On September 23, 1999, the government's coordinator for dialogue in Chiapas, Emilio Rabasa, issued a statement denying the existence of human traps surrounding the military camp in Amador Hernandez, which were reported to the public at this delegation's press conference in Mexico City on September 21. Members of our delegation who had visited Amador Hernandez had secured one of those traps, brought it back with them and made it available to correspondents at the press conference for their examination. Rabasa also attacked the delegation for acting in what he termed an illegal manner. We reprint below:

1. An article from La Jornada reporting the government official's statements
2. A response by the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Center

(1)
La Jornada
September 23, 1999
Reports from observers said to be a "Provocation"

Cazabobos --hunting traps-- were not installed in Amador Hernández, declares Rabasa
The government coordinator for the dialogue in Chiapas, Emilio Rabasa, denied that the Mexican army installed 36 cazabobos, or hunting traps, around the zapatista community of Amador Hernández, as claimed by international observers and the U.S. group Global Exchange.

In a declaration to the French agency AFP, Rabasa commented that "no traps have been installed in Chiapas,"and gave assurances that the military camps are only protected by barbed wire.

Rabasa added that the information collected by the 17 US observers and 1 Scott, who traveled to Chiapas in a delegation organized by Global Exchange, "is a provocation at a time when the Mexican government is trying to reinitiate dialogue with the zapatista guerillas."
He also pointed out that the group of foreigners were in the conflict zone without official permission, and had thus "violated Mexican law."

Last Tuesday, from San Cristobal de las Casas, the group announced that they had found these traps --stakes of 30 to 40 centimeters-- "placed in holes in the ground and hidden by leaves." During its visit to Chiapas, the group traveled to the communities of Amador Hernández, Morelia, and Moisés Ghandi

(2)
Letter to la Jornada by Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center with Reference to the Legal Position of International Human Rights Delegations in Mexico

September 23, 1999

Dear Director:

We would like to make clear the following with regard to the article that appeared this Thursday in which government official, Emilio Rabasa, states that members of the delegation organized by [the US based] Mexico Solidarity Network "violated Mexican law:"

1. All foreigners that enter national territory enjoy the rights of association, free movement and freedom of expression recognized in our Constitution;

2. This group responded to the emergency appeal of 14 Mexican non-governmental organizations concerned about the military build-up in indigenous communities in the Chiapas conflict zone.

3. Mr. Rabasa's declaration is purely political and has no legal basis. The [immigration] regulations to which he refers have been severely questioned by both national and international human rights organizations, and their unconstitutionality is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit by our human rights center in the federal courts.

Finally, the opinions of the Ministry of Government's spokesperson contradict the apparent will for détente announced by his superior, Diódoro Carasco [the Minister of Government], and contradict the United Nations resolution of December 9, 1998, signed by the Mexican government, in which the individual rights of human rights observers in our country and the rest of the world are protected.

Yours sincerely,

Rafael Alvarez DÌaz
Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center