NEW VIOLENCE IN CHIAPAS
Paras Attack Zapatistas in Zinacantan; Maya Muslim Movement Splits; "Rebel
Governor" Avendano Dead at 65
The Red Cross announced in early April that it is closing down its
operations in southern Mexico's conflicted state of Chiapas, established
over the past ten years to deal with a local refugee crisis. The
organization cited pressing needs in Iraq, Colombia and other global
hotspots. (La Jornada, April 8)
But within days of the announcement, a new outburst of violence in the
Chiapas highlands demonstrated all too clearly the persisting crisis in the
state.
BLOODSHED IN ZINACANTAN
On April 10, anniversary of the 1919 slaying of Emiliano Zapata, some 3,000
members and supporters of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN)
marched on the Tzoztil Maya town of Zinacantan, arriving in a caravan from
their base in the nearby village of Oventic. Many wearing ski masks but
carrying no firearms, the procession was delivering tanks full of potable
water as a solidarity gesture to small pro-Zapatista hamlets in Zinacantan
municipality which have been denied access to water services by corrupt
local political bosses. As the marchers were returning to their vehicles
after a rally and ceremony at the pro-Zapatista hamlet of Jechvo, they
found their way barred by some 150 anti-Zapatista militants from the
neighboring hamlet of Paste, many of them armed. After 40 minutes, some of
the Zapatista marchers began to remove the rocks that had been strewn
across the road and attempt to pass. At this, the anti-Zapatista forces
began hurling rocks and M-80 firecrackers, and some opened fire. Up to 30
Zapatista supporters were wounded--two seriously, who were taken to the
hospital in nearby San Cristobal de Las Casas. Early reports that two were
shot dead appear not to have been accurate.
Wintesses reported that at least two Zinacantan municipal police officers
accompanied the anti-Zapatista militants and did nothing to interfere as
the violence broke out. The anti-Zapatistas were said to be adherents of
the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), which has in the
past frequently been in alliance with the EZLN. The PRD currently holds
power in Zinacantan and, as leader of an electoral alliance, in Chiapas
state. (La Jornada, April 11; Chiapas IMC, April 12)
Following the violence, at least 125 families--a total of some 700
people--fled their homes in Zinacantan's pro-Zapatista hamlets, taking
refuge at camps in San Cristobal. They were first reported to have begun
returning to their hamlets ten days later. (Milenio, April 21)
Most paramilitary groups in Chiapas are tied to the Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI), a long-entrenched machine which only lost its
monopoly on power in Chiapas and Mexico in 2000. Last year, Zinacantan saw
violence between local PRI and PRD militants. The new violence loans
credence to those who argue the PRD is coming to resemble its longtime
rival.
See also WW3 REPORT #77
DISSENT EMERGES IN MAYA MUSLIM MOVEMENT
A self-described "moderate" faction has broken from the Mission for Dawa in
Mexico, an Islamic group which has won a following among Maya Indians in
the poor barrios of San Cristobal de Las Casas. Led by Tzotzil Maya Muslim
convert Juan Gomez Gomez--who now goes by the name of Yahya--the dissidents
accuse Mission leaders of "deviating" from traditional Islamic teachings in
favor of a "radical" ideology. Gomez said the Mission, led by a the
Spaniard Aureliano Perez Orihuela, had "abandoned the true word of God."
Gomez also accused the Mission of exploiting Indian converts. He said one
who left the movement had worked five years in a bakery run by the Mission
but was never paid. Gomez charged that Mission leaders "do not practice
what it says in the Koran." He said the Mission was not violent, but that
there are "other Muslims who are more radical." It was not clear if he
meant within Chiapas.
Gomez's wife Rahma (Josefina Jimenez Hernandez) and their two children are
part of a group of 30 Muslims who live in the San Cristobal community of
Molino de los Arcos and have now broken from the Mission for Dawa.
Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) recently issued an alert
warning of the threat of imminent violence due to intolerance towards the
Muslim movement by the region's Catholic political establishment. Gomez, a
former evangelical convert who was evicted from the nearby village of
Chamula by local political bosses in 1974, said his community seeks to
avoid violence. "Here the people respect us, and we also respect those who
are of different religions," he said. "We are at peace." (Proceso, April 11)
The Mission for Dawa in Mexico claims some 300 followers in San Cristobal.
First arriving in Chiapas in 1997, the Mission is said to be linked to the
Murabitun Worldwide Movement, a Morocco-based sect led by Abd al-Qadir
al-Sufi. WW3 REPORT intelligence indicates Abd al-Qadir al-Sufi is a former
British anarchist who wrote under the name Ian Dallas in the 1960s.
(Murabitun Worldwide Movement)
(Mission for Dawa in Mexico)
See " Islamic Sect Targets Chiapas Indians" by Bill Weinberg, from Native
Americas journal, Summer 2003, reprinted on the WorldWide Religious News
website
See also WW3 REPORT #42
"REBEL GOVERNOR" AMADO AVENDANO DEAD AT 65
Crusading newspaper editor and former "rebel governor" Amado Avendano, who
documented years of struggle in Chiapas before finally becoming a political
player himself, died in San Cristobal de Las Casas at the age of 65 on
April 29, 72 hours after suffering a brain hemorrhage. An EZLN communique
the next day stated: "With the death of Don Amado, Mexico has lost a
conscientious fighter, Chiapas has lost one of its best sons, the Indian
peoples a brother, and the Zapatistas a companero." (Proceso, EZLN
communique, April 30)
Avendano's small San Cristobal newspaper El Tiempo was the first in Mexico
to run communiques from the EZLN in the January 1994 uprising. In that
year's election, he ran for state governor with the PRD. In between
campaign stops in July, his car was hit head-on in a mysterious crash which
killed two of his cousins and his campaign manager, leaving Avendano
himself in a coma. Although wearing a patch over one wounded eye, he
recovered in time to continue the campaign. When his victory was stolen by
alleged fraud, the Zapatistas proclaimed for him and he became "rebel
governor" of Chiapas--civilian leader of a parallel government whose armed
force was the EZLN. He remained in this position until 2000, when new
elections brought current governor Pablo Salazar and a PRD-led coalition to
power. After that, he led the Chiapas branch of the Zapatista National
Liberation Front, or FZLN, conceived as a civil political counterpart to
the EZLN. His widow Concepcion Villafuerte pledges to carry on his work.
(Bill Weinberg)
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Special to WORLD WAR 3 REPORT, June 5, 2004
Reprinting permissible with attribution
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