Today there are 13 years of the terrible massacre of Acteal. By way of remembrance I began to investigate the details of its history, I share a summary following this paragraph.
The aforementioned massacre was perpetrated at about 10:30 am on December 22, 1997 by about 90 men from a paramilitary group called Red Mask [1], the victims, belonging to the community known tztotzil as Bees, settled in Acteal, Chiapas, had gathered to pray at a shrine there. Of the approximately 300 people gathered, 45 were killed.
The victims: 15 children including a baby, "21 women, one pregnant, and 9 men.
Not all victims were his death in the initial assault, the killing went on for 6 hours, which gave the command to find time to loose some of the sneak in and run after a number of machetes. In an unprecedented manner, the police near a checkpoint not showed up in place while the nightmare occurred [1].
paramilitary groups existed in the region at least a year before the slaughter, were reported by neighboring communities over the authorities showed no overtones of wanting to remedy that irregular situation. At that time Ernesto Zedillo was President and Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro was governor of Chiapas. It is no coincidence that communities were the supporters harassed to the cause of the EZLN , violence is merely the consequence of counter-insurgency tactics stemmed from the dumbbell between the government and the chieftaincy that looks first define and then put out an opposition movement which, by its assertive character of the marginalized indigenous and exploited, has the ability to spread to communities suffering from the same ills [2].
No change in his speech, the Zedillo government's argument was that the conflict in Chiapas have a sort ethnic and territorial rather than a political one, more precisely, that violence is the result of disputes between communities over natural resources of the locality (particularly, it speaks of a sand mine.) The federal authority asserts that the Bees came to attack police in Chenalho, a charge that has the appearance of no less than an attempt to devalue the victims and thus turn them into criminals. The official record of June 10 indicated that the bees made it known that it was unsafe to return to the community Yashemel, but does not disclose what action taken by the government. At the same official blog draws my attention to the entry of 15 November, which, I understand, the author of the record does not know for sure what the political affiliation of the mayor of Chenalho, only manages to establish that "it is presumed, is PRI." The same report indicates that the exodus was not only sympathetic to the Zapatistas, there were also Indians with PRI affiliate. At the same chronology is reported that just 11 days before slaughter and the Constitutional City Council meeting Zapatista Autonomous habíanse to sign a pact of "non-aggression and mutual respect" . As a specific cause of the slaughter wields a vengeance ... Agustin Vazquez Secum mentions son Antonio Vázques Secum latter Quextic local leader was killed in an ambush on 17 December, allegedly by people of Acteal, few days later, on December 20, Antonio asked for support to enemies of Bees avenge the death of his son's attackers, many of them uniformed military-style brown suit, carrying firearms of different calibers and machetes, took by assault the shrine in which the inhabitants of Acteal were gathered in prayer. [3]
According to the testimony of survivors, the command was made up of indigenous murderer trained and sponsored by the government [4]. According to some research, the attackers were brought to the scene of the massacre in official vehicles [5].
Today
Most of the targeted as perpetrators of the felony have been released by the Supreme Court's [6], citing lack of evidence, and without weighing the evidence of survivors.
Even if those involved had been convicted, their sentences would have been minimal, since on them the light hovered over illegal possession of weapons [1] rather than homicide.
The perpetrators, participants high ilk, have remained impervious to the system Mexican justice.
Human Rights Center Fray Bartolome de las Casas ( Frayba ), founded by Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia, has the merit of having been working in search of justice for injured people, one of its achievements is that, although the government has carefully distance himself from crime has yet been set by international organizations-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR ) between them, as a sponsor of the violence plaguing communities presumably attached to shoes ... and, to that effect has not been openly in grasping the paramilitary [7].
Although the military and paramilitary activities have declined, they still exist. Overwhelmed communities claim that the commands are dormant, buried weapons waiting to be summoned ... [4]. In this regard, I am reminded of a disturbing news [8] I read a little more than a year and that prompted me to make a notation [9] in this same blog.
To end this text, I quote the final sentence of the report concise Magdalena Gomez [7]:
"Acteal victims deserve justice."
Notes and sources:
- Acteal "José Saramago; Other Papers Saramago: http://cuaderno.josesaramago.org/2009/08/17/acteal/
- Acteal, Aguilar Camin ... Zedillo was also "checks? Álvaro Cepeda Neri ; Contralínea: http://www.contralinea.com.mx/archivo/2008/enero/datos/acteal-camin-cheques.htm
- Chronology of events leading to the slaughter of Acteal -Interior; presidencia.gob.mx : http://zedillo.presidencia.gob.mx/pages/chiapas/docs/crono.html
- Acteal Slaughter: when government paramilitary disguised - Leandro Albani; Alba TV: http://www.albatv.org/Masacre-de-Acteal-cuando-el.html
- Carlos Payan Acteal Presents: State crime of Fabiola Hermann Bellinghausen -Palapa, La Jornada: http : / / www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/03/02/index.php?section=cultura&article=a12n1cul
- Commission will investigate killing of Acteal Universal -EFE/El; estudiod3.com : http://www.estudiod3.com/alianza/index.php/home/6000-cidh-indagara-matanza-de-acteal
- Acteal under the sign of impunity -Magdalena Gomez, La Jornada: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/12/21/index.php?section=opinion&article=022a2pol Preparations
- armed movement, argument for the repression in Chiapas -Hermann Bellinghausen, La Jornada: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/11/14/index.php?section=politica & article = 014n1pol
- Catch a possible uprising in 2010 -Yo, Chimney Sweep: http://deshollinador.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/atajada-posible-insurreccion-en-2010/
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