Sixth
Declaration of the
Lacandón Jungle
Part One
I. What We Are.[esp
“What We Are” begins with a summary of why the EZLN rose up in arms eleven and one-half years ago, saying
“Ya Basta!” Written in the “voice” of the indigenous campesinos in Chiapas, they say: “...we grew tired of
exploitation by the powerful, and then we organized to defend ourselves and to fight for justice.” They speak of the government
sending the Army, bombs, bullets and planning to kill them all; of their escape and resistance. They speak of the “people” of Mexico who went
into the streets to stop the bombs and bullets and telling them to dialogue and put aside their weapons. These were the people they have come
to call “civil societies.” So, they dialogued and reached an agreement with the bad government people called the San Andrés
Accords. They speak of the Army attack in February, 1995 and the Acteal Massacre; the intercontinental “encuentros” (gatherings);
the march of the 1,111 to Mexico City in 1997; the Consulta (vote) in 1999 and the “march for indigenous dignity” in 2001.
They conclude this part by speaking of the government's failure to
comply with its word and its
outright betrayal and of the good people they
have met during the last
eleven and one-half years.
II. Where We Are Now.
“Where We Are Now” summarizes what the Zapatistas have done since 2001. In this part they talk about
constructing autonomy and improving their own internal organization; basically, the changes announced in 2003 with the birth of the
Caracoles and Good Government Juntas. They speak of the increased separation of the political-military arm from the autonomous and
democratic aspects of organization in the Zapatista communities, of “governing by obeying,” of the accomplishments of the Juntas, and
conclude by saying that they have come as far as they can alone. They now believe that they must join with “workers, campesinos,
students, teachers, employees, the workers of the city and countryside.”
PART TWO
III. How We See The World.
Attention all you anti-capitalists out there! You will love “How We See The World.” It is a scathing
indictment of global capitalism's exploitation of everyone and everything around the globe. Here is a clear and concise easily
understood explanation of the evils of the capitalist system. I recommend that you read PART TWO even if you do not read the others.
You can find it in either English or Spanish (as you can all 3 parts) at:
IV. How We See Our Country Which Is Mexico
Here, the Zapatistas apply their analysis of capitalism to Mexico and explain how it has hurt their homeland. They also observe, however, that
there are many in their country who do not surrender to capitalist globalization; rather, they resist and rebel.
PART THREE
V. What We Want To Do.
The Zapatistas say they
want to
support all those who are fighting and
resisting in the world. After
acknowledging the many resistances to
neoliberal privatization in Latin
America, the EZLN makes a clear statement of
what they want to do:
“What we want to do in Mexico is to make an
agreement with people and
organizations just of the Left, because we
believe that it is in the
political left where the idea of resisting
neoliberal globalization is,
and of making a country where there will be
justice, democracy and
liberty for everyone. Not as it is right now,
where there is justice
only for the rich, there is liberty only for
their big businesses, and
there is democracy only for painting walls
with election propaganda.
And because we believe that it is only from
the Left that a plan of
struggle can emerge, so that our homeland,
which is Mexico, does not
die.”
They hope to develop a “National Program of Struggle” among the people
and organizations of the Left to save Mexico
from the neoliberal
politicians.
VI. How We Are Going To Do It.
In this final part of the
Sixth
Declaration, the EZLN maintains its commitment to an “offensive ceasefire,” not to establish any secret
relations with
political-military organizations in Mexico or
anywhere else in the
world, and to defend, support and obey the
communities of which it is
composed.
In the world...
1. Forge new relationships with those who
are resisting
and struggling against neoliberalism and for
humanity.
2. Send material such as food and handicrafts
to those brothers and
sisters from all over the world.
3. Hold another intercontinental encuentro
in maybe December or
January.
In Mexico...
1. Fight for all the exploited and
dispossessed of
Mexico, including migrants to the United
States.
2. Build an anti-capitalist program.
3. Build another way of doing politics in
Mexico.
4. Make a new Constitution, new laws which
take into account the
demands of the Mexican people which are:
housing, land, food, work,
health, education, information, culture,
independence, democracy,
justice, liberty and peace. A new Constitution
which defends the weak
in the face of the powerful.
THEREFORE, the EZLN will send a delegation of
its leadership throughout
national territory to where they are expressly
invited and they will
make alliances with non-electoral
organizations and movements
specifically defining themselves as being of
the Left, not imposed or
negotiated from above but FROM BELOW AND FOR
BELOW - to build an
alternative to neoliberalism, a Left
alternative for Mexico.
________________________________________________________________
Update: March 27, 2005.
International Women's Day in Chiapas: a
report from the Chiapas
Support Committee's March delegation.
