WEl *rnz Weather Tonight: Cloudy, low around 30. Tomorrow: Cloudy, chance of rain, high 40. One hundredafour years of editorial freedom Monday April 10, 1995 voli''CV, No. a MThe? eChiapas: A poor people in a rich land Editor's note: The southeastern Mexican state of hiapas has been in the news recently after a rebel group known as the Zapatistas began sparring with the Mexican government. Robyn Denson, a University student, spent three weeks in the region in December. This is the first of a three-part series on the region, the people and the Zapatista movement. By Robyn Denson Special to the Daily SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico - The 'heels spun out as the truck swung around the bend, scrambling to catch hold in the loose gravel. The tailgate crashed open as we plunged through ruts, and for a moment one of the back wheels slid off the edge of the cliff. We grabbed for the guard rails and slammed against them as the wheels found a momentary hold and the truck lurched forward, barreling further up into the Chiapan mountains. Like the majority of the roads in this southeastern Mexican state, this one was not fit for vehicle travel. The erosion-gutted passages are only accommodating to the ands of coffee workers who walk five to eight hours a day unsporting heavy sacks of beans to and from the valley. The few paved highways only connect the larger pueblos, government hydroelectric plants and oil-drilling areas. Chiapas has more in common with third-world Guate- mala, its southern neighbor, than to the Mexico lauded by busi- ness groups as a and of opportu- ty and by tour- ists as a tropical A special three-part series paradise. The mountainous jungles of Chiapas wake with the sun, pushing up through quilted fog, and create a horizon rivaled only in its majesty by the purple skyline flirting with the jagged peaks. Monkeys and parrots scream warn- ings from .the treetops as jaguars and pumas lurk in the underbrush. White waters crash through the forest land- scape, leaping over cliffs and surging into the valleys below. Highland Chiapas is incomparable in natural beauty and, in stark contrast to the primarily dry, sparse land- scape of greater Mexico, is blessed with an incredible wealth of natural resources. In addition to beef, lumber and a wide array of agricul- tural products, Mexico draws 55 percent of its hydroelec- tric power and much of its national oil reserves from Chiapas. Despite its natural riches, however, Chiapas is one of the poorest states in Mexico. The grave poverty of Students wake to 3 inches of April snow *y Michelle Lee Thompson Daily Staff Reporter On April mornings, most University students wake up to sunshine or showers - not three inches of snow. But yesterday morning, that was exactly the case. Snow and chilly temperatures greeted students as they tramped around campus. Some awoke earlier than others - including South Quad residents, who were subjected to two fire drills early Sunday morning, at about 4 and 6 a.m. During the first *rill, the weather was cold, residents said, but there was no snow on the ground. But by 6 a.m., "Barely anyone went out for (the fire drill)," said Nicole Rietscha, LSA first-year student and Gomberg House resident. "Everyone was saying how the (resident advisers) went around and people hid from 6 Israelis dead after 2 attacks in Gaza Strip The Washington Post KFAR DAROM, Gaza Strip - Palestinian suicide bombers drove vehicles packed with explosives into a bus and a military jeep in two separate attacks yesterday near Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. Six Israelis died and at least 46 people were wounded, most of them soldiers. Islamic Jihad, a militant group based in Damascus, claimed responsibility for the attack on the bus at this small settlement 10 miles south of Gaza City. The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, said it launched the other assault, at a crossroads near the settlement of Netzarim. The attack here demonstrated a high level of tactical proficiency by the militant opponents of peace negotia- tions with Israel. Israeli officials said that competence, combined with their willingness to die, has made the suicide bombers very difficult to stop. The two militant groups have intensified their terror attacks in the 19 months since Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed a limited peace accord on the White House lawn. The mounting Israeli death toll, which now stands at 123, has shaken public confidence in the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and several times brought the self-rule talks close to collapse. Rabin flew here by helicopter even before army sappers had finished detonating the car bomb's unexploded re- mains. He said he "won't let the Hamas and the Jihad hurt the peace process" by breaking off talks with Yasser Arafat, chairman of the limited self-rule authority, as the Israeli opposition demanded again yesterday. Yesterday's was the first large-scale attack since the double suicide bombing at the Beit Lid junction northeast of Tel Aviv that killed 21 Israelis in January. Palestinian police have reported thwarting other attempts, although they have not provided details, and Israeli border guards intercepted a truck full of explosives on its way to Beersheba last month. Outside this settlement yesterday, the suicide bomber identified by Islamic Jihad as Khaled Khatib, 22, idled the engine of a blue van as he waited for a bus packed with soldiers returning to bases from weekend leave, together with a few civilian passengers. The spot Khatib chose is a dip in the road where it sinks slightly into a dry riverbed. When the bus slowed to negotiate the