Political violence said 'chronic' in south Mexico

CNN February 1, 1999 Political violence said 'chronic' in south Mexico

                  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -- Political violence has reached "chronic" levels
                  in two south Mexican states, a leading Mexican human rights organisation
                  said on Monday.

                  The Miguel Augustin Pro Juarez human rights centre said
                  politically-motivated murders, arbitrary detentions and cases of torture had
                  soared in recent months in the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca.

                  "Political violence in Guerrero and Oaxaca has become we would say
                  chronic ... and in recent months it has soared to even higher levels," said the
                  center's director Edgar Cortes.

"The number of cases of torture, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial
executions have risen," Cortes told a news conference in Mexico City.

                  Guerrero, a state of three million people on the Pacific coast where the
                  glamour of Acapulco tourist resort contrasts with the state's poverty, is
                  slated to hold gubernatorial elections this Sunday.

                  The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which has ruled Mexico since
                  1929, was expected to scrape a narrow victory over the left-wing Party of
                  the Democratic Revolution (PRD) but political commentators say the race
                  may be too close to call.

                  Cortes, a Jesuit priest, said political violence in Guerrero was mainly
                  directed against leaders of social organizations, political activists and also
                  against human rights defenders.