EZLN Marks day of Sorrow for its Dead

Originally published in Spanish by the EZLN
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Translated by irlandesa

[Note: Original Spanish version follows the translation - irl]


Communiqué from the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee.
General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Mexico.

February 14, 2004.

To the Peoples of Mexico:
To the Peoples of the World:

Brothers and Sisters:

The Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee - General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, says its word on this day which we are dedicating to our compañeros who fell in the struggle.

On the tenth anniversary of the war against the forgetting, the EZLN dedicates its memory to the zapatistas who fell in the 10 years of the war. In a private ceremony on January 2 of this year, insurgents, officers and comandantes and comandantas were present at some of the graves of our compañeros and in the villages which saw their birth, growth and struggle.

Today, February 14, is the day which we dedicate every year to the memory of the sorrow of our struggle: the memory of our dead.

It is for this reason that the General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation is releasing today, publicly, the complete list of the dead and disappeared zapatistas who fell in the fighting of 1994.

First. - We had 34 combatant casualties in the fighting in Ocosingo. Of those, two zapatistas died in our field hospitals (killed in action: KIA), and the other 32 were missing in combat (MIA).

As is known, at least five of these disappeared compañeros were summarily executed on the orders of the then Brigadier General Luis Humberto Portillo Leal, who at that time was head of the 30th Military Region. The person in charge of perpetrating the assassinations was the then Infantry Major Adalberto Pérez Nava, who executed at least five indigenous zapatistas. General Portillo Leal's orders were to take no prisoners and to kill everyone, regardless of whether or not they were armed. Other indigenous zapatista combatants were executed by the then Second Infantry Captain of the federal Army, Lodegario Salvador Estrada.

Following Portillo Leal's orders, federal troops assassinated 8 persons who were in the IMSS hospital in Ocosingo, mistaking them for zapatistas. In reality they were state Public Security police officers who had been wounded in the takeover of the municipal seat of Ocosingo. The EZLN, in compliance with the rules of war and military honor, had provided them with medical care. Accused of these crimes, Second Infantry Lieutenant Jiménes Morales was executed by the military police.

This information was obtained from the file Jesús Valles Bahena #A76-804- 703, signed by Bertha A. Zúñiga, immigration judge of the United States Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review, dated March 19, 1999. In this file, Officer Jesus Valles Bahena related why he had to desert from the federal Army, after having been threatened with death by the then Colonel Bocarando Benavidez. In addition to Officer Valles Bahena, other commanders of the federal Army refused to carry out the orders of assassination. The fate of those officers is not known.

Below are the combat names, complete names and places of origin of those fallen in the Ocosingo combat:

1.- Militiaman Amador (MIA + Jan. 94); Antonio Guzmán González; Prado
2.- Militiaman Agenor (MIA + Jan. 94); Fernando Ruiz Guzmán; Prado
3.- Militiaman Fidelino (MIA + Jan. 94); Marcos Guzmán Pérez; Prado
4.- Militiaman Adán (MIA + Jan. 94); Doroteo Ruíz Hernández; Prado
5.- Militiaman Arnulfo (MIA + Jan. 94); Diego Aguilar Hernández; Prado
6.- Militiaman Samuel (MIA + Jan. 94); Eliseo Hernández Cruz; Prado
7.- Militiaman Salvador (MIA + Jan. 94); Eusebio Jiménez González; San Juan
8.- Militiaman Ernesto (MIA + Jan. 94); Santiago Pérez Méndez; San Juan
9.- Militiaman Venancio (MIA + Jan. 94); Marcos Pérez Córdova; San Juan
10.- Militiaman Horacio (MIA + Jan. 94); Juan Mendoza Lorenzo; San Miguel
11.- Militiaman Jeremías (MIA + Jan. 94); Eliseo Sánchez Pérez; San Miguel
12.- Militiaman Linares (MIA + Jan. 94); Leonardo Méndez Sántiz; La Garrucha
13.- Militiaman Dionisio (MIA + Jan. 94); Carmelo Méndez Méndez; Carmen Pataté
14.- Militiaman Bonifacio (MIA + Jan. 94); Javier Hernández López; Carmen Pataté
15.- Militiaman Feliciano (MIA + Jan. 94); Enrique González García; Patiwitz
16.- Militiaman Horacio (MIA + Jan. 94); Marcelo Pérez Jiménez; Patiwitz
17.- Militiaman Cayetano (MIA + Jan. 94); Manuel Sánchez González; Patiwitz
18.- Militiaman Cristóbal (MIA + Jan. 94); Nicolás Cortéz Hernández; Patiwitz
19.- Militiaman Chuchín (MIA + Jan. 94); Vicente López Hernández; Patiwitz
20.- Militiaman Adán (MIA +Jan. 94); Javier López Hernández; Nuevo Suchilá
21.- Militiaman Nacho (MIA + Jan. 94); Alejandro Sánchez López; Galana
22.- Militiaman Arturo (MEC + Jan. 94); Enrique Hernández Vázquez; Martinica
23.- Militiaman Juan (MEC + Jan. 94); Ibarra
24.- Militiaman Heriberto (MIA + Jan. 94; )Floriberto López Pérez; La Sultana
25.- Militiaman Jeremías (MIA + Jan. 94); Pedro López García; La Sultana
26.- Militiaman Germán (MIA + Jan. 94); Alfredo Sánchez Méndez; La Sultana
27.- Militiaman Jeremías (MIA + Jan. 94); Santiago Ramírez Hernández; San Juanito
28.- Militiaman Camilo ( + Jan. 94); Apolinar López López; San Francisco
29.- Militiaman Tito (+ Jan. 94); Rogelio García García; Carmen Chiquito
30.- Second Lieutenant Insurgent M.G. Álvaro (MIA + Jan. 94); Silverio Gómez Álvarez; North Chiapas
31.- Insurgent M.G. Fredy (MIA + Jan. 94); Bartolo Pérez Cortés; Prado
32.- Tte. Ins. Inf. Calixto (MIA + Jan. 94; )Marcos Gómez Velasco; Chanal
33.- Ins. Inf. Miguel (MIA + Jan. 94); Arturo Aguilar Jiménez; Yaxkul
34.- Comandante Hugo (MIA + Jan. 94); Francisco Gómez Hdez.; La Sultana

