HUMANITARIAN DELEGATION STOPPED IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO
On July 24, 20 people from an Ecumenical Program on Central
America and the Caribbean (EPICA) delegation were stopped at a
military roadblock as they tried to leave Altmamirano
municipality, Chiapas, Mexico, according to a report from one of
our members who is accompanying the group. A man--who described
himself as immigration police but refused to show his
identification card--wouldn't let the delegation proceed to
Morelia, their next scheduled stop. The delegation was also told
that it could only stay in Altamirano for 24 hours. Military and
immigration police are at the roadblock, and the delegation
reports that Altamirano itself is full of soldiers.
The pretext for holding the delegation is that Morelia is not a
tourist zone. According to Mexican human rights activist Roger
Maldonado of the Coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations for
Peace (CONPAZ), who is accompanying the group, the military has no
right to stop the delegation from traveling. In Morelia EPICA had
planned to interview eyewitnesses to a case of three
disappearances which occurred Jan. 7 as the Mexican Army was
engaged in an offensive against the Zapatista National Liberation
Army (EZLN). A roadblock between Altamirano and Morelia is the
site of the alleged rape of three young indigenous women on June
4; Amnesty International and other groups are demanding an
investigation of the rape charge.
According to human rights activists this is the first time the
Mexican army has tried to stop a foreign delegation from visiting
Morelia. The precedent poses a serious threat to human rights work
in the area. It should be noted that Mexico's grassroots
Democratic National Convention (CND) is to be held in
Aguascalientes, Chiapas, Aug. 6-9, raising the possibility that
the military may seek to block foreign observers.
We advise you to call the Mexican Mission to the UN at
212-752-0220 to ask on whose authority the EPICA delegation is
being stopped. Faxes also can be sent to:
Lic. Carlos Salinas de Gortari
Presidente de los Estados Mexicanos
011-525-271-1774
Gral. de Div. Antonio Rivielo Bazan
Secretario de la Defensa Nacional
011-525-557-7904
More information should be available tomorrow when the delegation
returns to San Cristobal de las Casas. CONPAZ is at Chiapa de
Corzo, 19 El Cerrillo, San Cristobal de las Casas,
fax: 011-52-967-802-72.
Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York/
Weekly News Update on the Americas
339 Lafayette Street #8
New York, NY 10012
212-674-9499 fax: 212-674-9139
e-mail: nicanet@blythe.org
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Subject: GUERRILLA WAR IN THE HUASTECAS [1/4]
Message-ID: <9407280627.AA28750@astroscu.unam.mx>
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In an interview with PROCESO on March 23, subcomandante Marcos had
warned of the existence of armed groups in Mexico that offered their
support to the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) "if the
federal government breaks the cease of fire". On June 21, he added that
all those groups would rise up in arms if the federal government did
not guarantee a democratic transition in the next two months.
In some cases OIPUH members maintain control of entire towns
as in San Benito, a town on the border of Hidalgo and Veracruz, where
"the police and the army are afraid" to enter.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
TITLE: 2,000 MEN FORM THE AGRARIAN GUERRILLA
GROUP NOW OPERATING IN THE HUASTECA ZONE.
(PART 1 of 4)
by Sergio Loya and Ricardo Ravelo (additional information from
Francisco Castellanos, Gloria Leticia Dias and Pedro Matias).
Published in "PROCESO", No. 921, June 27, 1994. Mexico.
[Translated by Vladimir Escalante Ramirez with
permission to post this article in electronic mail given by "PROCESO"
as long as authors and source are quoted.]
Well before the armed conflict in Chiapas exploded, there existed a
Zapatista style agrarian guerrilla conflict in the Huasteca zone of the
Mexican states of Hidalgo and Veracruz, with ramifications in
Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosi, in Mexico, which was stirred up by Lucio
Caba~nas and his lieutenant-commanders Anacleto Ramos and Francisco
Fierro Loza. [TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: Lucio Caba~nas was a guerrilla
commander in the state of Guerrero during the 1970's.]
People in the Atoyac Sierra and Huasteca zones, have a stronger
armed demand for land and freedom than those in the Lacandona jungle.
