There have been reports that on 9 March 1994, Mariano Perez Diaz was killed, and his son Jorge Perez Nunez seriously injured, in an ambush by eight unidentified men in Simojovel, state of Chiapas. Both men, leaders of the State Council of Indigenous and Peasant Organizations in Chiapas (CEOIC), had early received death threats. These threats were apparently because of their work with local Indian communities in negotiations between the Mexican government and the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN). This attack heightens the fear for the safety of indigenous leaders and human rights monitors in Chiapas who continue to receive death threats.
