Paramilitary agents attack zapatistas

by za06
Saturday Feb 24th, 2007 3:01 PM

One of them is a member of the Autonomous council of Olga Isabel, Chiapas. They were struck and threatened to be set on fire: JBG Heart of the Arcoiris " Confrontation: the time has come "

Autor(a): HERMANN BELLINGHAUSEN - translated zap06___riseup__net

One of them is a member of the Autonomous council of Olga Isabel, Chiapas.

They were struck and threatened to be set on fire: JBG Heart of the Arcoiris

Autonomous Municipality Olga Isabel, Chis. 23 of February.

Great tension and violence was caused today by the "arrest" on the part of about 20 members of the Organization for the Defense of the Indigenous Rights (Opddic) of three zapatistas peasants, one of them member of the Olga Isabel Autonomous Council. Under the pretext of a problem with the water supply, yesterday evening they "arrested" Alfredo Cross Go'mez, from San Francisco Zapata, in San Antonio Las Palomas and at 9pm hours arrested Jorge Garci'a Go'mez when he was on his way to his home in Mo'há.

At 6 am today, the ones from Opddic, hitting him, forced Mariano Silvano GirÃ?n, member of the Autonomous Council, out of the vehicle, in which he traveled from San jOse Tenojib. Locked up in the village's jail, the three "prisoners" where kept without food until they were released at 5pm today.

The Good Government Council (JBG) Heart of the Rainbow of Hope, denounced the events this morning. It announced that this Thursday " our compañero support base Jorge Garci'a Go'mez, who was accompanied by Alfredo Cross Go'mez was summoned. The summond was made by the water patronage (member) of the Opddic, supposedly to solve a problem with the supply. For four years they have been sharing the water take that was built together in La Ventana and which goes to San Antonio ". But the water comes, explains the JBG, from the Campana Witz spring, which is located in ( zapatista ) reclaimed land.

"As zapatistas we know that we must share the natural resources and for that reason the construction of that take was allowed, but those of Opddic want to cut the water supply to the family support base that also benefits from this take in the Mo'há community off. The compañero fulfilled the summond, but it was just a pure pretext to arrest him".

" Confrontation: the time has come "

In their comunique, the JBG recounts the violent detention of Mariano Silvano this morning, "without any explanation, just for being an Autonomous authority", in a road blockade made out of stones and nails near San Antonio. "When they forced the compañero out, those of Opddic said to him: ' This is the sign to the beginning of the problem". When a compañera who also came in the vehicle tried to defend Mariano, they insulted her and they threatened her saying whether she also wanted them to arrest her ".

Towards noon representatives from the official municipality of Chilón and the Government delegate based in Yajalón, Pascual Hernández Guzmán arrived to try a mediation in the problem. The PRD municipal president of Chilón, Sebastián Hernández Hernández, sent his private secretary, Gaspar Moreno, and the regidor Antonio Méndez Guillén. The civil servants looked to dissuade the PRIistas to release the zapatistas, but the captors, lead by Daniel Jiménez Gómez with Miguel and Jerónimo Hernández González (who already have a long history of aggressions and threats against their zapatistas neighbors), refused to do it. Other aggressors were Guadalupe Demeza and the former soldier Pascual Hernández Gómez, who was wearing a federal Army cap, while Jerónimo Hernández brandished a sectorial police hat.

In the San Antonio junction, Olga Isabel's municipal head, next to the road between Bachajón and Chilón, more than 200 indigenous peoples, EZLN support bases, gathered. All of them holding long sticks, a kind of long club. Many carried machetes in their sheaths. They waited for the civil servants who where negotiating with the Opddic in the neighbouring village San Antonio the Doves.

When they finally appeared by the valley that leads to the village of San Antonio Las Palomas, the civil servants notified that a plumber was needed to reopen the passage of the water. They did not say it, but it is suspected that the Opddic settlers themselves had cut off the liquid's supply. So they went to Chilón to get a plumber, while the zapatistas shouted: "Here the government obeys" at them. A member of the Autonomous council declared: "All of this is because the ones of Opddic want the ( zapatista ) reclaimed Land. they only just began to bad mouth (about it ) these past days. The compañero Jorge installed the water well four years ago. They fabricated the problem".

