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FELLOWSHIP OF RECONCILIATION
TASK FORCE ON LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
515 Broadway
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
408 423 1626
Fax: 408 423 8716
e-mail: fornatl@igc.apc.org
REPORT OF F.O.R. EMERGENCY DELEGATION TO CHIAPAS, MEXICO
JANUARY 10-15, 1994
An emergency delegation of the U.S. Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR)
visited Mexico from January 10-15. The itinerary included three days in the
state of Chiapas, the site of a largely Indian armed rebellion that burst
into public consciousness on January 1 with the seizure of several towns in
the Chiapas highlands. The purpose of the delegation was to observe the
human rights situation, particularly related to violations of the laws of
war, in the context of the armed conflict.
Delegation members included: Philip McManus; Santa Cruz, California; FOR
Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean Chairperson and Latin America
Program Coordinator at the Resource Center for Nonviolence; Rev. John
Sinclair, Minneapolis, long-time missionary in Latin America and mission
board executive of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.; Rev. Sinclair traveled
as a representative of the World Council of Churches (Geneva, Switzerland);
Dennis Dunleavy, Salinas, free-lance photo-journalist whose published work
has focused on the conflicts in Central America; Martin Shupack, J.D.,
Mexico City, lawyer working in human rights for the Mennonite Central
Committee.
Delegation findings listed below are limited to information we gathered and
largely limited to the fighting that took place in Ocosingo (population
25,000), one of the towns occupied by insurgent forces on January 1. In
view of the brief time and other limitations of our visit to Ocosingo, we
were unable to document the cases referred to below as thoroughly as we
would have liked. These incidents, if accurately reported, indicate serious
violations of international human rights norms and of the laws of war.
Further investigation is urgently needed.
I. Applicable International Norms:
Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of
War, Common Article 3 (humane treatment and prohibition of violence to life
and person of civilians in armed conflicts not of an international
character; prohibition of taking of hostages; no adverse distinction founded
on race)
Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Common
Article 3 (humane treatment and prohibition of violence to life and person
of those who have laid down their arms)
Protocol II Additional to the Geneva Conventions, (concerning protection of
victims of non-international armed conflicts) Art. 4(1,2) (humane treatment,
prohibition of violence to life of persons who have ceased to take part in
hostilities) Art. 6(1,2) (no extra-judicial sentences or executions) Art.
13(1,2,3) (protection of the civilian population against dangers from
military operations) Art. 16 (protection of cultural objects and places of
worship) Art. 17(1,2) (prohibition of forced movement of civilians)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 2 (no adverse distinction
founded on race) Art. 3 (right to life, liberty and security of person);
Art. 9 (protection against arbitrary arrest and detention) Art. 11 (right to
a public trial)
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Art. 2 (no adverse
distinction founded on race) Art. 6(1) (right to life) Art. 9 (right to
liberty and security of person) Art. 14 (right to fair public trial before
an independent tribunal)
American Convention on Human Rights, Art. 4(1) (right to life) Art. 7
(right to personal liberty and security) Art. 8 (right to a fair trial)
II. Accounts of Reported Human Rights Violations by the Mexican Army A.
Civilian Endangerment, Deaths and Indiscriminate Attacks
1. As of January 13 the Catholic parish in Ocosingo had collected the names
of 14 civilians who died from gunfire in the streets of Ocosingo. While
some - perhaps most - of these deaths are attributable to being caught in
the cross-fire between the Mexican army forces and the Ejercito Zapatista de
Liberacion Nacional (EZLN, Zapatista National Liberation Army), deliberate
shootings of civilians by Mexican government forces may have occurred.
For example we were provided an account by the wife and son of a man killed
while returning to his home from his son's house. On January 2 the army
issued an order for the civilian population to remain in their houses.
However, on January 3 at 2 pm Huvelio Rosales Gonzalez, concerned about his
son's welfare, walked to his son's house near the central commercial area of
Ocosingo. According to witnesses, on his way home Mr. Rosales was
deliberately shot in the chest by army personnel. Mr. Rosales was 72 years
old, walked with a limp, and wore a light blue shirt. He could not have
been easily mistaken for a combatant of the EZLN.
We urge that each civilian death be carefully investigated to determine
whether violations of internationally recognized human rights or of the laws
of war have occurred.
