The Army: Giant Demon of Death in the Lacandona
Conference by Flores Magon Leaders
Juan Balboa, correspondent
Montes Azules Biosphere, Chiapas
August 16.
Persecuted for more than a year, working clandestinely in order to avoid being apprehended, and optimistic after having been able to maintain intact the structure of the rebel territory - made up of 110 towns in the Selva Lacandona - the Autonomous Council of the Ricardo Flores Magon zapatista Municipality stating that they are confronting today a massive invasion by the Mexican Army, and, at the same time, an onslaught by paramilitary groups supported by Roberto Albores Guillen's interim government.
Somehere in the Montes Azules Biosephere, all the members of the council reappeared publicly in order to denounce the "silent war" that "the federales" are carrying out in Chiapas, and their uncontrolled advance through the zapatista communities in the valleys, canadas and the ecological reserve of the Selva.
"They have declared silent war against us, the bad death, extermination, which is why the government (federal and state) has cast a shadow of threats and destruction across our landscape. They have set a giant demon loose in our communities, spending the people's money badly, wasting resources where they have been most needed. That demon is the Army, who, like a beast, vomits death, threats and destruction, but which conceals the hidden face of the government," stated Jaime, Zeferino, Olga, Leticia and Hector, all Flores Magon leaders, who are continuing their work clandestinely.
Jaime, a slim man in a black ski-mask, is in charge of the meeting with the journalists. The darkness of the night barely allows one to see his shining eyes. Representing the zapatista municipality, he speaks of the Mexican Army troop mobilizations in the Selva.
"Their high-powered weapons, their artillery vehicles, their helicopters, planes, prostitutes, alcohol, insults, garbage, arrogance and rapes are all concentrated in the more than five thousand troops, who are staying on a regular basis in rebel territory.
"Since the indigenous and campesinos of these lands are a threat to their exclusionary neoliberal national program, they also need the regular presence of hundreds of troops from the Public Security Police and the federal Department of Justice. They know their presence violates the Mexican Constitution," he said during the meeting, which was attended by representatives of some 50 communities in the Santo Domingo and Tulija valleys, as well as from the canada of Taniperla and the Montes Azules Biosphere.
Since the first attempt (April 10, 1998) by the interim government of Roberto Albores Guillen, and by the Army itself, to dismantle the Ricardo Flores Magon Autonomous Municipality, legal authorities have issued 380 arrest warrants against Zapatista Army of National Liberation sympathizers and against members of independent organizations, such as the ARIC Independent and XiOnich, which forms part of Flores Magon.
Olga, a young woman who belongs to the leadership, explains that the arrest warrants have been created through lies and bribes from the paramilitaries and from Roberto Albores Guillen's interim government itself.
Surrounded by close to one hundred leaders and representatives from the rebel municipality, Leticia went into more detail about "the hell" the state and federal governments have created in the Selva. Speaking in a clear Spanish:
"The so-called 'mixed' operations have been carried out all over the land: made up of troops from the Mexican Army, the Public Security Police and the Federal Judicial Police. We say they are continuing the patrols all over the land, primarily in the canada of Santo Domingo, the Arroyo Granizo ejido, Ubilio Garcia, Sibal, La Culebra, Limonar, Cintalapa, Viejo Velasco, Pena Limonar, La Arena, Pinal, El Tumbo and the 16 ranches in the Tulija valley.
"There, the army and the police are in command of from ten to 40 well armed troops, who arrive in three or four artillery vehicles and come down into the towns and go along the pathways, the fields, coffee plantations, rivers and roads.
"If they find a campesino they almost strip him. They take out and throw his cargo away, his maize or his firewood. They insult them, supposedly to see if he is carrying weapons. Sometimes they jump out from hiding places. They also ask many questions: 'What organization do you belong to? Where are, and who are, the zapatistas in this ejido? Where do you have your radios? Where are you coming from, where are you going? I'm sure you're a zapatista, you bastard!' "
Hector refers to the five thousand soldiers who came in last month under the pretext of a reforestation program.
He confirmed that the majority were installed in the PRI towns of Cintalapa and Palestina. Some 1500 went into Montes Azules to set up camps.
"In reality, these military persons are concealing the reinforcement of military positions on our lands, they are hiding the silent and hidden war they have been waging against us for the last four years," he noted.
During the five hours of the meeting, the leaders reaffirmed that the municipality was never dismantled, and that it has continued to operate clandestinely.
"We will continue strengthening and increasing the organization and the municipal agreements in order to build up its strength, in order to achieve our dreams and a dignified life," they said and then they were lost in the dark night and the Selva of the Montes Azules.
Originally published in Spanish in La Jornada __________________________ Translated by irlandesa