global Exchange, lodged an appeal in the Mexican courts, asking that the rules and regulations imposed by the Department of Government for foreigners' observation in Mexico, especially in Chiapas, be declared unconstitutional.

8/24/99: Thousands of EZLN sympathizers from Los Altos of Chiapas marched at noon through the streets of San Cristobal, in order to protest and condemn the "warlike attitude of the illegitimate governments of Ernesto Zedillo and Roberto Albores Guillen," and in support of residents of Amador Hernandez and of La Realidad.

8/24/99: In the morning, pirate taxi drivers blocked the main square in the city of San Cristobal, and a hundred PRI indigenous, rounded up by the municipal president, held a march in support of Albores Guillen's government's policies, shouting "Get out gringos, get out of Chiapas, tourists." The municipal president then spoke, insisting: "I am once again inviting Ofelia Medina to leave, to get out of San Cristobal. If she wants to look for money, let her do it someplace else."

8/24/99: The COAO, PRD, PAN and PT of Ocosingo demanded the immediate withdrawal of the Mexican Army and said that the federal and state governments are inciting PRI communities to lynch zapatistas and students in the civil peace camps.

8/24/99: Upon their return to Mexico City, ENAH students who had been in Amador Hernandez denounced that, when they were going through some of the checkpoints in Chiapas, Oaxaca and Veracruz, heavily armed federal judicial police officers got onto the bus in which they were travelling, photographed them and asked for their identification.

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