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MEXICO - Mexico has rearrested a man accused of ordering the killings of 45 Indians in the southern state of Chiapas, a massacre that shocked the country 10 years ago and which rights groups say remains unsolved.
Right-wing paramilitaries killed the Tzotzil Indians, including pregnant women and children, in the village of Acteal on Dec. 22, 1997.
Some witnesses say paramilitaries accused the Tzotzil of siding with the country's indigenous, armed Zapatista movement. Others say the murders were to avenge the killing of a Catholic leader by the Zapatistas.
The Chiapas state government said in a statement it had arrested on Saturday suspected paramilitary Antonio Santiz, who had previously been imprisoned, hours after it named a special prosecutor for the long-running Acteal investigation.
It was not clear why Santiz had previously been released.
"This person (Santiz) is considered to be ... the intellectual author of the massacre at Acteal," said Chiapas Justice Minister Amador Rodriguez late on Saturday.
Hundreds of people have been arrested since 1997 but only a few have been sentenced. Rights groups say those sentenced are innocent scapegoats and accuse successive governments of protecting the perpetrators.
- REUTERS
