By Javier Mojica Martinez
July 17, 1999

Since the presidency of Luis Echeverria Alvarez, through the administrations of Jose Lopez Portillo, Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado, and Carlos Salinas de Gortari and up until the current president of the Republic of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, the state party system with its only party, the PRI (The Institutional Revolutionary Party), has demonstrated authoritarian forms of governing in which the current president has decided who would come to power and become the next president of the Republic of Mexico. It has also been during these administrations that the level of corruption that exists within the government and the extent to which the state party system has begun to weaken has been revealed. Those administrations of the past, that in a social sense permitted the advancement of Mexican communities, slowly have been pushed aside by those in favor of the liberalization of the economy. It was during the presidency of Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado that the neo-liberal economic system was officially implemented as administrative policy. This national economic change by way of the adoption of the neo-liberal system has brought increasing poverty to Mexico. Official calculations have indicated that 43 million Mexicans now live in poverty. Those who have benefited from this system have been those in power, and those who have supported and had the money to invest in neo-liberalism. Big businesses have appeared, making large sums of money as a result of the benefits received from the application of this system.

All of this has generated a process of social and political decomposition that has made its way into public institutions like that of Justice Administration and Judicial Power. Furthermore, the implementation of neo-liberalism has also initiated a loss of security that has shown itself in the disintegration of the family, the increase in narcotics trafficking that has coincided with the emergence of dangerous criminal groups and an increase in drug use, and an increase in violence among other effects.

The State of Guerrero hasn't been immune to the application of the neo-liberal project. The politicians of the state have carefully applied neo-liberal programs, marginalizing and bringing severe poverty to the majority of the people of Guerrero. Those most directly and primarily effected have been indigenous communities, peasants and farmers, and those cities where belts of misery in suburban areas have grown and brought an increase of violence as a result of the disintegration of social cohesion. It has also been in these poverty stricken suburban areas that municipal governments haven't followed through in their guarantee to ensure public security. The State and Federal Governments have tried to implement constitutional reforms coinciding with state and federal codes in the hope of creating the necessary laws to combat crime. Unfortunately, these laws haven't been sufficient, and as a result the government has decided to deploy more soldiers of the Mexican Federal Army, against the laws of the Political Constitution of the United States of Mexico, to take over the roles and responsibilities reserved for members of civil society.

In order to justify their means of persecuting criminals, guerrilla groups, and drug-traffickers, the Mexican Federal Army has been replacing, and taking over the responsibilities of the various police forces who normally occupy these positions. As previously shown, numerous examples exist where the principal actors in crimes against the civil population have been soldiers.

"On April 20th, 12 year old Antonio Mendoza Olivero, and 27 year old Evaristo Lino Tellez left the community of Barrio Nuevo in the municipality of Tlacoachistlahuaca to harvest corn. They never returned home that night."

"On April 21st, the 33 year old sister in law of Evaristo, and the 50 year old grandmother of Antonio left the community to look for them where they had been harvesting corn. As they approached the corn field they encountered a number of soldiers and also a pool of blood. Both women were scared, and as a result tried to flee the area. However as they were trying to return to their community they were accosted, grabbed, and threaten by members of the Mexican Federal Army. They threatened the older woman, and directed here to an abandoned house where three soldiers proceeded to rape her. The younger woman was taken to a gorge where she fainted and then was also raped by soldiers." (La Jornada/El Sur, June 2nd, 1999, No. 908)

We also have information of "incursions of troops of the Mexican Federal Army in populations of the Sierra Madre del Sur, in the municipalities of Petatlan on the side of the Big Coast, Ajuchitlan del Progresso, and Coyuca de Catatlan in what is known as the Tierra Caliente. The argument that the army has used to justify these incursions, is that they have entered communities in this region in order to persecute presumed members of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) and the Revolutionary Army of the Insurgent Pueblo (ERPI). While they have not found one rebel member, they have continued to detain and follow innocent peasants and as a result disturbed the normal everyday activities of civil society in this region." (La Jornada/El Sur, June 2nd, 1999, pg.3, No. 908)

From the 25 of April, there is information that indicates that troops of the Mexican Federal Army made an incursion into the community of Arroyo Verde, Municipality of Petatlan, and then returned again on the 9th and 10th of May.

