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--Click Here and Here

***********

Wed, 13 Oct 1999 15:09:20 -0400
From: Native Forest Network ENA nfnena@sover.net
CALL TO ACTION NOV 4
  
  From: Mexico Solidarity Network
  To: Civil society
  This message forwarded at the request of ACERCA
 
 
  A CALL TO ACTION NOVEMBER 4, 1999
 
  SUPPORT THE ZAPATISTA COMMUNITIES IN RESISTANCE
  OPPOSE THE FTAA--THE EXPANSION OF NAFTA!
 
 
  In light of intensifying militarization in  Chiapas, ACERCA, with the
  support of the Mexico Solidarity Network, is calling for an International
  Day of Action in support of the Zapatista communities in resistance on
  November 4, 1999.
 
  Why November 4?  On November 4, 1999, trade ministers from 34 countries
  will meet in Toronto, Canada, to continue negotiations for the expansion of
  NAFTA into all of the countries of the Americas, with the exception of
  Cuba.  This new trade agreement under negotiation is called the Free Trade
  Area of the Americas (FTAA).  We all know from our experience with NAFTA
  that if we allow this neoliberal trade agreement trade agreement to pass,
  the effects on indigenous people, workers, ecology, culture and local
  economic and political self-determination will be devastating.
 
  In light of the recent escalation of military and paramilitary pressure in
  Chiapas, it is important that solidarity groups in the U.S. again make our
  support and resistance visible in the media and before the North American
  public.  And strategically, just as the Zapatistas rose up on the day NAFTA
  was implemented, it is appropriate to organize a Day of Action on the day
  trade ministers are negotiating NAFTA expansion.
 
  The ACERCA working group will be in Toronto from October 31-November 5,
  working with Canadian groups Metro Network for Social Justice and Common
  Frontiers to organize demonstrations and forums of civil society in
  opposition to the negotiations.
 
  ACERCA invites all Zapatista supporters and opponents of "free trade" to
  join us in Toronto, or organize a demonstration in your community on
  November 4, International Day of Action and Resistance in solidarity
  with the Zapatista movement and all of the indigenous people of Mexico.
 
  PLEASE JOIN US.  COME TO TORONTO, OR ORGANZE AN
  EVENT IN YOUR OWN COMMUNITY ON NOVEMBER 4, 1999.
___________________________________________________________
 
    ACERCA
 
    Action for Community & Ecology in the Rainforests of Central America
    POB 57
    Burlington, VT  05402  USA
    (802)863-0571
    (802) 864-8203 Fax
   Email:  acerca@sover.net
   http://www.acerca.org
 
   ACERCA is a project of the Alliance for Global Justice
           and a member of the Native Forest Network

************

  Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 17:03:21 GMT
Army tightens noose around Zapatistas
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
  MEXICO CITY (IPS)-The poorly armed and outnumbered Zapatista guerrillas will
  not stand a chance if the Mexican army is ordered to attack, say analysts in
  Mexico. Tens of thousands of soldiers have been staked out in the southern
  state of Chiapas, despite protests by politicians of all stripes and both
  local and international rights groups.
 
  In a new massive deployment defended as "normal and necessary" by the
  government but termed an "invasion" by the Zapatista National Liberation
  Army (EZLN) and its supporters, hundreds of soldiers occupied new positions
  in the impoverished state of Chiapas.
 
  A nature reserve, where peasant farmers loyal to the rebels had taken
  refuge, was the only major area that the military had not yet penetrated.
  The government refuses to reveal how many troops are presently stationed in
  Chiapas, a poverty-ridden state with a mainly indigenous population located
  along the border with Guatemala.
 
  But human rights groups and politicians put the number at over 50,000, eight
  times more than the number of EZLN rebels, many of whom are armed with
  low-caliber rifles or simply machetes.
 
  The government of Ernesto Zedillo said the latest deployment of troops was
  in line with its aim to defend the construction of a route towards peace,
  guarantee security and fight drug trafficking.
 
  The army has moved into 161 areas of Chiapas, while police are stationed in
  57, National Migration Institute agents in 24 and Attorney-General's Office
  personnel in 13, according to the non-governmental Center for Economic
  Research and Community Action Policies.
 
  All of the sites are strategic from a military point of view, and were
  chosen as part of the government's bid to encircle the EZLN, the Center
  added.
 
  But Emilio Rabasa, the government's coordinator of the dialogue in Chiapas,
  told the radio newscast Red recently that the government was not seeking to
  provoke or attack the Zapatistas. He also reiterated the Zedillo
  administration's call for a renewal of the peace talks, suspended since 1996.
 
  However, the latest deployment of troops put the soldiers "at our backs,"
  said "Subcomandante Marcos," the charismatic leader of Mexico's largest
  guerrilla group. He maintained that the gov-ernment's aim was to crack down
  on the EZLN and guarantee future oil exploitation in the region, which has
  significant reserves.
 
  Deputy Gilberto Rivas, a parliamentary deputy of the center-left Democratic
  Revolution Party (PRD), and a member of the congressional peace commission,
  also protested the continued militarization of Chiapas.
 
  "We cannot be accomplices or remain impassive to the new movements of
  troops, which highlight the real intention of the federal government to
  tighten the noose around the EZLN," said Mr. Rivas. "Congress must act fast,
  because it is now impossible for the Zapatistas to retreat any further."
 
  Backed up against the Guatemalan border, the 5,000 members of the EZLN have
  not fired a single shot since mid-January 1994, when the government agreed
  to peace talks after 12 days of skirmishes between the rebels and the army.
 
  While the talks continued and were later suspended, the army gradually but
  steadily increased its presence in Chiapas, "until leaving us with one foot
  in Guatemala and the other in Mexico," Mr. Marcos joked a few months ago.
 
  Although there have been no direct clashes between the army and the
  insurgents, violence in the region, attributed to paramilitary units and
  religious and political differences, is a permanent fact of life.
 
  At least 1,500 indigenous opponents of the government have been killed in
  Chiapas by paramilitary groups since 1994, states a report drawn up by the
  PRD and submitted to the Attorney General's Office last April.
 
  While the militarization of Chiapas continues apace and a renewal of the
  talks looks impossible before the end of Mr. Zedillo's six-year term in late
  2000, the EZLN has been fielding political initiatives from its jungle
  hideout, seeking to unify civil society opposed to the government and
  propose policy changes, while denouncing injustices in Chiapas.

*****************

Protesters decry Indians' treatment
                    By Mike McPhee
                    Denver Post Staff Writer

Sept. 17 - Close to 50 demonstrators crashed a luncheon Gov. Bill Owens was
attending with a trade delegation to Mexico on Thursday  inside Downtown's Embassy Suites Hotel.

Four were arrested by police. As they were handcuffed and
loaded into a paddy wagon, they loudly demanded that Americans stop doing
business with Mexico. "They (Mexicans) are ignoring human rights,''
shouted Kerry Appel, one of the four, as he was lifted into the back of the truck.
Appel, a 48-year-old Denver resident, said he is a sympathizer of a
Mexican  rebel group called the Zapatistas, who revolted in the southern Mexican
state of Chiapas in 1994, demanding an end to government's mistreatment of
Chiapas Indians.

No one was injured Thursday, although about 20 of the protesters
surrounded Owens' car and refused to let it leave until police intervened.
The group arrived at the entrance to the hotel at 19th and Curtis streets
after the governor had already been escorted from his car into the
luncheon. So about 30 of the group went into the hotel and into the
conference room, where several members began shouting through a bullhorn.

Owens, who was still eating lunch, refused to enter into a dialogue with the protesters.
A few minutes later, five uniformed police officers entered the
room and ordered the protesters out. All left except the four who were
arrested. In addition to Appel, they were identified as Mark Dela Cruz, 22,
of Denver; Pablo Van Wetten, 24, of Denver; and Mark Thompson, 35, of
Boulder. They were charged with trespassing, disturbing the peace and
interfering with a police officer. They were unable to post $200 bail and
were taken to Denver County Jail.

Gil Cisneros, executive director of the United States-Mexico Chamber of
Commerce, said 55 business and community leaders,
along with the governor, will travel to Mexico on Sunday to encourage more
trade between Colorado and Mexico. The group will meet with Mexican
President Ernesto Zedillo, to whom the protesters wanted Owens to carry a
message to stop oppression of the Chiapas. The Zapatistas take their name
from Emiliano Zapata, a leader of the 1910 revolution in Mexico.

  http://www.denverpost.com/news/news0917i.htm
  http://wolfseeker.com
  http://www.InsideTheWeb.com/mbs.cgi/mb629759
  http://www.sunlink.net/~wlfskr

*****************

CHIAPAS URGENT ALERT -

This is long but worth the read.  I urge all of you to get those fingersready and fire off some notes urging restraint and respect of the civilians the Mexican Govt's troops are now in a position to threaten.Please do not let these folks feel alone and without support.

Thanks,

ellis

Originally published in Spanish by Enlace Civil A.C.
enlacecivi-@laneta.apc.org
Translated by irlandesa
Date: Wednesday, August 18, 1999 23:18:24 -0600

TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO
TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL OPINION
TO ALL THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD

Companeros all:

This current urgent action is being taken owing to the military
incursion that took place last Tuesday, August 12, in the community
of Amador Hernandez (rebel territory), situated in the municipality
of Ocosingo, at the edge of the Montes Azules biosphere, and we
shall go into more detail below.

On the above-mentioned date, around 500 Mexican federal army troops
from the barracks at San Quintin e Ibarra, stormed into the above
community, very close to the Aguascalientes of La Realidad,
arriving there by land and by parachute, the majority of them
coming down in helicopters, as a military exercise of their combat
strategy. Later, two military helicopters arrived, carrying another
50 soldiers. All of this while the National Encuentro for the
Defense of the Cultural Heritage was taking place in La Realidad,
which had been convened by the EZLN in order to stop the proposed
general Law of Cultural Heritage, which is seeking to privatize the
historic heritage.

The community of Amador Hernandez finds itself at this moment under
siege by the Mexican federal army, who have already set up their
camps and have surrounded the community with barbed wire. On the
15th, they used tear gas to disperse the peaceful protest against
this military operation, that was being carried out by the tzeltal
residents and members of the civil observation committee, who had
come from the above-mentioned encuentro, causing three injuries
among the campesinos, and another among the observation committee
members.

