This
was our press release following our Statement on Agenda Item
15 on Indigenous Rights presented at the 56th Session of the
Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.
Lydia Brazon
PRESS RELEASE April 14, 2000
IED/HLP CONDEMNS MEXICO'S WAR AGAINST THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
OF CHIAPAS
IED/HLP today denounced Mexico's "duplicity" in the
peace process with the EZLN before the 56th Session of the UN
Commission of Human Rights in Geneva. The Mexican Government
"pays lip service to the ideal of dialogue, while undermining
the possibility of meetings in good faith," declared Adam
Branch, IED/HLP delegate, in the statement. "The Government
presents to the world the fa¡ade of seeking dialogue and
working to fulfil the San Andr»s Accords," remarked
Lydia Brazon, IED/HLP executive director in Los Angeles, "but
their actions belie this attitude. Every day, more troops occupy
the indigenous communities, the 'paramilitaries' extend their
terror with total impunity, and the Government refuses to implement
any of the agreements already signed. Is this really the search
for dialogue? No."
As proof of the continuing militarization, IED/HLP cited the
stepped-up counterinsurgency campaign of the summer of 1999,
which included assaults on the communities of Nazareth and Amador
Hernandez, and the attack upon Tojolobal villagers of San Jose
La Esperanza, during which time 10,000 new troops were positioned
in the Lacandon Jungle.
"The government shamelessly makes promises of democracy
and peace to the EZLN, to Mexican civil society, and recently
to High Commissioner Mary Robinson, none of which are ever kept,"
declared Brazon. "We have been informed of military incursions
into at least five indigenous communities in Chiapas just since
her visit in November, and we are greatly alarmed about the
potential for violence in the months after the presidential
elections in July."
Until the Mexican Government complies with what it has already
agreed to, IED/HLP argued, its new calls for dialogue, especially
the 1999 "One More Step to Solve the Conflict in Chiapas,"
have "no credibility." The proposed Technical Assistance
Program between Mexico and the UNHCHR was also of concern to
IED/HLP. "Mexico wants to treat this program as a panacea,"
stated Branch. "They want the world to believe that since
they have agreed to this program, the problem of human rights
abuses in Mexico is solved. The truth is quite different, however.
If the Mexican Government is allowed to exclude Mexican civil
society and NGOs from the program's implementation, it will
just become another hypocritical part of their human rights
rhetoric and divert attention from genuine solutions." |