Also see: Breaking Ranks: A Mexican Officer Defects, Seeks Asylum in U.S by John Ross.

By Michelle Koidin
Associated Press Writer
April 19, 1999

EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- A former Mexican army captain has been granted asylum after contending he would face persecution in Mexico for refusing to kill captured Zapatista rebels.

The ruling, issued last month by Immigration Judge Bertha A. Zuniga, allows 30-year-old Jesus Valles-Bahena, his wife and their child to remain in the United States.

"We're very happy for Mr. Valles because I believe this did in fact save his life," said their attorney, Carlos Spector. "Politically speaking, I feel that it's going to have an impact within the debate of human rights in Mexico."

A spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., said Monday he had not seen a copy of the decision and could not comment.

In her ruling, Zuniga said that two human rights reports and the testimony of an expert witness show there is good reason to believe that the Mexican military has tortured and killed Zapatista rebels.

Valles-Bahena testified before Zuniga that he was ordered to execute people who were captured and suspected of being Zapatista rebels.

The family now lives somewhere in the United States but not in Texas, Spector said. They left for the United States in 1994.

The Zapatista National Liberation Army began a short-lived uprising in January 1994 in Chiapas to demand greater rights for Mexico's Indians. Peace negotiations with the government have been stalled since 1996.

Copyright 1999 The Associated Press