Rallies worldwide protest Chiapas massacre

By Daniel Vila

This article was reprinted from the January 17, 1998 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

NEW YORK - About 200 people demonstrated in front of the Mexican Consulate here Jan. 12 to protest the massacre of 45 Indian peasants in the Mexican state of Chiapas last month. The demonstration was in response to a call for world-wide solidarity made by human rights groups in Mexico.

On Dec. 22 paramilitary forces operating in the town of Acteal attacked several hundred Tzotzil Indians as they were preparing to pray. Nine men, 21 women, 14 children and a baby were killed. Survivors said the paramilitary force involved members of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Indians in the state of Chiapas have been organizing for a redistribution of the land which is mostly owned by rich families.

Peasants have accused the Mexican government of secretly organizing the paramilitary units as a proxy army to fight the peasants. Many peasants have expressed their sympathy with the guerrilla organization, Zapatista Army for National Liberation, which has been organizing in the state of Chiapas for years and which led takeovers of municipal buildings four years ago.

Organizers of the New York protest demanded that the U.S. government stop selling arms to the Mexican government. They also demanded that all of those responsible for the massacre be punished for murder, and not just removed from their posts as has been done with some members of the state government.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that a police official has admitted giving arms to civilians who later used them in the attack in Acteal. The attorney general for Mexico has filed criminal charges against Felipe Vazquez Espinosa, head of the police in the sector where the paramilitary units were operating. The official said that he was only following orders.

Vazquez Espinosa has also admitted giving orders to use police vehicles to distribute arms to the paramilitary groups. Forty-eight people have been arrested including local elected officials and 40 others are being investigated, including the PRI state governor who stepped down last week as a result of the political crisis in Chiapis.

But even as people around the world protested, Mexican police in the town of Ocosingo opened fire Jan. 13 on thousands of people protesting the Chiapas murders. A woman was killed, her daughter and a teenager were wounded. In Mexico City over 100,000 persons demonstrating against the Chiapas murder were also informed of the Ocosingo attack. Tens of thousands also took part in demonstrations throughout Mexico.

In the U.S., protests were also held in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities. In Rome, protesters occupied the Mexican embassy.

Another protest was held in front of the Mexican consulate in New York Jan. 9 called by Pastors for Peace. A delegation led by Rev. Lucius Walker met with the Consul of Mexico to express its solidarity with the people of Chiapas. After the meeting Walker said the consul failed to demonstrate genuine concern over the massacre in Chiapas. Walker told the World that his organization will lead a solidarity caravan to Chiapas this April.

Judith LeBlanc, labor-community relations director of the Communist Party USA, was a member of the delegation which met with the consul. In a statement after the meeting, she linked the poverty in Chiapas with NAFTA and said that the only way to solve the long-term problems in Chiapas is by eliminating the poverty that is at the heart of the social injustice prevalent in the region.