> September 1995 > > > Lightning at the End of the Tunnel: > > > U.S. Military Involvement in Mexico's Quagmire Deepens > > > by Peter Lumsdaine > [ Global Exchange . 2017 Mission St., Suite 303 . San Francisco, > CA 94110 . 415-255-7296] > > > "Satellites, telecommunications equipment, infrared rays track [ > the indigenous peoples'] movement, locate its centers of > rebellion, mark on military maps places to plant bombs and death. > " - Subcomandante Marcos in Mexico: The Long Voyage from Sorrow > to Hope, 1994 > > Outside the spotlight of major media coverage and public > awareness, the United States is quietly backing into a > potentially wrenching military conflict south of the border, as > U.S. financing, training, technology, intelligence, arms, > advisors and political commitment are provided to bolster a shaky > and corrupt Mexican regime - a regime that is steadily acquiring > an arsenal to wage war against its own people, if they dare to > seriously challenge the entrenched status quo. The hundreds of > Mexican civilians who have already died at the hands of > government troops and police during 1994 and 1995 alone, like the > hundreds of millions of dollars in imported weaponry for > Zedillo's army and the billions in bail-out money for the ruling > elite, may - tragically - be only the beginning, if current U.S. > policies are allowed to continue. > > The consequences of an escalating civil conflict in Mexico, > with heavy United States government support for a violently > undemocratic elite of billionaire narco-politicians, will > inevitably spill over the border: inflaming U.S. economic and > social instability; promoting domestic militarization; sharply > increasing the numbers of immigrants and refugees; requiring more > and more U.S. aid, weapons shipments, advisors and potentially > even combat troops to prevent the collapse of a regime on which > Wall Street and Washington have already staked tens of billions > of dollars. From the jungles of Chiapas and ;he scorching desert > o shantytowns of the 2,^00 -mile border, to the slums of the > world's largest urban metropolis, Mexico City: civil war in a > nation of 90 million souls, just south of the Rio Grande, would > be an unprecedented crisis for all the people of the North > American continent which we share. It is not yet too late to > change course and support peace through justice in Mexico, rather > than continuing to financially and militarily prop up a violently > undemocratic government there. > > Space-age Surveillance and High-Tech Firepower for the new Indian > Wars > The fortified block-wide U.S. embassy in Mexico City has long > been the largest State Department and CIA outpost in the Western > Hemisphere, with one of the highest staffing > levels of any such installation in the world. Its rooftop > satellite radar dishes link the embassy > > > > U.S. Military Involvement in Mexico . by Peter Lumsdaine . page 2 > . September 1995 > > complex to the Pentagon's network of sophisticated tracking > stations and surveillance aircraft - stretching from NORAD's > global headquarters inside Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado and the > sensor-riddled U.S./Mexican border region to Cerro de Extranjeros > (Aliens' Hill) in Chiapas, on into Guatemala and Columbia. > Headquartered in this high-tech command post, Ambassador John > Negroponte former diplomatic manager of U.S. wars in Cambodia and > Nicaragua - served as Bush and Clinton administration point man > for promotion of NAFTA and corporate investment in Mexico. On > February 10,1995 the New York Times reported that "American > intelligence services" actively assisted in determining the > (alleged) identity of Zapatista leader subcomandante Marcos, in > preparation for the federal army occupation of eastern Chiapas > and harsh imprisonment of accused Zapatistas. > > Uncle Sam's traditional role as primary weapons supplier to > Mexico intensified during the era of political turmoil in the > crisis-torn '80s, when debt austerity polarized the society and > massive government fraud stole an historic Presidential election > victory from leftist opposition candidate Cuatemoc Cardenas. By > the early 1990s, United States military assistance credit > programs were providing some $40 million per year in equipment to > Mexican security forces, along with another $45 million in State > Department and DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) grants. Ironically > much of the military aid sent to Mexico in recent years has gone > under the banner of the Drug War, despite conclusive evidence > linking the Mexican government and army to international > narcotics trading evidence which the July 31, 1995 New York Times > showed was systematically covered up or deliberately ignored by > top Democratic and Republican officials, in order to protect > NAFTA, the bailout loans, and the "stability" of the Mexico's > ruling establishment. > > From 1988 to 1992 the U.S. exported over $214 million of > arms to the PRI regime, according to the widely respected Mexican > journal El Proceso, some 16 times as much as the second-place > supplier, France. Last year, in the wake of the Zapatista > uprising and weeks before the fraud-tainted national elections, > Clinton authorized a new arms export package for Mexico, > including over $64 million of sophisticated electronic equipment > and satellite-guided UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from United > Technologies Corporation (a transnational company based in > Connecticut, with a rocket motor plant at the south end of > Silicon Valley). In the 36 days preceding last Summer's scandal- > ridden Presidential balloting, AP reporters saw 23 tanks and > nearly 300 tons of "war materiel" being unloaded on Veracruz > docks. And on May 23, 1995 the New York Times reported that > Mexico's U.S.