[asia-apec 395] May 2 Action Alert

[moonlight at igc.apc.org]

NATIONAL ACTION ALERT-
No More Manifest Destiny for Mexico
Friday May 2nd

On May 5th, the anniversary of Mexico's victory that ended France's reign of
the country, President Clinton will arrive for his first state visit in
Mexico.  His two day trip has been billed as an effort to expand bilateral
economic ties under NAFTA as well as strengthen collaboration against drug
trafficking and immigration.  But these appear to be the 21st century
versions of  the age-old process of the economic and military domination of
Mexico by foreign interests and the ruling Mexican elite.

It is against this new Manifest Destiny plan, which has been couched in
terms of NAFTA and the war on drugs, that the Zapatistas rose up and have
resisted since January 1994.  They declared NAFTA a death sentence for the
indigenous communities of Mexico, and as a result they have been the target
of a low-intensity war, waged by the Mexican government and supplied and
advised by the U.S, under the guise of combating drug trafficking.

Now this low-intensity war threatens to become a full-scale civil war in
southern Mexico.  In northern Chiapas during the past two months  more than
20 men, women and children from four villages have been killed, and dozens
more have been injured, imprisoned, tortured or disappeared.  Thousands have
been dislocated during armed confrontations between Zapatista communities,
paramilitary groups, police and the military.  The victims include two girls
13 and 15 years old, both of whom were kidnapped for 10 days, tortured and
raped before being killed.  In addition the state attorney general
allegedly was present and issued the orders for the helicopter gunfire
attack against unarmed Zapatista community members. A caravan by 20,000
people and various high-level delegations including the Mexican Catholic
Conference, COCOPA, CONAI, and human rights observers have sounded alarms
about the tinder-box nature of Chiapas, as the army encroaches upon,
occupies  and blockades more and more communities. This blockade is so tight
that Zapatista leadership was unable to meet recently with the delegation of
bishops from the National Mexican Catholic Conference because of the risk to
the Zapatista commandantes.  As a result, the Zapatistas have issued several
interviews and communiques warning that they will resist, not retreat, if
provoked by the Mexican military.  

Out of profound concern about the implications of Clinton's plans, the
Ad-hoc Committee for Peace with Dignity in Chiapas met with various White
House, State Department and Congressional officials on March 18th and 27th.
They denounced U.S. economic and military policies that are promoting the
war in Chiapas, and  requested a full public investigation, disclosure and
debate of  the amounts, types, costs and uses of US military aid to Mexico.
They specifically called for the suspension of the aid, particularly the
provision of the remaining 53 Huey helicopters to Mexico and the $34 million
proposed for Mexican aid in the 1998 budget until there is significant
progress in the peace process in Chiapas. They also pushed for the inclusion
of indigenous and human rights and the peace process in Chiapas as
parameters for the discussions between the two presidents regarding
US-Mexico relations.

To date there has been no response from officials regarding the Committee's
requests.  Instead the use of U.S. military aid to militarize indigenous
communities and repress the democratic movements of the Mexican civil
society, rather than combat drugs, is still virtually invisible, especially
in the mainstream national media.  Despite Mexico's critical importance to
the US as a neighboring country and a principal  trading partner, the
growing threat of civil war in southern Mexico and its profound implications
for the US receives far less coverage in the English language mass media
than developments in Europe and the Middle East. Broader coverage of Mexico
and the low-intensity war in Chiapas is left to the Spanish-language media,
a policy which leaves a large segment of the U.S., primarily white, society
with an incomplete and biased view of the importance of events in Mexico.

To denounce this apparent cover-up and collusion by political leaders of
both countries as well as the national media,  the National Commission for
Democracy in Mexico calls for a day of action on May 2nd.   On the eve of
the celebrations of Mexico's independence from France as well as the arrival
of Clinton and the rest of the Manifest Destiny entourage, we ask all people
of conscience to join us in:
1) conducting protests at the Mexican consulates to denounce the two
governments' collaboration in the death and devastation of indigenous
communities in Chiapas and throughout Mexico
2)  faxing, phoning or emailing President Clinton to demand a response to
and action on the Ad-hoc Committee's requests for a full investigation and
suspension of US military aid to Mexico and the inclusion of progress in the
peace process in Chiapas as a parameter for bilateral agreements.
3)  sending faxes, email and letters to  CBS, ABC, NBC, the New York Times,
and  Washington Post to call for them to broaden their coverage of US-Mexico
relations and Clinton's state visit to Mexico to include investigations and
reports on the uses of US military aid to Mexico and possible U.S.
involvement in the low-intensity war against the indigenous communities of
Chiapas. 
4)  contacting your Congressional representative and encouraging him or her
to sign onto the letter to President Clinton that is being circulated by
Congressman Sam Farr of California

Given the ongoing support received from the US, the Mexican government
believes that it can use its armed forces with impunity against the civil
society and indigenous communities, especially the Zapatistas.   If the
questions of human and indigenous rights and the peace process in Chiapas
are not addressed, Clinton's visit basically will serve to sanction
Zedillo's policies which have promoted political repression and the
militarization of Mexico, and are leading the country towards a genocidal war.

The United States' relations with Mexico can not become another Vietnam.  We
must demand that US-Mexico policies be based on respect for the sovereignty
and rights of the Mexican people in their  struggle for a transition to
democracy.  

For more information, contact; NCDM, 2001 Montana St, #B El Paso, Texas
79903 Phone/fax: 915-532-8382  Email: moonlight at igc.apc.org