2. We were told about several civilian women and at least one child who
were killed by cross-fire inside their homes, and we viewed the fresh
backyard grave of one of these women. According to testimony we gathered,
at one point EZLN combatants were retreating from the market area behind a
row of houses in a nearby neighborhood. The army had set up across the
street and on roofs of houses. A sustained exchange of fire ensued,
damaging houses and endangering occupants. Although some houses in the area
had been previously abandoned, others remained occupied. A bullet entering
one of these homes from the direction of the army position killed Basilia
Cruz Lpez, approximately 50, as she tried to protect a small child.
We are concerned that federal armed forces and EZLN forces may have
needlessly and irresponsibly endangered civilians in this firefight.
Independent investigators should probe the precise nature of this battle and
attempt to determine whether efforts were or could have been made by
government forces to ensure the safety of the civilian residents of this
neighborhood. All cases of civilians killed inside their homes should be
carefully investigated.
3. The priest of the Catholic church in Ocosingo, Fr. Pablo Iribarren,
provided us with a personal account of an air attack on January 3 by
government forces which he described as "indiscriminate." According to
Father Iribarren, the focus of the attack was the market area where EZLN
forces were concentrated. However the army helicopters and small aircraft
strafed civilian homes and other buildings, including the church where the
priest and several nuns were working. The church is located three blocks
from the market.
Investigators should determine what civilian objects were hit during this
attack, whether any civilians were killed or injured, and under what orders
the attacking planes and helicopters acted.
B. Civilian Detentions and Disappearances
1. We were provided with accounts of a fire-fight between government and
EZLN forces at the IMSS (Instituto Mexicano de Seguridad Social) Hospital
followed by army seizure of indigenous males who happened to be visiting
hospitalized family members at the time of the battle. The present location
of these family members is unknown.
EZLN forces reportedly entered the hospital patio, after which a battle
between government forces and the insurgents ensued. Bullets entered
through windows and doors while patients huddled for safety on the floor.
After the insurgents fled, government forces entered the hospital and
reportedly took away an undetermined number of indigenous male civilians.
After this, the patients, regardless of medical condition, were displaced
from the hospital by government forces without being given assistance by the
army to find suitable locations where they could be provided adequate care.
The disappeared relatives made known to us include Mariano Hernandez
Santis, 25, the brother of an indigenous patient. We also learned of the
disappearance at the same time of the husband and brother-in-law of an
indigenous women hospitalized for a caesarean operation. Members of the
Ocosingo Catholic church staff also received an account by a hospital
employee who said that he witnessed the murder by the government military
personnel of four indigenous men who had been visiting hospitalized
relatives when they were seized by federal troops.
Government civilian and military authorities have an immediate obligation
to produce these disappeared persons and account for the circumstances of
their seizure. Investigators should probe the possible element of racial
discrimination in these incidents. Any accounts of assassinations of
indigenous civilians by the military must be thoroughly investigated.
2. Augusto Ramiro, the Municipal Delegate from the San Rafael neighborhood
in Ocosingo, told us that 59 men of the community were detained at an army
post for twelve hours on Tuesday, January 4. Their wives and children were
transported by the military to towns outside the conflicted area. When the
men were released they were ordered to leave the area immediately, but were
not told where to go or given assistance.
The circumstances of these detentions, which appear to be discriminatory
and illegal, should be thoroughly investigated. Investigators should also
look into the precise treatment given to the men and their families and
determine whether the forced and selective removal of the women and children
from their town can be justified on the basis of civilian security or
imperative military reasons.
C. Killings of Captive EZLN Combatants
1. Some EZLN prisoners captured by the army appear to have been murdered,
as evidenced in photographs published in the international press (cf. Time,
January 17, 1994) showing the bodies of the dead combatants. We received an
eye-witness account from an international journalist working for a London
newspaper who told us that he and dozens of Ocosingo residents saw the dead
bodies pictured in the Time photograph. Six bodies were lying in a row,
their hands showing signs of having been tied. The journalist indicated
that he personally saw that four of them had been shot in the back of the
head, the bullets exiting through the mouth. He said that he and the local
residents looking at the bodies with him could see marks in the flesh made
from the ropes that had tied each man's wrists together.
We spoke to General David Ribeira Briton, the commander of the government
forces in Ocosingo, and showed him the Time photo. He insisted that the
military had not killed these or any other prisoners and that the scene in
the photograph must have been fabricated.
