[NYTr] Chiapas requests army presence for elections; EZLN suspend national tour

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Milt Shapiro (mexnews)


World War 4 Report - Sep 27, 3007
http://www.ww4report.com/node/4482

Chiapas requests army presence for elections; EZLN suspend national tour

State authorities in Chiapas have requested that federal army troops 
be deployed to assure security in the upcoming elections in the 
conflicted southern Mexican state. Elections are to be held in two 
weeks for local authorities in 118 municipalities and for 40 state 
deputies. The state government says ten municipalities are "zones of 
alert" due to a "climate of tension." (Mirada Sur, Chiapas, Sept. 24) 
In response, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) issued a 
communique Sept. 22 charging that the state government, under the 
control of the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), 
is "attacking the poor and needy, and courting and benefiting the 
rich and powerful." ( Mirada Sur, Sept. 25) The EZLN denied rumors 
that it is supporting candidates from any party in the elections. ( 
Heraldo de Chiapas, Sept. 19) However, the rebels pledged not to 
interfere with the elections in their zones of control. (Cuarto 
Poder, Chiapas, Sept. 23)

Fear continues to grow of a planned mass eviction of Zapatista 
communities from contested lands in the Chiapas rainforest by 
followers of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The EZLN 
Good Government Junta "Hacia La Esperanza" at "Autonomous 
Municipality" San Pedro de Michoacán told reporter Hermann 
Bellinghausen of the national daily La Jornada that followers of the 
Union of Ejidos of the Selva (UES), a PRI-aligned group, in nearby 
Nuevo Gracias a Dios are "buying high powered weapons" in preparation 
for an assault against the Zapatistas. "It looks like some have even 
sold lands to buy their weapons. And they pass them right in front of 
the soldiers there at the crossroads," to bring into their 
settlement. (La Jornada. Sept. 21 via Narco News)

The EZLN's Sixth Commission has announced it will suspend the planned 
second phase of the "Other Campaign," a national tour by Zapatista 
leaders, in light of the local threat. "In its place, we will carry 
out civil and peaceful actions in defense of the Zapatista 
communities," the statement read. (EZLN communique, Sept. 22)

In a statement of their own, the Maya pacifist organization Las 
Abejas?targeted in the Acteal massacre of 1997?said that paramilitary 
activity in Chiapas has actually seen a resurgence since the PRD 
government took power last year. "The well-known Low-Intensity War 
against the pueblos that struggle against the neoliberal system has 
not gone away with the PRIista ex-governors," the statement said. 
(Mirada Sur, Sept. 24 via Chiapas IMC)

Bishop Emeritus of the Chiapas Highlands, Don Samuel Ruiz García, who 
won acclaim for brokering the peace dialogue with the EZLN in the 
'90s, said "In Chiapas, repression is being offered, not dialogue... 
A massacre like that at Acteal could be repeated at any moment." 
(Mirada Sur, Sept. 27)

Meanwhile, Zapatista supporters joined with followers of the PRD and 
even PRI to protest PRD municipal authorities at Pantelhó, who are 
building a drainage system they charge pollutes local water sources. 
(La Jornada via CDN, Sept. 21; La Jornada, Sept. 20) Infrastructure 
issues are particularly critical following Hurricane Felix. Mexican 
federal authorities declared an emergency in 118 Chiapas 
municipalities in the wake of the disaster. (El Universal, Sept. 4)

On Sept. 20, André Aubry, a former priest and anthropologist of 
French origin who had been an official advisor to the EZLN and local 
leader of the Other Campaign, was killed in a car accident at the age 
of 80. He was traveling on the raod between Tuxtla Gutiérrez and San 
Cristóbal de las Casas. (El Universal, Sept. 21)