* URGENT Chiapas Update *

Date: Sun, Jan 4, 1998 12:27 PM EDT
From: SISIS@envirolink.or

+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+
+: A N T I F A I N F O - B U L L E T I N :+
+: NEWS * ANALYSIS * RESEARCH * ACTION :+
+: RESISTING FASCISM * BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY! :+
+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+

Reports are slowly filtering out of Chiapas that the Mexican
army is preparing to occupy autonomous regions controlled by
the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. Below are several
reports from solidarity groups and "mainstream" news sources
on the escalating crisis. Since the December 22 massacre of
45 men, women and children in Acteal, thousands of troops
supported by combat helicopters and armoured personnel
carriers have moved into the area. For breaking news, check
out the web pages of the National Commission for Democracy
in Mexico and the Zapatista Front for National Liberation
(FZLN) listed below. A Luta Continua!

* * *

* NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR DEMOCRACY IN MEXICO *
Tel/Fax: (915) 532-8382
E-mail: moonlight@igc.apc.org
Web: http://www.igc.apc.org/ncdm/
- Saturday, 3 January 1998 -

URGENT CHIAPAS UPDATE
Source: 6:08 PM Jan 3, 1998 by moonlight in PeaceNet
igc:reg.mexico

The NCDM has just received word from Enlace Civil (4:20pm
Pacific Time) that La Realidad is being occupied by the Mexican
military and it is beleived that the Aguascalientes of Morelia
and La Garrucha are now occupied as well. They also reported that
all 5 of the Zapatistas' Aguascalientes are surrounded by the
Mexican Federal Army.

Enlace Civil also reported a caravan of reporters are now en
route to these areas in order to confirm these reports and
evaluate the situation.

We hope that there will be some type of statement or
communique released by the Zapatistas in the next few hours. We
will update you as soon as we receive more new information.

NCDLJ

* ZAPATISTA FRONT OF NATIONAL LIBERATION (FZLN) *
Web: http://www.peak.org/~joshua/fzln/
- Saturday, 3 January 1998 -
* URGENT *

Companeras and companeros from Mexico and around the world:

A few minutes ago, we confirmed the most recent news with
respect to the situation in Chiapas and, disgracefully, it is bad
news:

The federal army has occupied the town of La Realidad, in
Chiapas, by way of an operation supported by airplanes and
helicopters. At this time, we do not have any more information
regarding the current situation there.

The other news is that 40 indigenous companeros who were
carrying humanitarian aid from Oventic to Polho were detained by
a priista paramilitary group, who have said they will keep the
companeros as hostages until those detained for participation in
the Acteal massacre are released.

These events appear as the first measures adopted by the
government since the changes in the presidential cabinet, of
which the most important is the change in Government Secretary
(Interior Minister), following the resignation of Emilio
Chuayfett and his replacement by Francisco Labastida Ochoa. The
first declarations of Labastida Ochoa about Chiapas were that the
solution would be found by concluding the accords and disarming
all groups; however, it seems that the order chosen by the
government is the contrary.

Companeros:

The urgency of the tasks of solidarity now cannot be
overemphasized.

We must stop the war!! Punishment to those responsible for
the massacre of Acteal! Immediate compliance with the Accords of
San Andres Sacamch'en de los Pobres! Demilitarization of the
indigenous communities! Disarmament and dismantling of all the
paramilitary groups!

We will keep you informed.

Javier Elorriaga
For the Provisional International Commission of the FZLN

http://www.infoseek.com/
MEXICAN ARMY DENIES OCCUPYING ZAPATISTA TERRITORY
04:40 p.m Jan 03, 1998 Eastern

MEXICO CITY, Jan 3 (Reuters) - The Mexican army denied an
eyewitness report on Saturday that troops had occupied a bastion
of the Zapatista guerrillas in the troubled southern state of
Chiapas but said the army was patrolling the area.

Peace negotiators and a purported eyewitness said on
Saturday that the army had occupied La Realidad, the mountain
hideaway where Zapatista leader Subcommander Marcos makes his
public appearances. There were no reports of fighting.

``The news regarding the capture of La Realidad is false,''
the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The Zapatistas launched an armed rebellion four years ago,
but a cease-fire was called after 10 days of fighting. They have
been holed up in the jungle near La Realidad ever since,
surrounded by the army, at a distance.

The report of the occupation came amid high tension in
Chiapas after the massacre last week of 45 Indian refugees by
paramilitary gunmen and the resignation on Saturday of the
country's interior minister, who had been under fire since the
massacre.

