Subject: MEXICO: Chiapas Renews Attention to Human Rights
From: International Gay Lesbian Human Rights Commission <[email-masked]>
Date: 25 Feb 94 20:40 PST

INTERNATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

514 Castro Street, San Francisco, California 94114 USA Tel.
415.255.8680 Fax 415.255.8662

 Press Release

February 25, 1994 Contact:  Jose Maria Covarrubias, (h)
+52-5-536-8242 Jorge Cortinas, (w) (415) 255-8680

Uprising in Chiapas Renews Attention To Human Rights -- Former
Policeman Arrested & Charged with Murder of Transvestites

	Still reeling from the insurrection that rocked its
	southern state of Chiapas, the Mexican government is
	attempting to satisfy some of its critics by finally
	moving to address a series of unsolved murders against gay
	men and transvestites. Between June of 1991 and February
	of 1993 an estimated 25 gay men were assassinated, the
	majority killed in Tuxtla Guiterrez, the state capital of
	Chiapas.

	Ignacio Flores Montiel, former coordinator of police
	forces for the State of Chiapas, was arrested on January
	26 and accused of trafficking arms, kidnapping, and
	murder. The former police coordinator is being held in
	Mexico City instead of Chiapas for his own protection.
	According to reports published in Mexican newspapers, gay
	men and transvestites were among Flore MontielUs numerous
	victims. The Mexico City based Circulo Cultural Gay (CCG)
	(Gay Cultural Circle)  has long suspected him of directing
	some of the brutal murders in Chiapas, most of them
	carried out with the high caliber bullets used by the
	police. CCG greeted news of the arrest with skepticism,
	and called anew for a thorough and impartial
	investigation to bring to justice all of those involved in
	the killing spree. The cautious response of activists
	reflects the deep distrust of the governmentUs commitment
	to its own human rights laws, a skepticism that helped
	spark the insurrection of the Zapatista Army for National
	Liberation (EZLN) that began on New YearUs day.

	"Gay activists and human rights workers have ample cause
	to withhold congratulating the Mexican government," said
	Jorge Cortinas, Program Director of the International Gay
	and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. "Local authorities
	have let crucial evidence go unexamined, have promoted
	judges who participated in the cover up, and have
	convicted innocent people to protect the guilty." Cortinas
	pointed to a report by the Mexican governmentUs own
	National Commission on Human Rights that documents a
	policy of willful obstruction of justice on the part of
	local authorities. The three men originally convicted and
	imprisoned for the murders are widely regarded to have
	been falsely charged as part of a wider cover-up. Two of
	them have since been released by order of the Chiapas
	State Supreme Court. The latest to be released, Martin
	Ramon Moguel Lopez, maintains that he was forced to sign a
	confession after he was tortured and his family was
	threatened.

	The arrest of Flores Montiel comes after more then two
	years of high profile protests led by gay activists in
	Mexico. Jose Maria Covarrubias, coordinator for CCG,
	stressed the importance of exposing the governmentUs
	complicity in human rights abuses. "These assassinations
	have preoccupied the Mexican and international press
	thanks to the hard work of activists, intellectuals and
	artists who have refused to remain silent." Covarrubias'
	group has been instrumental in securing a series of open
	letters to the Mexican Government demanding that the
	perpetrators of the crimes be brought to justice. The
	letters, widely circulated and published in Mexico, were
	signed by many of the countries leading artists, writers,
	and politicians.

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