National Press Conference
1:30 MST, Friday June 7th
In front of the Mexican Consulate in El Paso, Texas
910 East San Antonio St.
Cecilia Rodriguez
United States Representative
of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation
Will hold a press to release a statement and answer questions regarding
the release in Mexico of two political prisoners, Javier Elorriaga and
Sebastian Entzin, accused of terrorism, rebellion, and sedition for their
alleged involvement with the EZLN.
Via Reuters: from KPFK
Two alleged Mexican rebels freed on appeal
TUXTLA GUTIERREZ- A judge acting of an appeal freed two alleged
Zapatista rebels from jail Thursday, opening the way for stalled peace
talks between the guerrillas and the government to resume.
Superior Court Judge Enrique Duran quashed the long jail sentences
for terrorism and rebellion imposed by a lower court and set the men free,
Uriel Jarguin, under-secretary for government in the southern state of
Chiapas, told Reuters.
The alleged rebels, Javier Elorriaga and Sebastian Entzin, were
sentenced May 2 to jail terms of 13 and six years respectively.
The appeal judge in the Chiapas state capital of Tuxtla Gutierrez,
500 miles southeast of Mexico City, upheld a two- year sentence for arms
offenses against Entzin but freed him of bail because he had already spent
16 months in jail.
The harshness of the original verdicts, reached on the basis of a
written statement from a witness who never appeared in court despite six
summonses, provoked an angry reaction from the Zapatista leadership.
Rebel leader Subcommander Marcos said from his jungle hideout June 1
that the Zapatistas would not resume stalled peace talks with the
government until the two men were freed.
Plans for a fresh round of talks June 5 were put on hold and
newspaper columnists speculated that the rebels might be forced back into
violence unless the tension eased.
Marcos accused hard-liners in President Zedillo's administration of
provoking confrontation with the rebels, suggesting they had engineered
the court sentences to undermine the peace negotiations.
The government insisted that the justice process was completely
independent of the peace process and denied that either the initial
sentence or the freeing on appeal were the result of any political
pressure from Mexico City.
Elorriaga and Entzin allegedly took part in the uprising by Mayan
Indians in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, where Zapatista rebels
launched their revolt for democracy and indigenous rights in January
1994.
The two men had been in jail since February 1995, when Mexican
President Ernesto Zedillo launched a crackdown against the rebel forces.
Elorriaga, a television journalist who also had served as a
go-between between Zedillo and the Zapatista guerrilla leader
Subcommandante Marcos, denied ever belonging to the proscribed guerrilla
movement.