As in Chiapas, the few indians who have obtained a plot of land lack
the freedom -- they are under siege, persecuted or imprisoned.
Weary, but firm and stubborn Nahuas, Otomies and Popolocas of the
Huasteca zones of Hidalgo and Veracruz have maintained an organization
and a ceaseless peasant movement since 1978 with the characteristics of
the Mexican rural guerrilla -- a commanding body hidding in the
mountains, planning and carrying out land "recoveries", store robberies
to get food supplies, and kidnappings and attacks against caciques and
big landowners.
As in the case of Lucio Caba~nas in Guerrero, and subcomandante
Marcos in Chiapas, the guerrilla in Hidalgo and Veracruz has made a
legend out of his leader, Alejandro Hernandez Dolores, who founded the
Independent Organization of United Peoples of the Huasteca Zone (OIPUH)
and became the most wanted man of the armed forces in the last two
years.
According to some peasant leaders, Alejandro Hernandez Dolores
deserted the regular army because he condemned the abuses of soldiers
against indigenous people. Gabriel Martinez Vergara, a leader of a peasant
organization known as Organization of Indigenous and Peasant Peoples of
Hidalgo (OPIC) said that Hernandez Dolores founded the OIPUH in 1978
and shortly thereafter gave arms and training to some 500 peasants in
Hidalgo.
Several witness accounts reveal that presently the OIPUH has more
than 2,000 militants in the Huasteca zones of Veracruz, San Luis
Potosi, Tamaulipas and Hidalgo, where a new vindictive guerrilla
strategy is being applied: land takeovers in one state are normally
carried out by militants of another state, say Veracruzan militants
take over lands in Hidalgo and vice versa. It is said that this is a way to
make more difficult the identification by police of militants taking
part in land takeovers, who usually carry spears and machetes, but
sometimes AK-47 guns, R-15 guns, and machine guns during their
operations. In some cases OIPUH members maintain control of entire towns
as in San Benito, a town on the border of Hidalgo and Veracruz, where
"the police and the army are afraid" to enter.
Just as in the cases of the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and
Michoacan, where civilian and military authorities deny the existence of
guerrilla groups, in Hidalgo and Veracruz tens or hundreds of army
soldiers often head for the mountains in what they say are "routine"
operations though people say they are looking for Alejandro Hernandez
and the guerrilla commanders.
In Hidalgo and Veracruz, where the OIPUH carried out an armed land
takeover a week after the Declaration of the Lacandona jungle [TRANSLATOR'S
NOTE: This was the first declaration of the Zapatista Army], some
civilian authorities do acknowledge the existence of a guerrilla.
In an interview with PROCESO on March 23, subcomandante Marcos had
warned of the existence of armed groups in Mexico that offered their
support to the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) "if the
federal government breaks the cease of fire". On June 21, he added that
all those groups would rise up in arms if the federal government did
not guarantee a democratic transition in the next two months.
He said that in such case a civil war was imminent.
"Other groups are going to arise, there will be no control, there
will be what is called a civil war, not a war between two armies, but a
war among many armies.
"The historic times", he said, "have shown again the fairness of our
demands; at the beginning it was said that our demand of President
Salinas' resignation was crazy; what is crazy now is that he continues
in power" because the events of January 1 have shown that "there is
nobody in Los Pinos [TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: Los Pinos is the building where
Mexican presidents live and work in Mexico City], that nobody controls
this country, that there is a de facto unruliness [ingobernabilidad],
and that the federal Executive post is just a picture..."
One day after these declarations were published, President Salinas,
during a trip to give 30,000 land deeds to peasants of the Mexican
states of Guanajuato, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas and
Jalisco, said:
"The struggle for land [ownership] took place already, and the
Mexican peasants won". He said that now "the circle of the great
Zapatista revolution closes around the reform of article 27 of the
Constitution". He warned: "My government intends to prevent that the
triumph of the agrarian reform becomes weakened by conflicts and
uncertainty in the countryside."
The truth is that 2,000 families in Chapopotechico, Veracruz, live
in desperation. Minerva Ortiz de Mendiola, the only store owner of the
town, says that many families have abandonded their houses and land
plots, and went to live to Chicontepec and Poza Rica. Her store has
already being robbed.