From March 3 to 12, 2005 the Chiapas Support
Committee's sixth annual
March delegation toured Chiapas communities
and visited nonprofit
organizations working in the state's
indigenous communities. We visited
the Caracols located in Oventic and La
Garrucha, and the autonomous
municipalities (counties) of San Pedro
Polhó and San Manuel, our
sister municipality. We had briefings from
Enlace Civil, Ciepac and La
Red de Defensores Comunitarios de Derechos
Humanos. We thank the Juntas
de Buen Gobierno (Good Government Juntas) in
both Oventic and La
Garrucha for welcoming us to their respective
territories, as well as
San Manuel and San Pedro Polho. We likewise
thank Enlace Civil, Ciepac
and La Red de Defensores for their excellent
briefings. Finally, our
thanks to Dona Rosita for her hospitality and
to OTEZ for safe and
friendly transportation. The information in
this Update is compiled
from a synthesis of what we learned during our
visits and briefings, as
well as from articles in the Chiapas press.
I. San Pedro Polhó -
Polhó is an
autonomous municipal headquarters in the
Chiapas Highlands (in the
official municipality of Chenalhó)
which continues to house
between 5,000 and 6,000 internally displaced
refugees who fled from
paramilitary violence in the Chiapas highlands
during 1997. This
violence culminated in the massacre of 45
women, men and children in
the nearby village of Acteal on December 22,
1997. We met with several
members of the autonomous council who gave
delegates a good summary of
the history of that paramilitary violence and
informed all of us that
the current paramilitary group surrounding
them is composed of
"Presbyterian members of the PRI" (the
political party which held power
for more than 70 years).
Due to this paramilitary activity the refugees
are not able to return
to their lands to plant and harvest
crops. Consequently, a massive food shortage
has existed for seven
years. The International Commission of the Red
Cross assisted with both
food and medicine until December of 2003 when
it left for Iraq. Since
then, Polhó has depended on national
and international civil
society, as well as the few lands which can
safely be farmed, for its
survival. The exit of the Red Cross has also
left Polhó without
enough medicine for a population vulnerable to
disease because of
malnutrition.
Councilmembers denounced one of the state's
local newspapers, Cuarto
Poder, for saying that all the displaced had
returned to their
communities of origen. They felt that such
propaganda was an added
insult to their already precarious existence.
We received a supplement to the history told
by the autonomous council
members
in the far-away autonomous municipality of San
Manuel, which is now
home to some who fled the Highlands as
refugees. One of them told us of
the paramilitary attack on Acteal. He ended by
saying that if he had
not been a Zapatista, he would have been
killed during the attack. (We
have been told on more than one occasion from
more than one source that
the paramilitaries massacred Las Abejas
because they were unable to get
at the Zapatista support bases living there.)
Anyone wishing to help Polhó can
contact the Chiapas Support
Committee at:
cezmat@igc.org We continue to support the
Polhó refugees and
their woman's weaving cooperative.
II. International Women's Day in La
Garrucha - As we
were eating breakfast in an Ocosingo
restaurant, a car drove by
announcing a Zapatista Fiesta over a loud
speaker. A few hours later,
we arrived in the community of La Garrucha,
where one of the five
Zapatista Caracols is located. During our
meeting with the Good
Government Junta, we quickly learned that the
Junta was indeed
sponsoring a big party to celebrate
International Women's Day on March
8.
We also listened to members of the Junta as
they first reported that
the entire region was calm and then lamented
the fact that the
indigenous communities within their region
were divided. They
attributed this division to the government's
low-intensity war against
the Zapatistas (which includes propaganda
campaigns and economic
assistance programs to buy off families and
whole communities). This
was the first time that we had heard this
political message from the
Junta, which I interpretaed as one of seeking
a reunification of the
indigenous communities within its region.
On March 7, trucks filled with campesinos
began to arrive from the four
municipalities in this Tzeltal Jungle Region:
Francisco Gómez,
San Manuel, Ricardo Flores Magón and
Francisco Villa. Covered
stages for the two bands were constructed on
either side of the central
plaza. Soon there were plastic tents
sheltering families, basketball
games and bonfires for cooking. A cow was
butchered and being prepared.
The peace camp was full.
The two bands began to play on the afternoon
of the 7th; corridos,
cumbias and merengue. The rain began to fall
as both male and female
insurgentes mingled with civilian support
bases. Dancing began in the
evening. The rain began to fall harder and
continued through-out the
night, as did the music.