Second. - We had one death in combat in Las Margaritas. In addition, during the days subsequent to the takeover of Las Margaritas by zapatista troops, and with the plaza then once again in the hands of the federales, federal Army Officer, Major Terán kidnapped, tortured and executed militiamen Eduardo Gómez Hernández and Jorge Mariano Solís López in the Agua Prieta district of the referenced municipality. The compañeros' ears and tongues were cut off.

Below are the combat names, names and places of origin of the zapatistas who fell in combat in Las Margaritas:

35.- Subcomandante Insurgente Pedro (KIA + Jan. 94); State of Michoacán

Detained alive, tortured and assassinated by the federal forces in La Margaritas:

36.- Militiaman (+ Jan. 94) Eduardo Gómez Hernández; Las Margaritas
37.- Militiaman (+ Jan. 94) Jorge Mariano Solís López; Las Margaritas

Third. - In addition to the zapatistas who fell in the fighting at the Rancho Nuevo federal barracks, in the Morelia ejido, then the Municipality of Altamirano, the federal army entered the community and kidnapped Severiano Sántiz Gómez (60 years old), Hermelindo Sántiz Gómez (65 years old) and Sebastián López Sántiz (45 years old), EZLN support bases. Their remains were found at the time, with signs of having been tortured and with clear evidence of having been executed. The analysis of the remains was carried out by specialists from "Physicians for Human Rights." Below are the combat names, complete names and places of origin of the zapatistas who fell in the fighting in Altamirano, Rancho Nuevo and Morelia:

Detained alive by the Army, tortured and assassinated in Altamirano:

38.- Support Base, Severiano Sántiz Gómez (BAE + Jan. 94); Morelia
39.- Support Base Sebastián López Sántiz (BAE + Jan. 94); Morelia
40.- Support Base Hermelindo López Sántiz (BAE + Jan. 94); Morelia

Dead or disappeared in the fighting in Altamirano and Rancho Nuevo:

41.- Militiaman Moisés (+ Jan. 94); Mariano Sánchez Gómez; Sacrificio
42.- Militiaman Ghandi (+ Jan. 94; )Marcos López Hernández; Acpuiljá
43.- Militiaman Felipe (+ Jan. 94); Horacio Aguilar Moreno; Puebla Viejo
44.- Militiaman Ciro (+ Jan. 94); Eligio Hernández Jiménez; Puebla Viejo
45.- Militiaman Daniel (+ Jan. 94); Feliciano Albores Hdez.; Nuevo Santiago
46.- Militiaman Agustín (+ Jan. 94); San Miguel Norte

Fourth. - During that time period, EZLN troops were responsible for the deaths of at least 27 federal forces and the wounding of 40. In addition, the lives of 180 soldiers and police officers who surrendered were respected (among them that of General Absalón Castellanos Domínguez), and they were released.

Fifth. - Ten years after the beginning of the war against the forgetting, and on this day dedicated to those fallen in struggle, the EZLN salutes the memory of these zapatistas, Chiapas indigenous in the majority, who died for the Indian peoples and for...

Democracy!
Liberty!
Justice!

>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
By the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee -
General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos

Mexico, February of 2004, 20 & 10

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