The excuse for the military incursion is in order to protect one of
the ends of the Trans-Selva Highway, which is currently under
construction. This version, however, is absolutely denied by the
residents of this area, since they have never asked for the
construction of this road. The fact that they want to put it there
speaks to the military strategy, of continuing to surround and
isolate the commandancia of the Zapatista army. This new military
aggression against the Zapatista army is trying - in addition to
silencing them - to separate them from the principal resistance
movements in the country, according to Subcomandante Marcos. In
addition, the government is trying to dig in, through the army, to
one of the richest and most secret oil reserves in the northern
hemishphere of the American continent, and, then, to begin
extracting the oil found there.

This new operation by the federal army is an attempt to consolidate
their combat positions in the communities of the Selva Lacandona.
This is being done - under the pretext of reforesting the Selva and
the building of new highways - for better placement of military
troops and the establishment of numerous camps, barracks,
checkpoints and other military construction.

The situation in the municipality of Amador Hernandez is extremely
grave at this moment. Because off this, EZLN support base and
ARIC-Independent civil organization companeros from nearby
communities are holding a permanent sit-in, in order to protect the
residents of this community.

For this reason, we are calling on everyone to carry out the
following urgent action, that we are dividing into the following
tasks:
   1) Seeing the necessity for supporting the companeros who are
under military siege in a permanent sit-in, in support of the
community, and knowing the meager resources they have, and the
extreme exhaustion to which they are already being subjected, we
are requesting the following provisions and supplies in order to
support them: food (rice, beans, maize, canned goods, powdered
milk, tortillas, sugar, pasta, and other things as the need
arises), bottled water and/or disinfectant for it, candles, covers,
clothing, shoes, medicines, etc., etc...
   2) To distribute the denuncia of what is going on in the
municipality of Amador Hernandez, as well as this urgent request
for help, throughout all the collectives, platforms, social groups,
unions, and groups in general throughout the world; in order to
keep them informed as to what is transpiring in this municipality.
   3) To carry out various acts of civil resistance, such as
marches, sit-ins, demonstrations, and anything that may occur to
them, at barracks, embassies, consulates, government offices, in
Mexico, as well as in the rest of the world, for the purpose of
continuing to denounce, and thus put a halt to, this war of
extermination which the Mexican government continues to wage
against the Indian peoples.
   4) To form brigades of Mexicans who will come to the aid of the
companeros at the sit-in.
   5) To send faxes, email, and to flood the phones, for the
purpose of stopping and denouncing these government-military
aggressions, to the following bodies:

 - President of the  Republic
Lic. Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León
Fax: (int - 52) 271 1764 / 515 4783
E-mail: webadmo-@op.presidencia.gob.mx

- Mexican National Army
VII Military Region
Division General José Gómez Salazar
Tel./Fax: (int-52) 961 41666

- COCOPA
Paseo de la Reforma # 10, piso 17
06018 México, D.F. - México
Fax: (int-52) 5 140 3288

- Department of Government
Fax:  (5) 626 44 26 / 626 44 78
Http://www.pgr.gob.mx/frames/framej.htm
(email availability to them is on their web page)

-Governor of Chiapas
Roberto Albores Guillén
E-mail :  comsocg-@correo.chiapas.com
Tel/Fax: (961) 209 17 / 124 18

-National Human Rights Commission
Fax:  (5) 6 31 26 33
E-mail:  cnd-@laneta.apc.org

- United Nations
Fax: (5) 255 00 95
E-mail: bruno.guandalin-@un.org.mx

-Chamber of Deputies
Fax: (5) 208 78 63

- Congress of the State of Chiapas
E-mail: hcongres-@acnet.net

- Department of Justice of the State of Chiapas
Fax: (961) 6 53 74

Hoping for an immediate response to this action we are presenting
to you now, we urge you to participate in it, and to support us in
solidarity, in order to not leave our companeros alone who are
struggling for democracy, liberty and justice.

With nothing more for the moment, and awaiting your collaboration,
we bid you goodbye for now, sending you our best wishes and regards
in solidarity.

Sincerely

 - Regional Contact Office For Los Altos of Chiapas (Regional
 Coordinator for the Consulta)
 - K´inal Antzetik A.C.  - Resistance Bulletin - Artisans
 Cooperative Jolom MayaetiK

*********************************************
ENLACE CIVIL A.C.
Calle Ignacio Allende 4
29200 San Cristobal de Las Casas
Chiapas, Mexico
Telephone and Fax:   52-967-82104
Email:  enlacecivi-@laneta.apc.org
---
Originally published in Spanish by La Jornada
Translated by irlandesa

La Jornada
Thursday, August 19,1999.

TOP OF PAGE

Military Blockade in Amador Hernandez Reinforced,
Payan: the Government Goes to War;
PAN Criticizes "Military Escalation"

Hermann Bellinghausen, correspondent.
Amador Hernandez, Chiapas
August 18.

At the current moment, the situation in this Selva ejido is grave,
tense and complicated. A detachment of 500 Mexican Army troops,
made up of elite troops and Military Police, are keeping the access
blocked leading to the road that joins Amador Hernandez with San
Quintin, where the chiapaneco government and the soldiers are
trying - at all costs - to build a highway.

Hundreds of tzeltal indigenous from the region have been holding,
for seven days now, a protest sit-in at the entrance to the
community, which is also the entrance to the vast and splendid
Amador Valley, at the foot of the San Felipe Sierra, in the Montes
Azules.

Two groups of students have now joined in the sit-in, the majority
from the ENAH [National School of Anthropology and History].
Nonetheless, Governor Albores' press offices have decreed that they
are the fearsome "ultras" from the UNAM , who are "manipulating"
the indigenous, so lazy and stupid, poor little things, led,
according to the outlandish version, by that well-known student
leader, Ofelia Medina.

And so, then, the slander, the media lynching and the threats have
turned their sights on civil society, most of them from the Federal
District, who went there in order to support the indigenous
resistance.

After moments of great tension and scenes of indignation on the
part of the indigenous, the sit-in by the zapatistas took an
unexpected turn today. The sticks were followed by tear gas and the
building of impenetrable barriers of a camp in continuous use.

This morning, hundreds of tzeltal men and women, with their faces
uncovered and armed with sticks that also serve them as walking
sticks in the well-trodden mud, appeared in front of the blockade
the federal Army is maintaining, armed with flowers - the fantastic
orchids, violets, birds of paradise and wild gardenias of the Selva
Lacandona - and they hung them along the sharp barbed wire of the
barrier, that today dawned double (one spiral over the other).
Then, they tied colored balloons to those lines. They sang Las
Mananitas to the soldiers, Cartas Marcadas, by Pedro Infante, and
various Catholic hymns in tzeltal.

But the circumstances are dramatic. The wounded and gassed now
number ten. More than 300 indigenous mobilized, and more than
several thousand indigenous affected by the overwhelming and sudden
military occupation.

An incessant thunder of helicopters assaults the Selva with its
strong wind. Their engines are never turned off, all the take-offs
and landings are done on the run, like in a war movie.

But this is not a movie. Nor an ad campaign. It is truly an
invasion.

"It's a provocation," says Abel, a zapatista representative from
Amador Hernandez, with no beating around the bush.

Now they are saying that they are blocking the road. But it was the
reverse. Since August 12, the federal Army has been occupying
ejidal lands and keeping the road closed. Since then, and since the
siege, the tzeltales, EZLN support bases, have been protesting in
many ways and with everything against them.

A veil of outlandish and doctored reports are covering up the
attacks against the campesinos. Perhaps taking advantage of the
fact that the public has had its attention turned elsewhere of
late, and not here, to the last corner, the most distant and
solitary of the patria: Amador Hernandez in the Amador Valley,
Emiliano Zapata rebel municipality (and the constitutional one of
Ocosingo), Chiapas, Mexico, August of 1999.

The Occupation From the Beginning

A hundred soldiers and an engineer suddenly arrived in the
community, out of nowhere, to this place that is seven hours away
"by Indian foot," from San Quintin, and, since it's the rainy
period, spectacularly muddy. It was Wednesday, August 11. To the
campesinos' surprise, the visitors bought supplies in the store,
walked through the village, and the engineer took some
measurements. Then they left. What was curious is that no one had
known they were coming down the road, they simply appeared.

That night, a new moon, was completely dark. On the dawn of
Thursday, the 12th, two kilometers from the village, on Amador
Hernandez ejidal lands, the first campesinos who went out to the
fields discovered that they could not get through the road that
leads south, to Nuevo Chapultepec and San Quintin, all along the
edge of the Montes Azules biosphere reserve. A cordon of soldiers
were blocking the way.

At one side, towards the east, at the edge of the river, the
hundred visitors from the previous day had erected a makeshift
camp, and they had spent the night there. Starting in the early
hours of the 12th, the soldiers set about the task of cutting down
a circular area, resulting, a few hours later, in a clearing, that
ended up being a heliport.

And successive waves of helicopters began arriving, transporting
troops, supplies and axes, many axes. To be doing this at the very
threshold of the Montes Azules is to be saying the wrong thing.

Dozens of times a day, since last Thursday through today, the
thunderous and extremely violent din of the machinery silences the
Selva for interminable minutes. They are no longer bringing troops,
but they are bringing kilometers of coiled barbed wire, that is
double-edged and razor sharp. Each helicopter that lands brings -
in addition to hundreds of cans of Cocoa Cola and of Ciel water -
fruit, refrigerators, motors, boxes, and two or three rolls of that
frightening wire. They need up to ten men just to unload them.

But the history, like all histories, had begun before, exactly one
week back, on Wednesday, the 4th. Starting on that day there had
been intense, continuous and low flights by military helicopters
over this tzeltal village of 609 residents.

Or, rather, the calm had already been lost. But it was on the 12th,
when they found their only access to the outside blocked off, that
the residents of Amador Hernandez went out into the road to
protest.

Days before, one of many helicopters landed on the crude landing
strip that crosses the village, where it remained, without turning
off its engines. No one came out. Then it lifted up in flight,
ripping the clinic roof, in addition to knocking down the kitchen
of an ARIC family, and leaving several houses without their palm
roofs.

It was the preamble to the military occupation that now appears to
have been consummated. The explanation that the federal Army and
the Chiapas government is giving is that the operation is in order
to "protect" the topographers who are taking the measurements for
the Nuevo Chapultepec-Amador Hernandez stretch of road.  It so
happens that the zapatista support bases of this community, in the
Emiliano Zapata Autonomous Municipality, are opposed to this road,
that they did not ask for it.

Those from the ARIC-Independent in the same town were in agreement,
but, upon seeing the aerial invasion, they changed their minds, and
they have now notified the federal Army and Governor Albores'
envoys that they do not want the road.

Too late. It does not matter that the residents of the different
surrounding communities (Pichucalco, Guanal, Plan de Guadalupe and
others) are also opposed. The government has already said it will
not take one step backwards.

