A-Infos (en) Zedillo says victims trying to provoke Army, Feb 20

[MichaelP <papadop@PEAK.ORG>]

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Big bro blaming the victims for military intervention ?
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Mexico rebels trying to provoke army, Zedillo says

MEXICO CITY, Feb 19 (Reuters) - President Ernesto Zedillo accused Mexico's
Zapatista Indian rebels on Thursday of using women and children to try to
provoke the army in the troubled southern state of Chiapas. 

In remarks during a ceremony marking Army Day at Mexico City's Heroic Military
College, Zedillo said Mexican troops would always follow the law and never
allow themselves to be provoked into violence. 

More than 30,000 troops are stationed in Chiapas, the site of a 1994 Zapatista
uprising against the government. 

``Our armed forces will not fall into the provocations of those who would like
to see our army brutally repress our indigenous brothers to satisfy their
perverse aim of feeding conflict and division,'' the president said. 

Relations between the army and Chiapas Indians have always been tense but have
deteriorated further since the December 1997 massacre of 45 Indians by
paramilitaries. Pro-Zapatista activists have alleged that security forces
turned a blind eye to paramilitary activity, though officials strongly deny
this. 

Zapatista supporters have proclaimed 43 ``autonomous municipalities'' in
Chiapas, each with its own parallel rebel administration. In many such
locations, women and children have joined arms to prevent patrolling troops
from entering and have hurled abuse at them. 

Zedillo said during the breakfast that ``those who don't hesitate to use
indigenous women and children for their provocations and would not think twice
about using them as cannon fodder, will always find an army tempered with
firmness but also with prudence.'' 

Zapatista supporters have accused the government at various times during the
Chiapas crisis of planning a military solution but Zedillo has repeatedly said
he will never take that path. 

Zedillo said the armed forces ``will help to support those who suffer the most
privations and will be a guarantor of dialogue.'' 

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