Chiapas: Paramilitaries threaten to attack

San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas., 23 August.
In the past hours, the alarming threats increased, which announce a violent eviction of the Caracols of Roberto Barrios by the PRI- ist paramilitaries from this and other communities of Palenque Barrios. According to information received by telphone by the local autonomous authorities this evening, the PRI-istas of the surrounding communities began to gather themselves in order to attack the Zapatistisa families.

The network of the community defenders for human rights (Red de Defensores Comunitarios por los Derechos Humanos) of the zone Salto de Agua-Palenque denounced today, that the hostilities of paramilitary groups against the Caracol "que habla para todos - that speaks for all" of Roberto Barrips, autonomous district El Trabajo, lasts for three days without interruption.

At midnight on the 21 August "the Paramilitaries of the Ejido Roberto Barrios, district Palenque, lead by Francisco Gómez Pérez, gathered to plan the eviction of the zapatistista population of the same community ", the network informed.

According to these informations, the paramilitaries receive the support of the district government and follow its commands, under leadership of the PRI-"Kaziken" Alfredo Cruz Guzmán. "To carry out the eviction they expect additionally the arrival of persons from other communities."


To attempt intimidation, the paramilitaries fired on the same Thursday, the 21 August, shots on the houses where the support bases of the EZLN spend the night, who work on the building of the facilities for the Caracols. Moreover, indigeneous workers, who construct the office of the "council of the goods government", received systematic threats on the part of the PRI-ist population of the community", continues the communiqué of the network.


"The paramilitary leader Francisco Gómez Pérez, has swears at and tried to force the population of the community to advocate actions against the Zapatistas."

The Council of the goods government of the region named "Semilla que va a producir" declared:" all this actions of provocation by the paramilitärs have the aim of destabilizing the autonomous organization of the communities.

As a result the network of the community defenders for human rights declared today its "deep worry", about the threat of the impending eviction of the zapatistista support bases of the Ejido Roberto Barrios, "as well as over the hostilities of the paramilitary groups, which apparently got strengthened by official support".


The community defenders confirmed: "These actions represent a handicap on exercising the liberty of the free self-determination of the people and to the right to a dignified life. We request that the responsible authorities intervene in this matter, examine these events and punish the responsibles before it comes to worse actions.


The human right organizations announced, that in the next hours a caravan of civil observers will leave for Roberto Barrios in order to examine the occurrences and to mark presence in the case that the PRI -istas try to commit the atrocities they intend to carry out today at night or tomorrow.

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The "Direct Solidarity with Chiapas" group, Zurich, explains:


The tensions in the Zona Norte have increased, since the Zapatistas have inaugurated the new regional "Council of the goods government" fourteen days ago.
Especially a tourist project, which was planned to be realized in this region in the framework of the plan Puebla-Panamá, is at the centre of the arguments. This so-called "eco(logical) tourism"- project should have been originally realized in Roberto Barrios, but the opposition in this community prevented this. This project shall now be constructed in Puyapá just on the other side of the river Bascán.

In the last days, the Council of the good government denounced several assaults of the mexican federal army and the threatening activities of the paramilitaries.
Possibly it might come to a first power struggle between the paramilitaries and the new zapatistischen regional government in the Zona Norte of Chiapas, which has been very rich in conflicts for years. The paramilitaries were warned a month ago, that from that point on immediatedly they could no longer reckon on impunity in the uprising zone .

Fourteen days before the 5th WTO-Ministerkonferenz in Cancún the tensions increase in Chiapas not only in the indigenous communities. So the resignation demands against the government of Chiapas Salazar become more and more frequent based on the repression against social movements. In the course of the mobilization of teachers a driver was shot dead by unknown. Also in other federal states, political violence is a daily means.
We have reported about the assassination of Griselda Teresa Tirado in Puebla,a human rights lawyer (see communiqué of the 7.8.03).
On the 17 August Carlos Sánchez López, leader of the farmer organization Coalición Obrero Campesina y Estudiantil del Ismo (COCEI) was killed with a hammer and his corpse discovered in the streets of Juchitán.