La Jornada Monday, April 17, 2000.
Andrea Becerril, reporter, and Elio Henriquez, correspondent. San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas

Committee of Legislators and Citizens Observe Military Advance In Chiapas; Paramilitaries Tied to PRI are Bringing About a Violent Solution, Warns Mario Saucedo
Contrary to government claims, militarization and paramilitary group activities - which are "the armed wing of the PRI, and which could provoke violent confrontations among the indigenous" -are making advances in Chiapas, stated Mario Saucedo, speaking for the group of legislators, academics, artists and citizens who made a trip through the conflict zone this weekend.

"In reality there is only the appearance of peace, because, according to the information we have been provided with, and what we have been able to observe, there are now more than 300 military positions, between the barracks, camps and checkpoints," which are more and more closing the circle around the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), in order to seek their surrender, warned PRD Senator Carlos Payan Velver, a member of the Commission of Concordance and Peace (Cocopa).

Meanwhile, Deputy Samuel Lara Villa, a retired general, said that the increased military presence which he observed in the Ca~adas of the Selva "is unjustifiable," and even more so is the military restriction of freedom of movement.

At a joint press conference with Senator Mario Saucedo, Deputies Gilberto Lopez y Rivas, Fabiola Gallegos and Samuel Lara Villa, they announced they would be filing legal charges over the occupation of ejidal lands in Amador Hernandez by the Mexican Army. The Army has also deforested almost 40 hectares of forest at the entrance to the Montes Azules biosphere reserve.

San Quintin, a Town Which Exists Because of, and For, Soldiers, says Lopez y Rivas
The residents of Amador Hernandez "have been in resistance for eight months against the military presence in their community, because they are seeing themselves in the mirror of San Quintin, which has become a town that exists because of and for the soldiers," Lopez y Rivas said.

It was announced that the group - in which are also participating professors Luis Gonzalez Souza and Paulina Fernandez; architect Armando Chavez; ceramist Hugo Velazquez; lawyer Digna Ochoa of the Miguel Agustin Pro Human Rights Center; journalist Carlos Fazio and Gustavo Castro of the Center for Economic and Political Investigations of Community Action (CIEPAC), among others - will continue their visits to the conflict zone and will be inviting other legislators and members of civil society to join this committee.

For this initial visit, they divided up into three groups, which visited Amador Hernandez and San Quintin; Taniperla, in the Selva, and Acteal and Xoyep in Los Altos.

Payan and Lopez y Rivas - both members of the Cocopa - Paulina Fernandez, Carlos Fazio and Gustavo Castro, visited the first area. They commented that the situation in that community in the municipality of Ocosingo "is very serious."

Senator Payan Velver commented that he had been there in August, as part of the Cocopa delegation that went there following the establishment of the military camp and the danger of a confrontation.

The situation, he added, instead of having been resolved, had worsened, since the soldiers had not only not withdrawn - although the building of the highway which triggered the problem had been suspended - but the number of troops in the community had, in fact, increased. This has led to the community's inability to regain its normal life and to be permanently affected by the military presence.

He also noted that they had spent the night in Amador Hernandez, and they could verify how the soldiers are continuing to illegally occupy a predio from which they had dislocated an ejiditario in order to establish their camp and the landing field for a heliport there. They are also continuing to fell trees in that part of the Selva Lacandona and to contaminate the river. They are preventing the use of the only road which residents of Amador Hernandez have, since they close it each time helicopters land with provisions.

Lopez y Rivas commented that the population is continuing to resist in order to secure the withdrawal of the soldiers, because, ever since last August, when they arrived, they have been breaking down their habitat and their customs. "The women in the community told us that they cannot go to the river to wash clothes or to gather conch and shrimp, or to gather firewood, because they are being harassed by the federal Army."
The legislator added that the biggest concern of the 110 families of Amador Hernandez "is that the same thing will happen to them that happened in San Quintin - the most important town they have nearby, which is also next to La Realidad - which has become a brothel for the military base established there, leading to fights and family confrontations."

He explained that the main military base in the Selva has been established in San Quintin Its construction - with satellite dishes, an electric plant and residential complexes with all the amenities - stands in marked contrast to the poverty of the indigenous who live around it.

Payan as well and Lopez y Rivas, stressed that, despite the fact that the government states the opposite, the presence of the Mexican Army has, in fact, increased. They explained that, according to information provided by human rights defenders and investigators, there are 300 military positions in Chiapas and a similar number of state police positions.

Mario Saucedo said: "The claims by President Zedillo and the Secretary of Government, Diodoro Carrasco, are false, that things in Chiapas have been returning to normal. We even see, with great concern, the danger that incidents such as Acteal could be repeated, since paramilitary groups, which are clearly tied to the PRI, continue to be supported, in order to cause confrontations in the communities and to encourage a violent solution."

Questioned at the end about his statement that the paramilitaries are the armed wing of the 'tricolor' in Chiapas, he stated that several of the main leaders are members of the party in power, as in the case of Deputy Norberto Lopez Santis.

The presence of paramilitaries is such that - according to retired General Lara Villa - the group which visited Taniperla was not able to meet in that community, because its residents feared reprisals from armed groups operating there.

The General, also a legislator, added that the atmosphere is very tense, and people are reflecting the fear of being victims of reprisals on the part of the PRIs and of those who support them, which has even caused them to displace to other positions. "It makes me angry to see the poverty, the marginalization in which the indigenous are living, in urgent need of medical attention and of the benefits of government social programs which are not reaching them."

He emphasized that he himself was witness to how the soldiers "are violating citizens' right to free transit, by demanding that they identify themselves at every checkpoint in order to be able to pass through," when they have no legal authority to do so.

He also expressed his concern over the "unjustifiable militarization" of the area, and he announced that he will be returning as many times as necessary.

Meanwhile, Deputy Fabiola Gallegos noted that they had encountered widespread diversion of social programs aimed at fighting poverty, since they were being given only to the PRIs.

The feeling of those participating in this first trip through the conflict zone was summed up by Mario Saucedo: "The conclusion we are going away with is that this silent war, of counterinsurgency, of low intensity, is still going on."

At the same time he noted that this group intends to continue, to increase and to develop activities of denunciation, of legal support and of legislative initiatives that will allow the "silent war that exists in Chiapas" to be brought to an end.