Apparently these bodies are not available for examination because the army
reportedly removed scores of corpses from the town after the fighting
ceased. Some bodies buried in a common grave in Ocosingo were exhumed and
examined shortly after our visit. They did not display gun wounds in the
back of the head. The bodies of all EZLN combatants or civilians removed
from Ocosingo by the armed forces must be produced and made available for
examination by independent medical specialists and human rights
investigators.
III. Accounts of Reported Human Rights Violations by the Ejercito Zapatista
de Liberacion Nacional (EZLN, Zapatista National Liberation Army)
A. Taking of Hostages
1. We received testimony from Dr. Roberto Astudillo, a medical doctor
living in Ocosingo, that in the early morning of January 1, EZLN forces took
five hostages from a private home in Ocosingo. Among the five was Enrique
Solorzano, owner of the home and of several farms in the area. Reportedly
the house and several cars belonging to Mr. Solorzano were burned. The
five hostages (Mr. Solorzano; Dr. Francisco Talango Vasquez, a local
ophthalmologist and son-in-law of Mr. Solorzano; a son of Mr. Solorzano;
and two other guests) were taken to the central market and held there. EZLN
forces reportedly threatened to kill them.
The following evening the Mexican army arrived in Ocosingo and attacked the
EZLN. In the midst of the attack Dr. Talango reportedly tried to flee and
was killed in the crossfire. After the army had overcome the EZLN
resistance, they held the remaining hostages for some time and then turned
them over to the Red Cross.
We were told that this was the only case of hostage taking in Ocosingo.
This case was corroborated by Fr. Iribarren, the local Catholic priest, who,
however, reported that the number of hostages was four.
Investigators should seek verification of this hostage taking incident
which would constitute a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
B. Treatment of Combatants Placed Hors de Combat
1. We received reports from several Ocosingo residents of the January 1
battle between EZLN forces and local security police during the the initial
EZLN attack on Ocosingo. All sources agreed that four policemen were killed
in this engagement. According to most accounts the four died during the
fighting before the surrender of the police forces. However, we received
one report that after police forces had surrendered the city hall, EZLN
combatants shot one or more police who were described as "moribundo" (at the
point of death) as a result of the wounds they received in the battle. This
information came from Evila Morales Ruiz, 47, whom we interviewed in
Villahermosa. Her 24-year-old son was one of the defending policemen. He
later recounted to her what had happened. According to her testimony and
that of others, four wounded police (including her son who had been shot
through the lung) were taken by EZLN forces to the Ocosingo hospital for
treatment. Surrendering police who were not wounded were stripped of their
weapons and their clothing, held for several hours, and then freed.
Investigators should interview surviving captives of EZLN forces and other
witnesses to the initial battle to determine whether extra-judicial
killings of local police officers or others occurred.
C. Civilian Endangerment
1. We received testimony from more than one source indicating that during
the fighting EZLN forces occupied the IMSS Hospital in Ocosingo in the
process of retreating before advancing Mexican army forces. (See above
I.B.1.) The armed occupation of a civilian institution such as a hospital,
thus putting civilians present at grave risk, would, if corroborated,
constitute a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
D. Attacks on Civilian Property
1. We received testimony from a group of ranchers from Valle de las Tasas,
approximately 80 kilometers southeast of Ocosingo, to the effect that their
farms (60-100 hectares in size) were being raided on a nightly basis during
the week of January 9. (The interview took place on January 13.) While
they had not personally witnessed the raids, they had been in radio contact
with the ranch caretakers. The ranchers reported that the raids were being
carried out by EZLN forces. The EZLN forces took foodstuffs, chickens, what
diesel fuel they could carry, and personal property. Names of the ranchers
and their farms were collected but they asked that they not be published.
Investigators should seek to determine what personal dwellings and other
civilian objects were attacked by the EZLN in violation of the Geneva
Conventions and Protocols.
IV. General Observations A. Number of Dead and Manner of Death
1. Estimates we received of the number killed in Ocosingo ranged in the
hundreds. The Mexican army commander in Ocosingo, General Ribeira Briton,
declined to give any casualty estimates. The majority of the bodies were
reportedly removed from Ocosingo by the Mexican army after the fighting
ceased. As a result it has become very difficult to independently quantify
or identify the dead.
We call upon the Mexican government to undertake a detailed investigation
to firmly establish the number of combatants from both sides and the number
of civilians killed in the conflict and, so far as possible, their
identities. In view of credible evidence of the murder of captured EZLN
combatants, and for humanitarian considerations, all corpses removed by the
army from Ocosingo should be produced and made available for forensic
examination.
