> La Jornada Tuesday, Dec. 23, 1997 > > by Andres Aubry and Angelica Inda > translated by Duane Ediger > > Who are the "paramilitaries"? > > The conflict in Chiapas has given anthropologists a new task: to identify a > new societal subject, the protagonist of violence, which arose first in > Chiapas' northern zone, then spread to the highlands and canyonlands. A > methodical inventory found different levels of "paramilitary" activity > among five of Chiapas' nine indigenous ethnic groups: the Chol, Tzotzil, > Tzeltal, with some activity among the Tojolabal, and timid beginnings among > the Zoque. In Chenalh� alone, 17 townships are affected: one-third of the > villages and half the population. The scope of the phenomenon, as well as > its ravages and number of victims, point to its need for study under > disciplined methods. > > By historical precedent, they were called first pistoleros (gunmen) or > guardias blancas (white guards), for the wounds they have wrought in the > collective memory of Chiapas. Though these are still present, the media > began calling some paramilitaries to differentiate them from the former > (agents from outside the communities, whereas the newer paramilitaries came > from within them), because they act in an ambiguous and undeclared relation > with the police, military and government, and they intervene with their own > arms. > > Despite repeated shows of proof to the contrary, the state has denied the > existence of paramilitaries, arguing that some local congress people and > public opinion shapers refused to believe. For lack of a better term, and > out of respect for the authorities, we will continue to name them after the > fashion of the media, but in quotation marks. > > Who are the "paramilitaries"? They appear almost exclusively among young > people frustrated by rural authorities. In the 17 townships of the > municipality of Chenalh� in which we were able to document the existence of > 246 of them, rural inertia combined with population growth provides neither > land nor work, not even farm work, to the young people who reach the age of > membership in an ejido. (An ejido is a communally held and worked parcel > of land; it also refers to the land holders.) Married and the heads of > their households, they find themselves in the same situation as their > parents: unable to find work, surviving by miracle or by stealing land and > harvests. Obligated to live as delinquents, they not only lack a > subsistence, but also have no reason to attend the assemblies and for that > reason they are excluded from decisions made by the ejido which considers > them pariahs. First conclusion: these criminals are products of the system > and of their economic, agrarian and labor options. > > Immediately "paramilitarization" offers them a way out and prestige. The > way out is first the heavy war tax they levy (25 pesos, or US$3, biweekly > per permanent adult, or a one-time payment of 375 pesos, or US$47, per > person for those who don't pay the 25 pesos biweekly), which gives them an > income; secondly, the booty of animals, harvested crops and domestic goods > (including automobiles); these in turn legitimize the humiliating theft of > corn, coffee and poultry. The weapons--and these are not light arms--bring > prestige and confer upon them power and status unlike they or their > landless parents have ever known. > > Because they have led an itinerant life looking for work, and have not been > ejido members, they never had the civic education afforded through periodic > assemblies in which the collective destinies of villages, townships and > municipalities are decided, and they escaped all communal responsibility. > For this reason, the "paramilitaries" have no social or political project. > They make no proclamations; they simply impose themselves. The only > masters they have had are the monitors of their military training, a > condition they must meet in order to acquire the arms they carry. > > Their mentors, whether in encampments or on patrols, conduct themselves in > a way very similar to the Kaibiles of Guatemala. They can be seen at their > checkpoints, clearly affected by drug use. Their way of talking and > carrying themselves betrays the fascistic nature of their formation. > > What is their aim? Why do they operate only within the close boundaries of > the zone of influence within which they enjoy perfect impunity? The reason > is strategic, and they themselves are probably unaware of it, for they > would not exist were it not for the manipulation of a hidden Director. The > villages that fill the local news form a wedge between the four contiguous > municipalities of Chenalho, Pantelh�, Cancuc and Tenajapa. The warning > signs that mark the training area of the group MIRA reveal the same > tactical option: these "paramilitaries" are based at the convergence of the > four municipalities of Huixtan, Chanal, Oxchuc, and Cancuc, anticipating an > eventual bridge to the paramilitaries of Chenalh�. > > The commanders of the Paz y Justicia group, near El Limar, control the five > Chol Indian municipalities and the entrances to Amat�n, Huitiup�n, > Simojovel, El Bosque, and Chil�n (via the Chinchulines of Bachaj�n). Taken > together, they dominate the public policy space in nearly all of the > municipalities administered by SEAPI (State Secretariat for Attention to > Indigenous Peoples). The objective of all of them is to dismantle any and > all--unarmed--opposition bases of support. > > After the military offensive of February 9, 1995, one of the military > tactics denounced by the observer missions was the destruction of > productive installations, crops and even farm implements to take away the > dissidents' future. The "paramilitary" tactics employed in Chenalh� are > the same. The operations began when the coffee was near ready to harvest, > in a year when the price was high. Like flies shooed away, productive > farmers were expelled en masse. Like undesirables getting the rug pulled > out from under them, the indigenous of Chiapas' are robbed of their future. > > > ____________________________ > Andres Aubry and Angelica Inda are sociologists and historians living in > San Crist�bal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. > > Duane Ediger is a resident of Dallas and a frequent traveler to Mexico > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > >
