ZAPATA VIVE!During the last few days and weeks the Mexican military forces have stepped up their operations against Zapatista base communities and forced now thousands to flee into the mountains to avoid violence and repression. We're asking everyone to ready for a possible demonstration soon to stop the Mexican government's new attempts to dismantle autonomous Indian municipalities and its the war against civilians in Chiapas and elsewhere in Mexico. Please send a letter today to the U.S. and Mexican governments, denounce the deepening human rights and political crisis in Mexico and demand peace and justice across the border and around the Bay. ACTION ALERT!5,000 Indigenous People Flee from Mexican MilitaryPresident Zedillo and Roberto Albores Guillen, governor of Chiapas, have completed operations that have led to the displacement of some 5,000 more Zapatista sympathizers to other communities and to the mountains of the Ca~adas. A year after the last massacre in El Bosque Chiapas the Mexican military is still invading communities and carrying on its War of Extermination against the indigenous communities that are Zapatista bases of support.The Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center and the Fray Pedro de la Nada Human Rights Committee reported that this Sunday the Army carried out a new operation in another town in the conflict zone. They said this was the sixth operation that the Army and the police had carried out over the last few days. They stated that three other communities, among them La Garrucha, seat of the Francisco Gomez Autonomous Municipality, are threatened with being seized by Army troops and state police forces, since hundreds of forces are now concentrated on the outskirts of the towns. These activities by the Military and the State Police are setting up the stage for another massacre in Chiapas. Governor Albores Guillen has helped devise every calculated movement of the Mexican military to ensure that the circle tightens around the communities as they occupy strategic sights and attack pro-Zapatista communities. The Mexican government has implemented this cruel and inhuman strategy for four years and they have time and again tried to provoke the EZLN (Zapatista Army for National Liberation) into a direct military confrontation. Throughout these five years the Zapatistas have maintained a peaceful position and have participated in the San Andre's Accords for Indigenous Rights, which the government now refuses to implement. The U.S. is unwilling to stand up for peace and human rights of the indigenous people of Chiapas but instead has formed alliances with the drug infested PRI (Institutional Revolucionary Party) Mexican government. The New York Times and Washington Post revealed that Mexican President Zedillo's Secretary was connected to the drug cartels, yet, Secretary of the State Madeleine Albright continues to defend the innocence of the PRI government. The highest Mexican Military leader, Cervantes, was cited by the U.S. press as having ties to drug cartels. This is the government that is expected to carry out a peace process in Chiapas, Mexico. This same government applied tremendous pressure on Bishop Ruiz of the Diocese of San Cristo'bal de las Casas and the entire diocese until he disbanded his mediation team. Clinton claims to have taken action in Kosovo to help a people whose "only hope was that the world would not turn away in the face of ethnic cleansing and killing, that the world would take a stand," but in Chiapas, Mexico, indirect U.S. aid and impunity fortify the War of Extermination against Indigenous Communities. How can the Mexican government continue to pull the wool over the eyes of the U.S. President? Why is the U.S. covering up the same kind of activity that they so strongly condemned in Kosovo? How can the U.S. government continue its military and economic assistance to the Mexican government under these conditions? How can the U.S. overlook the long list of human rights abuses in Chiapas? We must not allow the long list of human rights abuses in Chiapas to continue to grow. The American Public cannot continue to be fooled by the Mexican government about the war in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico. In order to establish the conditions necessary for a peaceful resolution, three points must be addressed:
What can you do?Please help us build and create the momentum that will finally bring to a halt the atrocities being committed against indigenous people in Southern Mexico. Talk to your friends and encourage them to help. Everyone can participate to bring about peace with justice in Chiapas by creating "a world in which all worlds fit". It is urgent for you to do the following:
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