Mexican Army Captain Granted Asylum in US Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit TRANSLATION BY: ROBERT HERR FOR NUEVO AMANECER PRESS NUEVO AMANECER PRESS - EUROPA Darrin Wood, Director. dwood@encomix.es ***************************** EL UNIVERSAL Former Army Captain Granted Asylum in the U.S. for Refusing to "Kill Indigenous People" He maintains that in 1994 he received orders not to capture any of the Zapatista rebels, but rather to "eliminate them." CARLOS FERREYRA H./Correspondent LOS ANGELES, U.S., April 17. Jesus Valles, a former captain within the Mexican Army, was granted asylum by authorities in the United States who believed that his refusal to "kill indigenous people" in Chiapas could result in his becoming a victim of the Mexican government. In his request for political asylum, the former soldier told immigration authorities that in January of 1994 he refused to obey his superior officers' orders to kill any person in the Lacandon jungle he suspected of being a member of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN, by its abbreviation in Spanish). Jesus Valles, 31 years old, related to the Immigration judge in El Paso, Texas that during the initial days of the Zapatista rebellion, General Luis Humberto Portillo, in charge of the military zone 30 on the dividing line between Chiapas and Tabasco, ordered his troops not to capture any of the Zapatista rebels, but to "eliminate them." The general's orders, according to the statement made last year but recently published in "L.A. Weekly", were obeyed by at least one soldier, Alberto Perez Nava, who executed five supposed rebels in a market in Ocosingo, without any actions taken against him. Jesus Valle refused to kill the alleged Zapatista rebels because he "had already been in Chiapas once, living with the Indians; they live off of what they grow from the earth and they shared their food with anyone there, even the army." The former captain fled from Mexico with his wife, crossing the border to Texas in 1995. He was granted asylum on March 19 of this year, after Bertha Zuniga, the judge who heard his case, concluded "that there is reason to believe that the Mexican government killed innocent civilians and led a repressive military action." Valle says that after having refused to follow General Portillo's orders he was transferred to Tejuacan, Puebla where he was advised to "disappear". Due to the risk of being murdered or imprisoned, he deserted the Army and fled with his wife to Chihuahua. Both crossed the border in 1995 and consulted with a lawyer of Mexican origin, Samuel Schmidt, who presented the Immigration Judge with documents from Amnesty International that confirmed Valle's accounts of the abuses committed by the Mexican Army against the indigenous people of Chiapas. Schmidt is known, according to "LA Weekly", as a pioneer in presenting cases of political asylum for Mexicans. He was also the lawyer who obtained this protection during the late 1980's for two leaders of the National Action Party (PAN) from Chihuahua. The former soldier stated that he is not the only deserter from the army and that during the first weeks of the attack against the Zapatistas he witnessed hundreds of soldiers running through the jungle, abandoning the army. A native of the central state of Morelos, Valles received a scholarship to attend the Military College. He recalled that his first mission as a soldier was in Chihuahua where he participated in anti-drug operations. During these maneuvers he claims to have witnessed soldiers torture Tarahumara Indians. This is the first case of a Mexican soldier being granted political asylum in the United States, although ten years ago Canada granted protection to Zacarias Osorio. According to the Los Angeles journal, Osorio formed part of an elite unit based in the Military Camp Number One during the 70's and 80's. According to Osorio's testimony, in this camp he participated in the execution of at least 140 political prisoners. ___________________________________________________ NUEVO AMANECER PRESS-N.A.P.To know about us visit: http://www.nap.cuhm.mx/nap0.htm (spanish) ================================================================= 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-04.24.99-11:27:54-29962