Mexican Military Blamed for Murders of Indian Youth


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Rights-Mexico: Military Blamed for Murders of Two Indian Youths

By Pilar Franco

MEXICO CITY, (May 13) IPS - The murders of two young indigenous peasants and
the rapes of two of their female relatives in the Mexican state of Guerrero,
which were blamed on soldiers, fueled demands by human rights groups for an
end to the militarization of vast areas of southern Mexico.

Antonio Mendoza, 12, and Albino Tellez, 27, disappeared on Apr. 20 - the day
the military occupied the municipality of Rancho Nuevo in the region
inhabited by the Mixtec indigenous community, where a movement demanding
autonomy took shape in 1995.

It was reported today that the case had been taken up by the rights watchdog
Amnesty International, which was awaiting a decision by its department of
investigations in London before taking action.

Mendoza and Tellez disappeared while harvesting corn on the same plot of
land where two of their female relatives -- Victoriana Vazquez, 33, and
Francisca Santos, 50 -- were later raped by three soldiers, authorities of
the self-proclaimed autonomous municipality denounced.

The disappearances and rapes were reported to the local agency of the public
ministry (the public prosecutors office) and other legal authorities, who
did not notify the families of the deaths of Mendoza and Tellez until May 8,
according to relatives of the victims.

The Miguel Agustin Pro Human Rights Center warned that murders, rapes and
abuses of civil liberties would continue as long as the army remained in the
region.

The non-governmental organization (NGO) is demanding the withdrawal of the
armed forces from the area, in order to guarantee the rights of the Mixtec
Indians.

Extensive areas of the impoverished southern states of Chiapas, Guerrero and
Oaxaca, as well as other parts of the country, began to be militarized when
the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) rose up in arms in Chiapas on
January 1, 1994, demanding full democracy and justice, as well as respect
for indigenous rights.

The number of troops was later stepped up in Oaxaca and Guerrero after the
Revolutionary Popular Army (EPR) began to operate there in late 1996.

"On repeated occasions we have alerted authorities to the danger that the
presence of the army represents for the indigenous population," said Rafael
Alvarez of the Agustin Pro Center.

The rapes of Vazquez and Santos "demonstrates the grave danger to people's
safety and the pernicious effects of militarization," he added.

A number of NGOs in Mexico have complained that the military occupation of
indigenous areas has interfered with the daily lives of local villagers.

"Men are accosted when they leave to work on their 'milpa' (small plots of
land) and submitted to arbitrary searches and interrogations, as well as
taunts and mistreatment," said Alvarez. They are also "forced to carry the
backpacks of soldiers, who plunder the local communities."

The relatives of the missing boy and young man went public this week, after
being notified of their deaths on May 8.

The soldiers implicated in the murders claimed that Mendoza and Tellez had
shot at them with firearms, and that they were forced to defend themselves.

The army has not yet commented, however, on the report by the two indigenous
women that they were raped by three soldiers.

In their complaint, the women stated that "it is unjust for the military to
come to our communities and fail to respect indigenous people, who are only
subjects of violence, aggression and neglect."

Twenty members of the Mixtec community have been killed since the movement
for the autonomy of the region began. And, according to human rights
activists, the president of the self-proclaimed autonomous municipality,
Marcelino de los Santos, has been thrown in prison.

The Mixtecs have also denounced a number of disappearances, burned houses
and thefts of livestock and food by soldiers in a number of villages since
the EPR made its first public appearance at a 1996 ceremony commemorating
the massacre of 17 peasant activists in the mountains of Guerrero.

In other areas of Oaxaca inhabited mainly by indigenous people, more than
100 peasants accused of belonging to the EPR have been put behind bars.
 
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