In Chiapas in southern Mexico, army and paramilitary forces continue to harass indigenous supporters of the five-year old Zapatista uprising, communities are divided, and some 20,000 people remain displaced from their homes. Reports strongly criticizing the government's human rights violations have been issued by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Human Rights Commission of the Organization of American States.

At CTA News press time, a national consultation on March 21 was scheduled, to poll the Mexican people about their support for congressional legislation to implement the San Andres Accords between the Zapatista rebels and the Mexican government. Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia, pastoral leader of the indigenous peoples of Chiapas, resigned as chair of the mediating commission last year, saying the government's militarization of Chiapas was undermining the peace process.

Dom Samuel joined 7,000 people in Acteal Dec. 22 to mark the first anniversary of the massacre of 21 women, 15 children and nine men by a paramilitary group. Mexico's attorney general has dismissed the killing as a local dispute, even though state police stood by in Acteal while the killing occurred. Paramilitary groups continue to operate with impunity in many parts of Chiapas. In Mexico City in December, 50 military officers marched in protest against the expansion of the Army's role into activities such as police work.

As the Mexican military becomes more embroiled in civilian-targeted repression, SOA Watch has published the names of 18 graduates of the U.S. Army School of the Americas who are playing key roles in Mexican counter-insurgency operations in Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca. And Mexico has suddenly become the Latin country with the largest contingent of officers being trained at the School of the Americas. After sending only 766 to SOA over nearly five decades, Mexico had 333 graduates of SOA in 1997 alone -- a third of the class. As Bishop Ruiz defends the poor against the powerful, one SOA graduate, General José Ruben Riva Peña, has published an analysis blaming the conflict in Chiapas on the Church and "its contaminated thread of liberation theology."