RIGHTS-MEXICO: 12,000 Displaced by Violence in Chiapas

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Pilar Franco

MEXICO CITY, Aug 23 2002 (IPS) - Some 12,000 people have been forced to flee their homes by the ongoing violence in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, the United Nations secretary-general’s special representative on internally displaced persons, Francis Deng, reported Friday.

Deng, the envoy of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, ended a three-day visit to Chiapas Friday. But on the urging of human rights groups, he added a previously unplanned leg to his journey – a visit to another southern state, Guerrero, on Sunday.

Deng’s presence drew attention to the problem of forced displacement in Mexico, but that is not the only difficulty suffered by the people of the impoverished state of Chiapas, which, moreover, is not the only Mexican state facing that problem, Edgar Cortés, the director of the Jesuit-run Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Centre, told IPS.

The UN official’s visit to Chiapas was preceded by a skirmish Monday between Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) rebels and a paramilitary group in Nuevo Guadalupe, in which four people were injured by bullets, several were beaten, and one was arrested.

The poverty and violence plaguing the state of Chiapas was first highlighted on Jan 1, 1994, when the EZLN declared war on the Mexican government, demanding true democracy and recognition of the rights of the state’s largely indigenous population.

The conditions in which some 12,000 displaced persons live in at least 10 municipalities in Chiapas is a source of “international concern,” said Deng.

The displaced people interviewed by the UN official blamed their situation on paramilitary groups that drove them off their land and out of their towns.

Deng received a report drawn up by indigenous people and peasant farmers in Chiapas describing the threats, plundering, humiliation, intimidation and other rights abuses suffered by local residents, from children to the elderly.

The document also reported cases of forced disappearance and murders of people “whose only crime was organising themselves to defend their rights.”

Deng met with representatives of the government of Chiapas and of social and human rights groups to assess the conditions in which the displaced are living, and pledged that he would work to find international assistance to help resolve the conflict in that state.

“Deng’s visit enabled us to draw attention once again to an issue on which authorities have kept silent, in order to give the impression that nothing is happening in Chiapas,” said Cortés.

The current situation of the displaced population demonstrates “that the conflict in Chiapas has followed a long process of deterioration,” added the activist. The state is facing “problems like paramilitary violence, conflicts over religion, and lack of effective action by authorities.”

Although “Deng’s presence in Chiapas only stressed one of the components of the social crisis,” it did “provide an opportunity to emphasise the urgent need for aid” for the local population, he said.

The UN official’s visit also raised hopes for the eventual renewal of peace talks between the government and the EZLN, said Cortés.

The poorly-armed insurgent group, which is led by the charismatic “Subcomandante Marcos” and has earned strong international support, stormed away from the negotiating table five years ago to protest changes introduced to a draft law on indigenous rights and culture, on which the representatives of the EZLN and the government had reached agreement.

The modified version of the bill, which is rejected by the Zapatistas, ended up being approved by Congress in April 2001.

Furthermore, the problem of displacement “is not only seen in Chiapas, but also affects other states, like Guerrero,” which is also located in Mexico’s less-developed southern region. The causes of forced displacement lie in politically motivated violence and conflicts over religion and land ownership, said Cortés.

Deng will travel Sunday to Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero, on a visit that did not originally form part of his itinerary.

Local non-governmental organisations accuse the state government in Chiapas and Mexico’s central government of waging a “low-intensity war” which “threatens peace in the area,” and called for an end to the “systematic attacks” on EZLN members and sympathisers.