Press Release

Mexico City, Mexico
16 August 2001

Red de Defensores Comunitarios por los Derechos Humanos (Network of Community Defenders for Human Rights), Centro de Investigaciones Económicas y Políticas de Acción Comunitaria (CIEPAC) (The Center for Economic and Political Research for Community Action), Global Exchange

This year, events in the state of Chiapas and Mexico have called into doubt the Federal Government's will to construct peace in the country. Neither the Executive nor the Legislative branches of the Government, represented by the Commission for Concordance and Peace (COCOPA), have complied with their responsibility to approve the Law of Indigenous Rights and Culture, the product of the Accords signed in San Andrés between the EZLN and the COCOPA. This refusal by the Government has caused uncertainty that political and democratic channels will solve the problems that generate the armed conflict.

Far from creating the conditions for peace, the Federal Government continues to wage war on indigenous communities in Chiapas through harassment and systematic human rights violations by the Mexican army and paramilitary groups. Recently the police have also been responding forcefully to protests held by diverse sectors of Chiapaneco society. Their actions have included arbitrary detentions, wounding individuals and also causing displacement. Examples of police action against communities and individuals have been seen in cases in the municipality of Ixtapa, Venustiano Carranza, Predio Cuatro Milpas in Tapachula, Trabajadores de la Comisión México Americana para la Erradicación del Ganado in ÊChiapa de Corzo, to the campesinos of MOCRI and to community members that have taken positions in the offices of SAGARPA in Tuxtla Gutiérrez and Marqués de Comillas, among other cases.

At the end of April 2001 the Congress of the Union approved a counter-reform of the Law for Indigenous Rights and Culture, called the "Bartlett-Cevallos Law" (named after the supporting legislators from the PRI and the PRD). During the months of May, June and July the law was taken and debated at the state level in Congress, a process plagued with irregularities. During this period in Chiapas, there have been at least 104 military operatives registered in at least 16 municipalities, as well as paramilitary and police activity. The military have harassed individuals and communities, established of permanent and temporary check points, driven patrols through communities, conducted "fly-overs", relocated of troops, conducted training sessions in indigenous communities, among others. Also, during this period at least 12 check points have been reinstated in Chiapas.

The sectors most affected by these activities are the indigenous communities, campesino and social organizations and the internal refugees. Forced out of their homes by the Mexican military and paramilitaries in the region, the displaced remain waiting for the Government to comply with its promises to them.

The President, Vincente Fox, as well as being the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces in Mexico, is responsible for the presentation of the counter-reform on indigenous rights and culture, as it appeared in the Official Daily of the Federation two days ago. The road to peace, far from being supported by this legislation, remains obstructed. Furthermore, with it, the already critical situation of indigenous and campesino agricultural producers is in danger of becoming worse. The agricultural crisis effecting the production of corn, coffee, sugar and other products which support thousands of indigenous and campesino communities in the southern states is a real crisis, and there is a danger that the situation may become more serious in the immediate future. In the case of Chiapas this may happen before or after the October 7th state elections for Congress and District 118. Taking all of the above into consideration, we demand President Vincente Fox, the Congress of the Union, the COCOPA and the Governor Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía to take up their respected responsibilities and fulfill the following:

1. Comply with the San Andrés Accords and the initiative of the law for indigenous rights and culture drafted by the COCOPA.

2. Stop the harassment and human rights violations committed against indigenous communities and social and campesino organizations by the Mexican army and the members of the federal and state police.

3. Resolve the problem of internal refugees in the state of Chiapas.

4. Bring members of paramilitary groups to justice in Chiapas.

5. Hold open forums to inform the population of Chiapas about the government's plans, including the Puebla-to-Panamá Plan and other development projects affecting the population as well as guarantee that the decisions of the affected communities will be respected.

6. Place control of the Armed Forces under the Federal Executive, which should only act as directed in the Constitution.

7. Respond to the current structural agriculture crisis with a renegotiation of Free Trade Agreements to protect the interests of the indigenous and campesino sectors.