Dissident Mexican officer vows not to launch coup

CNN January 17, 1999 Dissident Mexican officer vows not to launch coup

                  MEXICO CITY, Jan 17 (Reuters) -- A fugitive Mexican army officer who
                  expressed admiration for a Venezuelan coup leader and a Mexican guerrilla
                  commander has vowed never to support a coup d'etat in Mexico.

                  Lt. Col. Hildegardo Bacilio Gomez launched an unprecedented dissident
                  movement with a protest march through the streets of Mexico City last
                  month, denouncing alleged human rights abuses within the army and
                  demanding that Defence Minister Enrique Cervantes resign. He has since
                  been charged with sedition.

But Bacilio, who is believed to be in Venezuela, said in a statement late on
Saturday that a coup would set Mexico back "at least 100 years."

                  "Mexican society can have the absolute certainty that we will never attempt a
                  coup d'etat and that the Patriotic Command to Raise Public Consciousness
                  will be the first to fight against one," Bacilio said, using the name of his group.

                  Bacilio raised speculation he might take up arms because has declared
                  himself a fan of Venezuelan President-elect Hugo Chavez, who led a failed
                  coup in 1992, and Subcommander Marcos, leader of the armed Zapatista
                  uprising in Mexico's impoverished Chiapas state.

His statement sought to refute just such a suggestion, made by a newspaper
columnist.

                  Bacilio has shaken up the Mexican armed forces with his bold protest and a
                  series of missives periodically faxed to media. Internal military dissent has
                  never been aired so publicly in modern times, and military prosecutors have
                  charged him with sedition, insubordination and slander of the army.

                  Earlier this month, five junior officers supporting Bacilio's movement were
                  arrested by military police for attempting to deliver a letter to President
                  Ernesto Zedillo.

                  When the five were charged with sedition and shipped off to a military prison
                  in the north of Mexico, Bacilio fled the country through Central America and
                  was attempting to get to Venezuela, a spokesman for the group said.