Two days after the disappearance of the Conai, on June 10, the government of Albores Guillén subjugated the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan de la Libertad, located in the municipality of El Bosque.  With the legal justification of executing 16 arrest warrants, 1200 forces in a police-military operation, with more than 40 armored vehicles, carried out an operation in three Zapatista towns.  The action resulted in the imposition of PRI authorities in the municipal seat and the presence of the police forces, 8 dead, about  60 campesinos jailed, various wounded, disappeared, and women, children and elderly persons displaced to the mountains.  The Army and the police forces then looted houses, churches and schools;  they ate their livestock, robbed cooperative stores, money, belongings and scholarly documents.  School activities were suspended, and some teachers were taken to jail. 

        The immediate cause was the purported confrontation and ambush of some indigenous PRI members from the community of "Los Platanos."  However, through the entire area, the community is known for its background of drug problems, a community 100% PRI and where no Zapatista sets foot.  According to other stories, the government took advantage of events to accuse the supposed Zapatistas of the ambush in order to justify the operation.  In fact, various communities in El Bosque have been threatened by the paramilitary group, "Los Platanos," which have prevented them from leaving their houses.  In the same manner, other communities in San Andres Larráinzar, on alert and  immobilized, have seen an increase in patrols by the Mexican Army.

        Saturday, June 13, the National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH) carried the corpses to the community of Union Progreso, where they were detained by 1500 Zapatistas who insulted the CNDH’s Representative through a political peoples' trial, with accusations as to the causes of the deaths and the violence.  More indignation was aroused in the population when they saw the manner in which the corpses were delivered, in a state of putrefaction, their stomachs opened and without clothes, which caused weeping and widespread discontent in the Zapatista population.  The Zapatistas confirmed that the people who were now returning dead, had been taken away alive and wounded, which made them assume that they had been tortured, and, afterwards, assassinated, and returned in a state of decomposition, so that the marks from the torture and from the bullet wounds would be erased.  At the same time, Zapatistas complained about their disappeared compañeros, from which one can suppose more deaths, and likewise it is suspected that the police death toll was more than the one person that authorities reported.

        The National Action Party (PAN) stated that "the climate of violence which prevails in Chiapas allows us to state that we are in the presence of aggression by the Mexican government against the indigenous communities, whose purpose is to unleash and revive the violence;" for their part, the PRD threatens to walk out on the agreement for State Reform if the government violence in Chiapas continues, and it also threaten to proceed with a civil suit against officials responsible for the repressive policies in the area.   meanwhile, the COCOPA confirms the possibility of suspending its trip to Chiapas if the violence in the state continues;  despite this, COCOPA members went to La Realidad, to await a response from the EZLN Command.

        Then, after so many attacks and spectacular repressions, we have President Zedillo's visit to bless them.  On June 12, two days after the killings in El Bosque, he arrives for the fourth time this year in less than 40 days.  He sent three messages:  1) direct dialogue with the EZLN,  2)  disapproval of the Conai and,  3)  backing for Governor Roberto Albores' actions. 

        In his fourth visit to the state, President Zedillo is witness to the signing of the "Agreement for the Coordination of Political Stability, Community Reconciliation, Social  development and Economic Growth," between the governor and 42 of the poorest municipalities in Chiapas, who will supposedly benefit from the 2400 million peso (US$267 million) budget, announced several weeks ago, and of which PRD- governed municipal authorities have seen nothing.  "Political stability" is understood as the restoration of the official party (PRI) in the municipalities;  "community reconciliation" for the government means defection of the Zapatista bases from their belligerent insurrection in order to be reconciled with government policies and to join the PRI;  "social development" is understood as public resources for those groups and organizations which support the regime;  and "economic  growth" is understood as a free hand for direct state, national and foreign private investment.

The massacre at El Bosque was the second in the six months since Acteal.  It puts even further off the possibilities for rapprochement between the EZLN and the federal government, which has insisted on direct dialogue with the insurgents since immediately following the dissolution of the Conai and the events in El Bosque.  The agony of the "strategy of war" and of Governor Roberto Albores is only prolonged.  Facing these events, many social organizations begin to again discuss raising the flag of a political trial for Governor Roberto Albores, or at least his removal from office, as well as the “suspention of powers in Chiapas and new elections.

        The chicken or the egg.  Whether or not the truce between the EZLN and the federal government was broken is now a focus for discussion.  Perhaps this is not the central question;  better, whether this truce ever did exist.  Taken in a broad sense, "war" can be understood as not just the physical elimination of one's enemy through force and bullets, but also as the death of hope, of the heart, of the culture which revitalizes indigenous life, of slow and gradual social euthanasia by means of sieges of hunger, terror and the fear which paralyzes, which maintains the indigenous population in a vegetative social state.  These are the actions which are directed at displacing the population, distancing them from their means of survival and production, of pushing them into the mountains so that cold, illnesses, malnutrition and sadness will imprison the indigenous' heart;  robbing his stores, burning her fields, using his kitchens as latrines, profaning her cemeteries, forbidding him freedom of movement and worship by closing her churches and his prayer.  This is the war, this is the strategy of war, which has been implemented from the beginning, even when there was dialogue, this is the supposed truce broken by the silence of the indigenous.

