Counterinsurgency Has Increased in Chiapas
Rau'l Vera: My Transfer Could Give Paramilitary Groups Carte Blanche

Angeles Mariscal, correspondent. La Jornada
Tuxtla Gutie'rrez, Chiapas. March 13

Counterinsurgency actions in the indigenous communities of the Diocese of San Cristo'bal and, in particular, the increase in paramilitary groups and attacks by them have increased in an alarming manner over the last two months, following the announcement of the change in bishops there, denounced Rau'l Lo'pez.

Barely four days before he will be leaving Chiapas, the recently named Bishop of Saltillo, Coahuila, analyzed, in a presentation, Samuel Ruiz Garci'a's pastoral labor and the conditions in which both bishops will be leaving the area.

Visibly moved, the man who was Coadjutant Bishop of San Cristo'bal for almost four years explained the value of Samuel Ruiz Garci'a's pastoral work, through his inclusion of the indigenous in their own evangelization, the creating of catechists within the communities and "forging a change in the condition of their lives."

"Over a year and a half after being named Coadjutant in 1996 both of us prelates traveled to all the parishes of the diocese, in order to try and overcome the counterinsurgency work that was being carried out there." The aim [of the counterinsurgency] was to "confront the communities, cause trouble and then have an excuse to militarize the area."

Rau'l Vera believes that this is the main problem currently afflicting the Diocese of San Cristo'bal, "the fruit, perhaps, of the contacts that have been established over more than three decades with the indigenous communities, of his struggle for their values and development processes to be respected. The struggle for there to be less suffering here in the land."

"In Chiapas I discovered that the method Samuel Ruiz used in order to evangelize is contact with the indigenous cultures. I also discovered the counterinsurgency tactics, those actions by paramilitary groups who operate in collusion with police forces and which are entirely due to organized actions," he denounced.

Nothing Occurs By Chance in the State

Rau'l Vera stated: "Acteal did not happen by chance, that was the 25th violent action in the area of Chenalho', it did not happen by chance." He insisted that "it was very orchestrated, that is how the existence of the paramilitaries have come to light, which the communities themselves have been denouncing. Everything that happens indicates that nothing happens by chance in Chiapas."
He reviewed the two occasions on which he directly suffered an attack by those groups: one in May of 1997, in Bachajo'n, when they tried to set fire to him inside his vehicle, and he had to flee by a path. The other was in Tila, when the convoy in which he was traveling along with other bishops and a caravan of catechists was fired upon.

He said he was concerned because, following the announcement of his removal, and that of Samuel Ruiz, and especially over the last two months, "counterinsurgency actions have increased. Paramilitary groups have not been disarmed. We have news, from the indigenous, that paramilitary groups are continuing to grow. There are direct attacks now against catechists, even in nearby places like San Juan Chamula."

Those, he added, "are methods that are used everywhere. Here it's called irregular war, in other places in the world it's called low intensity warfare, and in others prolonged war, low intensity conflict, but it's the same methods going on here in Chiapas."

"How can I leave Chiapas," he asked, "with an unresolved conflict, with many concerns that this transfer of mine, and the fact that I'm not going to succeed Don Samuel, are going to be interpreted by the paramilitaries as being given carte blanche. The indications are clear that attacks against diocese catechists are growing worse, as are the closing of chapels, attacks against human rights defenders," he reiterated.

Vera Lo'pez made a decisive denunciation. He even alluded to the citation given to him a few months ago by the Attorney General's Office of the Republic (PGR), calling on him to present evidence concerning the existence of paramilitary groups. ""I say it because I know it, because I have experienced it, because the actions by these groups are increasing, because the authorities are not doing anything to stop them."

"During my years as Coadjutant Bishop I carried out what the Pope entrusted me with, strengthening the pastoral work of the diocese, responding to the pastoral demands of the time. I have a clear conscience. If that bothered someone, or some people, it was because of their own interests," assessed the Bishop.

Commenting on John Paul II's last homily, where he asked forgiveness "for the sins of the Church," Rau'l Vera noted that at one time ñ in the Diocese of San Cristobal as well in other places "there were also moments of intolerance, of forced evangelization, of violations of the rights of ethnic groups."

Now, he said, the pastoral action that Samuel Ruiz began is trying to respect the culture, the religiosity of the indigenous groups, their syncretism, their moral doctrine, their development. And he praised the "humanity" discovered in the indigenous communities of the Diocese of San Cristo'bal.

He refused to acknowledge that with the removal of the two bishops the interests of those who are trying to do away with the work that Samuel Ruiz has been carrying out for decades in favor of the poor had triumphed for the moment.

He refused to mention names of any possible successors in San Cristobal. Concerning the new Papal Nunciate, Leonardo Sandri, he simply said: "He is arriving at a time when the situation is difficult. The electoral process going on in Mexico is, quite simply, making this country not an easy place."