January 1, 1998: Using the massacre of Acteal as an excuse to make a call for "total disarmament of all the armed groups in Chiapas," the federal government violates the Law for Dialogue, Reconciliation, and a Just Peace in Chiapas by launching a new military campaign designed to disarm the EZLN. Indigenous Zapatista communities are occupied or put under military siege by the army, while many of the members of the PRI-backed paramilitary groups responsible for the Acteal massacre continue to roam freely throughout the state. The EZLN does not respond militarily, insisting it still wants to see a political solution to the conflict. However, it warns the government that it has no intention of giving up its arms.
January 9, 1998: General José Gómez Salazar, Commander of the Seventh Military Region, which includes Chiapas, openly accuses San Cristóbal Bishop (and CONAI president) Samuel Ruiz García of being "involved" with the EZLN. The Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas "energetically rejects" the accusations.
January 12, 1998: National and international day of protest. In Ocosingo, Chiapas during a peaceful demonstration, the state security police opened fire on the rally, killing one women and injuring two children. Demonstrations are held worldwide to protest the violence in Chiapas and demand the compliance of the San Andres accords.
January 28, 1998: Campesino professor Rubical Ruiz Gamboa is assassinated in front of his home in Tuxtla Gutiérrez. He was a leader of the Independent Campesino Organization of Villa Corzo and The Democratic State Assembly of the Chiapan People (Adepech). His killers are not identified but Adepech announces that the paramilitary group Paz y Justicia had been sending him death threats.
January 23, 1998: President Ernesto Zedillo lashes out at the EZLN during a speech in Kanasín, Yucatán. Zedillo claims his government "has never utilized force in Chiapas," and insists that it is the EZLN--not the federal government--which is seeking a violent, military solution to the conflict, and that it is the EZLN--not the federal government--which is trying to re-negotiate the San Andrés Accords. PRD leaders and members of the COCOPA and CONAI are quick to point out the fallacies in the president's speech.
February 9, 1998: Six Zapatista sympathizers are released from the federal prison Cerro Hueco in Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Previously the government had announced the release of 300 common criminals, portraying this as an act of goodwill towards the peace process. Protests followed calling for the release of Zapatista Prisoners, one of the conditions for reinstating the dialogue process. 41 political prisoners remain in jail.
February 16, 1998: The International Civil Commission for Human Rights Observation, a group of over 200 representatives from the European Union, arrives in Mexico to spend ten days visiting Chiapas and meeting with social organizations, NGOs and government officials. Their findings will be the basis for a report presented to the European Parliament on their return.
February 21, 1998: Jose Lopez Garcia, from the municipality of Tila in Northern Chiapas, is assassinated after giving testimony about human rights violations to the International Human Rights Commission. Eye witnesses state that the killers were members of Paz y Justicia. Samuel Sanchez, state representative and Paz y Justicia leader, declares that the commission has no right to denounce the murder of Lopez Garcia because they would be intervening in the internal politics of Mexico.
February 26, 1998: The parish priest of Chenalhó, Father Michel Henri Jean Chanteau Desillieres, is arrested and immediately expelled from Mexico for "having engaged in unauthorized activities." Both the Interior Ministry and the National Immigration Institute acknowledge that Chanteau has been expelled for declaring to the press that the government was responsible for the December 22nd massacre of 45 of his parishioners. Chanteau--a priest of French origin who has served the indigenous communities of Chenalhó for more than 32 years--is the eighth priest of the Diocese of San Cristóbal to have been expelled from Chiapas since 1994.
February 28, 1998: Chiapas governor Roberto Albores Guillén announces a "State Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Chiapas"--a thirty-page plan containing 25 key points which Albores insists will lead to peace in the region, many of which actually indicate renewed belligerence against the EZLN. The unilateral "agreement" also backs the presence of the Mexican Army in indigenous communities in order to "keep the peace," and will prohibit certain types of demonstrations as well as authorize the use of force to prevent or repel land invasions or protests which block roadways. The plan is immediately criticized by the CONAI, as well as by a wide range of campesino, indigenous, social, and political organizations in the state.