The civil servants returned with the plumber and went to San Antonio Las Palomas. As the ones from Opddic refused to release the "prisoners", towards 16:30 hours members of the autonomous municipality captured two PRIistas ( OPPDIC ) nearby: Carlos Miguel Demeza and Pedro Demeza Jiménez. It was then that the Opddic acceded to release the three zapatistas less than one hour later.

The freshly released autonomists told how the PRI-istas threatened to sprinkle them with petrol and setting them on fire, while they said to them: "your zapatista organization is no good anymore, it is like a fly that we can squash". And also: "the time of the confrontation has arrived".

On the other hand, the JBG held the national and regional governments accountable for these events : "for protecting and supporting the Opddic paramilitaries".

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/02/24/index.php?section=politica&article=014n1pol

Denunciation of the JBG Heart of the Arcoiris of the Esperanzá', 23 of February
http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/jbg/647

|The JBG Morelia denounces initiation of OPDDIC hostilities in Olga Isabel |

The Good Government Junta Heart of the Rainbow of Hope denounces the ongoing incidents in our Autonomous Municipality Olga Isabel, pertaining to this Caracol IV.

Originally published in Spanish by the JBG of Morelia
http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/jbg/647/

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Good Government Junta “Heart of the Rainbow of Hope”
Caracol, Whirlwind of Our Words, February 23, 2007.

To the National and International Civil Society
To the Human Rights Organisations
To the National and International press

The Good Government Junta Heart of the Rainbow of Hope denounces the ongoing incidents in our Autonomous Municipality Olga Isabel, pertaining to this Caracol IV.

The harassments we suffer on the part of the OPDDIC, which is causing problems and looking for pretexts to strip the compañeros Zapatistas of their recuperated land

On February 22, around 4:00 p.m., the compañero Zapatista support base Jorge García Gómez, from the Moja´ community, was cited. He was accompanied by compañero Alfredo Cruz Gómez. The citation was made by the water council, which is a member of the OPDDIC, supposedly to solve a water problem. For four years they have been sharing the same water pipe that they have constructed together. This water pipe is called La Ventana and runs to the community of San Antonio, but the water comes from a spring that is located on recuperated land, in Campana Witz. As Zapatistas we know that we must share the natural resources needed for living, and for that reason the construction of this water pipe was allowed, but the OPDDIC people want to cut off the water to the support base family that also benefits from this water supply line in the Mojha´ community. Due to this situation the compañero complied with the citation, but the citation was only a pretext to detain our compañeros. Until this moment we do not know what they are being accused of and they remain in custody.

Today on February 23, around 6:00 a.m., when the compañero Mariano Silvano Giron, autonomous authority of the municipality Olga Isabel, was riding on a bus, he was detained by OPDDIC members when passing by the entrance to the community of San Antonio, which was blocked with stones and nails and is a bypass. When they saw the compañero in the cabin of the bus, about 20 persons hauled him out, beat him, ripped his shirt and brought him to prison without any explication, just for being an autonomous authority. While the OPDDIC people were hauling out the compañero, they told him that this was the signal to start the problem. When a compañera who was also riding on the bus attempted to defend the compañero Mariano, they insulted and threatened her, saying that they would detain her too, if she wanted.

The authorities of the Good Government Junta continue investigating and seeking a way to solve this problem. We are not going to allow these things to happen to our compañeros nor will we let them take away our land, although the OPDDIC people feel very strong because of all the support they are receiving from the bad Federal and State Governments, who think that in this way they could finish off the Zapatistas

We demand the release of our compañeros and make the Federal and State Governments responsible for these incidents, for protecting and supporting the paramilitaries of the OPDDIC.

Respectfully

The Good Government Junta
"Heart of the Rainbow of Hope"