On May 17, 1998, the Mexican magazine Proceso included an informative article delving into the dynamics of unrest in Chiapas. Although the article has an incredibly lengthy title, it could accurately be called "What's Land got to do with it?"

The author, Salvador Corro, details the links between the landed families, the Chiapas state government, the military, and the paramilitary organizations. In exploring these links, Corro highlights the gravity of the land problem and the fundamental nature of this issue with respect to any effective solution to the conflict in Chiapas. The following is a long excerpt from the article.

The Orantes Clan of Albores' Cabinet is Investigated by the Attorney General for Concealing Paramilitary Groups from the Government

The Attorney General has confirmed the participation of the previous attorney general and former president of the State Security Council, Jorge Enrique Hernandez Aguilar; as well as the former under-secretary of Government, Uriel Jarquin, in the violent activities of paramilitary groups.

According to several testimonies after the Acteal massacre, Hernandez Aguilar and Jarquin carried out a clean-up operation to eliminate any incriminating evidence before allowing the press in the area. They collected dead bodies, clothing, and bullet casings.

In addition, during his term as attorney general, Hernandez Aguilar protected the paramilitary groups at the service of the Orantes family. This situation provoked the National Human Rights Commission to issue a recommendation to the Chiapas government attributing responsibility for these acts to Hernandez Aguilar. The recommendation was not implemented.

A week after the Attorney General discovered that businessman Julio Cesar Avendano Cancino was responsible for the Rubicel Ruiz Gamboa assassination, yet another (AEDEPECH) member was killed. Avendano Cancino has been identified as the coordinator of assassins linked to prominent businesspeople and oligarchs in Chiapas, among them the Orantes family. Ruiz Gamboa was the head of the Democratic State Assembly of the Chiapan People (AEDPECH).

On Thursday, unidentified individuals fired on Rodolfo Ruiz Martinez, AEDPECH leader in the Mexican Revolution community located in the Villa Corzo municipality. Relatives of Ruiz Martinez stated that he had received threats from landowners connected with the PRI in retaliation for leading a land occupation movement in the La Frailesca area, Orantes territory.

Since Roberto Albores has been governor of Chiapas, the Orantes clan has become increasingly active, although they were never out of the picture. The appearance of the Zapatista National Liberation Army in January 1994 invigorated the Orantes clan.

Shortly after Albores took office in January 1997, Carmen Orantes Alegria, head of the clan, visited the governor in his office. According to witnesses, the old "cacique" was received as a high functionary, since he had a close relationship with Albores' father. (In his youth, Albores lived in the Venustiana Carranza municipality, where a tight friendship developed among the powerful landed families.)

Four months later, in April, Albores met with the families in the region, also visiting the Casa del Pueblo, formed by peasants threatened by the Orantes clan. He named Carmen Orantes' son, Francisco Romeo Orantes Gordillo, a specialist in forests and jungles, as secretary of Natural Resources and Fishing....

From 1997 to 1994 Orantes Gordillo was the forestry representative of the Ministry of Agriculture. During his term, Orantes Gordillo was denounced several times for the deforestation of a huge area in the Marques de Comillas area, including the felling of Cedars over one hundred years old. When Eduardo Robledo Rincon became governor, Jesus Velarde Garcia replaced Orantes Gordillo. The investigation of Orantes Gordillo for the illicit sale of precious woods culminated in the passage of an amendment by the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Orantes clan now wants to recover the land lost in the Venustiano Carranza municipality. This municipality, according to "Chiapas: the War in Progress," a report by the Human Rights Center "Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez," contains fertile land in the central area. This is "where the land conflict has, for decades, been violent. The local government has acted in favor of one group, the major landholders affiliated with the PRI."

According to the Human Rights Comission (CDH) report, "The violence has become more intense with conflicts between the Casa del Pueblo, a community organization, and the PRIistas organized into what is now known as the San Bartolome of the Planes Alliance (an armed PRI group)." Since 1995 the situation has polarized, generating armed conflicts between both groups.

The CDH report continues, "Even when there are accusations of homicidal acts against the San Bartolome Alliance, the authorities still only arrest Casa del Pueblo members. In fact, Public Security police have used the San Bartolome Alliance in violent activities against Casa del Pueblo people."

