Barcelona, December 7, 2006
To Mexican civil society
To international civil society
To the Mexican government
To the media
To the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca
In February of 1998, as a result of the killings in Acteal three months earlier, international civil society responded with diverse mobilizations. It expressed its repudiation of the massacre against the rebellious indigenous people in Chiapas and sought to find a peaceful solution to to the conflict. Over 500 organizations and individuals across five continents supported the creation of the International Civil Human Rights Watch Commission (CCIODH) that traveled to Chiapas at the time.
In November of 1999 a second commission carried out a follow-up visit to Chiapas in order to assess the situation based on observations and recommendations made by the previous commission. In February of 2002, the CCIODH carried out its third visit. After the electoral victory of the new government, its objective was to assess the possibility of a just solution to the conflict. After the ratification of the new constitutional legislation on indigenous people (Ley Indígena) in 2001 the possibility of a just solution had been frustrated through the incompletion of the San Adrés Accords, signed by the Mexican government. This was denounced by the EZLN, the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) as Mexican and international civil society.