March 1, 1998: Interior Minister Francisco Labastida announces the government's so-called "new strategy for peace", and says the government will unilaterally introduce a new initiative on indigenous rights and culture into Congress for its approval, regardless of the opinions or positions of the EZLN, the CONAI, or the COCOPA. In response, the EZLN issues a communiqué warning that a "re-negotiation" of the San Andrés Accords would be a "mortal blow" to the process of dialogue and negotiation. The CCRI-CG of the EZLN also calls on the COCOPA to stand fast in defense of its original proposal for constitutional reforms on indigenous rights and culture.
March 12, 1998: In a surprise move, the National Action Party (PAN) presents its own unilateral initiative for constitutional reforms on Indigenous Rights and Culture in the Mexican Senate. The Pan's initiative, as its supporters readily admit, is not designed to implement the San Andrés Accords, but rather to place the Pan's political program regarding indigenous issues into the Constitution.
March 17, 1998: The National Mediation Commission (CONAI) issues a statement sharply condemning the government's counterproposal. According to the CONAI, the government's initiative "is divorced from the San Andrés Accords" and seriously threatens the peace process.
February - March, 1998: The federal government launches a high-powered national and international public relations campaign in order to convince the public that its constitutional reform proposal complies with the San Andrés Accords, and that it is the EZLN which refuses to dialogue in good faith, threatens violence, and does not want peace.
At the same time, military incursions into indigenous communities in Chiapas continue; the Air Force practices bombing runs with new aircraft; the number of military flights over Zapatista Aguascalientes are doubled or tripled; and heavy artillery is seen entering military bases in the Lacandon jungle for the first time. Meanwhile, the federal government steps up verbal attacks against both the COCOPA and the CONAI, accusing the former of being unnecessary, and the latter of being partial in support of the EZLN.
April 11, 1998: The state and federal police, along with the army and immigration officials, enter the newly declared autonomous municipality of Ricardo Flores Magon, in the town of Taniperla. They declared that the municipality was illegally usurping governmental duties, and arrested 12 foreigners and nine Mexicans. The 12 foreigners were deported after being held overnight without being informed why they were detained. The Mexicans, including seven indigenous members of the community, Sergio Valdez Ruvalcaba, a professor doing academic research from Mexico City, and Luis Menendez, member of the Fray Lorenzo de la Nada human rights center in Ocosingo, were taken to the federal prison, Cerro Hueco, in Tuxtla Gutiérrez.
April 13, 1998: Seven more community members are arrested in Taniperla and later imprisoned, bringing the total number of prisoners from the Taniperla operation to 16. All join the political prisoner organization the Voice of Cerro Hueco (hereafter the Voz). Days later, one of the 16 makes bail, leaving 15 prisoners from Taniperla in Cerro Hueco.
May 1, 1998: Police, military and immigration officials enter the center of the autonomous municipality of Tierra y Libertad, located in the town of Amparo Agua Tinta, to dismantle the facilities of the autonomous municipality. All municipal buildings are entered by force, documents are destroyed and money and typewriters are stolen. 53 people are arrested, including the president of the autonomous municipality, Aureliano Lopez Ruiz. For thirty-six hours they are held incommunicado. On May 6, eight indigenous men are charged; the rest are released. The authorities announce that the occupation was at the request of the U.N commission for Refugees (ACNUR), because a Guatemalan was being held in the autonomous prison. The ACNUR later announced that they had never requested a police operation, and were planning to negotiate the release of the prisoner with the autonomous authorities.
May 1998: A group of 135 human rights observers from Italy visited Chiapas. The Mexican government granted the group permission to visit a limited number of communities, not including some areas where recent human rights violations had been reported, including Taniperla, where a month earlier over 1,000 government agents had entered the community. The group decided to visit Taniperla anyway, at the request of the community, and were sanctioned by immigration. Approximately 85 members of the delegation were accused of violating the terms of their visas, and barred from returning to Mexico in ten years. 40 members who were at the airport waiting for a flight to Italy when their visas expired, were accused of intervening in Mexican politics, and deported. They are barred for life from returning to Mexico.
May 27, 1998: The National Immigration Institute of Mexico announces new regulations for international human rights observers in Mexico. People and groups interested must apply thirty days in advance. They must present a detailed itinerary of places and groups they plan to meet, and groups can stay a maximum of ten days, and bring a maximum of ten people. They must also represent an organization that is at least 5 years old and present the charter and board of directors of the organization.