The Hour of the Gas

A hundred zapatistas carried out the first protests, men, women and
even children, throughout the day of the 12th, at the entrance that
the federal Army assault troops had chosen to make their advance.

On Friday, the 13th, when there were already 500 soldiers
positioned there, the cordon of military police that were blocking
the way already had anti-riot helmets and shields. There were more
and more indigenous, from other communities. Amid cries against the
Army and militarization, vivas to the EZLN, and all kinds of
messages in tzeltal and Spanish, the soldiers ears were covered,
silently and firmly. Behind them, the flurry of helicopters and the
occupation of large areas of land by the soldiers continued without
let up.

That night, the EZLN support bases set up a makeshift guard camp,
made up of simple, low plastic roofs, and bonfires, on a promontory
just above the entrance occupied by the federales.

Some 30 young persons also arrived that night, from La Realidad,
after having walked twelve hours from San Quintin. They were mostly
students from the National School of Anthropology, a few from the
UNAM, and the actress Ofelia Medina.

They were the first of two groups of participants from the National
Encuentro in Defense of the Cultural Heritage in La Realidad, who
had organized in order to go to that distant village in serious
trouble.

The 50 kilometers of Selva that separates La Realidad from Amador
Hernandez are, by land, a terrible trip. The residents of the ejido
received the civil observers in the community's school, they fed
them, let them rest their feet, which were a wreck, and rest
themselves after the crossing.

On the morning of Saturday the 14th, the students accompanied the
Zapatista residents of Amador Hernandez to the entrance the federal
Army had been (and was) guarding, and they began the second day of
protest.

The mud was growing heavy under the restless footsteps of the
hundreds of persons, shouting with all their might at the soldiers.
From a loudspeaker being run from a car battery, came the speeches
of the men and women who stepped up to the microphone.

The anti-riot military police, were equipped with belts with small
canisters of paralyzing gas, that, according to the label, are
deadly weapons.

Meanwhile, the campesinos, armed with sticks, began striking the
shields of the troops with growing force, for several hours. The
indigenous women were the bravest.

Then, two more helicopters landed, with 50 more soldiers and a
journalist taking photographs.

Throughout this entire time, the soldiers were rigorously filming
and photographing the indigenous and the students. The officials
were pointing at some of them. From behind the cordon of military
police, a soldier appeared, pointed at one of the ENAH students
threateningly, crouched down, and then reappeared with a tear gas
canister that he fired at the young man, who felt as if he had been
blinded and who suffered an incredible burning of the flesh,
especially on his left arm, which had been the one he had raised to
protect his face.

It was the signal. Other soldiers repeated the same operation
against the indigenous, who, with their faces covered with scarves
and ski-masks, did not stop shouting.

During the struggle, some of the soldiers were also hurt.

The indigenous women affected by the gas cried out in pain, saying
"Ay, I am dying, I am dying."

Their companeros led them to the river, a few meters away from the
quagmire where they had been, and washed off their eyes and bodies.
The men, equally affected, were more stoical in their suffering,
but they were also very badly off.

That night another 30 students and professors arrived, also on
foot, from San Quintin.

Some students joined in the indigenous watch at the promontory at
the edge of a field. And it rained oceans, Selva-like.

The military camp, at that point, was no longer makeshift in the
slightest. It was now another village, with shops and other company
facilities, trenches, parapets, and the previously mentioned, and
hectic, heliport.

The Other Blockade

On Monday, August 16, when they returned in the morning to the
muddy entrance where the Army was, the campesinos and students
found a pole fence, well put together, across the entire road.
Behind it, a spiral of the barbed wire the helicopters had brought,
and, further back, a line - no longer of military police - but of
combat troops.

The heliport was surrounded in the same way.

Behind the barriers put up by the federal Army were Governor
Albores' civil representatives, Public Ministry Agent Miguel Angel
Utrilla Robles and the Colonel in charge of the operation.

Then numerous campesinos from the ARIC-Independent reached the town
of Amador Hernandez. They crossed through the military circle and
met with Ivan Camacho, who later introduced himself to this
correspondent as Governor Albores "political operative." They also
delivered a document in which ARIC members from this and other
communities withdrew their request for the road.

They displayed a banner demanding the withdrawal of the federal
Army, and they returned to their communities. Meanwhile, the
protest by the zapatistas, students and people from civil society,
continued, with shouts, vituperations and speeches.

The morning of Tuesday, the 17th, they went to the entrance again,
now a huge bog, constantly trampled, the earth renewed each night
by the downpours, and each day by the feet, generally bare (even
those of the students).

Towards noon, Army helicopters brought in a large pool of reporters
from various media, especially print. Some of them crossed over the
barrier of barbed wire and poles to talk with the dissidents, but
they were received with mistrust, even rejected. Nonetheless, the
journalists took pictures and notes, and went back to where they
had come from.

Some of them were dispatched to Nuevo Chapultepec, PRI community,
where Antonio Chulin Mendez, forewarned by the military ("the
general is going to be coming," they had told him, a farmworker
from that town had revealed to La Jornada), stated that they did
want the road, that a short time before two children had died due
to the lack of timely medical attention. Regardless, the stretch of
road that will serve Nuevo Chapultepec is not being blocked by
anyone, since it is further "outside" the Selva. In fact, the road
from San Quintin ends in Amador Hernandez.

It was by way of that road - perhaps one of these days, a highway -
that we journalists from La Jornada arrived, until we ran into a
guard of soldiers from the federal Army that prevented us from
going through. From further ahead - less than one kilometer of
dense jungle away - the cries of hundreds of voices could be heard,
shouting vivas to the EZLN and to Subcomandante Marcos.

A lieutenant, in charge of the post, told us: "You can't pass
thorough, this is a military occupation." He immediately told us we
should look for a path in order to gain access to the village.

We were not in a good mood, and we were tired and up to here in
sweat, but we looked for the path. To no avail. We were then
insistent with the soldiers, claiming our rights in the second
article of the Constitution, to freedom of movement.

Then there appeared a young Colonel and Ivan Camacho Zenteno,
director of Political Affairs for the state Department of
Government, and they kindly led us around the new heliport, in such
a way that we would not be following the road.

And we crossed to the other side of the looking glass.
---

Originally published in Spanish by Fray Bartolome de Las Casas
Human Rights Center
cdhbcasa-@laneta.apc.org
Translated by irlandesa
Date: Thursday, August 19, 1999 19:14:48 -0500
From: Fray Bartolome de Las Casas HRC cdhbcasa-@laneta.apc.org
Press Bulletin
August 19, 1999.
OPERATIONS IN SELVA LACANDONA ARE VIOLATING HUMAN RIGHTS
AND ARE LEADING US TO THE EDGE OF WAR

Since May of this year, the "Fray Bartolome de Las Casas" Human
Rights Center has been receiving denuncias concerning incidents
that have been occurring in communities in the Selva Lacandona,
denouncing counterinsurgency actions by the Federal and State
governments.

Through checkpoints and military operations, members of the Mexican
Army have been harassing and intimidating residents of communities
such as Rosario Rio Blanco, Nazareth, Taniperla, Viejo Velasco,
Palestina, Crucero de Cintalapa, Frontera Corozal and Boca
Lacantun. Over the past few days, the military operation involving
some 8000 Mexican Army forces in the Selva communities has stood
out.

Among the new checkpoints that have been set up, the one that was
recently established by Public Security Police (PSP), along with
PRI activists in the community of Eden, municipality of Las
Margaritas, should be noted. This checkpoint, and the circumstances
that are evolving, is reminiscent of the checkpoint established by
the PSP and PRI militants in Crucero Pinal, municipality of
Chenalho, on June 1st this year.  Three persons were arbitararily
detained at this checkpoint, one of them for several hours, and the
other two were jailed for more than a month, in a procedure that
included torture, among other serious human rights violations.

Today, some of the participants in the Encuentro in Defense of the
Cultural Heritage were intimidated at several checkpoints when they
were going from La Realidad to San Cristobal. Especially at the
checkpoint at Guadalupe Tepeyac, their freedom of movement was
hindered, and they were verbally assaulted by migration forces.
They intimidated them and took their photographs.

Tomorrow, participants in the Encuentro in Defense of the Cultural
Heritage -  which was held in La Realidad, municipality of Ocosingo
over the last few days - will be passing through, as will several
persons from civil society, among them, members of this Human
Rights Center, and witnesses present at the protest against the
parachute operation that took that community. We are concerned
that, during their return, they could be detained and their human
rights violated, endangering their safety.

In response to this worrisome situation, this Human Rights Center
demands:

1. An end to the violent actions being implemented by the
Government of Roberto Albores Guillen, and a halt to the
intimidating actions towards members of civil society.
2. Precautionary measures by the National Human Rights Commission,
in order to watch over the behavior of the military, migration
agents and members of the state and federal judicial police, so
that they will no longer continue carrying out actions that
jeopardize the physical safety of the communities and members of
Mexican civil society, who are working as human rights observers in
the communities of the Selva.
3. That the federal Government act swiftly and expeditiously, in
order to put a stop to these actions, that are taking us to the
edge of a reinitiation of the hostilities like in the first days of
January of 1994.
*****************************************
Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center
Francisco Leon 5
Barrio de Santa Lucia
San Cristobal de las Casas
Chiapas, C.P. 29250
Mexico

Telephone:  (967) 8 35 48
Fax:  (967) 8 35 51
Email:  cdhbcasa-@laneta.apc.org
http://www.laneta.apc.org/cdhbcasas/
---
Originally published in Spanish by Enlace Civil A.C.
enlacecivi-@laneta.apc.org
Translated by irlandesa
Date:   Thursday, August 19, 1999 20:52:35 -0600

URGENT ACTION FROM AMADOR HERNANDEZ
August 19, 1999
San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico

Today, at 10:00 AM, we received the following information from Las
Margaritas:

A group of Public Security Police were heading towards the
community of Nuevo Momon, through which the students that are in
Amador Hernandez will have to pass. The police met there with
people from the town of Eden (from the Institutional Revolutionary
Party, the PRI) so that they could wait together for the group of
students.

According to this, they had arrest warrants for them, although it
is not known what the charges are. It is feared there could be a
confrontation between civilians (students and PRI's from Eden),
provoked by the residents of this community and by Public Security,
when the latter try to execute the arrest warrants.

The Momon crossroads is approximately one hour from Las Margaritas,
where there are several military camps, making the situation more
difficult. Ten minutes away from the Momon crossroads is the Matias
Castellanos military camp, and, thirty minutes away, the Vicente
Guerrero camp.