B. Condition of Civilian Population
1. We heard reports of bombings in rural areas away from Ocosingo,
including some place names. The information was insufficient to establish
whether bombings had taken place. Mobility in the countryside continued to
be limited while we were there.
2. The Mexican government declared a unilateral cease-fire as of 11 am,
Wednesday, January 12. Yet on January 13 while in Ocosingo we received two
separate reports of continued fighting that day in rural areas. One press
report indicated that Mexican army forces were in the process of sweeping
the remote areas in search of EZLN forces. With no formal response from the
EZLN as of that time, the situation remained tense. In this context, many
rural communities remained isolated. It has not been possible to know how
they have been affected by the fighting and possible bombing nor to what
degree their basic needs are being met.
We commend the Mexican government for its unilateral initiative. While we
could not verify the press report of army sweeps in remote areas, such
operations, which would likely provoke further confrontations, would appear
to be inconsistent with the spirit if not the letter as well of the
cease-fire declared by President Carlos Salinas.
V. Conclusions
1. We remain deeply preoccupied with the well being of the population in
the less accessible areas where conflict has taken place. We call upon the
Mexican government to provide the Red Cross and other social aid agencies
full access throughout the conflicted area and to place the highest priority
on the provision of needed services to the civilian population.
2. In view of the pressing need for further investigation of these and
other possible human rights violations, we call upon the Mexican government
to name a Special Prosecutor (Fiscal Especial) to undertake a thorough and
independent investigation and to recommend appropriate measures to sanction
those responsible for such violations as may have occurred and to ensure
that they are not repeated in the future.
Since our return we have received additional testimonies regarding
incommunicado detention and torture of civilians in the conflicted area.
These reports only heighten our concern that the Mexican government act
swiftly and decisively to make it clear that such violations will not be
tolerated.
3. We appeal to both Mexican and international human rights groups to
undertake their own investigations in order to clarify these and other
cases.
4. We call upon the U.S. government to strengthen ties with both
governmental and independent human rights groups in Mexico and in this way
monitor the human rights situation in Mexico in general and among the
indigenous groups of Chiapas in particular. Especially in view of the
criticism that the North American Free Trade Agreement is threatening the
well being of the Indian peasants from whom the EZLN has drawn its members,
it is critical that human rights concerns be a key element in U.S.-Mexico
relations.
5. We will continue to receive information from our Mexican colleagues and
to monitor the situation so that we may be alert to the possible need for
future action on our part. We will respond to such requests as we may
receive regarding basic training materials on human rights education,
nonviolent action, and conflict resolution.
6. We call upon human rights groups and collegial organizations in the
U.S., Canada, Latin America and Europe to seek out and disseminate
information regarding human rights developments in Mexico and to be
responsive to such needs as the human rights groups there may express,
including the need for future international teams to visit areas where
violations have been reported.
7. We will share this report with government officials both in Mexico and
in the U.S., with the United Nations, and with collegial organizations.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation is a 79-year-old interfaith pacifist
organization dedicated to building peace based on respect for the full range
of internationally recognized human rights.
Appendix I Social and Economic Conditions in Chiapas
Chiapas is located in a remote mountainous region bordering Guatemala. It
is home to 3.2 million people, approximately 1 million of whom are
indigenous from the Chol, Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Tojolabal, Zoque and Lacandon
groups.
Chiapas is a state rich in natural resources. It is a major producer of
coffee and beef, a key tourist area, and the site of large oil reserves.
Yet it also suffers from some of the highest indices of poverty. The
average annual per capita income is $965. Two thirds of the population
never finish primary school. The level of illiteracy is 30%, the highest in
the country. While Chiapas is the source of 60% of the electrical power
produced in Mexico, 35% of its communities have no electricity. Forty
percent of the houses have no running water, while 60% have no sewer
facilities.
A disproportionate amount of the wealth is in the hands of the 5% of the
population that is white. Many landless indigenous peasants work as day
laborers on the farms of well-to-do landholders. While the minimum wage in
the area is 12.5 New Pesos per day (about $4), these day laborers are often
paid as little as $2-3 per day. Forty percent of the population earns less
than the minimum wage.
Peasants with claims to lands have had consistent difficulties with state
and national authorities in obtaining secure land titles. One of the
greatest complaints made by indigenous groups is forced expulsion from lands
they have lived on. According to one study, between 1974-84, there were 120
cases in which the army and/or police violently removed peasants from lands
they claimed.
