MEXICO: REPORT RELEASED ON RECENT MASSACRE IN CHIAPAS STATE скачать в хорошем качестве

MEXICO: REPORT RELEASED ON RECENT MASSACRE IN CHIAPAS STATE

(13 Mar 1998) Spanish/Nat A massacre in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas last December was largely carried out by members of a pro-government vigilante group, says a government report. But the report also blames local police officers, saying they helped the attackers by transporting automatic weapons in police vehicles. Forty-five people -- all native Indians -- died in the massacre in Acteal, one of the bloodiest in Mexico's history. A pro-government vigilante group plotted an attack on the hamlet of Acteal for more than two months before gunning down 45 people there, the Mexican Attourney General's office said on Thursday. General Jose Luis Ramos Rivera said pro-government villagers in the municipality of Chenalho began organizing in early September because they feared attacks by leftist Zapatista rebels. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) "For lack of a decisive judicial intervention by the state authorities it followed that there was an uprising in communities that feared for their houses their livelihoods, in many cases their lives and their welfare. And the official investigation didn't begin to find those responsible or to seek justice". SUPER CAPTION: General Jose Luis Ramos Rivera Mexico's Attourney General The massacre in Acteal, in which 45 people died, was one of the bloodiest in Mexico's history. There have been repeated small-scale clashes between pro- and anti-Zapatista groups in Chiapas since the Zapatistas rebelled on Jan. 1, 1994, although a cease-fire took hold two weeks after fighting began. The attackers considered themselves members of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, but Ramos said there was no evidence that they had strong connections to the party's federal or state branches. The victims in Acteal - most of whom belonged to the peasant group Las Abejas, or The Bees - had angered pro-government villagers by insisting on remaining neutral, Ramos said. He said prosecutors are still investigating the possible role of state political and police officials in the case. Ramos said there was no evidence that state police provided arms to the attackers, but he said witnesses testified that some helped transport the guns to the villages. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) "The role of the security forces - as far as we know, certain elements of the security forces, the majority of whom are now in prison - was not to supply arms but to lend help them in transporting them from the place they were stored, as well as the ammunition. What's more, this transportation was carried out using public, state security force vehicles to avoid any kind of complication during the journey." SUPER CAPTION: General Jose Luis Ramos Rivera, Mexico's Attourney General Several police officers have been charged with arms violations. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...