Print

Mail

wiki links

Alleged mastermind of Mexico massacre of 1997 re-arrested

Mexican authorities on Sunday said they had re-arrested the alleged mastermind of a 1997 massacre of 45 men, women and children in southern Mexico.

Antonio Santiz was detained on Saturday -- the 10th anniversary of the killings -- on charges he participated in a series of violent robberies in the days leading up to the Acteal massacre in the southern state of Chiapas, police said in a statement.

Chiapas Justice Minister Amador Rodriguez Lozano called Santiz the presumed "intellectual author" of the killings and said he is believed to have provided many of the weapons used in the massacre.

His arrest was an important step in an ongoing investigation into the massacre, now being supervised by a special prosecutor, Rodriguez said.

Santiz had been arrested for his alleged involvement in 2000, but a judge threw out the charges in 2001, ruling there was not enough evidence.

Pro-government villagers armed with guns and machetes slaughtered the 45 on Dec. 22, 1997.

At the time, Chiapas was deeply divided between supporters of the Zapatista rebels -- fighting for greater autonomy and respect for indigenous groups -- and backers of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for seven decades.

Officials said the killings were motivated by a land dispute between two Tzotzil Indian communities.

But victims' families say the massacre resulted from a bid to crush the Zapatistas, with state officials providing weapons and paramilitary training.

Justice in the case has been slow, and it was not until October this year that courts sentenced 34 men to 26 years each for the killings. Several others were convicted in 2002.

As of last week, human rights groups had renewed their plea for a Supreme Court investigation into what they believe is a cover-up protecting the true authors of the crime.
This story has been viewed 789 times.