June 2, 1998: 30 families of EZLN sympathizers in the community of Nabil, in Tenejapa, are driven out of their homes by paramilitary squads and public security police. It is reported that there are now over 19,000 internally-displaced refugees in Chiapas, almost all of them Zapatistas bases of support or members of Las Abejas.
June 3, 1998: The municipality of Nicolás Ruiz--a constitutional municipality, operated legally by the opposition PRD party in coalition with Zapatista bases of support--is overrun and occupied by 3,000 troops of the Mexican Army, state public security police, state and federal judicial police, and members of the paramilitary group known as "Los Chinchulines." 167 people are detained in the operation, and many more are injured by clubs or tear gas grenades.
June 4, 1998: Seventeen of the individuals detained in the Nicolás Ruiz operation are imprisoned in Cerro Hueco. Fifteen of them immediately join the Voz, among them Graciela Miriam González López, the first female member of the organization. Two days later, six of the members are charged with kidnapping. The other nine are released on bail after paying 600 pesos each, including González López.
June 7, 1998: San Cristóbal bishop Samuel Ruiz García announces his resignation from the CONAI, accusing the government of closing down all possible paths for a continued role of the mediation. His resignation is followed by the self-dissolution of the CONAI by its remaining members, who also accuse the government of provoking a war rather than seeking peace in Chiapas.
June 10, 1998: During a pre-dawn operation, more than 1,000 federal troops, judicial police, and state public security forces attack various communities of the Autonomous Municipality San Juan de la Libertad (formerly El Bosque), including its municipal headquarters. San Juan de la Libertad had long been recognized as one of the best-functioning Zapatista municipalities, with more than 90% of the communities (representing 30,000 people) in the municipality expressing adherence to the autonomous local government.
During the military and police operations--which include the burning of houses, tear gas and bazooka attacks, and the use of helicopter gunships to attack civilians--a gun battle allegedly breaks out in the community of Unión Progreso, between security forces and the Zapatista bases of support defending their community. At least six Zapatistas are killed, as is one policeman. At least two other Zapatistas are reported killed by security forces in the town of Chavajeval a short time later. Nine people are wounded, and 57 are detained and taken to the Cerro Hueco state prison. All the remaining inhabitants of Chavajeval abandon their homes and head toward Oventic on foot.
June 18-19, 1998: Twenty-seven of the detained in the El Bosque operation are sentenced to prison, including five Tzotzil authorities of the autonomous municipality of San Juan de la Libertad. Of the 27, 17 become members of the Voz. 12 are charged with carrying illegal arms, disturbing the peace, and specific acts of resistance. Five others are charged with rebellion. All are incarcerated in Cerro Hueco.
July 8, 1998: The federal government presents a new "peace plan" for Chiapas. More of a threat than a peace plan, the proposal calls for the EZLN to "hand in its weapons to the authorities" in exchange for "guarantees of personal security."
July 16-17, 1998: Breaking four and a half months of public silence, the CCRI-CG issues three documents--a pair of short letters and a long essay--all signed by Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos. The EZLN makes it clear that it has lost all trust or confidence in the supposed "discourse for dialogue" of the federal government.
July 19, 1998: The EZLN issues the Fifth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, reaffirming its desire for peace and its intention to carry out a national consultation on the subject of the COCOPA's original constitutional reform proposal for the implementation of the San Andrés Accords.
August 10, 1998: Wives and family members of 87 Zapatista sympathizers held in Cerro Hueco begin the "strike of machetes" in the Chiapas state capitol of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, demanding the release of their loved ones. The female relatives write the names of their loved ones held in prison on machetes, which they carry during their picket.
After angry meetings on the 10th and 11th with state government minister Arely Madrid Tovilla--one of which the women walk out of--the high official announces that not a single pro-Zapatista prisoner will be set free because of political pressure. The women state later that Madrid was only interested in defending the interests of the PRI-supporting large landholders.
On August 12, the group marches from the government buildings to Cerro Hueco prison. The following day they end their strike, with the women announcing that they will return to their communities to support their children while their loved ones remain imprisoned.
September 2, 1998: Zedillo presents his fourth State of the Nation address as President to the Mexican Congress. In it he makes no reference to the situation in Chiapas, stating only that Mexico will not tolerate foreign intervention in national issues.