By morning on the 8th, there were thousands of
Zapatistas camping in
the center of their Caracol. People were
selling food and other
merchandise. We met a woman and her husband
who said they had been
homeless (landless) and had just been given
land in a new community by
the autonomous council of Ricardo Flores
Magón. They were
selling her crafts to raise money to construct
a house on their new
piece of land. After the beef soup was served,
the dancing began once
again. Undaunted by the light rain, almost
everyone was dancing. Many
of the people we talked to emphasized the
importance of bringing people
together in these region-wide fiestas. I
connected it to the desire for
reunification expressed by the Junta.
III. Health Care Crisis - As we were
celebrating
International Women's Day in La Garrucha, a
woman was dying in one of
the region's communities because there was no
ambulance to take her to
a hospital. Complications developed as she
began to give birth and
there was no nearby hospital, clinic or
ambulance to care for her. We
learned about this tragedy when we visited San
Manuel, our sister
municipality, the day after International
Women's Day. We had first
heard a woman express the need for an
ambulance in a November training
workshop in San Manuel. Now, members of the
autonomous council were
making an official request for one.
The need for emergency medical services is
coupled with the lack of
medicine in this region. When the
International Red Cross left Chiapas,
it also closed the clinic in San Miguel, not
far from La Garrucha and
San Manuel. The clinic had an ambulance with
emergency medical
equipment and emergency technicians. It also
had medicine. The entire
region is now without basic medicines. Some
cases of typhoid and
malaria have been detected and a general
health care crisis exists.
IV. Paramilitaries - The issue of
paramilitary
activities arose several times during the
weeks prior to the
delegation: 1) The Fray Bartolomé de
Las Casas Human Rights
Center (FBCCDH) announced that it was filing a
petition with the
Interamerican Human Rights Commission against
the Mexican government
for human rights violations in the case of the
Acteal massacre; and 2)
Chiapas state police used violence to break up
a sit-in blocking the
city hall, allegedly involving one faction of
the paramilitary group
known as "Paz y Justicia" against another
faction. Each was cloaked in
the colors of a political party.
Several NGOs we met with addressed the topic
of paramilitaries. We were
told there were three paramilitary groups with
strength: 1) Paz y
Justicia; 2) Mascara Roja; and 3) OPDIC.
Several others exist without
much strength, such as Los Chinchulines and
Los Autenticos Coletos. The
latter has arms but no military training. The
state government of
Chiapas had previously denied the existence of
paramilitary groups in
the state. However, Governor Pablo Salazar
acknowledged the presence of
Paz y Justicia as a paramilitary group after
the problems in Tila.
A. The Acteal Massacre Case - On
February 9, La
Jornada reported that the Fray Bartolomé de
las Casas Human Rights
Center (Frayba) announced that it was filing a
petition (complaint)
with the Interamerican Human Rights Commission
(IHRC) against the
federal government of Mexico, alleging that
the government bears
responsibility for creating, training and
supporting the paramilitary
group, Paz y Justicia, which allegedly
committed the massacres in the
Northern Zone of Chiapas between 1995 and
1997. Part of their
allegations are based on the confession of an
alleged former military
commander of Paz y Justicia. The petition was
actually filed on
February 18, 2005 and reported in the press on
February 22, shortly
before we arrived in San Cristobal de las
Casas. Frayba filed the
petition jointly with Las Abejas, the Catholic
campesino organization
whose members were massacred. Frayba is a
human rights organization
sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of San
Cristóbal de las Casas,
Chiapas. Retired Bishop Samuel Ruiz is on the
Board of Directors.
B. The case of Tila - In the early
morning hours of
February 15, 2005, state police vehicles
entered the town of Tila for
the purpose of dislodging protesters from
their sit-in at city hall.
Apparently, some or all of them were anti-riot
police. Dissidents had
been blocking entry to the building since
December of last year (2004).
According to news reports, the police arrested
more than fifty people
during the eviction and their whereabouts were
unknown for several
days. Eye witnesses report that the police
kicked in doors to enter
private homes and take out men they wanted to
arrest. While inside,
they beat the men and also beat women and
children. Residents describe
that helicopters flew overhead dropping tear
gas. For several days
after the operation, Tila's schools and
businesses were closed,
residents stayed indoors and more than 100
families fled in fear of
police agents who were patrolling the town.
By the time we arrived in Chiapas thirty of
those detained had been
released, including the only Zapatista
supporter detained.
The dissidents who blocked entry to city hall
were opponents of the new
Tila mayor, elected in October, 2004. The two
opposing forces were the
Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as
the PRI for its initials in
Spanish and the Alianza, an alliance of two
opposition parties, the
Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) and the
Worker's Party (PT).
Apparently the election was very close and the
State Election Tribunal
declared that the Alianza won. However, an
appeal by the PRI to the
Federal Election Commission was successful and
that body declared the
PRI to be the winner. The sit-in by members of
the Alianza began
several days before the new PRI mayor, Juan
José Díaz Solórzano, was to take office on
January 1, 2005.