-supplied military helicopter fleet could be nearly > doubled, to almost 200, by Pentagon transfers now under > discussion, including several dozen state-of-the-art Blackhawk > choppers. > > U.S. Huey and Bell 212 helicopters along with C-130 Hercules > troop transport planes, were immediately brought into action as > the Mexican army and federal police tried to crush the indigenous > Zapatista peasant uprising in Chiapas last year. Eyewitnesses saw > the choppers attack Mayan Indian communities with machine guns, > rockets and bombs - and > > > > Military Involvement Mexico . by Peter Lumsdaine . page 3. > September 995 > > > no word of protest was ever issued from the Clinton > administration or its Republican rivals, despite the supposed > agreement that U.S. aircraft would only be used against drug > dealers. These imported military aircraft played a decisive role > in the lopsided January 1994 conflict, when over 400 Indian > peasants were killed in 12 days, according to the human rights > report of Catholic Bishop Samuel Ruiz. > > Likewise, during the February 1995 army offensive when > federal troops - who had occupied much of Chiapas since the > previous year - sent 25,000 Mayan campesinos fleeing into the > mountains, U.S. supplied and financed foreign military hardware > played a critical role. On the heals of the Mexican bailout deal, > International Monetary Fund loan, and a Chase Bank memo demanding > "the elimination of the Zapatistas", a year-long cease-fire was > broken as high-tech surveillance craft, fighter jets, helicopter > gunships and transports, tanks and armored bulldozers thundered > forward through the Lacandon rainforest in a terrifying show of > force. > > Even the traditional advantage of indigenous villagers, > refugees and peasant rebels being tracked by state security > forces - the ability to slip away through their well-known local > forests and hills - is rapidly being eroded by advances in U.S. > satellite warfare - which the October 30, 1992 Los Angeles Times > called "the most critical power" in Pentagon worldwide military > intervention. Especially crucial to this space-age > counterinsurgency are Navstar GPS guidance systems, on which the > Mexican army - like the U.S. Special Forces Command and the > Chinese military - has been spending "considerable amounts" > according to the authoritative studies in Jane's 1995 > Intelligence Review. > > U.S. Tax Dollars, Training;, and Troops - from Chiapas to Texas > > The dangerously deepening pattern of United States military > involvement in Mexico goes beyond the massive exports of weapons > and surveillance technology outlined above, to encompass not only > large-scale U.S. taxpayer financing for this arms build-up, as > well as training for hundreds of Mexican officers here in the > States, but also the presence of U.S. police agents, Army > advisors, high-level CIA operatives, and teams of United States > Special Forces soldiers. > > Beyond the tens of millions of dollars in military hardware > sent south of the border under Clinton and Bush aid programs, > part of the multi-billion U.S. tax dollar bailouts and 'loans' > has unquestionably gone to help underwrite the Mexican narco- > political elite's high-tech shopping spree, financing purchases > from Pentagon stockpiles as well as from government-licensed U.S. > weapons manufacturers, and from the global arms market. > From 1984 to 1993 at least 725 Mexican military officers > were trained by Pentagon experts in the States, 150 of those in > 1993 alone, with 94 officers graduating from Fort Benning, > Georgia's notorious School of the Americas in 1992 and 1993 - a > 300% increase over previous years. By the year of the Zapatista > uprising, nearly four dozen paramilitary police advisors from > > > U.S. Military Involvement Mexico . by Peter Lunsdaine . page 4 . > September l995 > > the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency were working closely with > Mexican security and intelligence forces, from the U.S. border to > southeastern Chiapas - where the CIA > also fields a substantial, expanding network of agents and covert > operatives, according to ex-CIA officers John Stockwell and Ralph > McGehee. Finally, U.S. troops - including elite Special Forces > counterinsurgency teams have already been fielded within Mexico's > conflict zones, often under cover of the Drug War campaign - > though the numbers and missions of these clandestine units remain > shrouded in secrecy and financed by the Pentagon's classified > multi-billion "Black Budget" slush fund. U.S. military attaches > have been sighted in Chiapas during army crackdowns, and as U.S. > Special Operations Commander, General Carl W. Stiner, has said, > Special Forces teams "Provide advice, assistance and deterrence > to officials in areas experiencing insurgence [or] instability > ... signal U.S. resolve to both allies and adversaries, enhance > stability and promote U.S. influence ... when larger U.S. forces > may be politically unacceptable." Only ten years later has the > truth about U.S. Special Forces troops machine gunning 83 peasant > rebels in a Salvadoran forest camp, along with CIA supervision of > Honduran torture squads, finally surfaced in the mainstream > Seattle Post lntelligencer and Baltimore Sun . > > Spilling over the border, according to the San Jose Mercury > News and the Pentagon's own journal, Defense '92, its military > intelligence and assets are deployed from California to the > eastern Rio Grande, in a network of listening and observation > posts, ground-based and aerial reconnaissance, motion sensors, > ground surveillance radars, dog teams, "terrain denial" > technologies, Nighthawk Systems infrared scopes, and computerized > fingerprint machinery as well as GPS satellite-guided airplanes, > helicopters and jeeps - $158 million worth this year (1995). By > April the Clinton administration had publicly admitted that if > new upheaval in Mexico occurred, the U.S. Army would begin > rounding up and detaining undocumented Latinos in military > internment facilities - an operation unprecedented since the > depths of World War II. Through Mexico, the reality of > Pentagon/CIA counterinsurgency wars - like the Third World's > economic crisis - is already beginning to come home. > > With the Mexican army going onto "Red Alert" at the edge of > a second guerrilla front in Guerrero this Summer, and the > stresses in Mexican society straining toward the breaking point, > U.S. military involvement in Mexico is sliding down a darkening > slope with the fires of deepening conflict, but no daylight, at > the end of the tunnel. This Fall may represent the last chance to > re-evaluate and change course before the momentum of escalation > spins out of control. > > Lumsdaine has worked for over 15 years on the staff of peace and > global justice organizations, and in 1994 finished a two year > federal prison sentence for disabling an Air Force satellite. He > is currently available to speak- in more detail on topics related > to the content of this article. > >
