Preface

The following report was researched and written over an 11-month period by a team of Global Exchange researchers and Mexican immigration attorneys working in Mexico City, San Cristóbal de Las Casas and the Highlands (Los Altos) of Chiapas.

Since the massacre at Acteal in December 1997, Global Exchange and other international organizations have witnessed an intensification of the Mexican government's low intensity warfare against rebellious communities in Chiapas. In June 1998, Global Exchange published a report about the increasing number of human rights violations committed against indigenous communities by the Federal Army, including powerful testimonies about the economic, social and cultural costs of this aggression.

The government has tried to maintain its image as a promoter of human rights, despite evidence to the contrary, by expelling dozens of international witnesses from Chiapas. Throughout 1998, the Mexican authorities systematically misapplied domestic and international laws in an attempt to politicize and discredit humanitarian and human rights work in Chiapas and other conflictive states. At the core of this report is a exhaustive legal analysis and defense of international observation in Mexico, based on the Mexican Constitution, immigration statutes and international agreements ratified by the Federal Government.

Our lead researchers for the extensive legal questions involved in this project are two Mexican lawyers: Adriana Camarena from Stanford University, California, who has practiced international law in Mexico City, and Federico Anaya-Gallardo, legal advisor to the Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas and expert in immigration law. Their painstaking research into the Mexican Constitution and General Population Law has uncovered the extent to which the Executive branch of government has abused its authority in order to hide the truth about the conflict in Chiapas from the international community.

To measure the importance of the international presence in Chiapas, we interviewed leading members of Mexican human rights and mediation organizations, as well as spokespeople from threatened indigenous communities. First-hand testimonies from indigenous communities were instrumental in shaping and informing our analysis.

We are grateful to our colleagues in the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center (PRODH) and the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH) for their expert advice and extensive comments on the text. Both organizations have been at the forefront of defending the rights of foreign humanitarian workers in Mexico, for which we would also like to give them our heartfelt thanks. Thanks also go to legal scholar Santiago Corcuera of the Iberoamerican University who gave support and advice on the international legal sections of the report.

Global Exchange, April 1999