Paramilitary threat in Chiapas

from the Mexico Solidarity Network

OPDDIC THREATENS PEACE IN CHIAPAS

The Organization for the Defense of Indigenous and Campesino Rights
(Opddic) is a growing paramilitary threat in Chiapas. Under the
leadership of Pedro Chulin, a well-known PRI cacique, Opddic is recruiting young
paramilitary members who are trained by local army units. Most of
Opddic's work is directed at subverting or dismantling the Zapatista
movement.

Chulin is a particularly notorious figure. He currently serves
as an assistant federal Deputy in the lower House. Previously he was a
local Deputy and a member of the Ocosingo city assembly. Chulin
founded Opddic in 1998, a month after he led a group of armed civilians who
assisted the army in dismantling the autonomous community Ricardo Flores
Magon in the municipality of Taniperla, part of a military strategy
that saw four autonomous municipalities dismantled in three months.
Chulin is originally from Taniperla. Before founding Opddic, Chulin was
associated with another paramilitary group active in the canyon region of
Chiapas called the Indigenous Revolutionary Anti-Zapatista Movement
(MIRA).

Opddic is particularly active in the lowland regions of Chiapas,
including the canyons around Altamirano and Ocosingo, and the Montes
Azules region. A series of communiqués released recently by the EZLN
and the Juntas of Good Government accuse Opddic of presenting a growing
threat to peace in Chiapas.