We also have information that at this moment, Albores Guillen is in
San Quintin, from where he will shortly be flying to Amador
Hernandez. Public Security Police helicopters have been sent to
Amador Hernandez on a mission to arrest the students that are still
there and the community leaders.

According to statements by Albores, by radio from the community of
San Quintin, they are not going to allow any national or foreign
observers to either enter or leave from the Aguascalientes of La
Realidad, nor from the area.

At the present time, it is not yet known whether the students have
already left La Realidad, or if they have not yet done so, or if
the possibility exists that they might be detained at another spot,
so that they might not continue travelling.

We hope to have more information in a few hours.

You may distribute this urgent information through all possible
media, getting it to all collectives, platforms, unions, and social
organizations in general, leaving in your hands the possible
actions that can be carried out in order to stop this. The presence
of Mexican observers is also urgently requested in that area, for
which reason we are asking for brigades from all over the country.

With nothing more for the moment, we will stay in contact. Our
kindest regards and best wishes,

RECIO Against the War
**************************************

At 9 PM.

It has been reported to us that there is a group of PRI indigenous
at the Momon crossroads, that there are approximately 300 who are
blocking the way with placards that read, "The communities of this
area ask respect for our rights as indigenous, we are working
people," in another it says, "We are asking the government to
continue with economic and road programs," another says, "Get out
strikers," another says, "Get out UNAM," and, on another, "Get out,
foreigners."

Through these actions it can be seen that the government is
provoking a confrontation between CIVILIANS.
***********************************
ENLACE CIVIL A.C.
CONSULT OUR WEB PAGE, WIITH NEW INFORMATION EVERY 15 DAYS:
http://www.enlacecivil.org.mx/
http://laneta.apc.org/enlacecivil

TOP OF PAGE

***********************************

Sent: Saturday, August 21, 1999 1:56 PM
Help is needed in Amador Hernandez - Spread the word, stop the Mexican gov.

Having read the call for support to the Chiapas situation we discovered the links
and email addresses provided have been either pulled or blocked.  Apparently
the Mexican Government is savvy to electronic political agitation.  So in response
we have researched applicable addresses, fax, phone and email addresses and
have provided it below the copy of our note.  Additionally I'd like to highly recommend
to all of those who are not fluent in Spanish the following LInk that we found to be
a highly valuable tool in uncovering the information we're providing here.
Its an auto-translation system that is simply, marvelous.  You can find it at

http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate

We have our list members busy on driving this message home to the authorities
that are surrounding the civilians with weapons that military engagments against
unarmed civilians will not be a viable alternative  nor acceptable.
If anyone has any further information on this issue please forward to me/us
personally at smithorg@bellatlantic.net

Thanks,
ellis

___________________________________________________________________

 ggomezp@acnet.net

Chiapa's State Govt. Site Developed by the Government of the State,
envienos its commentaries or doubts

We at Ameri-Advocate are extremely distressed at the sudden hostile military
occupation of the community of Amador Hernandez and the perceived threat
of violence against what amounts to be specifically Students, Teachers and
Civilians who are in the act of peacable protest of this armed incursion.

This is a direct request that you end this hostile action and withdraw
your forces immediately and elimenate the threat to innocent civilians
that your armed presence specifically provides.  We urge you to take this
dispute out of violence and terror's way and place it instead in the hands
of the World Communities domain where this dispute may be handled
professionally and arbitrated fairly without innocent and unnecessary
casualities that your militiary presence if continued, will eventually inflict.

It should be noted that with the recent action in regards to Kosovo,
that military actions waged against civilians are no longer going to
be an acceptable or viable alternative and it is in your best interest
to withdraw, cease and desist hostilities and utilize the International
communities resources to resolve this conflict.

We will be watching this situation very carefully and you may rest
assured that should there be violence waged against these civilians
we will lobby with utmost speed and resource to insure that it
will be displayed on every terminal, in every capital of the world.
World opinion has on more then one occassion been utilized to
deal with bullies that terrorize civilians.  There is no reason, what
so ever, to think that it cannot be just as easily and readily utilized
here in this instance should this situation escalate.   Additionally,
the fragile state of NAFTA could easily be revoked by a significant
lobbying effort.   Up until this point we have supported Mexico
and the current Trade agreements.  However, should a Military
or Police action be inflicted upon innocent civilians this position
will be reversed immediately and our efforts will focus specifically
on recinding these agreements immediately.

We look forward to your cooperation in easing tensions in
this area and embracing a peaceful and successful resolution to this matter.


Yours sincerely,

Ellis Smith   AMERI-ADVOCATE / ONE GLOBAL ONE



___________________________________________________________________


Directory of the Presidency of the Republic

Chief of a main directorate of Social Communication and Spokesman
Presidencial
Private secretary
Chief of a main directorate of Information
Chief of a main directorate of Diffusion
Chief of a main directorate of Synthesis and Analysis of the Information
Director of Information the International
Director of Information to Means of the State, North Zone
Director of Information to Means of the States, South Zone
Director of Coordination and Public Relations
Publication director

Chief of a main directorate of Social Communication and
Spokesman of the Presidency: Fernando Lerdo de Tejada
He calls to account Official of the Pines,
Central door, 1er. floor,
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, 11850 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 515,79,94, 271,44,60, 515,68,85, 515.33.53
Fax 516,57,62, 515.47.83
National palace, Central Patio, ér. floor,
Col. Center, 06067 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 542,05,08, 522,49,79 Private secretary of the Chief of a main
directorate of
Social Communication: David Melo Alvarado
He calls to account Official of the Pines,
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, 11850 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 516,70,59, 515.71.80
Fax 271.48.67
dmelo@presidencia.gob.mx


Chief of a main directorate of Information: Abelardo Martín Miranda
It calls to account Official of the Pines,
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, 11850 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 516,00,61, 516.51.08
Fax 516.17.97
amartin@presidencia.gob.mx Chief of a main directorate of Diffusion: Marcela
Rivero Weber
It calls to account Official of the Pines
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, 11850 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 515,93,58, 516.70.21
Fax 271.82.70
mrivero@presidencia.gob.mx

Chief of a main directorate of Synthesis and Analysis of the Information:
René Ortega Loya
Prey Salinillas 370, 5o. floor,
Col. Irrigation, 11500 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 395,67,11, 395.63.15
Fax 395,67,59, 395.62.99
daei@rtn.net.mx Chief of a main directorate of Information the
International: David Nájera Rivas
Prey Salinillas 370, 4o. floor,
Col. Irrigation, 11500 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 395,66,98, 395.67.00
Fax 395,67,90, 395,67,95, 395.67.96
cosopre4@telecommex.com

 Director of Information to Means of the States, North Zone:
Blanca Lilia Ibarra de Solorio
Prey Salinillas 370, 5o. floor,
Col. Irrigation, 11500 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 395,67,75, 395.67.77
Fax 395,67,65, 395,67,73, 395.67.79
cosopre2@telecommex.com Director of Information to Means of the States,
South Zone:
Humberto Rodriguez Lopez
Prey Salinillas 370, 5o. floor,
Col. Irrigation, 11500 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 395,67,75, 395.67.77
Fax 395,67,65, 395,67,73, 395.67.79
cosopre2@telecommex.com

Director of Coordination and Public Relations:
Mauricio Peters Krayem
He calls to account Official of the Pines,
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, 11850 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 516,90,25, 516.81.94
Fax 272,80,76, 272.81.96
mpeters@presidencia.gob.mx Publication Director: Julio Sanchez Macías
Prey Salinillas 370, 4o. floor,
Col. Irrigation, 11500 Mexico, D.f.
Tel. 395.62.96
Fax 395.62.91
jsanchez@presidencia.gob.mx

Main directorate of Social Communication  Directories

| Main page of Social Communication | Means with WWW Pages |
| Bulletins of Press | Audio Bulletins | Estenográficas versions |
Interviews and press conferences |
| Directories | Speeches and documents | Informative synthesis |
Photographic Court | Legislative Summary |


Directory of Secretariats of State

Secretariat of Gobernación (SG)
Secretariat of Relaciones Exteriores (SRE)
Secretariat of the National defense (SEDENA)
Secretariat of Navy (SM)
Secretariat of Property and Crédito Público (SHCP)
Secretariat of the Contraloría and Desarrollo Administrativo (SECODAM)
Secretariat of Energy ()
Secretariat of Commerce and Fomento Industrial (SECOFI)
Secretariat of Agriculture, Cattle ranch and Desarrollo Rural (SAGAR)
Secretariat of Communications and Transportes (SCT)
Secretariat of Desarrollo Social (SEDESOL)
Secretariat of Educación Pública (SEP)
Secretariat of Salud (SS)
Secretariat of the Work and Social Forecast (STyPS)
Secretariat of the Agrarian Reformation (MRS.)
Secretariat of Turismo (SECTUR)
Natural secretariat of Medio.ambiente, Resources and Pesca (SEMARNAP)
General office of the judge advocate general of the Republic (PGR)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Secretariat of Gobernación (SG)
Undersecretary of Social Communication: Emilio Gamboa Pattern
Barcelona 32, Col. Juárez, 06600 Mexico, D.f.
Tel. 535.70.45
Fax 546.08.95
http://www.gobernacion.gob.mx/
Chief of a main directorate of Information and Diffusion: Ignacio Lara
Herrera
Abraham González 48, P.b., Col. Juárez, 06699 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 535,57,98, 566,10,86, 535,97,11, 535.98.32
Fax 535.99.52
Chief of a main directorate of Radio, Television and Cinematografía (RTC):
Carlos Challenges Martinez
Rome 41, Col. Juárez, 06600 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 140,81,06, 140.81.07
Fax 140.81.14
http://www.rtc.gob.mx/


Secretariat of Relaciones Exteriores (SRE)
Chief of a main directorate of Social Communication: Óscar Ramirez Suárez
Cardinal red Central axis Lazaro 257 wing " To ", 1er. level,
Col. Guerrero, 06900 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 782,36,60, 782,37,65, 782,41,44 ext. 3011
Fax 327,30,25, 327,30,44, 782.38.00
http://www.sre.gob.mx/ Secretariat of the National defense (SEDENA)
Main directorate of Social Communication
Blvd. Manuel Ávila Camacho and Av. Train Military man,
2o. floor, Col. Lomas de Sotelo,
11640 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 395,67,66, 580.50.62
Fax 557,13,70, 557.89.71
http://www.sedena.gob.mx/