The OIPUH maintains total control of Huejutla, Hidalgo. Gabriel
Martinez Vergara, state leader of the OPIC accepts that the influence
of the OIPUH is felt in Huejutla, Huautla, Yahualica, Atlapexco,
Guasalingo, Tohuaco, Tecoluco Calpa, Tlachiyahualica, Achiquihuixtla,
Cacateco, and Pepeyocatitla among others places.
In Veracruz it controls the zones of Chicontepec, Chapopotechico,
Ilamatlan, Zontecomatlan, Ixhuatlan de Madero, Benito Juarez,
Tihuatlan, Tantoyuca and Tampico Alto.
Other organizations besides OPIC, like the Eastern Democratic Front
of Mexico "Emiliano Zapata", the Mexican Agrarian Council, the National
Union of Farm Workers, the Cardenista National Mexican Front, the
Central Campesina Independiente, the Regional Credit Union of the
Huasteca of Hidalgo and the National Union of Peasant Autonomous
Organizations have expressed support for the OIPUH and the Zapatista
movement.
(To be continued).
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The municipal police chief of Ixhuatlan de Madero, Ismael Zamudio,
pointed out: "When we hear the OIPUH took over another plot, we better
don't move. They've got high power arms that we lack. In this region
they number some 300, and we are only five officers in charge of 108
towns in the municipality."
"I think that the conditions are set for the guerrilla movement to
grow. Here in Chicontepec people are scared."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
TITLE: 2,000 MEN FORM THE AGRARIAN GUERRILLA
GROUP NOW OPERATING IN THE HUASTECA ZONE.
(PART 2 of 4)
by Sergio Loya and Ricardo Ravelo (additional information from
Francisco Castellanos, Gloria Leticia Diaz and Pedro Matias).
Published in "PROCESO", No. 921, June 27, 1994. Mexico.
[Translated by Vladimir Escalante Ramirez with
permission to post this article in electronic mail given by "PROCESO"
as long as authors and source are quoted.]
THE GUERRILLA WAR OF OIPUH
For the municipal mayor of Chicontepec, Isidro Bautista, and
another government official, Gabriel Garcia, there is no doubt that
the members of the OIPUH are a real guerrilla group.
"Public insecurity is unbearable", says Gabriel Garcia. "The
guerrillas of OIPUH are causing fear among people. They occupy land
plots and kill people, especially cattle owners. When they come down
from the mountains to the town, they cover their faces. In the Benito
Juarez municipality --where the police and the Army cannot go because
is under guerrilla control-- they have taken over four more plots.
There is a lot of violence. All those peasants are armed and even the
army cannot deal with them."
Gabriel Garcia continues: "In this zone, the most recent land
takeover took place on April 5. 800 peasants took part. I saw them
four months ago, when they took the 600 hectarea hacienda called
"Tetzacuatl", owned by the Monroy family. But I have here some 40
additional accusations of land takeovers against the OIPUH."
Some of the landowners who have lost land to takeovers by the OIPUH
are: Marcelino Guzman Hernandez, lost the 4 hectarea plot known as
"Cuautecotitla", Franciso Hernandez, lost the 27 hectarea plot
"Atlapayapa", Eleuterio Barrera Cortes, 9 hectarea plot "Tlalpicaco",
Aurelia Olguin, 26 hectarea plot "Tulancingo", Manuel Rodriguez
Olivares, 9 hectarea plot "Tulancingo", Eladio Solares, 20 hectarea
plot "El Arenal" and Apolinar Cedillo Murillo, who lost the 42 hectarea
finca "Tlalpicado".
The municipal police chief of Ixhuatlan de Madero, Ismael Zamudio,
pointed out: "When we hear the OIPUH took over another plot, we better
don't move. They've got high power arms that we lack. In this region
they number some 300, and we are only five officers in charge of 108
towns in the municipality."
According to municipal authorities and the priest of Chicontepec,
Efren Rodriguez, these guerrillas have been trained in the use of high
power guns like the AK-14 and AK-45 guns to gain respect for their
demands of land and liberty, freedom for political prisioners,
eradication of hunger, and social services for some 2,000 indigenous
people in Chicontepec, Tantoyuca and Papantla.
