For the first time since the rise of paramilitaries following the Zapatista uprising in 1994, the Centro de Derechos Fray Bartolome de Las Casas (Human Rights Center) received testimony from a former commander of the paramilitary group Paz y Justicia, clarifying the role of the group in northern Chiapas and making explicit its links with the Mexican army and state and local governments.

According to the informant, referred to as “PyJ,” leaders of Paz y Justicia maintained regular contact and received ongoing support from the federal military for their operations in the northern region of Chiapas, with the express purpose of breaking the EZLN's ties to communities there.  In his testimony, PyJ claims that Mario Renan Castillo, a former army commander in the region, was the prinicipal force behind the forming of Paz y Justicia, which began in 1995, and owes its military structure to the organizing strategy of the army.  PyJ states that Renan and the majority of high-ranking military officials based in the region were actively involved in motivating Paz y Justicia leaders to continue in their efforts to "bring an end to the sympathizers and militants of the EZLN."   The military was involved in selling uniforms and arms to the paramilitaries and training them in the use of weapons in training camps established in the region.         

In his testimony, PyJ is also clear about the involvement of non-military political officials.  According to him, Paz y Justicia benefited greatly from the support of then-governor and member of the PRI, Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro, who held regular meetings with the group's leaders and whose administration signed over at least 5 million pesos to the group.   The Paz y Justicia paramilitaries were apparently very clear that their "flag" was that of the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) and leaders of the group promised its members that they were entitled to keep the belongings of any sympathizers of the EZLN or PRD (Partido de la Revolucion Democratica - in this case, the opposition party) whom they were successful in displacing.

The Centro de Derechos Fray Bartolome de Las Casas has registered the displacements of over 4,000 people from the region, along with 85 assassinations and 37 disappearances, for which PyJ confirms Paz y Justicia is responsible.  PyJ provides the details of one disappearance in particular, that of a young woman, who, according to his testimony, was gang raped by 31 of their men before being stabbed to death by machete.  In addition, PyJ claims that his group was responsible for the failed ambush in February of 1997 of Samuel Ruiz, then-bishop of San Cristobal and principal activist for the human rights of the indigenous , which left several of his caravan dead.  The assailants reportedly crossed freely and openly through the military checkpoint, in possession of over 80 arms, on their way to Ruiz's scheduled meeting.  According to PyJ, Paz y Justicia was also active in local politics, ensuring the control of the PRI in municipalities such as Tila and Tumbala.  Confirming what has long been suspected by human rights groups, PyJ stated that Paz y Justicia group collected a "monetary cooperation" from residents to finance its operations, and punished non-payment with further violence.

Citing PyJ's testimony, the Centro de Derechos Fray Bartolome de Las Casas filed a complaint with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, accusing the Mexican army and the state and federal governments of implementing the "politics of a state of genocide and crimes against humanity."  The reports goes on to state that, using the definition of the "crimes against humanity from the Nuremberg Trial, President Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000), the General Enrique Cervantes Aguirre (Secretario de la Defensa Nacional (1994-2000), and the General Mario Renan Castillo (Commander of the 7th Military Region 1995-97) … are responsible for committing generalized and systematic attacks against the civilian population, with knowledge of such attacks, such as Assassinations, Forced Relocation of a Population...Serious Deprivation of Physical Liberty, Torture, Persecution of a Self-Identified Collective founded for Political, Ethnic, and Religious Reasons and the Forced Disappearance of Persons."  As evidence, the report cites not only Paz y Justicia's acts of violence in northern Chiapas, but also the massacre in Acteal in 1997, in which assailants identifying themselves with the PRI and wielding high-caliber weapons for use exclusively by the Mexican army, were responsible for the deaths of 45 pacifist sympathizers of the EZLN and the displacement of another 6,000 from the area.  The attack went on for over 7 hours near the post of local police forces, who did nothing to intervene.  According to the report, these instances of violence reflect "clearly and forcefully" the existence of a strategy in which "diverse paramilitary groups, linked with the municipal, state and federal authorities, including the Mexican army, have been the instrument used in an attempt to bring an end to what the army itself, in its “Campaign Plan,” calls the "organization of the masses."  The report states that, until now, no government officials have been investigated for these crimes.  Ex-president Zedillo, current head of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, has dismissed the accusations as libelous.

Following the release of the report, Samuel Sanchez, one of the leaders of Paz y Justicia who is referred to in PyJ's testimony, was arrested, in what the Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolome de Las Casas claims to be an act "tardy and insufficient" for dismantling the paramilitary group, given its ties to state and federal institutions.  Sanchez was previously detained in October 2000, along with 10 other Paz y Justicia members, but charges against them all were dropped for lack of evidence.  There is much suspicion that this second arrest is simply a show to demonstrate the state government's supposed resolve against paramilitaries that will again lead to little actual change.

Compiled from the following sources:

www.laneta.apc.org/cdhbcasas/,

www.jornada.mx.unam,

http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/,

www.cuarto-poder.com