Secretariat of Navy (SM)
Commander of the Unit of Social Communication:
CAP of Ship Cg DEM Jorge Antonio Velasco Horseman
Axis 2 Orients 861, Heroic Section Military Naval School,
Col. The Cypresses, 04830 Mexico, D.f.
Tel. 684,81,88 exts. 4328, 4343
Fax 679,64,11 exts. 4332, 4334
Secretariat of Property and Crédito Público (SHCP)
Chief of a main directorate of Social Communication: Óscar Ignorosa Mijangos
Republic of El Salvador 47, P.A.,
Col. Center, 06000 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 709,66,75, 709,65,32, 709.68.14
Fax 709.32.72
http://www.shcp.gob.mx/


Secretariat of the Contraloría and Desarrollo Administrativo (SECODAM)
Chief of a main directorate of Social Communication: Rafael P. White Gamboa
South Av. Insurgent 1735, P.B. North wing, office 39,
Col. Guadalupe Inn, 01020 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 662,27,62, 662,32,63, 663,48,48 ext. 3002
Fax 662,45,11, 662,03,86, 662.23.61
http://www.secodam.gob.mx/
Secretariat of Energy ()
Chief of a main directorate of Social Communication: Octavio Mayén Mena
South Av. Insurgent 890, 1er. floor,
Col. Of The Valley, 03100 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 448,62,43, 448,60,00 ext. 1016
Fax 448,60,64, 448.60.65
http://www.energia.gob.mx/


Secretariat of Commerce and Fomento Industrial (SECOFI)
Chief of a main directorate of Social Communication: Juan Humberto Vital
Av. Alfonso Reyes 30, 2o. floor,
Col. Race course Countess, 06140 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 729,91,93, 729,91,94, 729.91.00
exts. 1200 to the 1208
Fax 729,93,14, 729,91,98, 729.93.15
http://www.secofi.gob.mx/
Secretariat of Agriculture, Cattle ranch and Desarrollo Rural (SAGAR)
General coordinator of the Unit of Social Communication: Paulino Cárdenas
Cruz
South Av. Insurgent 476, 5o. floor,
Col. South Rome, 06760 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 584,08,08, 584,00,10, 584.80.00
Tels./Fax 584,09,22, 584.06.42
http://www.sagar.gob.mx/


Secretariat of Communications and Transportes (SCT)
Chief of a main directorate of Social Communication: Miguel Angel García
García
Xola and Av. University, Body " C ", P.B.,
Col. Narvarte, 03028 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 538,51,48, 538,04,50, 519,89,20 Fax 519.97.48
http://www.sct.gob.mx/
Secretariat of Desarrollo Social (SEDESOL)
Chief of a main directorate of Social Communication: Juan Carlos Hinojosa
Luelmo
Av. Constituent 947 edif. B, P.B.
Col. Bethlehem of the Flowers, 01110 Mexico, D.F.
Tels. 515,45,08, 271,82,17, 629,99,10 ext. 3260
Fax 272,01,18, 271.14.07
http://www.sedesol.gob.mx/


Secretariat of Educación Pública (SEP)
Chief of a main directorate of Social Communication: Alfredo Cortina Espejel
Brazil 31, P.B. office 115, Col. Center, 06029 Mexico, D.F.
Tels. 329,68,27, 329,68,30, 328,10,00 exts. 1107, 1108
Fax 329,68,22, 329.68.30
http://www.sep.gob.mx/
Secretariat of Salud (SS)
Chief of a main directorate of Social Communication: Alberto Perez Blas
Lieja 8, 5o. floor, Col. Juárez, 06600 Mexico, D.F.
Tels. 553,76,70, 553,79,40 Fax 286.54.97
http://www.ssa.gob.mx/


Secretariat of the Work and Social Forecast (STyPS)
Chief of a main directorate of Social Communication: Beautiful Virginia
Méndez
The peripheral South 4271, building " To ", 1er. level, *** TRANSLATION ENDS
HERE ***
Col. Fuentes del Pedregal, 14149 México, D.F.
Tels./Fax 645.37.15, 645.25.95, 645.37.20
http://www.stps.gob.mx/
Secretaría de la Reforma Agraria (SRA)
Director General de Comunicación Social: Ignacio Cabrera González
Azafrán 219, 5o. piso,
Col. Granjas México, 08400 México, D.F.
Tels./Fax 650.52.11, 650.64.99, 650.72.11 ext. 233
http://www.corett.gob.mx/


Secretaría de Turismo (SECTUR)
Director General de Comunicación Social: Alfonso del Río Pintado
Presidente Masaryk 172, 1er. piso,
Col. Polanco, 11587 México, D.F.
Tels. 250.86.04, 250.81.71,
250.85.55 exts. 142, 190 Fax 254.00.14
http://mexico-travel.com/
Secretaría de Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Pesca (SEMARNAP)
Director General de Comunicación Social: Mario Guillermo Huacuja Rountree
Anillo Periférico Sur 4209, 3er. piso,
Col. Jardines en la Montaña, 14210 México, D.F.
Tels. 628.08.91, 631.83.83, 628.06.00 ext. 2104
Fax 628.07.80, 628.07.81
http://www.semarnap.gob.mx/  Procuraduría General de la República (PGR)
Directora de Comunicación Social: Gloria Vázquez Rangel
Reforma 3, 2o. piso,
Col. Guerrero, 06300 México, D.F.
Tels. 626.40.91, 626.40.92
Fax 626.44.26
http://www.pgr.gob.mx/


Main directorate of Social Communication  Directories

| Main page of Social Communication | Means with WWW Pages |
| Bulletins of Press | Audio Bulletins | Estenográficas versions |
Interviews and press conferences |
| Directories | Speeches and documents | Informative synthesis |
Photographic Court | Legislative Summary |


Government of the Federal District

Government of the Federal District
General office of the judge advocate general of Justice of the Federal
District (PGJDF)
Social office of the judge advocate general of the Federal District (PS)
Secretariat of Seguridad Pública (SSP)
Locatel
Servicios Metropolitanos, S.A. of C.V.
System of Collective Transport (METER)
Delegation Alvaro Obregón
Azcapotzalco Delegation
Delegation Benito Juárez
Coyoacán Delegation
Cuajimalpa Delegation
Cuauhtémoc Delegation
Delegation Gustavo To Madero
Iztacalco Delegation
Iztapalapa Delegation
Delegation Magdalena Contreras
Delegation Miguel Hidalgo
High Milpa Delegation
Tláhuac Delegation
Tlalpan Delegation
Delegation Venustiano Carranza
Xochimilco Delegation

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Government of the Federal District
Spokesman of the Head of Government of the Federal District: Pablo Marentes
González
Seat of the Constitution and Pine Suárez 1, 4o. floor,
Col. Center, 06068 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 510,03,49, 512,96,37, 510,47,37 ext. 1363
Fax 542.83.73
http://www.ddf.gob.mx/

General office of the judge advocate general of Justice of the Federal
District (PGJDF)
Chief of a main directorate of Social Communication: Lourdes González
Jameson
Fray Servando 32 P.b., Col. Center, 06067 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 625.71,97, 625,77,26 Fax 625.76.42

Social office of the judge advocate general of the Federal District (PS)
Director of Social Communication: Sandra Ortega Tames
He sights on 161, ér. floor, Col. Rome, 06700 Mexico, D.F.
Tels. 209,66,39, 209.66.38
Tel./Fax 533,11,15


Secretariat of Seguridad Pública (SSP)
Director of Social Communication: Octavio Fields Ortíz
Liverpool 136, P.b. Col Juárez, 06600 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 242,53,14, 242,53,15, 525.38.32
Fax 208.77.91
Locatel
Internal director of Communication and Services: Gabriel Alvarez Herrera
Miguel Angel of Quevedo 270, Col. Villa Coyoacán, 04000 Mexico, D.F.
Tels. 658,57,52, 658,57,53, 658,35,34, 658,12,35, 658,11,11, 658.11.72
Fax 658,12,44, 554,68,63, 659.13.55

Servicios Metropolitanos, S.A. of C.V.
Chief of a main directorate: Alfonso Is vacant Morales
Av. University 740, 2o. floor,
Col. Letrán Valle, 03650 Mexico D.f.
Tels. 604,03,69, 688,53,09 Fax 688.88.98

System of Collective Transport (METER)
Public manager of Social Communication and Relations: Luis Hidalgo Monroy
Luis Moya 102, P.a., Col. Center, 06070 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 627,47,46, 709.08.60
Tel./Fax 709.07.44

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Delegations

Delegation Alvaro Obregón
Coordinator of Social Communication: Lourdes Castillo Méndez
Canary and Street 10, main Edif., P.B.,
Col. Tolteca, 01159 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 516,68,25, 272,55,55 exts. 125, 141, 127, 191
Tel./Fax 516.85.47

Azcapotzalco Delegation
Coordinator of Social Communication: Maria Wake Rivero Valencia
Castile East and 22 of February s/n, 2o. floor,
Col. Azcapotzalco, 02000 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 561,78,93, 353,35,73, 352,42,44 exts. 246, 247
Tel./Fax 561,78,93


Delegation Benito Juárez
Coordinator of Social Communication: Alfonso Maya Nava
Division of the North 1611, mezanine,
Col. Santa Cruz Atoyac, 03310 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 422,55,00 ext. 1289 Tel./Fax 604.48.66
Coyoacán Delegation
Coordinator of Social Communication: Maritza Macín Lara
Caballocalco 22, Col. Of The Carmen Coyoacán, 04100 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 554,75,75, 659,22,56 exts. 124, 125 Fax 554.51.21

Cuajimalpa Delegation
Coordinator of Social Communication: Isaura Hernandez Moon
Av. Juárez and Av. Mexico s/n, main Edif., 1er. floor, Cuajimalpa de
Morelos, 05000 Mexico, D.F.
Tel. 813,25,78 Tel./Fax 812.13.55

Cuauhtémoc Delegation
Coordinator of Social Communication and Public Relations: Glen Antonio
Maga6na Roberts
Aldama and Mine, 2o. floor,
Col. Buenavista, 06350 Mexico, D.f.
Tel. 703,10,25 Tel./Fax 566.17.34

Delegation Gustavo To Madero
Coordinator of Social Communication: Laura Castellanos Saavedra
5 of February and Vicente Villada 2o. Floor,
Col. Villa Gustavo To Madero, 07050 Mexico, D.f.
Tel. 750,05,47 Tel./Fax 781,33,57