Their slogans are inspired in the Zapatista principles, and are
visible in public buildings in Chicontepec, Benito Juarez, Chapopote
Ilamatlan e Ixhuatlan de Madero. Phrases like "Land and Freedom", "Free
political prisioners", "Respect for Human Rights" can be seen on walls
of the municipal building, the schools, the Civil Registry building,
and even on the church walls.
The struggle is followed by some 3,000 peasants in Hidalgo,
Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi and Veracruz, who have made demonstrations
carrying sticks, machetes and stones in several occasions.
Another Chicontepec government official, Genaro Angeles Rios,
remembers that more than 15 years ago, Lucio Caba~nas and Genaro
Vazquez, then leaders of the Party of the Poor, toured the Chicontepec
sierra.
[TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: The following two quotes appear on page 23 in the
PROCESO article as two paragraphs in the text of the article. Apparently
the article's authors attribute them to Genaro Angeles Rios mentioned
above although it is not completely clear to me.]
"We really doubt that they are common criminals or drug
traffickers. It is a well integrated guerrilla movement that fights
violently for land reform and abolition of poverty.
"I think that the conditions are set for the guerrilla movement to
grow. Here in Chicontepec people are scared."
In 1989 the OIPUH kidnapped Felipe Calderon Ortiz, Manuel Arroyo
Jimenez and Jacinto Hernandez Reyes, who were assistants to cattle
owner Vicente Vaca in Benito Juarez. They asked 100 million pesos, but
as the complete ransom payment was not delivered, the organization
freed two of the hostages; the third hostage was killed.
Leovigildo Lopez Galvan and former federal Congress representative
Antonio Cruz Sanchez said that, "two years later, Vicente Vaca and his
wife were assassinated in their house. It was reported that the
guerrillas of OIPUH machine-gunned the house."
On the night of April 13, army personnel confronted the guerrillas
on request from Hilario Monroy, a big land owner. People from Chapopote
said that "many indigenous people" died, but the guerrillas fled to the
mountains. They have not been seen since then.
One of the insurgents was Jose Alejandro Hernandez Dolores, leader
of the OIPUH. He is a tall, white men, in the 40's that few people
know. Angel Rios says that "since that time, several convoys with army
personnel go to the mountains everyday. They spend up to two weeks in
supposed routine tours, but it is not true. They are looking for
guerrillas. They can't find them because it is very difficult. They mix
with indigenous people and cross state lines. If they are not in
Veracruz, they are in Hidalgo or in San Luis Potosi, or in Tamaulipas."
Nobody knows where the arms are comming from, but Angeles Rios
denies that OIPUH is involved with drug trafficking.
"The main problem they are fighting for is the agrarian problem.
They are claiming lands, the abolition of poverty, and the elimination
of large land plots belonging to a single owner. In Chicontepec we
don't have problems with drug trafficking. The guerrilla group fights
for a solution to [agrarian] problems. As a means of presure they
organize peasants in Hidalgo, who show up for demonstrations carrying
spears, machetes and stones in Chicontepec, and in municipalities like
Benito Juarez, Ilamatlan, Chapopote. They are found as far as Ixhuatlan de
Madero.
Miguel Angel Diaz Romero, a member of the Party of the Democratic
Revolution (PRD) assured that the existence and activities of the OIPUH
were not new for State Governor Patricio Chirinos.
He added: "During the recent confrontation in Chapoptechico, advisor
Juan Jose Barquette Fitta, representing the State Government, and a
representative of the Agrarian Reform Department of the Federal
Government, Hector Rene Garcia, were present."
"Government indifference has forced the peasants to follow the
guerrilla war of the OIPUH since the government only protects
caciques", says Diaz Romero, [TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: a cacique is a derogatory
term for a person that controls, often with despotic and unlawful means,
small peasant communities in Mexico's rural zones], and gives the names
of Rene Raul Monroy, Tranquilino Hernandez Reyna, Abraham Lopez,
Hipolito Hernandez Hernandez and Gilberto Hernandez Monroy; "they
all pay large sums of money to state police officers, and even to
the army for the killing of guerrillas. The guerrillas are a threat to them."
(To be continued).
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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