"The 2nd of May, the community of Pizotla in the highland of Sierra de Ajuchitlan del Progreso was occupied by the Mexican Federal Army. Members of the Mexican Federal Army then proceeded to assassinate Bartolo Sanchez Ortiz, and detain Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia. All three of these victims where members of the Organization of Peasant Ecologists of the Sierra of Petatlan." Since then, the Mexican Federal Army has taken over an extensive zone of the Sierra region, from the largest edge of the Sierra to what is known as Tierra Caliente.

"Members of the communities of Pizotla, El Limon, Las Trojas, El Cirian, El Algodón, El Ralcero, El Naranjo, El Portero, La Rosa Morada, El Salto, La Hacienda de Dolores, El Tejon, and El Huaje have made denunciations in front of officials of human rights and non-governmental organizations about the occupation of their communities by the Mexican Federal Army, and interrogations done under circumstances of torture by members of the federal army. In the final days of May, Mexican Federal Army troops were still found in the community of Huajes de Ayala, municipality of Coyuca de Catalan."

"During these military maneuvers members of the Organization of Peasant Ecologists in Petatlan were detained and tortured by members of the Mexican Federal Army. Dozens of people, including women and children (girls and boys) from this organization and community were detained and tortured in the attempt by the soldiers to get them to admit to the presence of rebel groups, of which the civil population knew nothing." (La Jornada/El Sur, June 2nd, 1999, no. 908) One year after the massacre in El Charco, results of the denunciations made by family members of people who were detained, tortured and assaulted in the place of the massacre still have not been presented. These denunciations were made against members of the military personnel who participated in these criminal acts, beginning with the leading commander of the operation, Commander of the 27th Military Zone, General Alfredo Oropeza Garnica. At the same time, military presence in the Mixteca zone of Guerrero continues, and the Mexican Federal Army is installing strategy teams of communication and vigilance inside this region to reinforce its control.

In the recent report presented by the Tlachinollan Center for Human Rights in the beginning part of the month of June, they document the abuses committed by members of the Mexican Federal Army during their incursions into various indigenous communities in the municipalities of the mountain region. They also state that not one judicial authority can put a stop to these human rights and constitutional abuses.

Before the complexities brought on by the occupation of the military of the responsibilities normally held by the police, there existed an obvious collusion of the different police forces with criminal organizations. For this reason, the Mexican Federal Army attempted to justify their presence in their new roles by saying that they were not connected to these criminal groups or drug-traffickers. This institution, the Mexican Federal Army, which claimed to be the saving grace to the complexities caused by police/criminal collusion, finally demonstrated that it too was a contaminated entity when it was discovered that General Rebollo, then director of the Institute Against Drugs, was connected with drug-traffickers.

The State Attorney Justice, Carlos Javier Vega Memije, recently pronounced Marcos Roman Bahena as the new Director of the State Judicial Police, now known as the Ministerial Judicial Police. Marcos Roman Bahena has been accused of protecting a group of car thieves in return for a share of the profits. Bahena is taking over the position previously held by Lieutenant Colonel of the Mexican Federal Army, Edilberto Solis Ramirez.

"According to the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Center of Human Rights, these facts demonstrate the violation of articles 13 and 129 of the Mexican Constitution because military personnel are not permitted to take over responsibilities outside of their legal competence (La Jornada/El Sur, June 2nd, 1999, No. 908). The worst of this is the fact that they do not exercise legal action or initiate investigations against those responsible for these criminal acts so that they are convicted under law. The Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Center of Human Rights also makes note that up until now, the authorities that have knowledge of these crimes have not emitted one sentence or opinion in relation to these acts.

We are standing in a truly dangerous situation, when everyday the authorities that hold positions of civil power are incapable of guaranteeing public security. These authorities, against the laws of the Constitution of Mexico, are letting the responsibilities of these positions become developing functions of the Mexican Federal Army and consequently filled by military personnel.

As a result of this situation, it is important that the expression of different sectors of society and organized civil groups, such as professional colleges, academic institutions, worker organizations in both the country side and city, students of university institutions, political parties, intermediary organizations, the media, and the churches, elevate their voices to put a stop to the militarization of Guerrero. It is important to reestablish the law of the State of Guerrero in order to recuperate social cohesion, and respect those institutions that promote the harmonization of societal interests and public power. If we do not follow through with this situation, we run the risk of living in an ungovernable state.