Iztacalco Delegation
Coordinator of Social Communication: Mercedes Avilés Vargas
Av. River Churubusco and Calle Tea, Plaza Benito Juárez,
Edif. Annexed, Col. Gabriel Ramos Millán, 08000 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 654,32,32, 654,34,77 ext. 2402
Tel./Fax 650.41.80
Iztapalapa Delegation
Coordinator of Social Communication: Roque Hernandez Rojas
Aldama s/n esq. City council, P.b.,
Col. District of San Lucas, 09000 Mexico, D.F.
Tels. 445,10,08, 445,10,07 Tel./Fax 685.48.33

Delegation Magdalena Contreras
Coordinator of Social Communication: Aurelio García Oliveros
Av. Alvaro Obregón 20,
Col. Dry Ravine, 10580 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 645,58,22, 645,21,20 ext. 70 Tel./Fax 645.07.57

Delegation Miguel Hidalgo
Coordinator of Social Communication: Gustavo Calsadilla Reyes
Av. Park Lira 94,
Col. Extension Daniel Garza, 11860 Mexico, D.f.
Tels. 515,14,58, 230,54,00 exts. 4070, 4071
Tel./Fax 272,98,45


High Milpa Delegation
Coordinator of Social Communication: Arming To Velasquez Orchard
Av. Mexico esq. Av. Constitution s/n,
Edif. Annexed, 1er. floor, Villa High Milpa, 12000 Mexico, D.F.
Tels. 844,02,27, 844,00,68 to the 71 ext. 230 *** TRANSLATION ENDS HERE
***nbsp;
Tel/Fax 844.18.91
Delegación Tláhuac
Coordinador de Comunicación Social: Ángel Bejarano Ortiz
Francisco I. Madero y Nicolás Bravo,
Edif. delegacional 1er. piso,
Col. Barrio de la Asunción, Tláhuac, 13000 México, D.F.
Tel. 842.16.99 exts. 111, 159
Tel./Fax 842.22.01

Delegación Tlalpan
Coordinadora de Comunicación Social: Ireri de la Peña Campa
Plaza de la Constitución 1,
Col. Tlalpan Centro, 14000 México, D.F.
Tels. 573.00.66, 573. 03.60, 573.09.30, 573.01.73 exts. 114 a 116
Tel./Fax 573.24.63

Delegación Venustiano Carranza
Coordinador de Comunicación Social: Juan Francisco Parra López
Francisco del Paso y Troncoso 219, 2o. piso,
Col. Jardín Balbuena, 15900 México, D.F.
Tel. 768.32.77 ext. 101
Tel./Fax 552.37.73

Delegación Xochimilco
Coordinadora de Comunicación Social: Yolanda Naranjo Contreras
Gladiolas 161, 1er. piso,
Col. Barrio San Pedro, 16095 México, D.F.
Tels. 676.69.71, 653.21.88 ext. 230
Tel./Fax 653.01.81

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  Originally published in Spanish by Enlace Civil A.C.
  enlacecivi-@laneta.apc.org
  Translated by irlandesa
  Date: Wednesday, August 18, 1999 23:18:24 -0600

  TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO
  TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL OPINION
  TO ALL THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD

  Companeros all:

  This current urgent action is being taken owing to the military
  incursion that took place last Tuesday, August 12, in the community
  of Amador Hernandez (rebel territory), situated in the municipality
  of Ocosingo, at the edge of the Montes Azules biosphere, and we
  shall go into more detail below.

  On the above-mentioned date, around 500 Mexican federal army troops
  from the barracks at San Quintin e Ibarra, stormed into the above
  community, very close to the Aguascalientes of La Realidad,
  arriving there by land and by parachute, the majority of them
  coming down in helicopters, as a military exercise of their combat
  strategy. Later, two military helicopters arrived, carrying another
  50 soldiers. All of this while the National Encuentro for the
  Defense of the Cultural Heritage was taking place in La Realidad,
  which had been convened by the EZLN in order to stop the proposed
  general Law of Cultural Heritage, which is seeking to privatize the
  historic heritage.

  The community of Amador Hernandez finds itself at this moment under
  siege by the Mexican federal army, who have already set up their
  camps and have surrounded the community with barbed wire. On the
  15th, they used tear gas to disperse the peaceful protest against
  this military operation, that was being carried out by the tzeltal
  residents and members of the civil observation committee, who had
  come from the above-mentioned encuentro, causing three injuries
  among the campesinos, and another among the observation committee
  members.

  The excuse for the military incursion is in order to protect one of
  the ends of the Trans-Selva Highway, which is currently under
  construction. This version, however, is absolutely denied by the
  residents of this area, since they have never asked for the
  construction of this road. The fact that they want to put it there
  speaks to the military strategy, of continuing to surround and
  isolate the commandancia of the Zapatista army. This new military
  aggression against the Zapatista army is trying - in addition to
  silencing them - to separate them from the principal resistance
  movements in the country, according to Subcomandante Marcos. In
  addition, the government is trying to dig in, through the army, to
  one of the richest and most secret oil reserves in the northern
  hemishphere of the American continent, and, then, to begin
  extracting the oil found there.

  This new operation by the federal army is an attempt to consolidate
  their combat positions in the communities of the Selva Lacandona.
  This is being done - under the pretext of reforesting the Selva and
  the building of new highways - for better placement of military
  troops and the establishment of numerous camps, barracks,
  checkpoints and other military construction.

  The situation in the municipality of Amador Hernandez is extremely
  grave at this moment. Because off this, EZLN support base and
  ARIC-Independent civil organization companeros from nearby
  communities are holding a permanent sit-in, in order to protect the
  residents of this community.

  For this reason, we are calling on everyone to carry out the
  following urgent action, that we are dividing into the following
  tasks:
     1) Seeing the necessity for supporting the companeros who are
  under military siege in a permanent sit-in, in support of the
  community, and knowing the meager resources they have, and the
  extreme exhaustion to which they are already being subjected, we
  are requesting the following provisions and supplies in order to
  support them: food (rice, beans, maize, canned goods, powdered
  milk, tortillas, sugar, pasta, and other things as the need
  arises), bottled water and/or disinfectant for it, candles, covers,
  clothing, shoes, medicines, etc., etc...
     2) To distribute the denuncia of what is going on in the
  municipality of Amador Hernandez, as well as this urgent request
  for help, throughout all the collectives, platforms, social groups,
  unions, and groups in general throughout the world; in order to
  keep them informed as to what is transpiring in this municipality.
     3) To carry out various acts of civil resistance, such as
  marches, sit-ins, demonstrations, and anything that may occur to
  them, at barracks, embassies, consulates, government offices, in
  Mexico, as well as in the rest of the world, for the purpose of
  continuing to denounce, and thus put a halt to, this war of
  extermination which the Mexican government continues to wage
  against the Indian peoples.
     4) To form brigades of Mexicans who will come to the aid of the
  companeros at the sit-in.
     5) To send faxes, email, and to flood the phones, for the
  purpose of stopping and denouncing these government-military
  aggressions, to the following bodies:

   - President of the  Republic
  Lic. Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León
  Fax: (int - 52) 271 1764 / 515 4783
  E-mail: webadmo-@op.presidencia.gob.mx

  - Mexican National Army
  VII Military Region
  Division General José Gómez Salazar
  Tel./Fax: (int-52) 961 41666

  - COCOPA
  Paseo de la Reforma # 10, piso 17
  06018 México, D.F. - México
  Fax: (int-52) 5 140 3288

  - Department of Government
  Fax:  (5) 626 44 26 / 626 44 78
  Http://www.pgr.gob.mx/frames/framej.htm
  (email availability to them is on their web page)

  -Governor of Chiapas
  Roberto Albores Guillén
  E-mail :  comsocg-@correo.chiapas.com
  Tel/Fax: (961) 209 17 / 124 18

  -National Human Rights Commission
  Fax:  (5) 6 31 26 33
  E-mail:  cnd-@laneta.apc.org

  - United Nations
  Fax: (5) 255 00 95
  E-mail: bruno.guandalin-@un.org.mx

  -Chamber of Deputies
  Fax: (5) 208 78 63

  - Congress of the State of Chiapas
  E-mail: hcongres-@acnet.net

  - Department of Justice of the State of Chiapas
  Fax: (961) 6 53 74

  Hoping for an immediate response to this action we are presenting
  to you now, we urge you to participate in it, and to support us in
  solidarity, in order to not leave our companeros alone who are
  struggling for democracy, liberty and justice.

  With nothing more for the moment, and awaiting your collaboration,
  we bid you goodbye for now, sending you our best wishes and regards
  in solidarity.

  Sincerely

   - Regional Contact Office For Los Altos of Chiapas (Regional
   Coordinator for the Consulta)
   - K´inal Antzetik A.C.  - Resistance Bulletin - Artisans
   Cooperative Jolom MayaetiK

  *********************************************
  ENLACE CIVIL A.C.
  Calle Ignacio Allende 4
  29200 San Cristobal de Las Casas
  Chiapas, Mexico
  Telephone and Fax:   52-967-82104
  Email:  enlacecivi-@laneta.apc.org
  ---
  Originally published in Spanish by La Jornada
  Translated by irlandesa

  La Jornada
  Thursday, August 19,1999.

  Military Blockade in Amador Hernandez Reinforced,
  Payan: the Government Goes to War;
  PAN Criticizes "Military Escalation"

  Hermann Bellinghausen, correspondent.
  Amador Hernandez, Chiapas
  August 18.

  At the current moment, the situation in this Selva ejido is grave,
  tense and complicated. A detachment of 500 Mexican Army troops,
  made up of elite troops and Military Police, are keeping the access
  blocked leading to the road that joins Amador Hernandez with San
  Quintin, where the chiapaneco government and the soldiers are
  trying - at all costs - to build a highway.

  Hundreds of tzeltal indigenous from the region have been holding,
  for seven days now, a protest sit-in at the entrance to the
  community, which is also the entrance to the vast and splendid
  Amador Valley, at the foot of the San Felipe Sierra, in the Montes
  Azules.

  Two groups of students have now joined in the sit-in, the majority
  from the ENAH [National School of Anthropology and History].
  Nonetheless, Governor Albores' press offices have decreed that they
  are the fearsome "ultras" from the UNAM , who are "manipulating"
  the indigenous, so lazy and stupid, poor little things, led,
  according to the outlandish version, by that well-known student
  leader, Ofelia Medina.

  And so, then, the slander, the media lynching and the threats have
  turned their sights on civil society, most of them from the Federal
  District, who went there in order to support the indigenous
  resistance.

  After moments of great tension and scenes of indignation on the
  part of the indigenous, the sit-in by the zapatistas took an
  unexpected turn today. The sticks were followed by tear gas and the
  building of impenetrable barriers of a camp in continuous use.

