I am writing to you to express my great concern over the imminent eviction of the new ejido 8th of Febrero, located in the Lacandon, Chiapas. There has been constant harassment by the military, marines, SEMARNAT, and PROFERA. This particular community was originally displaced from the localities of chabajeb'al and Union Progresso in the municipality of San Juan del Bosque, Chiapas, due to the military repression implemented in 1998. I also understand that the communities of Arrayo Aguilar (located in the Lacantu'u Reserve), Sal Parai'so (Las Ruinas), Nuevo Limar, Nuevo Pichucalco, Nuevo San Andre's, Nuevo Salvador Allended, Nueo San Rafael, and Arroyo San Pablo suffered similar fates.

These evictions of indigenous communities in the Martas Azules -- carried out under the pretext of implementing ecological policies -- ignores the structural reasons that have brought hundreds of families there to build a new a new life. It is also inherently racist in nature as it disregards the relationship between the indigenous population and their environment, and their right to make their own decisions about their territory and the ecological situation as established in Convention 169 of the ILO. Greater still is the government's intention to ignore the causes -- still obviously present -- of the conflict with the EZLN. I am aware of the need to preserve the natural resources of this important region, but I am also aware of the powerful economic interests, both national and international, some of which feign scientific and environmental concerns only in order to exploit these resources. These national and international interests hide behind the lies of the likes of CI, an organisation funded by companies such as Grupo Pulsar, USAID, CEMEX, Ford, McDonald's, Disney, Intel, and Exxon (not to mention who the CI board members are!).

The Mexican government is ignoring a situation that won't go away, as the 25,000-strong Zapatista demonstration in San Cristobal de las Casas on the first of January this year demonstrated. I therefore call on the Mexican government to:

- Make a real commitment to attend to the root causes of this conflict

- Respect the right of indigenous communities to decide the forms of protection and defence of the natural resources in their
territory, based on Convention 169 of the ILO, as previously recognised and accepted by the State

- Make public the advances, reports and proposals being caried out at the environmental table


If the Mexican government is serious about peace in Chiapas and with the indigenous of Mexico it must first recognise the San Andres Accords, Demilitarise the region and release all Zapatista Political prisoners.


Sea Dna Almarosa Moreno Razo
Mexican Embassy
42 Hertford Street
London W1J 7JR
Email:-  mexuk@easynet.co.uk