        The escalation of violence grows, events indicate that we are in a "full-scale war," where there are attacks from all sides, on all fronts, through the mass media, culture, politics, psychology, education, local, regional and family economies, which eliminate even the indigenous' most minimal sense of well-being, by robbing his radio, television, clothing, household goods, etc.  For some reason the Mexican Government refuses to ratify the Second Protocol of the Geneva Conventions, which refers to armed internal conflicts, perhaps that way they will not have to have a conscience about cutting the water pipes in the community of Chavajeval or poisoning the food, according to residents.

As they assassinated 8 EZLN persons and one police officer, the Mexican Government was carrying out a military operation against the EPR in Guerrero, where they murdered 11 of its members in an ambush.  Government statements are contradictory. Regarding the EPR, the government says there will be no dialogue, they are terrorists, they are outside the law, they have assassinated, and with that they justify persecuting them with all the weight of the law.  But the EZLN is different for the government;  government statements opt for dialogue with the Zapatistas, they present them with a law, the deaths are just a regrettable incident, a result of the restoration of the law, but the strategy of war and its consequences are the same, even though the latter are not terrorists, and have not assassinated campesinos in military actions.  In the municipality of Nicolás Ruiz, where the Zapatista supporters elected their authorities through "uses and customs," Governor Albores calls the customs "primitive," which have been accepted and ratified in international conventions and in the San Andres Accords;  however, now the PRI members remove the municipal president of Mitontic - neighboring Chenalhó - for "uses and customs," in the face of much fraud committed in the municipal administration.  In response to this, Governor Albores said "uses and customs" should be respected, and the police and military forces should not intervene.

        Thus, the "strategy of war," defined by the CONAI on June 7, is another theme now  debated by the principal social and political actors of the country.  In these events one can see that there are three central themes or perspectives, from which to discuss the legitimacy of the Executive's actions implemented by interim Governor Albores:

1)     The law:   the federal and state governments declared a total adherence to legality as the basic foundation for their actions.  However, the implementation of the law has been a pretext for the violation of human rights;  it has been accompanied by presumed executions and arrest warrants, including some many years outstanding, and now executed at an opportune moment for the government. It has been accompanied by injustice, repression and police-military operations with an average participation of about 1000 heavily armed troops;  it has been a pretext for the local PRI forces to impose themselves;  it has caused many imprisonments, although later some might be freed, along with 10 of the 26 indigenous members of "Los Chinchulines," and the liberation of Miguel Toporek, who tried to murder Bishop Samuel Ruiz García’s sister in November 1997;  it is biased in the sense that it is applied against those who threaten the official party, etc.  Therefore, the labyrinths of "legality" in order to justify "legitimacy" and repression do not give us an adequate reading of reality, when the law is the product of a convergence of forces which have been unfavorable for the indigenous peoples ever since the PRI imposed the state's legal agenda.

2)     The statements:   the federal and state governments have mounted an amazing campaign on the Internet and those mass media close to the them, for the purpose of disseminating the statements of the government and of President Zedillo, who appears cynical, contradictory and with an ever more belligerent tone of voice.  With the massacre of the indigenous of El Bosque, angry sentences spilled out from President Zedillo, like "I would never massacre the indigenous," that violence should not be imposed "by the force of custom," and it must be checked "before others become insensitive and cynical in the face of its sad repetition;"  the Secretary of Government stated that "the life of every Mexican is valuable;"  Governor Albores said that "enough already (‘ya basta’) of uncertainties and impunity."  These statements are a far cry from Chiapaneco reality.

3)     The deeds:   the results of the "strategy of war," at least so far this year, speak of an increase in the displaced, dead, widows, orphans, wounded, imprisoned, police-military operations, Autonomous Municipalities dismantled, overflights, patrols, blockades, destitute health conditions, low production, division among the communities, expulsion of foreigners, attacks on the Diocese, etc.  We have spoken much about some of these indicators;  further along we will speak of other indicators of the impoverishment of Chiapas, in economic, productive, education, health , and other, areas.  These indicators are the measure of reality.

