Confronting the Stain of Chiapas : With army’s brutality newly documented, Salinas vows to aid Indians

Mexico’s capable young President Carlos Salinas de Gortari is struggling mightily to refurbish his country’s image, so badly damaged by an Indian uprising Jan. 1 in the state of Chiapas and the army’s heavy-handedness in putting it down.

Salinas took a big step in the right direction Tuesday when he visited that impoverished southern state and promised to act to solve the deep social and economic problems there. But the impact of his gesture was undermined by a report issued the same day by a respected human rights group that documents just how harsh the army’s repression of the rebels was.

Salinas genuinely wants an end to the crisis in Chiapas, where at least 100 have died in the violence. He reorganized his Cabinet, fired the state’s governor, ordered an army cease-fire and offered the rebels amnesty. Last weekend, in a show of how widespread sympathy for the rebels is among even pro-government Mexicans, that nation’s Congress unanimously approved the president’s amnesty plan.

Salinas carried the amnesty declaration with him Tuesday, telling an audience of indigenous and peasant leaders, “We want peace, but not a return to the situation before.” He also promised economic aid for war victims and to help bring Chiapas’ largely rural population closer to the rest of Mexico in terms of the nation’s rising level of development. But before he delivers long-term economic aid to the people of Chiapas, Salinas must respond to their more immediate human rights concerns. For despite repeated promises by government officials to withdraw troops from Chiapas villages, many places remain occupied and subject to often arbitrary repression.

Tuesday’s report on the uprising--in which 15,000 heavily armed troops put down a rebel force of 2,000 Indians--was issued by Amnesty International. Its investigators were told of nine executions of suspected rebels and of dozens of men being detained and sometimes tortured simply because they were suspected of being rebel sympathizers. The whereabouts of many detainees are still unknown. Until Salinas addresses these concerns of the indigenous people of Chiapas, the crisis there will not be over.