The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) parliamentary faction of the Chiapas State Legislature required the federal government,
"as a matter of urgency, [to determine] the historical truth of the crime against humanity that occurred in Acteal* (municipality of Chenalhó), on December 22, 1997," and demanded "punishment for the perpetrators and masterminds of the massacre."In a statement released today, the PRD bloc wondered:
"If it is a State crime, as many have said, then who are the actual assassins, and why has no one ever wanted to touch the masterminds of the massacre?"
The statement came after the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) yesterday ordered the release of another fifteen people sentenced for the murder of forty-five people in that time and place, considering that their constitutional guarantees were violated, including the right to due process.
Alejandra Soriano Ruiz and Hortencia Zúñiga Torres, members of the PRD bloc, stated that
"this shameful event has been considered one of the worst massacres of the late twentieth century in our country, without having determined with certainty who are those responsible. This has resulted in a contentious debate among policy makers, researchers, human rights associations, politicians and journalists, among others."
They noted that
"fifteen years later, the words of former President Ernesto Zedillo that 'the cruel, absurd and unacceptable criminal act can only be answered with the firm and severe application of justice', have been slowly crumbling because the rulings of the Supreme Court have declared the freedom of those presumed responsible for violation of due process."Of the eighty-seven arrested in the case, only six remain in prison. Spanish original
MV Note: The Acteal Massacre was the slaughter, on December 22, 1997, in the village of that name in Chiapas, of forty-five members of the pacifist group Las Abejas ("The Bees"), who were attending a prayer meeting. The group supports the goals of the Zapatistas. The massacre was carried out by the paramilitary group Mascara Roja, or Red Mask. (For more history, see Wikipedia).