The Defense Ministry, in its denial, said army patrols in
the area ``have as their only objective guaranteeing social
tranquillity.''

Soldiers were patrolling the roads, doing social work and
enforcing firearms laws that prohibit civilians from carrying
automatic weapons, the ministry said.

A doctor told Reuters that she had seen the army rumble into
La Realidad and occupy a site where Zapatista guerrillas hold
public events.

``Dozens of soldiers from the federal army entered the town
this morning and took over Aguascalientes (an open-air meeting
hall for Zapatistas),'' the doctor, Margarita Gonzalez, told
Reuters later in San Cristobal de las Casas, a six-hour drive
from La Realidad and the closest city to Zapatista territory in
the highlands of Chiapas.

``There was no combat but there was a lot of tension,'' she
said. ``People in the town asked for help from human rights
organizations and the presence of the national and international
press to avoid another massacre.''

Gonzalez said that army planes and helicopters were circling
over La Realidad at low altitudes and that 25 armored cars and
amphibious vehicles had set up in the town, which was surrounded
by 10 army roadblocks.

Roman Catholic bishop Samuel Ruiz, a peace negotiator and
supporter of the Zapatistas, said the troop movements, if they
took place, were ``very serious.''

``Since yesterday we have heard that (the army) was
installed at eight roadblocks that previously had disappeared,''
Ruiz told reporters in San Cristobal.

Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

http://wire.ap.org/APnews/
SOUTHERN MEXICO SEE ARMY AS MENACE
By NIKO PRICE, Associated Press Writer
01/03/1998 21:31 EST

LA REALIDAD, Mexico (AP) -- Troops in jeeps mounted with
machine guns took up positions on the outskirts of this rebel
stronghold Saturday, in an apparent show of force that stirred
fear among villagers of a possible attack.

Townspeople said it was the military's most formidable
display around La Realidad since the Zapatista National
Liberation Army began its rebellion exactly four years ago,
seeking improved living standards for Chiapas state's largely
impoverished Indians.

Frightened villagers packed up their belongings and cooked
food in case they had to flee.

``The people of the community are ready to leave. They
already packed their bags,'' said Mirlenka Montano, 22, a member
of a Mexico City University group helping Indians in the area.

But villagers later decided to remain in La Realidad,
considered a base of support for the rebels and the site
frequently used by rebel leaders to make public pronouncements.

``They (soldiers) have never come so close. They drive
through town but they never stop,'' said Ramon Gutierrez, a
45-year-old farmer. ``We had a meeting this afternoon because we
think the army wants to take the town but we have decided to
stay. If that's what they want they can finish us all off.''

The troops are among thousands posted in Chiapas, Mexico's
southernmost and poorest state, to maintain order since the rebel
uprising. Tensions in the region have heightened since the Dec.
22 massacre of 45 Indians in another Chiapas community by gunmen
allied with the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party.

Earlier Saturday, soldiers fanned out into the mountains
around this jungle village and searched any farmers they came
upon, villagers said.

At one point, several dozen villagers walked to where the
soldiers were stationed. One man said, ``Let's run them out.
There are enough of us.'' But others talked him out of it. The
townspeople said they believed the soldiers would attack in the
night.

But the soldiers, aboard 26 vehicles, maintained their posts
for several hours then around nightfall returned to their base,
about 10 miles west.

Military officials denied there was any violence in the
area.

The military had patrols in the area searching for illegal
arms but ``there was no harassment or confrontation of any sort''
in La Realidad, said a top government official who spoke on
condition of anonymity.

Copyright 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/world/010398/

MEXICAN GOVERNMENT IN CRISIS OVER CHIAPAS
By FRANK BAJAK, The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (January 3, 1998 9:12 p.m. EST) -- Amid a
growing crisis in the violence-torn Chiapas state, President
Ernesto Zedillo replaced his hard-line interior secretary
Saturday with a deft politician who pledged to work for a
"decisive peace."

In a brief nationwide address, Zedillo named Francisco
Labastida Ochoa to the position, whose occupant traditionally is
second in command behind the president and serves as the
government's chief political spokesman.

The appointment of Labastida, 55, who headed the agriculture
ministry until Saturday, signaled a new strategy for a federal
government tainted by months of tensions and armed conflict in
southern Mexico.

While the outgoing appointee, Emilio Chuayffet, said he left
for personal reasons, analysts argued he was sacked for failing
to prevent the Dec. 22 massacre of 45 Indians in the southern
state by gunmen allied with the governing Institutional
Revolutionary Party.

