La Jornada, Thursday, April 2

Elio Henriquez, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, April 1

Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark confirmed that the Mexican Army is carrying out "a major occupation effort against its own people," which leads him to believe that "the people are being used for a major military manoeuver, as in the beginning of the wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua."

After visiting the communities of Acteal, Polho and Morelia, the attorney stated that the militarization he saw there "goes beyond Chiapas concerns and should be of concern to all Mexicans."

In an interview with La Jornada, Clark said that he has observed military deployments in Angola, Cambodia, South Africa, Nicaragua and El Salvador. "I see that in Chiapas there is an enormous Army occupation against its own people, much larger than in Bosnia," which he recently visited. "In Chiapas the level of hostility implies great violence."

This is not the first time that the former U.S. Attorney General has visited Chiapas. In January 1994 he noted that "war crimes were committed," in the skirmishes between the Army and the Zapatistas. He confirmed that in 1994 he saw the Army setting up apparently temporary defensive positions; but that now there is a major occupation of the state and the militarization has gone beyond defensive to offensive, occupying lands and surrounding thousands of people in the communiuties."

The attorney said he is "very depressed by the militarization and the poverty" that he saw in Chiapas, but also "surprised" because he "had to have a special visa" to avoid expulsion for `participating in politicial activities' while visiting Chiapan communities. "I have visited Mexico more than 60 times since 1949 and they never asked me for a visa, neither in Bosnia nor in Africa have they treated me the way they did here."

Accompanied by Bob Schwartz, Vice President of the Fund for Disarmament Education, Clark, who founded a court for judging his own government for war crimes against the people of Iraq a few years ago, arrived here during the weekend with an FM3 visa to meet with Bishop SamuelRuiz and visit the indigenous communities of Acteal, Polho y Morelia, as well as San Carlos de Altamirano.Hospital.

During the visit he saw places where "soldiers have forced people to flee and now they are living in refugee camps in terrible conditions, with serious worries about health and food. Chenalho is another example."

In the United States there is not a very strong public effort to alert people to what is happening in Chiapas. Some groups do know what is going on, but the majority of the population still sees the situation as it was in 1994. They would be amazed if they knew about the increasing militarization and poverty since that date.

Clark said that the Acteal massacre attracted even the attention of the "most powerful people in the United States, because they cannot ignore it. The problem is that Congress began to react after the massacre, when they should have done it before December 22."