U.S. Admits Role in Chiapas Conflict

Excerpts from El Financiero International, August 10, 1998, By Garance Burke, NUEVO AMANECER PRESS- N.A.P. http://www.nap.cuhm.mx/nap0.htm

U.S. Army War College Professor Tells of Counter-insurgency Trainings and ‘Private Diplomacy.’

…Since 1995, hundreds of Mexican soldiers have been trained at elite U.S. military bases in counter-narcotics, maneuvers that are virtually identical to the counter-insurgency tactics used in the Guatemalan civil war.

"The general (U.S.) response is that Mexico has to deal with its own problems," said Donald Schulz, an expert on Latin America at the U.S. Army War College. "At the same time, some of the training and equipment that has been provided to the Mexican military can be used for counter-insurgency purposes."

"…If there were major instability in Mexico of the kind that the country was getting too close to in 1994," said Schulz, "this would provoke large-scale immigration and could carry with it violence to the United States–this is what we have to consider."

…Since 1994, the United States has sold and donated over 235 million dollars’ worth of arms and equipment to Mexico, including 103 UH1H "Huey" helicopters, 4 surveillance planes, as well as night vision, electronic control and satellite equipment.

Furthermore, in recent years the number of Mexican generals, soldiers and pilots receiving counter-insurgency training at the U.S. Special Forces (Green Berets) base in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, has risen dramatically.

Schulz disclosed that several U.S.-leased counter-narcotics helicopters were used in Chiapas…"

…Global Exchange’s involvement was in part prompted by reports from S. Brian Willson, a Vietnam veteran and lawyer by training who has documented the flow of U.S. equipment to Chiapas. Willson writes that when Gen. Mario Renan–who was trained in counter-insurgency tactics at Ft. Bragg–served as the former commander of the Seventh Military Region in Chiapas, he directly supported ruling party-aligned paramilitary group Paz y Justicia, one of the area’s most dangerous and best-funded counter-insurgency groups.