September 9, 1998: In the context of environmental degradation and a lack of government contingency planning, torrential rains cause massive flooding and destruction in the south of the state and the coastal zone. On this day, the first reports of deaths and damages are released; 28 deaths, 18,000 people displaced, 20 municipalities without electricity, 80 communities incommunicado, 15 rivers overflowing. 1,100 Mexican Army soldiers are sent to the area to distribute aid.
September 15, 1998: The EZLN distribute three communiqués openly charging the PRI with stealing the aid that is bound for Chiapas, and distributing it as campaign favors.
8,000 Mexican Army soldiers are now stationed in the flood zones. The national leader of the PRD, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, announces his vote to have the upcoming elections postponed statewide from Oct 6 to Dec 6, to allow ample time to ensure 'minimum guaranteed' conditions to allow for the full and fair participation of the electorate.
September 18, 1998: The number of reported deaths from the flooding rises to 400, and the national Health Secretary states their concern for health conditions in the area including contaminated water, and fears the spread of disease.
The State Electoral Commission (CEE) announces that the Committee is evaluating 33 Municipalities, within 7 state Districts, which are largely considered to lack the 'minimum conditions' to hold elections and are considering suspending elections in these areas.
September 25, 1998: The CEE announces that the October 6 state elections will be postponed until Dec 6, or when 'minimum guarantees' can be assured, in the following 8 Municipalities, within 3 state Districts; Motozintla, Siltepec, Mapastepec, Pijijiapan, Huixtla, Acacoyahu, Escuintla and Villa Comitan.
October 4, 1998: Election Day in Chiapas. A Global Exchange delegation, as well as other small groups and individuals, participate in voting observation throughout the state as organized by Alianza Cívica. The Global Exchange participants report no large disturbances but detect a number of irregularities. Observations include PRI propaganda visible around the voting booths, men with shaved hair and military boots (suspected of being Mexican Army members) voting, registered individuals not appearing on official voting lists, the disappearance of opposition party votes, and in the conflict zone, members of paramilitary groups presiding over voting stations.
One event does mark itself as important in the process. PRI supporters within the municipality of Chamula declare that they will refuse to participate in the voting process that day, claiming that members of their community are being held in jail as political prisoners, and demand their release. According to state electoral law the non participation of this municipality should annul the elections for the whole state.
October 6, 1998: The final results of the election are released as follows:
PRI: 82 municipal seats, 18 deputy seats,
PRD: 15 municipal seats, 1 deputy seat,
PAN: 5 municipal seats, 2 deputy seats.
The PRI is awarded with 82 of 103 municipalities and take control of such EZLN strongholds as Ocosingo, Altamirano, Las Margaritas, Sitala, Chilon, Bochil and Huitiupan which were previously PRD controlled. The results are highly disputed, especially in Ocosingo where the favored PRD was winning the vote count until well after midnight by observers' reports.
The PRD demands that the elections be annulled, based on the fact that not enough municipalities voted to have Congress properly and legally installed. They include that the abstention rate was as high as 65% in some municipalities and that four of the largest municipalities did not vote due to the floods.
October 9, 1998: The Portuguese writer Jose Saramago wins the Nobel Prize for literature. He had spent time with the indigenous of Chiapas and publicly stated that his interest in Chiapas was 'an obligation and a right as a human,' in marked contrast to Mexican government policy and opinion on the issue of foreign involvement in the region.
October 27, 1998: Chiapas state governor Roberto Albores Guillen denies the existence of political prisoners in Chiapas, stating that no one is persecuted for political beliefs and that all of those in prison "are criminals." Addressing the Nicolás Ruiz case, he says that the prisoners will only be freed if there is a legal basis for their release.
November 10, 1998: Governor Albores submits a proposal for a Law for Disarmament to the Mexican Congress, bestowing more power to the state to disarm the 12 armed groups in the state, and giving amnesty to armed groups other than the EZLN.
November 19, 1998: The 29 EZLN delegates arrive in San Cristóbal for their first Encuentro with Civil Society in over a year. One part of the convoy from Oventic is held up by the Army and this act is denounced.
A ceremony is held in Cerro Hueco in which prisoners hand over a mural and a written statement to be presented at the Encuentro.
November 20, 1998: At the opening ceremony of the Encuentro over 2000 people attend and the delegates tell Civil Society that they are ready for the Consulta Nacional (National Consultation), with 5000 members prepared to go to each municipality of the country to discuss the issues. The mural from Cerro Hueco is presented, as is a life size recreation of the mural destroyed by Army and State Police forces in Taniperla during the April dismantling of Ricardo Flores Magon.
