GREENPEACE DELEGATION CALLS FOR AN END TO THE MILITARY OCCUPATION OF THE
LACANDONA RAIN FOREST AND A RETURN TO THE PEACE PROCESS IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO
A delegation of the environmental and pacifist organization Greenpeace,
which included the executive directors of Mexico, United States, Canada,
Spain and Latin America, has visited the Lacandon Rain Forest region in the
state of Chiapas.
The purpose of the Greenpeace delegation was to document the impact
that the Mexican army's mobilization against the EZLN (Zapatista Army of
National Liberation) is having on the indigenous communities and on the
ecosystem of the rainforest.
After visiting the area of conflict in the forest, the Greenpeace
delegation declared in a statement issued in Mexico City today that the
Mexican troops, "are following a clearly defined military strategy of
intimidation of the civilian population, and not a peaceful occupation
without negative consequences for the communities and ecosystems of the
southeast zone of Mexico. The civilian population is, in fact, a military
target".
Greenpeace presented video and photographic documentation of the
aggressive activity of the military in the rainforest area, including tanks,
helicopters and jeeps entering villages and into the rainforest. According
to the Greenpeace delegation, "the army is systematically applying all the
elements of a low intensity conflict strategy, including the careful
handling of image."
In the capital city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, members of Greenpeace met with
the Secretary of the Government, Eraclio Zepeda, and in San Cristobal de las
Casas they met with the Bishop Samuel Ruiz, president of the Comision
Nacional de Intermediacion, CONAI, (National Commission of Mediation) and
other members of the Commission.
Afterwards the delegation headed to the Lacandon rain forest, visiting
the communities of Ocosingo, Nueva Estrella, Monte Libano, Agua Azul,
Taniperla, La Garrucha and El Prado. In several of the villages within the
rainforest, Greenpeace was able to document an extensive presence of
military personnel and equipment. Soldiers were occupying villagers' homes
and schools, maintaining artillery overlooking villages, and covering the
area with helicopters, tanks and artillery positions.
Nueva Estrella, El Prado and La Garrucha, three of the communities
Greenpeace visited, had clearly been abandoned abruptly by the population
before the arrival of the army. Some of the inhabitants of the communities
had begun to return to their homes two days before the arrival of the
Greenpeace delegation, but several of the villages were still largely
abandoned apart from a strong military presence.
In all these sites, Greenpeace documented extensive destruction and
vandalism carried out by the army inside the very simple peasant homes,
clinics and schools. "Army officers questioned about the populations of the
villages claimed that they had no idea where the people had gone, or why,
and denied any knowledge of who might have ransacked their homes," said
Rafael Gonzalez Franco, the Director of Greenpeace Mexico. On the other
hand, the indigenous people interviewed by Greenpeace as they returned to
their homes were clear that they had fled their homes because of fear of the
Army.
Families returning from their hiding places in the forests, found their
very modest belongings destroyed, food and seeds for planting spilled on the
ground and completely spoiled, clothing strewn everywhere, furniture,
agricultural tools, bicycles and kitchen utensils, and even children's toys,
broken beyond repair.
In some cases, their personal documents, indicating documentation of land
tenure, birth certificates, etc. had been destroyed as well. Animals,
horses, goats, chicken and a few cows wandered among the abandoned
communities searching for food.
These communities are completely dependent on a subsistence
agriculture. This is the season in the Lacandon for harvesting beans and
coffee and preparing the land for planting corn. Greenpeace stated that if
these tasks were not accomplished now, it would mean hunger both immediately
and in the year to come, completely destroying the lives of peasant villages
which have survived on the margin of poverty through many generations.
"All this indicates there is a clear intention to undermine the
communities, to increase pressure on them to abandon their land and to
create confrontations among the people", said Beatriz Heredia, Executive
Director of Greenpeace Latin America.
"The existence of the current military operation is not only blocking
the solution to the conflict, but it is also creating conditions to expand
the war and to indefinitely extend the problem," Heredia added. "In both
cases the deaths and costs to the people and their environment will be
enormous."
The environmentalists affirmed that an essential first step to avoid
further destruction is the immediate withdrawal of the Mexican army and the
resumption of a true peace process. "The Mexican government should return
to the spirit of dialogue which existed before February 9th and which gave
the world an example of how to resolve a conflict of this nature," stated
Xavier Pastor, Director of Greenpeace Spain.
Greenpeace prepared a report of its observations, as well as extensive
video footage of the situation encountered in Chiapas, which it put at the
disposal of the Human Rights organizations of San Cristobal de las Casas and
the peace commission, CONAI, as well as the Mexican government.
For more information please call Rafael Gonzalez or Roberto Lopez, in
Greenpeace Mexico, Telephones: (5) (25) 659-4714/659-4768/659-4463, or Tim
Andrews, in Greenpeace USA 202-319-2494.