depression, Khatib raced his van alongside - some accounts said he rammed the bus - and deto- nated his charge, killing six bus passengers and wounding many. . A gHOs An indigenous woman tends to her wares as a Mexican army troop transport rolls by outside Larrainzar, Chiapas. the people continues to marginalize their position in Mexico. "Chiapas is rich by the grace of mother Maria, but poor by the work of the government," said an agitated taxi driver somewhere on the road toOcosingo, an indigenous pueblo outside of San Cristobal de las Casas. Fruits and vegetables from corn and beans to avocados and bananas thrive on mountainside plots hidden by the surrounding jungle. These plots, together with the collec- tion of wooden huts they surround, characterize tradi- tional Chiapaneco pueblos. Despite the bounty of their gardens, however, families having as many as 11 or 12 children are minimally sustained by subsistence agricul- ture. When possible, the family diversifies its economic base by practicing basic animal husbandry or by selling artistry to tourists in the cities. While much of Mexico has entered the 20th century, the small indigenous pueblos have remained relatively isolated from the modern world. Thirty percent of the people do not have electricity or clean water. although Coca-Cola and Pepsi have managed to establish them- selves in even the most remote corners of the jungle. In some areas, soda pop is so exotic it is used in religious ritual. In most areas, the cheaper pop has become a substitute for milk. The indigenous children rarely have the opportunity to attend school, and of those that do, few make it past elementary levels of education. "Seventy-five percent of the population of Chiapas is indigenous, most of them are illiterate and 62 percent don't even speak Spanish," said a young businessman and Catholic youth charity member from the Northern Yucatan Peninsula. "There are over 20 different languages in Chiapas, which makes organization between groups difficult and makes it easy for the government to exploit the land and cheep labor while ignoring the real needs of the people." The government may be accused of ignoring the people, but large, private landowners in Chiapas have preyed upon the peasants by expanding their coffee plantations and cattle ranches into traditional indigenous lands. Faced with decreasing economic options as the prices for their crops fall and the prices for consumer items rise with the exploding inflation, the peasants have few choices for survival but to sell their lands to the growing planta- tions and ranches. Many peasant families remain to work for the new landowners, but 60 percent earn the minimum wage of $4.00 a day. Squatter settlements populated by displaced protesting peasant farmers have sprung up on many of the ranches. "They stole our land," said one resident of a squatter settlement on a ranch an hour outside of the indigenous pueblo of Margaritas. "They made it so we couldn't live anymore selling our crops and we had to sell our land to live. Now we have nothing, the money is gone and we have nowhere to go." The squatter settlements are growing in number, and See CHIAPAS, Page 2 Panelists to discuss R&E 10 requirement From StaffReports The evolving LSA race and ethnicity requirement will be scruti- nized once again tonight in a public forum hosted by the LSA Student Government. A panel including Assistant LSA Dean David Schoem, philosopy Asso- ciate Prof. Elizabeth Anderson and as- sociate English chair Stephen Sumida will discuss with the public the changes to the requirement recently proposed by the LSA Executive Committee, and ac- cept suggestions and comments. The committee has been review- ing the requirement since January 1994. Organizers said the forum, to be held at 7 p.m. in the Michigan Union's Wolverine Room, is intended to fos- ter open discussion on the issue. The event is the second in the LSA-SG's town meeting series. Former Rep. James Kovacs, who had worked on the issue, will moderate. LSA-SG Rep. Brittany Schultz en- couraged students to contribute to the R&E requirement's evolution. "It'syour opportunity to voice your concerns di- rectly with the administration. Take advantage of it," she said. them," she added. Although some dis- runtled resi- ents hid in stair- wells or their rooms during the drills, about 200 pajama-clad stu- dents walked out the doors of South Quad to a light snowfall Ihad to have my umbrella because it was sleeting ice right into my face." - Erica Gebstadt SNRE sophomore TONYA BROAD/Daily Dances with ribbons Inteflex sophomore Ellen Song performs a traditional ribbon dance at the second-annual Chinese Culture Festival in the Michigan Union Ballroom yesterday afternoon. Song has taught dancing for six years and performs for various organizations in the community. I and freezing temperatures. I* According to the National Weather Service, yesterday's average temperature of 30 degrees was not nearly as cold as the record of 19 degrees on April 9, 1985. However, April in Michigan has often been much warmer, as indi- cated by 1931's record high of 78. The normal tempera- ture is 45 degrees. After first 100 days, fate of 'Contract' items uncertain WASHINGTON (AP) - One of the many lingering mysteries surrounding Congress centers on whether majority already approved $188 billion in tax cuts for families and businesses, Clinton wants a $64 billion cut, and the Senate is likely to publicans piece together a plan, hoping they fall on their faces, before joining in the bud- get process? And does he sign a GOP pack- that produce deficit reduction, "and we could end up with a budget that everybody is reasonably satisfied with." I' I