Posted by Darrin Wood on December 29, 1997 at 10:20:23:
In Reply to: Re: Marcos Marcos blames Mexican president for slaughter of Indians posted by rdom on December 28, 1997 at 16:46:25:
CLINTON'S "INTERFERENCE" IN MEXICO
*From Wounded Knee to Chiapas*
by Darrin Wood, Director NAP-Europa
December 28, 1997
According to the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations, US President Bill
Clinton has just "interfered in Mexican internal affairs" by demanding an
exhaustive investigation into the massacre which recently occurred in
Chenalho, in the Mexican state of Chiapas.
Since Clinton wants an investigation and the government of Ernesto Zedillo
doesn't want anyone on the outside looking into how Mexico murders it's
Indians, we at Nuevo Amanecer Press - Europa have come up with a handy
solution for both of them. Why doesn't someone order an investigation into
US Military "interference" in Mexico ?
Last year, the US Army Special Forces began a massive training program of
Mexican Special Forces (GAFE - Airborne Special Forces Groups). From fiscal
year 1996 until fiscal year 1997 around 3,200 Mexican soldiers will receive
training in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, by the Green Berets' 7th Special
Forces Group (the same ones who brought you all those "democratic freedom
fighting" human rights abuses in Honduras and El Salvador in the 1980's).
The program allegedly forms part of the "War on Drugs" led by ex- SOUTHCOM
head honcho Barry McCaffrey. Sounds nice but...
The Mexican news agency APRO reported on December 25th that "An important
detachment, composed of members of the [Mexican Army] Airborne Special
Forces Groups (GAFE) was sent to the community of Acteal, in the
municipality of Chenalho, where this past Monday "a paramilitary group
linked to the PRI" carried out the biggest massacre in recent years in
Chiapas, leaving a total of 46 dead and 25 wounded, the majority being
women and children. The soldiers of the GAFE, experts in counterinsurgency
and specialized in operating in rough terrain as can be found in Chiapas,
immediately set up three roadblocks on the highway that leads from the
Chenalho to Acteal in order to meticulously search all vehicles which
passed through the troubled area."
Oddly enough, on december 26th, the Mexican daily LA JORNADA published an
article on a recent operation of the GAFE in the state of Jalisco where
more than a dozen young men were kidnapped and tortured. One of the youths,
Salvador Lopez Jimenez, died as a result of this "Special Forces" action.
LA JORNADA states that "The judge of this jurisdiction has ordered that
charges be brought against Lieutenant Colonel Julian Guerrero Barrios and
Captain Rogelio Solis Aguilar, who are accused of the crime of violence
against the people, as authors of homicide." The article states that 15
other soldiers will be charged in the cover-up but no names were given.
Nuevo Amanecer Press - Europa has been able to confirm that Lt. Col.
Julian Guerrero Barrios is a graduate of the US Army's School of the
Americas - SOA, which he attended in 1981 in a course titled "Commando
Operations". Time to add another photo in the SOA's "Hall of Fame". We do
not know yet how many other of those charged have received training
recently at Fort Bragg.
We also wish to point out at this time that the mastermind behind Mexico's
counterinsurgency strategy in Chiapas, General Mario Renan Castillo
Fernandez, has received instruction at Fort Bragg as well. The general, now
the ex commander of the Mexican Army's 7th Military Region in Chiapas, has
recently been pointed out as having served as an "Honorary Witness" at a
ceremony where the state government of Chiapas handed over half a million
dollars to the paramilitary group "Paz y Justicia".
We find it odd that the two biggest recipients of US military aid in Latin
America, Colombia and Mexico, are also the two Latin American countries
with the greatest number of massacres carried out by paramilitary
organizations connected to their respective armed forces. Therefore, we
demand an investigation to find out if the use of paramilitary
organizations form an active part of US counterinsurgency doctrine. We have
several questions that need to be answered :
1. Is the financing and training of paramilitary - terrorist groups in
Latin America currently being taught at the School of the Americas or at
Fort Bragg ? If not, has it been done in the past ?
2. According to a September 1997 report on Mexico from drug Czar Barry
McCaffrey, the recent "gifts" of Huey helicopters to that country are
supposed to be used by the Special Forces of the GAFE for fighting the war
on drugs. Are any of those helicopters now being used in counterinsurgency
operations by the GAFE in Chiapas ?
3. According to the Mexican press, on December 9th, two FBI agents were in
the state of Oaxaca giving instruction in the "management of crisis and
kidnappings" to police from Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca (as well as other
troubled states). One article on the course quoted a US Embassy official as
saying that police forces "have the right to use necessary force" to
protect society. This person also defined "crisis management" as being
confrontations between police and military forces with groups that
"disagree with society", further stating that guerrilla organizations fall
into that definition. Does the action of the Chiapas police in Chenalho,
just two weeks after their FBI course, fall into the US idea of "crisis
management" ?
It is time for a serious investigation, not empty protests meant for
internal consumption. It is impossible to take the Zedillo government's
protests of "interference in Mexican internal affairs" seriously while he
blindly obeys economic policies dictated by the International Monetary
Fund, the World Bank and Wall Street which kill thousands of Indigenous and
poor Mexican citizens every year through hunger, malnutrition and curable
illnesses. In fact he is more than happy to obey foreign economic
interference. He only becomes angered when people protest because the
killing is being done by bullets and not banks.
The protests concerning the massacre in Chenalho by US president Bill
Clinton are also hard to swallow given that it is the US which is supplying
all the weapons and training for the bloody counterinsurgency campaign
currently being waged by the Mexican Army in Chiapas, as well as other
states. The same atrocities have been carried out recently in Colombia and
the US government has just responded by approving an even bigger military
aid package for counterinsurgency in Colombia. The message seems to be that
if Mexico keeps on killing its Indians, they too can expect to receive more
aid.
We demand an investigation !
Tomorrow, December 29th, marks the 107th anniversary of the bloody
massacre Indian men, women, and children carried out by the US Army at
Wounded Knee, South Dakota. It would mark a perfect opportunity to reflect
on the latest massacre of Native people in the Americas.