[NYTr] Recent Bombings in Mexico Questioned

[nytr at tania.blythe-systems.com]

sent by Milt Shapiro (mexnews)

Mexidata.info - June 7, 2004


Recent bombings in Mexico questioned

By Barnard R. Thompson

Newspapers worldwide have carried the stories - three bombs exploded 
in closed-for-the-weekend foreign owned Mexican banks in the predawn 
hours of May 23.  The explosions were set off in Jiutepec, a small 
town south of Mexico City in the state of Morelos.  The claimed 
perpetrators - heretofore-unknown dissenters calling themselves the 
"Comando Jaramillista Morelense 23 de Mayo."

Legitimized immediately as another guerrilla group advocating social 
justice by the media in Mexico, a yet unanswered question is who 
really was behind the acts?  Populist or rural poor advocates?  Land 
reformists?  Terrorists?  Subversives?  Student radicals - old or 
new?  Could they simply be common criminals trying to mask whatever 
acts, present or future, behind a political fa=E7ade?

Or maybe this was something yet more partisan in nature, one more 
Kafkaesque-like act in the Byzantine world of Mexican politics?

The so-called "commando" group reportedly took their name from Rub=E9n 
Jaramillo, a peasant activist and leader who was killed, along with 
his family, by military forces on May 23, 1962.  But this latest 
Jaramillista group had never been heard of before.

A note was found near a fourth device that conveniently failed to 
explode.  The note condemned the economic policies and "neoliberal 
counter reforms" of President Vicente Fox Quesada, who it said "has 
shown that moral and political hegemony have no limits under the 
imperialist hegemony."

It also called for the resignation of Morelos Governor Sergio Estrada 
Cajigal, a member of Fox's National Action Party, or PAN.  Estrada 
had been under pressure by the political opposition in the state to 
resign following revelations of supposed ties to drug traffickers, 
charges that Estrada adamantly denies.  When he refused to resign, 
the Morelos state legislature initiated impeachment proceedings that 
are now bogged down in the courts.

On June 2 the self-proclaimed Jaramillista commando was heard from 
again.  This time they sent a communiqu=E9 to members of the media in 
the southern state of Chiapas, home of the minor yet now famous 
Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN).

The missive again attacked the bourgeoisie.  "We warn that what the 
popular revolutionary movement has gained has not been enough to 
detain exploitation, exclusion, corruption, impunity, cynicism, 
grandeur, repression and terror by the powerful," the note said.

As to the May 23 bombings in Morelos, the communiqu=E9 said that the 
attack was directed against "banking institutions fraudulently 
privatized by the neoliberal governments."  It also noted that care 
was taken lest the explosions might have caused injuries, "so that 
they cannot classify us as terrorists."

The attention getting midnight explosions were relatively small 
detonations, although international media reports were much more 
bombastic - and with few to no follow-up stories.  In Morelos, the 
bombs were first said to be dynamite and then there were reports that 
plastic explosives were used.  Another report said that TNT had been 
found, while a local police commander said they were probably set off 
by remote control.

As it turns out, investigators now have evidence that what was used 
were commercially available small explosive devices normally used in 
the construction industry.  They were placed in plastic containers 
and rigged with clocks, the timing devices apparently being the most 
sophisticated part of the makeup.

But who is behind the bombings, that by whatever standard were 
serious, frightening and yes acts of terror?

Going beyond the theory of Ockham's razor, after the May 23 
explosions Julio Hern=E1ndez wrote in the Mexico City daily La Jornada 
"on many occasions supposed (guerrilla) acts have been prepared in 
government basements."

Governor Estrada, who has denied any involvement in the affair, has 
expressed strong suspicions that "political actors" in the state are 
involved, not members of what he claims to be a non-existent 
guerrilla group.  According to Estrada, the investigation by Mexico's 
Attorney General points to a group of perpetrators who are trying to 
politically and socially destabilize Morelos and his administration.

The Morelos state Secretary of Government, Jes=FAs Giles S=E1nchez (PAN), 
more specifically points the finger towards "the political parties," 
whereas members of congress in Mexico City were even more blunt. 
Jos=E9 Sigona Torres (PAN, Morelos) attributed the bombings to 
"leftwing extremist groups tied to the PRD," an unsubstantiated 
charge that a Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) spokeswoman 
challenged as grossly irresponsible.

Back in the state and in a seemingly vicious circle, PRD leaders 
claim that public perception is the bombings may "have been 
fabricated in order to divert attention from the real problems of 
non-governance that exist in Morelos, and due to possible ties of 
some state government officials to drug trafficking."