Military

DATE=11/14/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-269223

TITLE=CHIAPAS / CHURCH (L ONLY)

BYLINE=GREG FLAKUS

DATELINE=MEXICO CITY

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The Roman Catholic bishop in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas is calling for calm following a violent clash on Sunday between federal police and indigenous villagers there. As V-O-A's Greg Flakus reports from Mexico City, tensions remain high in some rural sectors of the state.

TEXT: The bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, in the heavily indigenous region of central Chiapas, is asking for calm in the rural highlands and warning of potential reprisals by armed groups. In a letter to Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, Bishop Felipe Arizmendi expressed concern over the tensions created by the failed federal police raid on some rural villages on Sunday.

The police had gone to the area in search of rightist paramilitary groups linked to the 1997 massacre of 45 indigenous people in the village of Acteal. But indigenous people in the communities called the police action a violation of their rights and pelted the police with rocks.

Bishop Arizmendi says it is important for authorities to respect the human rights of the people in any area they enter.

/// ARIZMENDI ACT - IN SPANISH - FADE UNDER ///

He says justice must be upheld and that there are all too many armed groups in the rural areas of Chiapas who have no legal right to carry guns. Some of these groups, he says, could now carry out revenge attacks in the region.

Human rights groups say there are about one-dozen armed groups in Chiapas, including the leftist Zapatista guerrillas, who started a revolt against the government in 1994, and several rightwing groups who oppose them. Although fighting between government forces and the Zapatistas ended with a cease-fire agreement more than six years ago, clashes between paramilitary groups and Zapatista supporters have been frequent.

Church workers near the scene of Sunday's clash say federal police made a crucial mistake by entering areas in the remote highlands that were not familiar to them. They compounded the error by barging into the homes of indigenous people in the remote villages looking for arms and thereby arousing the anger of the entire community. Federal police officials have conceded that the operation was a failure. (Signed)

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