Interior Minister Labastida Ochoa states that a peaceful outcome depends on the will of the EZLN, and that he will not comment on the Encuentro, because the meeting is a small group of people, and does not reflect the whole nation.
November 22, 1998: The EZLN delegation declares the Encuentro a success, and say that they will return to their communities confident that Civil Society has the organization and desire to follow through with the National Consultation, and will call a date for it to be held early next spring.
December 7, 1998: Results of the December 6 election are announced. An abstention rate of 70% is recorded, with only 100,000 of the 420,890 registered voters participating. At least 25 000 individuals did not have voting credentials and another 270 000 could not reach the assigned ballot boxes. The PRI won 6 municipalities, the PRD, 2 and the PAN, 1. Two of the municipalities won by the PRI were previously PRD controlled districts.
December 10, 1998: State Governor Roberto Albores Guillén proposes the "Amnesty Law for the disarmament of civil armed groups in the State of Chiapas," an initiative designed to give amnesty and material rewards to paramilitary groups who turn in their arms to the government during the 90 day period after it is passed. The EZLN is excluded from the proposal, under the grounds that their specific situation is addressed by the Law for Dialogue, Reconciliation, and a Just Peace in Chiapas.
December 13, 1998: In the PRI supporting community of Los Platanos, in the municipality of El Bosque, a group of four armed people reportedly attack 20 people in the community. The attack leaves one small child dead and 7 wounded. The attackers are wearing ski masks and the government later accuses the EZLN of responsibility.
December 14, 1998: The EZLN release a communiqué signed by comandantes Moises, David and Daniel, which denies any responsibility for the attack in Los Platanos. They say that so close to the anniversary of the massacre at Acteal, the government is trying to distract public opinion.
December 14, 1998: A communiqué is released by the EZLN which calls for the National Consultation to be held on March 21, 1999. It outlines 5 stages to be followed by participants: 1) Diffusion and promotion of the National Consultation, 2) Local organization and preparation for the Consultation in each municipality of the nation, 3) Realization of the referendum, 4) Diffusion of results, 5) Presentation of results to the national Congress.
The communiqué encourages both national and international Civil Society participants to form a brigade to help spread the information.
The questions to be presented in the Consultation are to be as follows:
- Do you agree that the indigenous communities should be included, with all of their strength and richness, in the nation's development and in the construction of a new Mexico?
- Do you agree that indigenous rights should be recognized in the Mexican Constitution as expressed in the San Andres Accords and the corresponding proposal created by the COCOPA?
- Do you agree that peace should be reached through dialogue, including demilitarization and removal of the threat of soldiers and their bases, as is stated in the Constitution and the laws of the country?
- Do you agree that the people of Mexico should be organized to and direct the actions of the Government in relation to issues of national concern?
December 18, 1998: Approximately 50 former members of the Mexican Army march in Mexico City to protest human rights violations by the Army and the military's presence in Chiapas. The demonstration marks the first public dissention within the ranks.
December 20, 1998: The 'Libro Blanco de Acteal' ('Acteal White Book') is released by the federal attorney general's office (PGR). Despite being the product of a 12 month investigation, the PGR relies on the same explanation of the killings that the government used mere days after the massacre. The report argues that the massacre in Acteal was a result of long standing intra-community conflicts that were intensified by ideological division. The report highlights the creation of the autonomous municipality of Polhó by the EZLN as inciting conflict between the population seeking autonomy and government loyalists who wished to remain within the official municipal system. There is no mention of paramilitary activity in the area.
December 22, 1998: Between three and five thousand people attend the commemoration mass in Acteal on the first anniversary of the massacre of 45 community members. En route to the commemmeration, at the checkpoint entering Chenalhó, at least a dozen foreign nationals are given summons by immigration agents to appear at the INM offices in San Cristóbal. Although there is a large number of international visitors the presence is overwhelmingly indigenous. EZLN sympathizers march from Polhó to Acteal to join the mass held by Bishop Ruiz and other members of the clergy. The commemeration includes an emotional recreation of the massacre, with the participation of some of the actual survivors. An army helicopter flies over and circles Acteal three times during the ceremony.
Originally written by Joshua Paulson for the FZLN.
