La Jornada, February 10th,12-13th
Juan Balboa, correspondent
Analysts dedicated to observing the armed conflict in Chiapas stated that the Mexican Army has consolidated its counterinsurgency strategy, known as the low-intensity war, during the past two years with "social service" work, or "aid to the civilian population". But above all by means of the pyschological pressure it has tried to weaken the communities of the Zapatista aRmy of National Liberation, by provoking supposed confrontations amongst the indigenous people.
Andres Aubry, from the Institute for Anthropological Support for the Mayan Region, stated that the federal government still has plans to conduct a surgical strike against the Zapatistas; the problem , he added, is to know if they are capable of it. "A surgical operation requires a discipline, a technical preparation, an intelligence service that functions".
For Carlos Burguete, from CONPAZ, "During the decade of the 80s, the United States developed a type of military-political strategy for civil conflicts, principally in Central America, whose objective was to separate the insurgency from its social bases-both actual and potential-knowing that a dead revolutionary could be replaced with another", stated Burguete.
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In the last two years, taking advantage of the presidential order of February 9th, 1995 and the approximately 17 months of dialogue in San Andres Larrainzar, the Mexican army established a military blockade in the four municipalities considered as being in conflict-principally in the Lacandon jungle-and in this time, installed, without a previous agreement with the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, 30 of the approximately 40 military camps which currently exist in the area and in which live, according to ONG data, about 25,000 soldiers.
Currently 80% of the communities which are located in the principal zone of conflict-Ocosingo, Las Margaritas, Altamirano and Palenque-and in which live the soldiers or sympathizers of the EZLN, according to the federal and state government as well as the Secretary of National Defense, are monitored by military camps. The majority of them have landing strips for helicopters. Some are as close as 500 meters to the villages, and others are located in the area surrounding the indigenous villages.
>From Roberto Barrios to Guadalupe Tepeyac, from Altamirano to Boca Lacantum, from Amparo Agua Tinta to Las Tasa; from Ocosingo to San Quintin; and from Palenque to Comitan, some 25,000 soldiers belonging to two military zones (#31 in San Cristobal de las Casas and #39 from Ocosingo), are distributed among 40 camps. In the zone there are 25 infantry and motorized batallions, as well as some two dozen groups of special operations, supply centers and construction engineers.
The military's penetration has been secretive. They took advantage of President Ernesto Zedillo's order two years ago to begin the penetration into the Zapatista communities, but above all they continued taking over strategic positions while the dialogue at San Andres Larrainzar was going on, states various organizations including ARIC-independent, CIOAC, ORCAO and representatives of the autonomous governments.
According to various ONGS, there has been a sharp increase in the militarization of Chiapas in the last few months. "This crisis within the crisis in the negotiations for peace has resulted in a consolidation of the military's control over more than anything the areas considered the base of support for the EZLN".
"The objective is total engagement" it was added, and they stated that each one of the strategic communities is under the vigilance of at least one military camp.
Supported by "interinstitutional" projects of the federal and state government, but more than anything, camoflaged as a supposed social service work or aid to the civilian population, the Mexican army has been able to position itself little by little in the military heart of the EZLN.
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There are 8 military corredors which the Seventh Military region of the Naitonal Defense Secretary has established in the conflict zone: the most important, based on the number of soldiers present, goes between Ocosingo, which is the headquarters of the 39th Military Zone, and the collective farm San Quintin, a military headquarters that is under the direct command of the Seventh Region. This corridor is one of the most important, not only because of the 5,000 soldiers present, but also because it includes several important Zapatista communities, including La Garrucha, Patihuitz, La Soledad, La Sultana, Betania and Emiliano Zapata.
The next most important corridor is that which goes from Comitan, where the principal airport for the conflict zone is located, to the supply center for the troops in the community of Nueva Providencia, which is the closest to the political center of the Zapatistas-La Realidad. In this route there are six camps with 4,000 soldiers.
The third route starts in Palenque and ends in the area called Marques de Comillas, in the municipality of Ocosingo. In it, according to information from the communities, there are 8 camps, in which live 4,000 soldiers. Palenque and Chancala have the most important camps in this corridor, but there are two others in Boca Lacantum and Curcxero Corozal, which is backed up by the Navy.
The other important corridors include one in the region of Roberto Barrios, Monte Libano and Taniperlas, another in the ravines of Las Tasas; another is Amparo Agua Tinta and another is located in the valley of Ibarra.
Just a month ago, the Mexican Army arrived in the Ravine of Euseba. The soldiers have been there since conducting "a social service" of transporting for free the coffee harvest to the freeway from Guadalupe Tepeyac, in the community of Arrollo Corozal, one of the few areas that had been free of soldiers, and in which it is assumed that Subcommandante Marcos maintains his principal guerrilla camp.
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Since 1994 the Secretary of National Defense has pushed the construction of two principal freeways that go through the communities considered Zapatista. The project started at the end of the border freeway, which runs along the border with Guatamala and unites Palenque with Comitan, and goes through two regions of vital importance: Marques de Comillas and the hotbed area of Amparo Agua Tinta.
The roadway between Ocosingo and Las Margaritas is without a doubt the most ambitious because of its strategic location, as it will go through the heart of the Zapatistas.
The majority of the road is finished and has been maintained in excellent condition. The lack of two bridges-one over the Jatate River and the other over the Euseba River-means that the two towns are still not connected, but finishing these connections is expected by next May, which is just two months before the federal elections.
La Jornada, February 10th,12-13th