  This morning, hundreds of tzeltal men and women, with their faces
  uncovered and armed with sticks that also serve them as walking
  sticks in the well-trodden mud, appeared in front of the blockade
  the federal Army is maintaining, armed with flowers - the fantastic
  orchids, violets, birds of paradise and wild gardenias of the Selva
  Lacandona - and they hung them along the sharp barbed wire of the
  barrier, that today dawned double (one spiral over the other).
  Then, they tied colored balloons to those lines. They sang Las
  Mananitas to the soldiers, Cartas Marcadas, by Pedro Infante, and
  various Catholic hymns in tzeltal.

  But the circumstances are dramatic. The wounded and gassed now
  number ten. More than 300 indigenous mobilized, and more than
  several thousand indigenous affected by the overwhelming and sudden
  military occupation.

  An incessant thunder of helicopters assaults the Selva with its
  strong wind. Their engines are never turned off, all the take-offs
  and landings are done on the run, like in a war movie.

  But this is not a movie. Nor an ad campaign. It is truly an invasion.

  "It's a provocation," says Abel, a zapatista representative from
  Amador Hernandez, with no beating around the bush.

  Now they are saying that they are blocking the road. But it was the
  reverse. Since August 12, the federal Army has been occupying
  ejidal lands and keeping the road closed. Since then, and since the
  siege, the tzeltales, EZLN support bases, have been protesting in
  many ways and with everything against them.

  A veil of outlandish and doctored reports are covering up the
  attacks against the campesinos. Perhaps taking advantage of the
  fact that the public has had its attention turned elsewhere of
  late, and not here, to the last corner, the most distant and
  solitary of the patria: Amador Hernandez in the Amador Valley,
  Emiliano Zapata rebel municipality (and the constitutional one of
  Ocosingo), Chiapas, Mexico, August of 1999.

The Occupation From the Beginning

  A hundred soldiers and an engineer suddenly arrived in the
  community, out of nowhere, to this place that is seven hours away
  "by Indian foot," from San Quintin, and, since it's the rainy
  period, spectacularly muddy. It was Wednesday, August 11. To the
  campesinos' surprise, the visitors bought supplies in the store,
  walked through the village, and the engineer took some
  measurements. Then they left. What was curious is that no one had
  known they were coming down the road, they simply appeared.

  That night, a new moon, was completely dark. On the dawn of
  Thursday, the 12th, two kilometers from the village, on Amador
  Hernandez ejidal lands, the first campesinos who went out to the
  fields discovered that they could not get through the road that
  leads south, to Nuevo Chapultepec and San Quintin, all along the
  edge of the Montes Azules biosphere reserve. A cordon of soldiers
  were blocking the way.

  At one side, towards the east, at the edge of the river, the
  hundred visitors from the previous day had erected a makeshift
  camp, and they had spent the night there. Starting in the early
  hours of the 12th, the soldiers set about the task of cutting down
  a circular area, resulting, a few hours later, in a clearing, that
  ended up being a heliport.

  And successive waves of helicopters began arriving, transporting
  troops, supplies and axes, many axes. To be doing this at the very
  threshold of the Montes Azules is to be saying the wrong thing.

  Dozens of times a day, since last Thursday through today, the
  thunderous and extremely violent din of the machinery silences the
  Selva for interminable minutes. They are no longer bringing troops,
  but they are bringing kilometers of coiled barbed wire, that is
  double-edged and razor sharp. Each helicopter that lands brings -
  in addition to hundreds of cans of Cocoa Cola and of Ciel water -
  fruit, refrigerators, motors, boxes, and two or three rolls of that
  frightening wire. They need up to ten men just to unload them.

  But the history, like all histories, had begun before, exactly one
  week back, on Wednesday, the 4th. Starting on that day there had
  been intense, continuous and low flights by military helicopters
  over this tzeltal village of 609 residents.

  Or, rather, the calm had already been lost. But it was on the 12th,
  when they found their only access to the outside blocked off, that
  the residents of Amador Hernandez went out into the road to  protest.

  Days before, one of many helicopters landed on the crude landing
  strip that crosses the village, where it remained, without turning
  off its engines. No one came out. Then it lifted up in flight,
  ripping the clinic roof, in addition to knocking down the kitchen
  of an ARIC family, and leaving several houses without their palm roofs.

  It was the preamble to the military occupation that now appears to
  have been consummated. The explanation that the federal Army and
  the Chiapas government is giving is that the operation is in order
  to "protect" the topographers who are taking the measurements for
  the Nuevo Chapultepec-Amador Hernandez stretch of road.  It so
  happens that the zapatista support bases of this community, in the
  Emiliano Zapata Autonomous Municipality, are opposed to this road,
  that they did not ask for it.

  Those from the ARIC-Independent in the same town were in agreement,
  but, upon seeing the aerial invasion, they changed their minds, and
  they have now notified the federal Army and Governor Albores'
  envoys that they do not want the road.

  Too late. It does not matter that the residents of the different
  surrounding communities (Pichucalco, Guanal, Plan de Guadalupe and
  others) are also opposed. The government has already said it will
  not take one step backwards.

The Hour of the Gas

  A hundred zapatistas carried out the first protests, men, women and
  even children, throughout the day of the 12th, at the entrance that
  the federal Army assault troops had chosen to make their advance.

  On Friday, the 13th, when there were already 500 soldiers
  positioned there, the cordon of military police that were blocking
  the way already had anti-riot helmets and shields. There were more
  and more indigenous, from other communities. Amid cries against the
  Army and militarization, vivas to the EZLN, and all kinds of
  messages in tzeltal and Spanish, the soldiers ears were covered,
  silently and firmly. Behind them, the flurry of helicopters and the
  occupation of large areas of land by the soldiers continued without let up.

  That night, the EZLN support bases set up a makeshift guard camp,
  made up of simple, low plastic roofs, and bonfires, on a promontory
  just above the entrance occupied by the federales.

  Some 30 young persons also arrived that night, from La Realidad,
  after having walked twelve hours from San Quintin. They were mostly
  students from the National School of Anthropology, a few from the
  UNAM, and the actress Ofelia Medina.

  They were the first of two groups of participants from the National
  Encuentro in Defense of the Cultural Heritage in La Realidad, who
  had organized in order to go to that distant village in serious trouble.

  The 50 kilometers of Selva that separates La Realidad from Amador
  Hernandez are, by land, a terrible trip. The residents of the ejido
  received the civil observers in the community's school, they fed
  them, let them rest their feet, which were a wreck, and rest
  themselves after the crossing.

  On the morning of Saturday the 14th, the students accompanied the
  Zapatista residents of Amador Hernandez to the entrance the federal
  Army had been (and was) guarding, and they began the second day of
  protest.

  The mud was growing heavy under the restless footsteps of the
  hundreds of persons, shouting with all their might at the soldiers.
  From a loudspeaker being run from a car battery, came the speeches
  of the men and women who stepped up to the microphone.

  The anti-riot military police, were equipped with belts with small
  canisters of paralyzing gas, that, according to the label, are deadly weapons.

  Meanwhile, the campesinos, armed with sticks, began striking the
  shields of the troops with growing force, for several hours. The
  indigenous women were the bravest.

  Then, two more helicopters landed, with 50 more soldiers and a
  journalist taking photographs.

  Throughout this entire time, the soldiers were rigorously filming
  and photographing the indigenous and the students. The officials
  were pointing at some of them. From behind the cordon of military
  police, a soldier appeared, pointed at one of the ENAH students
  threateningly, crouched down, and then reappeared with a tear gas
  canister that he fired at the young man, who felt as if he had been
  blinded and who suffered an incredible burning of the flesh,
  especially on his left arm, which had been the one he had raised to
  protect his face.

  It was the signal. Other soldiers repeated the same operation
  against the indigenous, who, with their faces covered with scarves
  and ski-masks, did not stop shouting.

  During the struggle, some of the soldiers were also hurt.

  The indigenous women affected by the gas cried out in pain, saying
  "Ay, I am dying, I am dying."

  Their companeros led them to the river, a few meters away from the
  quagmire where they had been, and washed off their eyes and bodies.
  The men, equally affected, were more stoical in their suffering,
  but they were also very badly off.

  That night another 30 students and professors arrived, also on
  foot, from San Quintin.

  Some students joined in the indigenous watch at the promontory at
  the edge of a field. And it rained oceans, Selva-like.

  The military camp, at that point, was no longer makeshift in the
  slightest. It was now another village, with shops and other company
  facilities, trenches, parapets, and the previously mentioned, and
  hectic, heliport.

  The Other Blockade

  On Monday, August 16, when they returned in the morning to the
  muddy entrance where the Army was, the campesinos and students
  found a pole fence, well put together, across the entire road.
  Behind it, a spiral of the barbed wire the helicopters had brought,
  and, further back, a line - no longer of military police - but of
  combat troops.

  The heliport was surrounded in the same way.

  Behind the barriers put up by the federal Army were Governor
  Albores' civil representatives, Public Ministry Agent Miguel Angel
  Utrilla Robles and the Colonel in charge of the operation.

  Then numerous campesinos from the ARIC-Independent reached the town
  of Amador Hernandez. They crossed through the military circle and
  met with Ivan Camacho, who later introduced himself to this
  correspondent as Governor Albores "political operative." They also
  delivered a document in which ARIC members from this and other
  communities withdrew their request for the road.

  They displayed a banner demanding the withdrawal of the federal
  Army, and they returned to their communities. Meanwhile, the
  protest by the zapatistas, students and people from civil society,
  continued, with shouts, vituperations and speeches.

  The morning of Tuesday, the 17th, they went to the entrance again,
  now a huge bog, constantly trampled, the earth renewed each night
  by the downpours, and each day by the feet, generally bare (even
  those of the students).

  Towards noon, Army helicopters brought in a large pool of reporters
  from various media, especially print. Some of them crossed over the
  barrier of barbed wire and poles to talk with the dissidents, but
  they were received with mistrust, even rejected. Nonetheless, the
  journalists took pictures and notes, and went back to where they
  had come from.

  Some of them were dispatched to Nuevo Chapultepec, PRI community,
  where Antonio Chulin Mendez, forewarned by the military ("the
  general is going to be coming," they had told him, a farmworker
  from that town had revealed to La Jornada), stated that they did
  want the road, that a short time before two children had died due
  to the lack of timely medical attention. Regardless, the stretch of
  road that will serve Nuevo Chapultepec is not being blocked by
  anyone, since it is further "outside" the Selva. In fact, the road
  from San Quintin ends in Amador Hernandez.

