DRUG TRADE HURTS N. MEXICAN INDIANS

MEXICO CITY--The recent massacre of two families highlights the plight of
impoverished Indians in northern Mexico, who are increasingly being snared
into drug trafficking and falling victim to its violence. The Pacific port
of Ensenada, a popular resort area known for tourism and fishing in Baja
California state, turned abruptly violent on Sept. 17 when 18 people were
gunned down at a ranch. Authorities believe the apparent target of the
massacre was Fermin Castro, a Pai Pai Indian, who survived the attack but
remains in a coma. Castro is believed to head one of a growing number of
small drug-smuggling bands that have popped up in the region after the heat
was turned up on the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix gang and the Juarez
Cartel went into disarray after the death of its leader, Amado Carrillo
Fuentes. Now, much of the drug trade is being managed by smaller groups
operating secretly for the drug cartels.

Impoverished Indians from Baja California and Chihuahua states in northern
Mexico plant marijuana and similar crops and helping smuggle South American
cocaine in small amounts into the United States. Sometimes the Indians
refuse to cooperate, and they're killed or harassed by drug gangs and their
local police accomplices. On Saturday, The New York Times reported from the
Baja California state of Santa Catarina that drug dealers have been forcing
Indians to sell lands -or at least cooperate -in setting up clandestine
airports for drug trafficking. The Time said that the drug trafficking "has
resulted in a string of killings in the Indian communities," including the
town where Castro was gunned down. Local authorities say Ensenada, which
hugs the Pacific coast about 50 miles south of the U.S. border, is
well-suited for the drug trade. "Sometimes they come up through the (Gulf
of Mexico) and ship over dirt roads to the Pacific, or from the Pacific to
the Gulf. They land drugs in planes.

They stand offshore in ships and small boats bring the drugs into shore,"
Gen. Jose Luis Chavez said last week. The Mexico City daily, La Jornada,
reported Saturday that indigenous people of the Batopilas area in the
northern state of Chihuahua have been pushed into the drug trade. The daily
quoted a Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Francisco Chavez, the head of a
local human rights organization, as saying that local authorities have
profited from inducing the local Indians into growing drugs. Zeta, a
Tijuana magazine, reported this week that indigenous communities in Baja
California have asked Gov. Hector Teran to stop abuses by local police in
Maneadero, a coastal town just south of Ensenada.

Copyright 1998 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson