NATIONAL INDIGENOUS CONGRESS
Follow-Up Commission
21 March 1997
TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO:
TO THE COMMISSION ON CONCORDANCE AND PACIFICATION:
TO THE COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA:
The Follow-Up Commission of the National Indigenous Congress repudiates the escalating repression which has been unleashed in recent days against sympathizers and members of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in San Martin Chamizal and San Pedro Nichtalucum, Chiapas.
In San Pedro dozens of indigenous tzotziles were attacked in an operation which included the use of an artillery-laden helicopter, leaving four people dead, including Miguel Gumez Hern-ndez, whose body was destroyed by a police vehicle. At least 29 indigenous people were detained, brutally beaten, and charged with having caused the deaths of their compaoeros.
These acts imply an open provocation to the EZLN, and represent a brutal aggression that directly attacks the peace process in Chiapas and opens the door to a conflict with very grave consequences.
The National Indigenous Congress demands an immediate halt to the police aggressions in the state of Chiapas, the liberation of the 25 campesinos detained in San Pedro Nichtalucum, the presentation with life of the two disappeared members of that community, and punishment for the assassins of the four indigenous people killed by the Chiapas police.
The CNI makes a call to the non-governmental and social organizations, and in particular to the participants in the National Encounter for Peace, such that they take a stance regarding these events and that they actively demand a halt to the repression against the members and sympathizers of the EZLN.
We ratify the resolution of the CNI with respect to our preoccupation for the excessive militarization which exists in the zapatista communities and in broad indigenous zones across Mexico, as well as the climate of provocation and persecution against our peoples and organizations.
We demand the urgent and active participation of the COCOPA in the verification of the events that occurred in San Pedro Nichtalucum, municipality of El Bosque; as well as a public pronouncement from that body in favor of a halt to the escalating repression, and action toward the liberation of the indigenous prisoners.
Sincerely,
Never Again a Mexico Without Us!!
Carlos Beas Torres
for the Working Group on Justice and Human Rights