As part of its efforts to prepare Mexico for the implementation of the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the government approved a
constitutional revision that prohibited further expropriation of large
landholdings under the agrarian reform law and allowed for the breakup and
sale of the ejidos, the peasant agricultural cooperative farms. Thus one of
the key achievements of the Mexican Revolution of the early 20th century was
undermined,and the plight of the Indian peasants made more precarious than
ever.
A specific example will illustrate the difficulties that the Indian
communities face.
In December 1991 a demonstration involving 200-250 Indians from a number of
outlying communities took place in Palenque, Chiapas. The Indian
communities were frustrated after several years of unsuccessfully
petitioning the government for basic services such as electricity, potable
water and decent roads. According to our informants, their peaceful
demonstration in front the city hall was broken up without warning by
approximately 300 police who beat a number of the demonstrators and arrested
109. Those arrested were taken to the state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez,
several hours away.
Three weeks later nine still remained in prison facing a variety of
charges, including sedition and threatening national security. At that
point 80-90 members of the communities undertook an extraordinary march to
Mexico City that was to cover nearly 1000 kilometers and last 50 days.
Along the way they subsisted on the material and moral support of
communities through which they passed.
As they neared Mexico City, the federal Secretario de Gobernacion (Interior
Secretary), Sr. Gutierrez Barrios, offered to meet with them if they would
refrain from their plans to demonstrate in the Zocalo, Mexico City's central
plaza. As it happened, a major international conference on Indian rights
was scheduled for those days in Mexico City, and the government may have
wanted to avoid an embarrassing display of the lack of such rights in
Mexico. In the meeting with Sr. Gutierrez Barrios, he agreed to their
demand that the remaining prisoners be freed and their charges dropped. He
also signed an agreement pledging to address the needs for basic services
that had prompted the initial demonstration.
Studies were subsequently done and budgets were approved for 120 separate
projects in the affected area. However two years later, in early 1994,
only two of the 120 projects had been completed. No others have been
started.
While the organizations that undertook the struggle described here are
committed to the use of peaceful means in conformance with the Mexican
Constitution, it is not difficult to see how unmet basic needs and
government inattention and/or repression contribute to popular despair
regarding the peaceful solution of social problems.
Appendix II The Church in the State of Chiapas
Christianity first came to Chiapas in the early 1500s, brought by the
Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries. Bartolome de las Casas, a Dominican
and the first bishop of Chiapas, was a champion of the rights of indigenous
people and for respect of their culture and traditions. Over the centuries
the Church has experienced only brief moments of success in this endeavor.
Most of the years have been filled with increasing exploitation and
oppression of the indigenous population.
Protestants or "evangelicos" came to Chiapas less than a century ago.
Today Presbyterians form the largest Protestant denomination in Chiapas,
primarily among the Chol, Tzeltal, and Tzotzil language groups. They
pioneered in the translation of the Bible into indigenous languages and in
establishing family health services and lay leadership programs.
Presbyterians are the the largest Protestant denomination in Chiapas.
There is still reported religious persecution of Protestants by local
political leaders, but earlier animosity of Catholics toward Protestants has
begun to diminish since the Second Vatican Council.
Recent years in the Roman Catholic Church in Chiapas
Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia and the other two Catholic bishops in Chiapas
have given to the Church there both progressive and prophetic leadership
since Bishop Ruiz was consecrated in 1959. The recommendations of the
Second Vatican Council and the 1968 meeting of the Latin American Catholic
bishops in Medellin have been taken seriously by the Church in Chiapas.
Franciscan, Dominican and Jesuit missionaries labor in the state, largely
among the indigenous peoples. A new program, "Integral Evangelization,"
includes community health programs, lay leadership preparation, human and
legal rights education, and adult education. Indigenous lay leadership has
also become more involved in decision-making within the church, as they
always have been in their communities. The Diocese of San Cristobal has
also in the last decade assumed the heavy burden of the care and protection
of the large Guatemalan refugee population in southern Mexico.
The progressive stance of the leadership of the Church in Chiapas has often
placed it in conflict with the national church leadership which has been and
continues to be conservative. As recently as late 1993, some voices called
for the removal of Bishop Ruiz for his opposition to the North American Free
Trade Agreement and his alleged support of subversive movements.