Funeral
Marchof the
45 innocent murder victims
Funeral
March
of the
45 innocent murder victims
Holy Ground of the Martyrs
of Acteal, Chiapas, Mexico
August 10, 2000
International Day of Indigenous Peoples
To:
Social
and Political Organizations
Non-governmental Organizations
National and International Human Rights Organizations
National and International Media
The General Public:
On this day, the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, we,
the Tzotzil and Tzeltal Maya members of the Civil organization
"The Bees" -- the majority of us living displaced from
our home communities after being uprooted by paramilitary groups
protected by the governments of Chiapas and of Mexico -- gather
to give unequivocal witness against that which has led to the
injustices, the poverty, the marginalization and the exclusion to
which our lives have been subjected.
Violations of human rights and of the rights of indigenous peoples are given living testimony in the Acteal massacre. That is why in this demonstration we commemorate the two years and eight months of mourning and tears we have suffered as a result of violence, of the great and terribly sad tragedy that befell us on December 22, 1997. The outcome: 45 brothers and sisters who lost their lives, 26 more who were injured, and a whole community with open wounds and a great sadness of mourning and crying are what we were left with in Acteal. In Acteal the indigenous nations and all of humanity were left wounded. It stands as an historical symbol of our march to the brink of extermination.
Many people, thousands or perhaps millions, in the different countries of the continents of the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, people of different faiths, from different social and political organizations, found out what perverse tongues have always tried to keep hidden. Many of them have come to visit us, to be in solidarity with us, to offer us a shoulder to cry on, to help alleviate our immense pain. So many have cried with us, and later wiped the tears of the survivors, the men, women, children, and elderly, there, where the blood was spilled of those who, in prayer and fasting, were seeking peace for all peoples, indigenous and non-indigenous. So many came to see for themselves, so many were disabused of the lies that had been published from the government's tongue. All of these embraced us and lifted us up, which explains why today we have strength to shout: because our 45 sisters and brothers died in order to live.
International observers came to see where the blood of our martyrs flowed on December 22, 1997, and they continue coming to this day, from every continent, speaking different languages, from different cultures and tribes, in different colors, in spite of the authorities' efforts to block the way, to prevent solidarity from reaching us, to keep us on the edge and to hide their own actions. By blocking the way, they think they can wear us out in our struggle and make us forget our own dignity.
The government that has been in power dedicates itself to deceiving everyone, saying that it has done justice. But what they call justice is to punish the poor and the indigenous, but not the powerful, nor those in positions of authority, nor the wealthy. A justice that is not equal for all is no justice at all. The thing they call justice is something that the powerful use to protect themselves.
We have seen that here in Chiapas the indigenous only have injustice, and those who have the power go unpunished; so what is applied here is injustice, and justice is not seen by our indigenous nations.
Therefore we want to make clear that we are tired of this. ENOUGH impunity, of year after year passing without justice being applied to the functionaries of one administration after another at all levels of government, the ones who turned other poor indigenous against us, arming and training them and ordering them to massacre our 45 sisters and brothers.
The Acteal Massacre is the strongest proof of the injustice exercised against us as indigenous peoples. In this massacre Federal, State and Municipal governments - especially ex-governor Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro - all have their hands stained with indigenous blood. Ruiz Ferro, Governor at the time of the massacre, has since been rewarded by President Ernesto Zedillo with the position of Ambassador to the United States of America in Washington. And up to the present day, August 10, 2000, he walks in impunity, free of all responsibility, together with all of his former functionaries, including:
1. Homero Tovilla Cristiani, Secretary General of State
Government;
2. Dr. Marco Antonio Besares Escobar, State Attorney General;
3. Licenciado Jorge Enrique Hernández Aguilar, Executive
Secretary of the State Public Security Council;
4. Licenciado Antonio Pérez Hernández, Secretary for Attention
to the Indigenous Peoples;
5. Licenciado Uriel Jarquin Calvez, Sub-secretary General of
State Government;
6. Licenciado Ramiro Sánchez Vega, Sub-director of Criminal
Investigations;
7. Licenciado David Gómez Hernández (retired Brigadier
General), State Attorney for Indigenous Justice;
8. Jorge Gamboa Solis (retired military), State Police
Coordinator; and
9. José Luis Orozco, State Director General of Public Security;
in addition to many free paramilitaries in the communities of the State of Chiapas, whom the government continues to protect, while denying their existence.
How many times have we come to dialogue with the government to demand justice? How many times have we formally denounced security violations to law enforcement officials? They have gone as far as creating special offices to investigate what they call "alleged armed civilian groups," but they only use us as objects of their political aims. Nine hundred sixty-one days after the massacre of Acteal the insecurity provoked by paramilitary groups continues to prevail, in our nation and in several regions in the State, such as the northern zone, the highlands and the jungle.