         In the last few days two paramilitary groups have been better defined.  We will again list those known up to now:  "Peace and Justice," "Los Chinchulines," "Red Mask," San Bartolomé de Los Llanos Alliance (previously "Armed Forces of the People"), Indigenous Revolutionary Anti-Zapatista Movement (MIRA)," "The Eagles," "The Daggers," "Los Tomates," "Los Chentes," "Civic Front of Independence," and the two most recent:  "The Conscripts," in the municipality of Venustiano Carranza, made up of at least 70 well-armed paramilitaries, and "Los Platanos," of El Bosque, composed of at least 80 young indigenous PRI Tzotziles, trained by the army and police forces, according to journalistic sources and confirmed by residents of Unión Progreso.  Four paramilitary groups exist which have ceased operating:  "The Throat-Cutters," in San Juan Chamula, "Tomas Muntzer," in Ocosingo, "First Force," in Chenalhó, and the "Tzintzines," in Yajalón.  Meanwhile, the number of municipalities where they are present has risen to 24:  Ocosingo, Tila, Tumbalá, Berriozábal, Salto de Agua, Sabanilla, Yajalón, San Fernando, Chilón, Venustiano Carranza, La Independencia, Comitán, Altamirano, San Andres, Oxchuc, Tenejapa, Chamula, Amatenango del Valle, Chanal, Palenque, Chamula, Las Margaritas, Bochil and El Bosque.

        There are other paramilitary groups affiliated with the PRI which do not have names, but do have members, in various communities in at least 20 municipalities:  Simojovel, Mitontic, Huitiupán, Frontera Comalapa, Chicomuselo, Chenalhó, Pantelhó, Tenejapa, Sitalá, Palenque, Amatenango de la Frontera, Las Margaritas, Tenejapa, San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chamula, Chanal, Rayon, La Trinitaria, Tzimol and Socoltenango.

         Insofar as a regime exhausts its possibilities of generating credibility, legitimacy, consensus among the people it supposedly governs, the tendency is to impose its projects, which have alienated the majority of the people, through violence, through coercion.  The party in power continues to experience internal disarray;  in Chiapas, official party (PRI) activists in the municipality of Chicomuselo burned ballot boxes during the last internal elections of June 7 for the purposes of fraud, photocopied ballots to fill the boxes, because the agrarian authorities had conditioned the delivery of PROCAMP credits, by offering 50,000 pesos, etc.  Meanwhile, in Ocosingo, dissent continued.  The official party prevented the defection of some of its activists to the opposition, who had fallen into the traps of their own fraudulent elections.

        If the government does not stop its "strategy of war," we will come ever closer to a process of "Colombianization."          "We are 8 days away from electing a president of the Republic, and President Samper's administration is ending, and the outlook for the Colombian people could not be darker:  The State Terror increases, the chainsaw has been converted into an official arm of the dirty war, paramilitaries cut off the heads of thousands of compatriots with governmental complacency and support, and take over the lands of millions of campesinos who are forcibly displaced, as never before in national history, a presumed military offends the dignity of the people, overwhelmed by their needs and who also suffer from the profound corruption of the primary representatives of the State . . .we have urged the government to clear out 5 municipalities and do away with the paramilitaries, so that we can sit down at the table and talk with the three powers and civil society, and they do not accept . . ."   (Communiqué to Public Opinion, from Major Central State of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - Army of the People, FARC-EP, the mountains of Colombia,  June 15, 1998).

 THE NATIONAL CONTEXT

         This massacre in El Bosque, and the latest events in Chiapas, have occurred in the context of various other events which have taken place over the last days and months:  the dissolution of the Conai;  the dismissal of the PRI Governor of Morelos, who faces a political trial and has currently disappeared;  by the proceedings of political trials against the PRI governors of Yucatán and Tabasco;  by the initiative by the opposition parties to prohibit the use of party colors by political parties, which would obviously affect the PRI;  by the extradition of the banker, "The Divine," accused of countless bank frauds, whose freedom under a “legal stay” has caused much scandal in public opinion;  by the Operation White House by the United States Government on Mexican territory;  by a new devaluation of the peso;  by the lowering of the price of crude oil exports;  by a possible third budget cut;  by a new pact between the Legislature and the Executive for State Reform, now threatened by the possible withdrawal of the PRD over the violence in Chiapas;  by the discussion concerning whether or not Mexican society should assume the debt generated by the shameful bank frauds of the Bank Fund for the Protection of Savings (FOBAPROA);  by the military operation against the EPR in Guerrero where they assassinated 11 of their members in an ambush, and the emergence of another guerrilla force called the Revolutionary Army of Insurgent Peoples (ERPI) in the state of Guerrero.