Labastida, who has been mentioned as a successor to Zedillo,
pledged to seek talks with all parties to achieve "an honest,
frank and decisive peace."

The president said the government wants to reopen a peace
dialogue with the Zapatista National Liberation Army and improve
the living standards of Chiapas' largely impoverished Indian
population. The rebels rose up on New Year's Day in 1994, seeking
greater autonomy. While that fighting ended after just two weeks,
the issues that sparked it remain unaddressed.

The long-simmering violence in the state boiled over with
last month's massacre, whose victims were mostly women and
children.

"We will not rest even a day in pushing for a solution to
the existing conflicts," Labastida said in a nationally televised
speech in which he addressed his new job's challenges.

"Whether that means he's going to meet with (Zapatista
leader Subcomandante) Marcos it's very premature to say. But he's
not ruling it out," said presidential spokesman Antonio Ocaranza.

However, Labastida said his government would "proceed firmly
in disarming" groups sowing violence in the region.

Even as his appointment was announced, troops stepped up
checkpoints and weapons searches in Chiapas. Soldiers and police
have seized a number of small weapons caches in the past week,
some allegedly belonging to rebels and others to some of the 46
men arrested in the massacre.

On Saturday, the military denied reports that troops had
seized a Zapatista headquarters in the Chiapas mountain village
of La Realidad.

Villagers told The Associated Press that troops had taken up
positions on the outskirts of the town, the closest they've come
since the rebellion began.

The villagers, who said they were afraid of being attacked,
said the soldiers returned to their base after several hours.

"The military had patrols in the area searching for illegal
arms but "there was no harassment or confrontation of any sort"
in La Realidad, said a top government official who spoke on
condition of anonymity.

Chuayffet has been accused of dragging his feet in
restarting peace talks that have been stalled for more than a
year. Critics also have claimed he did nothing to prevent last
month's massacre, even though church and opposition political
leaders had warned top state and federal officials that tempers
were flaring.

His replacement "surprised no one and I don't think there is
a single political observer who didn't expect it," said Lorenzo
Meyer, a political scientist at the College of Mexico. "After the
crisis in Chiapas, (Chuayffet's) days were numbered."

Labastida said the government has no intention of
renegotiating a 1996 peace accord with the Zapatistas, which
Chuayffet refused to honor because it included a provision for
establishing autonomous regions.

Replacements will be announced Monday for Labastida as
secretary of agriculture and outgoing Treasury Secretary
Guillermo Ortiz, who took over Jan. 1 as governor of the Bank of
Mexico, the equivalent of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The previous governor, Miguel Mancera, retired after 40
years in the job.

Copyright 1998 The Associated Press

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material appearing here is distributed without profit to
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++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
++++ if you agree copy these 3 sentences in your own sig ++++
++++ see: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++
End forwarded message

Send immediate and urgent protests to:

Ernesto Zedillo, President of Mexico:
Palacio Nacional Mexico D.F.
Fax 525-2772376
email: webadmon@op.presidencia.gob.mx

Sandra Fuentes
Mexican Ambassador to Canada
1500-45 O'Connor Street, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1P 1A4
Fax: (613) 235-9123
Faxing by email: remote-printer.Sandra_Fuentes@16132359123.iddd.tpc.int

And to their accomplices in indigenous genocide:

William Clinton, President
The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20500, United States of America
Phone: (202) 456-1414 Fax: (202) 456-2886
email: president@whitehouse.gov
webpage http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Prime Minister Jean Chretien
Room 309-S Centre Block, House of Commons, Ottawa, Ont. K1A OA6
Canada
Phone: (613) 992-4211 Fax: (613) 941-6900
Faxing by email: remote-printer.Jean_Chretien@16139416900.iddd.tpc.int
email:pm@pm.gc.ca
WWW comments: http://pm.gc.ca/english/pmo/e_corres.htm

Support Organizations:

National Commission for Democracy in Mexico (NCDM)
2001 Montana, Suite B, El Paso, Texas 79902
phone/fax: 915-532-8382
email: moonlight@igc.apc.org
http://www.igc.apc.org/ncdm

ENLACE CIVIL
calle Ignacio Allende 4, San Crist=F3bal de Las Casas 29200,
Chiapas-MEXICO
Phone/Fax: 52-967-82104
email: enlacecivil@laneta.apc.org
http://www.laneta.apc.org/enlacecivil

S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty
P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2

--------- End forwarded message ----------

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