We made denouncements when the displacements began, when threats were made and crimes such as false arrest, theft, use and carrying of firearms were committed against us. They even saw our dead. Yet still they do not believe us. We have not found in the government even as much as a glass of water to help bring an end to our displacement.
The recourse we take today is to demonstrate the suffering we continue to experience as displaced people: pain, anguish, sickness, death and many unmet needs. And the federal and state governments continue to offend the people in their suffering, opening the wounds -- saying that they are helping them, that their numbers are diminishing, that they are at living happily in their communities, that there is peace now -- while violations of indigenous rights continue and while international laws designed to protect human rights and the rights of the indigenous peoples go unenforced.
The displaced can neither think nor dream of any other thing than a return to our communities of origin, where our memories live, where our dead are buried. But we cannot return as long as the paramilitaries continue to be free and armed; we have no alternative to remaining displaced, hanging on, hoping that those in power will tire of so much suffering, even though we see that the government, rather than addressing the causes of our displacement, only increases militarization, sowing tension among our communities. Today we make this denunciation:
THERE IS NO JUSTICE FOR THE DISPLACED! FOR THE INDIGENOUS NATIONS THERE IS ONLY INJUSTICE!
For this reason we demand of the Federal and State governments an immediate response to the following points:
1. WE DEMAND THE FULL APPLICATION OF JUSTICE. If there is no justice, it is because there is impunity; the government we have had is one of assassins, like Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro. We want an end to injustice. We want the dismantling of paramilitary groups and the punishment of all those materially and intellectually responsible for the Acteal massacre. We want not a halfway justice, but a complete justice.
2. WE DEMAND PAYMENT OF INDEMNITIES FOR PROPERTY SEIZED FROM US. The government is the responsible party in the violation of our rights. For this reason it must make reparations for what it so severely damaged. We are not asking for a gift, nor much less for alms, nor do we grovel before it; we want for it to recognize its error in having fomented the paramilitaries, and to return to us what it took from us.
3. WE DEMAND THE DEMILITARIZATION OF CHIAPAS. The soldiers are affecting our customs, our sacred sites, our natural environment and above all the minds of the indigenous. Before their arrival prostitution was not known among us, nor did an indigenous woman wash the clothes of another man. Our rivers and springs were not contaminated, nor were we watched and harassed on our own lands. Now all of this is provoked by the army invading our land. Therefore we demand that the army depart, that we may once again have conditions for a true dialogue, capable of bringing a just and dignified peace to the indigenous peoples of Chiapas and Mexico.
4. WE DEMAND SECURITY FOR A RETURN TO OUR COMMUNITIES. The government of Albores Guillen wishes to convince us with false words and crumbs, wishes to force us into an obligated return. But we say that we need conditions that will allow us to live in peace in our lands. We see that there are still weapons, still paramilitaries, still indigenous people who because of lies from the government harbor ill will against us. This is why we tell the government of Albores that it's not about giving us corrugated tin and signing us on to its rural welfare programs and everything it has offered us. It's about our lives: for us to return, the government must detain the paramilitaries who remain free and stop protecting them.
5. WE DEMAND THE FULFILLMENT OF THE SAN ANDRÉS ACCORDS. We, the Civil Society group The Bees, along with many other indigenous organizations in Mexico, gave our word in the rounds of dialogue at San Andrés in Sac'amch'em de los Pobres. Now the government does not want to recognize what it has signed. The government of Ernesto Zedillo refuses to recognize that in addition to mestizos, we as indigenous exist and have a right to be different and to have rights as indigenous peoples.
We therefore affirm that it is in our indigenous customs that the life of our people is found; that the autonomy of the indigenous peoples is a proposal made by the indigenous and for the indigenous; that an important task is that of making justice come to all the indigenous peoples of our country, Mexico. All of these are reasons why the accords must be approved and given full and truthful implementation. We want the indigenous to enjoy what belongs to them. When the San Andrés accords are implemented, we will see that the war is really coming to an end.
We want an end to the violation of rights, an end to assassinations, to fear, rumors, displacements, oppression, corruption, extortion, division, demagoguery, and leadership by those who deceive the people. We want an end to governing over the spilled blood of the indigenous and of the poor and oppressed. When there is justice and peace, there is tranquility, there is love in towns and communities, and we live in a climate of peace and happiness. The blood of those martyred while imploring for peace cannot be forgotten. Their blood will not have been shed in vain, but will bear fruit in us in spite of the aggressions we are suffering. Both the crime and what led to its commission must be clarified, because in Acteal a light was lit for us, and it moves us to always seek justice.
We the members of the organization of The Bees will keep on struggling, and, in spite of the suffering, we will not give up our struggle for Justice and Peace for all Indigenous Peoples.
WARMLY,
The Steering Committee of the Civil Society “The Bees”:
Pedro
Vázquez Gutiérrez
Diego Pérez Jiménez
Lázaro Arias Gómez