 "THE INSUPPORTABLE LIGHTNESS OF THE LAW:  IMPUNITY" (excerpt,  Part IX)*

d)     acts of terrorism;

        Today's dead and wounded were found here, at the outskirts of Acteal, praying.  They were praying.  Like this, on their knees, and from the surrounding hills the shots from the high-powered arms caught them in the back.  And like that they were dying, until they numbered 45.         . . . Rosa Gómez was pregnant when she fell, dying, to the open ground of the camp. Her assassins came over to her to finish her off.  And one of them, "with a knife (a witness says, and makes a stabbing gesture), takes out her baby and just throws it."  (Bellinghausen, H.  La Jornada,  24/12/97,  p.4)

What did the national security agents do in Chenalhó the last 90 days?  Supervise the efficient running of the low intensity war, the methodical attacks with fires and looting against the PRD and Zapatista communities?  Define scenarios useful for forecasting the social impact and the consequences of an operation of greater magnitude, like that which just horrified the world?

        . . .at one in the afternoon on the day of the events, "various helicopters, belonging to the judicial police, public security police, the Mexican Army and the state government, left the air base at Terán, located in the state capital, towards the Chenalhó area."  Even so, the police did not intervene until 5 in the afternoon.

        The assassins had time not only to fire at their leisure against the kneeling people who were praying at the church, but also to comfortable finish off the wounded, and have the pleasure of sharpening, using, cleaning, sharpening, using the machetes again, as many times as necessary, to mutilate the corpses of the 9 men, 21 women, the 14 children and the baby.  What was the idea?  To employ, on an industrial scale, the technology of dismemberment that we experienced in the ejido Morelia in 1994 and in September of this year in El Ajusco?   (Avilés, J.  la Jornada, 27/12/97,  p. 4).

        The first paramilitaries who participated in the attack arrived at Quextic, very close to Acteal.  "They were the ones who pointed out the place.  Jose Pérez Pérez returned, dancing, to his house, he came back happy, as if he liked to kill people," Lorenzo recounts. . . "They killed cows to celebrate the killings that they had done.  They sang and they had a drink.  Those that came back last seemed repentant, they were very quiet, they only said: 'no, many people died'," Juan recounted. . . They also returned content to Los Chorros.  "They prepared a party in the PRI neighborhood.  They were still shooting in the air when they arrived.  They had a look on their faces as if they had seen the devil"   (Ramírez Cuevas, J.  We Want Arms That Kill Many People.  Masiosare.  La Jornada, 4/1/98,  p. 12).

        The PGR decided to take legal action against Felipe Vásquez Espinosa, commander of the Public Security police stationed in the community of Los Chorros (municipality of Chenalhó), accusing him of having given orders to the men in his command to transport and deliver to civilians in the area arms reserved for the use of the Army and the Air Force. . . When giving his statement, Felipe Vásquez admitted his participation in the events, arguing that the instructions that he had received, and his own participation in allowing civilians to carry arms "was owing to orders he in his turn had received from his superiors."         When reporting criminal incidents of this type "he was instructed to verify whether the armed persons detained belonged to the PRI, and when they were dealing with activists of that party, they should let them go."   (Mariscal, A. and Venegas, J.  La Jornada,  12/1/98,  p. 8).

Two hundred and seventy paramilitaries exist in Chenalhó, and only 65 of them are in prison.  "The rest continue here, in our communities, we cannot return.  When the military comes, they bury their arms, but if we return, then they are going to get them," said Antonio, displaced in Acteal. (Bellinghausen, H., La Jornada, 16/3/98, p.10).        

"When we remember how they killed our children, our spouses and our parents we can't stop crying, it was like a hell that has never gone away, it's as if December 22 was today, and maybe tomorrow also," said María Vásquez, who lost nine family members in the Acteal massacre.   (Henríquez, E.  La Jornada, 19/2/98,  p. 5).        

The bodies of the campesino leaders Rubicel Ruiz Gamboa and Antonio Gómez Flores, killed last Wednesday and Thursday under strange circumstances, were put in front of the government palace doors in Tuxtla, where representatives from various social and agrarian organizations in the community gathered together to demand punishment for those responsible .  (Mariscal, A.  La Jornada,  31/1/98,  p. 6).

        "We have heard them talk a lot about the paramilitaries, but our work isn't to disarm or stop anybody.  We came here to do social work and to cut peoples' hair."   (Lieutenant Colonel Reynaldo Godínez, chief of the detachment at Chenalhó.  12/27/97)

         It is extremely clear that the Army does not protect the displaced.  Only for those who do not want to see or understand things, is it hidden that the Army and the paramilitaries are inseparable.  Acts like Acteal can only happen if the Army gives its blessing.  There would be nothing easier than for the Army to identify and disarm the paramilitaries.  If they do not do it, it is because they do not want to.  Logic exists, and it must be respected;  if not, we are accomplices to the fabrications with which they want to deceive us all."   (Jose Saramago, writer.  17/3/98)

        "Several days ago, state Public Security police officers were detained (by Migration, and not by what one would expect would apply, "the arms and explosives' law, the Army) when they were transporting arms from Guatemala.  The destination?  The paramilitaries."   (Subcomandante Insurgent Marcos, for the CCRI-CG of the EZLN.  14/1/98)

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

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