  It was by way of that road - perhaps one of these days, a highway -
  that we journalists from La Jornada arrived, until we ran into a
  guard of soldiers from the federal Army that prevented us from
  going through. From further ahead - less than one kilometer of
  dense jungle away - the cries of hundreds of voices could be heard,
  shouting vivas to the EZLN and to Subcomandante Marcos.

  A lieutenant, in charge of the post, told us: "You can't pass
  thorough, this is a military occupation." He immediately told us we
  should look for a path in order to gain access to the village.

  We were not in a good mood, and we were tired and up to here in
  sweat, but we looked for the path. To no avail. We were then
  insistent with the soldiers, claiming our rights in the second
  article of the Constitution, to freedom of movement.

  Then there appeared a young Colonel and Ivan Camacho Zenteno,
  director of Political Affairs for the state Department of
  Government, and they kindly led us around the new heliport, in such
  a way that we would not be following the road.

  And we crossed to the other side of the looking glass.
  ---
  Originally published in Spanish by Fray Bartolome de Las Casas
  Human Rights Center
  cdhbcasa-@laneta.apc.org
  Translated by irlandesa
  Date: Thursday, August 19, 1999 19:14:48 -0500
  From: Fray Bartolome de Las Casas HRC cdhbcasa-@laneta.apc.org
  Press Bulletin
  August 19, 1999.
  OPERATIONS IN SELVA LACANDONA ARE VIOLATING HUMAN RIGHTS
  AND ARE LEADING US TO THE EDGE OF WAR

  Since May of this year, the "Fray Bartolome de Las Casas" Human
  Rights Center has been receiving denuncias concerning incidents
  that have been occurring in communities in the Selva Lacandona,
  denouncing counterinsurgency actions by the Federal and State
  governments.

  Through checkpoints and military operations, members of the Mexican
  Army have been harassing and intimidating residents of communities
  such as Rosario Rio Blanco, Nazareth, Taniperla, Viejo Velasco,
  Palestina, Crucero de Cintalapa, Frontera Corozal and Boca
  Lacantun. Over the past few days, the military operation involving
  some 8000 Mexican Army forces in the Selva communities has stood
  out.

  Among the new checkpoints that have been set up, the one that was
  recently established by Public Security Police (PSP), along with
  PRI activists in the community of Eden, municipality of Las
  Margaritas, should be noted. This checkpoint, and the circumstances
  that are evolving, is reminiscent of the checkpoint established by
  the PSP and PRI militants in Crucero Pinal, municipality of
  Chenalho, on June 1st this year.  Three persons were arbitararily
  detained at this checkpoint, one of them for several hours, and the
  other two were jailed for more than a month, in a procedure that
  included torture, among other serious human rights violations.

  Today, some of the participants in the Encuentro in Defense of the
  Cultural Heritage were intimidated at several checkpoints when they
  were going from La Realidad to San Cristobal. Especially at the
  checkpoint at Guadalupe Tepeyac, their freedom of movement was
  hindered, and they were verbally assaulted by migration forces.
  They intimidated them and took their photographs.

  Tomorrow, participants in the Encuentro in Defense of the Cultural
  Heritage -  which was held in La Realidad, municipality of Ocosingo
  over the last few days - will be passing through, as will several
  persons from civil society, among them, members of this Human
  Rights Center, and witnesses present at the protest against the
  parachute operation that took that community. We are concerned
  that, during their return, they could be detained and their human
  rights violated, endangering their safety.

  In response to this worrisome situation, this Human Rights Center
  demands:

  1. An end to the violent actions being implemented by the
  Government of Roberto Albores Guillen, and a halt to the
  intimidating actions towards members of civil society.
  2. Precautionary measures by the National Human Rights Commission,
  in order to watch over the behavior of the military, migration
  agents and members of the state and federal judicial police, so
  that they will no longer continue carrying out actions that
  jeopardize the physical safety of the communities and members of
  Mexican civil society, who are working as human rights observers in
  the communities of the Selva.
  3. That the federal Government act swiftly and expeditiously, in
  order to put a stop to these actions, that are taking us to the
  edge of a reinitiation of the hostilities like in the first days of
  January of 1994.
  *****************************************
  Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center
  Francisco Leon 5
  Barrio de Santa Lucia
  San Cristobal de las Casas
  Chiapas, C.P. 29250
  Mexico

  Telephone:  (967) 8 35 48
  Fax:  (967) 8 35 51
  Email:  cdhbcasa-@laneta.apc.org
  http://www.laneta.apc.org/cdhbcasas/
  ---
  Originally published in Spanish by Enlace Civil A.C.
  enlacecivi-@laneta.apc.org
  Translated by irlandesa
  Date:   Thursday, August 19, 1999 20:52:35 -0600

  URGENT ACTION FROM AMADOR HERNANDEZ
  August 19, 1999
  San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico

  Today, at 10:00 AM, we received the following information from Las
  Margaritas:

  A group of Public Security Police were heading towards the
  community of Nuevo Momon, through which the students that are in
  Amador Hernandez will have to pass. The police met there with
  people from the town of Eden (from the Institutional Revolutionary
  Party, the PRI) so that they could wait together for the group of students.

  According to this, they had arrest warrants for them, although it
  is not known what the charges are. It is feared there could be a
  confrontation between civilians (students and PRI's from Eden),
  provoked by the residents of this community and by Public Security,
  when the latter try to execute the arrest warrants.

  The Momon crossroads is approximately one hour from Las Margaritas,
  where there are several military camps, making the situation more
  difficult. Ten minutes away from the Momon crossroads is the Matias
  Castellanos military camp, and, thirty minutes away, the Vicente Guerrero camp.

  We also have information that at this moment, Albores Guillen is in
  San Quintin, from where he will shortly be flying to Amador
  Hernandez. Public Security Police helicopters have been sent to
  Amador Hernandez on a mission to arrest the students that are still
  there and the community leaders.

  According to statements by Albores, by radio from the community of
  San Quintin, they are not going to allow any national or foreign
  observers to either enter or leave from the Aguascalientes of La
  Realidad, nor from the area.

  At the present time, it is not yet known whether the students have
  already left La Realidad, or if they have not yet done so, or if
  the possibility exists that they might be detained at another spot,
  so that they might not continue travelling.

  We hope to have more information in a few hours.

  You may distribute this urgent information through all possible
  media, getting it to all collectives, platforms, unions, and social
  organizations in general, leaving in your hands the possible
  actions that can be carried out in order to stop this. The presence
  of Mexican observers is also urgently requested in that area, for
  which reason we are asking for brigades from all over the country.

  With nothing more for the moment, we will stay in contact. Our
  kindest regards and best wishes,

  RECIO Against the War
  **************************************

  At 9 PM.

  It has been reported to us that there is a group of PRI indigenous
  at the Momon crossroads, that there are approximately 300 who are
  blocking the way with placards that read, "The communities of this
  area ask respect for our rights as indigenous, we are working
  people," in another it says, "We are asking the government to
  continue with economic and road programs," another says, "Get out
  strikers," another says, "Get out UNAM," and, on another, "Get out,
  foreigners."

  Through these actions it can be seen that the government is
  provoking a confrontation between CIVILIANS.
  ***********************************
  ENLACE CIVIL A.C.
  CONSULT OUR WEB PAGE, WIITH NEW INFORMATION EVERY 15 DAYS:
  http://www.enlacecivil.org.mx/
  http://laneta.apc.org/enlacecivil

************************

TOP OF PAGE

Sent: Sunday, August 22, 1999 2:59 PM
  Subject: Lopez y Rivas Blasts Chiapas Militarization

  Originally published in Spanish by El Universal
  ________________________
  Translated by irlandesa

  El Universal
  Monday, May 3, 1999.

  One Soldier For Every Twenty Residents in Chiapas:
          Lopez y Rivas

  Bertha Fernandez
          The federal goverment is increasing its military budget, placing
  more than 72,000 soldiers in Chiapas - one for every 20 residents at 184
  checkpoints - encouraging the growth of paramilitary groups, failing to
  carry out the San Andres Accords and putting off discussion of the
  problems, which are becoming worse every day, stated Deputy Gilberto Lopez
  y Rivas.

  Fourteen thousand chiapanecos in the state have been turned into
  militarized civilians, by the Army doctrine, who are attacking their own
  brothers  - under the pretext of the fight against drug trafficking - as
  the human rights of the indigenous, the owners of the chiapaneco lands, are
  being violated, he added.

  The soldiers are becoming more and more professionalized, and some of them
  are being trained at the School of the Americas, where soldiers of the
  region are being taught the art of suppression .

  While this is going on, the President of the Republic is increasingly
  without a State policy for the resolution of the multiple problems that
  exist in the country, and he is acting without direction, Lopez y Rivas added.

  Since 1994, when the Zapatista Army of National Liberation arose, there has
  been a substantial growth in the budget related to the military and
  modernization of equipment.

  Despite the fact that the Constitution establishes equality of rights for
  all Mexicans, the indigenous of Chiapas are suffering from a disadvantage,
  because of the war that has been unleashed on their lands, because of the
  multiple violations of their human rights that occur every day, and,
  despite the fact that they live in one of the richest states in the
  country, because they are unable to enjoy its benefits.

  Deputy Lopez y Rivas stated that the citizenry should demand a peaceful
  solution to the problems from the government and say where we want to go.

  It is absurd that there are 184 checkpoints in that southeastern Mexican
  state, manned by soldiers and public security, Migration, Judicial police
  and Naval personnel.

  This is another violation of rights, because, despite the fact that they
  talk about freedom of movement, it does not exist, and the only thing that
  militarization achieves is the intimidation those trying to move about the
  state.

  The war has not been stopped;  it has, on the other hand, given rise to
  150,000 displaced, many of whom have had their houses burned and who have
  lost all their few belongings, he denounced.
  ___________________________________________________
  NUEVO AMANECER PRESS-N.A.P.To know about us visit:
  http://www.nap.cuhm.mx/nap0.htm   (spanish)
                *******************
  In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107,this material is distributed without profit or
  payment to those who have expressed a prior interest.**We encourage you to
  reproduce this information giving credit to source, translation and NAP.**
  General Director:Roger Maldonado-Mexico  Director Europe: Darrin Wood-Spain
  Advisor and Special Correspondent:Guillermo Michel-Mexico.
  Director of Social Communication NAP-MEXICO-USA:
  Rodrigo Bengochea-Mexico
  Advisory team: Members of Civil Society-Mexico
  NAP Coordinator and Assistant Director:Susana Saravia
  **************************
  "If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. . .But if you have
  come because your liberation is bound with mine, then let us work together."
  --Aboriginal Woman
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