16 Charged in Chiapas Massacre

Sixteen Maya Indians were charged with first-degree murder Friday night in the massacre of 45 highland villagers in southern Chiapas state, and investigators pressed state officials to explain why they failed to stop the slaughter despite being alerted during the hours-long attack.

The suspects were arraigned in Federal Criminal Court on several other charges as well, including kidnapping, in connection with Monday’s raid on the mountain hamlet of Acteal.

Officials carted the suspects to a jail in the state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez.

Monday’s massacre of Tzotzil Indians--including 15 children and 21 women, four of whom were pregnant--summed up years of a violent political feud between rival families in the poverty-stricken region, the federal attorney general’s office said in a statement.

“These conflicts can validly be characterized as within communities, even families, as part of constant rivalries over political and economic power,” it said.

Atty. Gen. Jorge Madrazo Cuellar said at a news conference in Mexico City that the government will continue investigating how the killers obtained AK-47 assault weapons, normally supplied only to the army, and how much state officials knew of growing violence in the region.

He did not say who he believed ordered the attack and he refused to answer questions. Police are still holding 26 other Maya Indians from villages around Acteal.

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Meanwhile, federal investigators sought answers to the attack.

Madrazo confirmed that he had interrogated Homero Tovilla, the Chiapas state secretary, about when state officials had learned of the massacre.

Tovilla admitted that Roman Catholic priests in nearby San Cristobal de las Casas had called to report gunfire in Acteal about 11:30 a.m. Monday. He said he called the local police station, which told him there was no evidence of violence.

Alberto Chan, a civil defense official, said he was driving on a road to Acteal at 11 a.m. Monday when a state police official stopped him.

“They told me I couldn’t go any farther because there was a shootout,” he said.

That would directly contradict the state government’s version of events and could lend credence to some survivors’ assertions that state police officers participated in the massacre.

Chiapas Gov. Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro insisted late Thursday that police would not have known about the massacre because the closest station was four miles from Acteal, making it impossible for them to hear the gunshots. But a police outpost in Mojaumut is actually just over a mile away from the village.

Radio reports said the 16 suspects will be tried before a judge within 72 hours, and they could face jail terms of up to 50 years.

Madrazo said an additional two minors were not arrested but turned over to a juvenile facility; 24 other suspects held for questioning could be arrested over the weekend, he added.

Mexican opposition groups have called for Ruiz Ferro’s resignation, saying he failed to stop the massacre and he supported paramilitary groups like the one that allegedly carried it out. Ruiz Ferro has repeatedly denied the existence of paramilitary groups in Chiapas.

The governor has scoffed at the accusations and said he will not resign.

“Now is not the time to try to blame people,” he told reporters Thursday night. “Our first priority is to find the guilty parties and reconcile these communities.”