The San Bartolome Alliance also works in conjunction with another group, the Armed Forces of the People, a "clearly paramilitary organization." Financed by Eucario Orantes Ruiz, this group has "contributed to the polarization of the political and agrarian struggle taking place in Venustiano Carranza."

CNDH Recommendations

As head of the CNDH, the Attorney General of the Republic, Jorge Madrazo, was aware of the paramilitary operations carried out in coordination with the state police. This operation counted on the protection of the former state attorney general, Jorge Enrique Hernandez Aguilar.

On May 8, 1995, the CNDH issued a recommendation directed to governor Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro, in which they request that "...an investigation of the Public Security Police allowing armed civilians to participate in the violent actions of January 10, 1995, in the municipal townhouse of Chicomuselo, Chiapas" be initiated. At least six people died during these encounters, and according to photographs, Jorge Enrique Hernandez Aguilar led the police with pistol in hand.

On January 11, 1995, at 9:30, the National Comission, met once again in Chicomuselo. On that day they noted that the Municipal Palace was being guarded by both State Security Police and armed civilians." Later, on July 15, 1996 the CNDH issued a recommendation with respect to the homicides of Reyes Penagos Martinez, Antelmo Roblero Roblero, Ausel Sanchez Perez, and Jose Rito Solis Martinez, in which they identify state police involvement. The Orantes family is identified as involved in the assassination of Roblero Roblero, PRD candidate for president of the Angel Albino Corzo municipality.

On December 16, 1995, the CNDH informed that seventeen peasants were arrested by police at a roadblock formed on the road leading to the Angel Albino Corzo town hall by residents of the Nueva Palestina district. Reyes Penagos Martinez was among those arrested.

According to the CNDH, Penagos Martinez admitted to involvement in the kidnapping and death of Doctor Jose Rito Solis, a militant PRIista, during the declaration following his arrest at the roadblock. Rito Solis was killed on September 17, 1995. One day later, Reyes Penagos was accompanied by a group of state judicial police to the site where Rito Solis' body was found.

According to government officials, the group was "ambushed by unknown assailants a few meters from the site where Doctor Rito Solis' body was discovered. Mr. Penagos Martinez was killed, and two police were wounded." However, according to an investigation by friends and relatives of Penagos Martinez, exactly the opposite is true. The CNDH determined the following: "It is highly likely that Mr. Reyes Penagos Martinez, who received a shot in the back which killed him, was summarily executed by agents of the state judicial police under whose custody he was at the time."

The following evidence corroborates this assertion; Reyes Penagos Martinez was incommunicado and tortured by public servants of the State Justice Department's Attorney General. He was observed to be unhurt, on several occasions, when he was arrested. Nevertheless, when his body was uncovered by the CNDH, he had numerous lesions on his face and extremities. These findings were excluded from the autopsy report. People arrested with him heard screams of pain from Reyes Penagos while he was in police custody.

The CNDH also found irregularities in the investigation of the PRD candidate's death. Basing their decision on facts, the CNDH recommendation highlights testimony declaring, "two days before the assassination of Antelmo Roblero Roblero, two unknown people, in the company of Mr. Ricardo Orantes, took lodging at the Hotel Central...without having registered as lodgers. This hotel is the property of the Orantes family. On a daily basis, and at an early hour, the two unknown people would sit in front of the PRD offices, where Mr. Antelmo Roblero Roblero worked periodically. Following the homicide, these two people disappeared. The description of the two nameless guests matches that of the persons witnessed as killing the PRD candidate".

The CDH YaxpKin AC conducted an investigation of the Reyes Penagos in which they demonstrated that Reyes Penagos was tortured and executed under the orders of the Orantes family. David Cilia Olmos, head of the Center, indicated that the heads of the Orantes clan, "after the Zapatista uprising, were only rattled for a short time. After getting out of the limelight, they reorganized and strengthened their position, above all with the support of the government. Later, with the creation of military bases with mixed operations ñarmy, public security and judicial, which served to evict those participating in land occupations and to confront the political opposition, government support for paramilitary groups became more evident. Residents of the Venustiano Carranza municipality noted that when Albores became governor, the Orantes clan felt secure that they could regain control of the area.

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