Chiapas rebels declare autonomous rebel county Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source: "NUEVO AMANECER PRESS" Mon, 29 Sep 1997 09:58:20 +0000 * Chiapas rebels declare autonomous rebel county By TRINA KLEIST Associated Press Writer Sep 28, 1997 18:24 EDT MOISES GANDHI, Mexico (AP) - Zapatista rebels Sunday founded an autonomous rebel county named in honor of Cuban revolutionary Ernesto ``Che'' Guevara at a ceremony in this village in southern Chiapas state. In a traditional blessing, an elderly Tzeltal Indian woman in a lacy embroidered blouse blew incense over four newly named county authorities wearing the ski masks popular among rebels. Men in woven cotton trousers played a harp and guitars as an elderly man lit candles and shook rattles during a swearing-in ceremony witnessed by more than 200 representatives from communities throughout this region near the Guatemalan border. ``We are the true heirs of the ancient Maya, inheritors of their struggle, their liberty and their dignity,'' said a masked man who led the ceremony. ``We declare today and we are and want to be part of Mexico... and the Maya nation. We are and will be part of the construction of the fatherland that we want, where there would be democracy, liberty and justice.'' One of the four new authorities, a masked Indian known only as Simon, accepted the beribboned staff of rulership and the founding laws of the rump county, whose legitimacy is unlikely to be recognized by any constitutional authority in Mexico. The new county is located about 75 miles (120 kms) east of the Chiapas state capital and about 10 miles south of Ocosingo, the formally recognized county seat. Che Guevara is just one of more than 20 autonomous counties throughout Chiapas state being planned by rebels of the Zapatista National Liberation Army, who rose up nearly four years ago demanding agricultural, political and economic reforms. Organizers said the founding of the rebel county was the first in a planned declaration of five more in the Ocosingo area that, together, will make up the Tzotz-choj Autonomous Zone, named after a ruler of the nearby Tonina Maya ruins. The area, mainly populated by Tzotzil and Tojolob'al Indians, is home to three more rebel counties which have become a target for the building of new military camps and of violence by groups linked to the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party. Some of the autonomous counties are already operating on a de-facto basis, with their own councils and small budgets for education, development and public works. Since the Zapatista's 1994 armed uprising, autonomy for Indian peoples has become a key rebel claim - and currently the biggest stumbling block to the renewal of stalled peace talks. A partial peace agreement signed by federal government and rebel negotiators in February 1996 calls for constitutional amendments that would authorize Indian autonomy. Supporters argue autonomy would provide a political basis from which to improve the lives of Mexico's poorest citizens, but President Ernesto Zedillo has said the autonomy agreement as presently worded is unconstitutional. He has called for renegotiating the accords, arguing they would endanger national unity and hurt Indians by creating poverty-stricken reservations like those in the United States. Zapatistas reject any renegotiation, and have demanded the implementation of the accords before renewing peace talks that they suspended over that issue one year ago. ``We know that the government is like a deaf man ... it has never understood us,'' said Simon at the end of the ceremony. ``We are here so that it understands us. That is why we are receiving the staff of rulership and our laws.'' (c) 1997, Associated Press * Amnesty International criticizes worsening rights situation in Mexico EDS: INSERTS 2 grafs to ADD president's reactions to AI report, picksup 5th graf pvs, ``The AI report...'' Sep 28, 1997 18:24 EDT MEXICO CITY (AP) - Amnesty International criticized what it called Mexico's worsening human rights situation and directed 17 recommendations to President Ernesto Zedillo in a report published Sunday. AI Secretary-General Pierre Sane was to have delivered the report to Zedillo personally during a visit here, but Sane said the Mexican government canceled his planned Sept. 23 meeting with the president. ``The serious problem of human rights abuses in Mexico is still far from being satisfactorily resolved, and has even shown signs of worsening,'' according to a copy of the report published by the Proceso news magazine. Amnesty International criticized cases of torture, unlawful arrest and disappearances, and said ``the growing participation of members of the armed forces in such practices'' was especially worrisome. The Zedillo administration has allowed the country's army to play an increasingly large role in common law enforcement, anti-guerrilla and anti-drug actions, but denies the policy implies a militarization of the country. The Foreign Ministry denied that Zedillo had canceled the meeting with Sane, saying no request for one had been received. In an interview with local media, Zedillo said the AI statement ``does not coincide'' with reports on the situation by the government's National Human Rights Commission, but acknowledged that reforms to the nation's legal system have not gone far enough. The AI report includes 17 recommendations on how to reform Mexico's law enforcement procedures, including stricter arrest rules and informing those arrested of their rights. Holding and punishment cells should be eliminated or regulated, and questioning of detainees should be subject to strict oversight, the report recommends. The function of Mexican prosecutors - who are currently responsible for the arrest, detention, questioning, review of evidence and prosecution of suspects - should be distributed among various agencies. Medical services independent of the prosecutors' offices should be established to protect detainees, and all officials accused of violating human rights should be forced to appear before civilian courts. The AI report also recommends that the rights of illegal immigrants be respected in Mexico, and that victims of torture or unlawful detention be given compensation. (c) 1997, Associated Press ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-09.30.97-01:04:37-16391