The state government of Chiapas had been
negotiating with both sides
from the beginning of the problem. The Alianza
demanded power sharing;
i.e., 50% representation on the Municipal
Council. Some agreements were
reached, but each side claims the other broke
them.
Tila is one of the Chiapas municipalities, or
counties, where
paramilitary violence was rampant from 1995
until 2000. During those
years, the paramilitary group Paz y Justicia
terrorized the region and
caused at least 100 deaths, numerous
disappearances and up to 20,000
displaced indigenous people. Paz y Justicia
was allegedly trained by
the military and funded by those in power at
the time - the PRI
governments of Ernesto Zedillo at the federal
level and Julio Cesar
Ruiz Ferro and Roberto Albores Guillen in
Chiapas - as part of the
counterinsurgency campaign against the
Zapatista National Liberation
Army (EZLN) and others on the left, including
the PRD. Paz y Justicia
was never dismantled or disarmed when the
governments changed in
December of 2000. Rather, it began to
self-destruct, eventually
splitting into two factions, one faction
calling itself the Union of
Indigenous, Farming and Forest Communities
(UCIAF, for its initials in
Spanish). The other remained Paz y Justicia.
The governor of Chiapas, Pablo Salazar
Mendiguchía, was cited in
La Jornada as alleging that the two factions
of Paz y Justicia were
behind the current political conflict in Tila.
He claimed that one
faction (the UCIAF) sought power using the PRI
as a vehicle while the
faction still calling itself Paz y Justicia
was using the Alianza to
seek power. There was an inference that all
those arrested were members
of Paz y Justicia, a claim denied by both the
Bishop of San
Cristóbal and the wives of those
detained. It appears those
detained were mostly members of the PRD,
although Samuel Sánchez Sánchez, a founder of Paz y Justicia
and now a leader in the
UCIAF, has also been detained.
What is of particular significance is that for
more than three years
Salazar's Chiapas government of change has
denied that paramilitaries
exist within the state. Perhaps the recent
confessions of a former Paz
y Justicia comandante, made public by the Fray
Bartolomé de las
Casas Human Rights Center have forced the
state government to confront
reality. These confessions form part of the
basis for the Human Rights
Center's recent complaint against former
officials of the Mexican
government filed with the Interamerican Human
Rights Commission, a
commission of the Organization of American
States (OAS).
BY: Mary Ann Tenuto Sanchez
March 17, 2005
please feel free to address questions about
this report to Mary Ann at:
cezmat@igc.org
Details on the Acteal case are available on
the Fray Bartolomé de las
Casas Human Rights Center's webpage at:
http://www.laneta.apc.org/cdhbcasas/
The same site contains information about the
violence in Tila.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Zapatistas
Construct Another World
by Mary Ann Tenuto
Sanchez. Aug. 12, 2004
On
January 1, 2004, the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN
or Zapatistas) and their
supporters around the world commemorated
the
tenth
anniversary
of
the
Zapatista
Uprising
in Chiapas,
Mexico. Rebel Magazine, a monthly
magazine of Zapatista thought published in
Mexico, promoted a global
campaign of festivities in honor of that
anniversary, as well as the
twentieth anniversary of the founding of the
rebel organization on
November 17, 1983. As this double
anniversary occasions many important
articles of analysis remembering EZLN
history and the significance of
the Uprising, it is useful to look at what
the Zapatista communities
are actually constructing inside their
autonomous regions: an
alternative to neoliberalism. They are
constructing another world.
Although
the
construction
of
this
other
world
began
soon after the 1994
Uprising, it became more
apparent with the major policy statements made
in July and August of
2003. This other world is based upon civilian,
regional, indigenous
self-government (autonomy) and collective work
for the community.
In July
of 2003, Subcomandante
Marcos, the eloquent spokesperson for the
Zapatistas, informed the
world of major internal organizational
changes, the goal of which is to
strengthen and advance autonomy
(self-government) and to implement the
San Andres Accords. Those Accords were the
result of an initial peace
agreement between the EZLN and the Mexican
government on how to
harmonize self-governing
indigenous regions within the Mexican state.
Unfortunately, the Mexican
Congress did not implement the full agreement
into law, so the
Zapatistas are de facto implementing the San
Andres Accords within
their territory--autonomy without permission.
The
EZLN announced the creation
of five centers of autonomous, regional civil
government. This involved
a change in the name of those centers from
Aguascalientes to Caracols
(conch shells). It also involved the creation
of autonomous, regional
governance structures called Juntas de Buen
Gobierno (Good Government
Committees). The Zapatistas refer to them
simply as Juntas.
The
Juntas are composed of
representatives from each autonomous county
within the region.
Autonomous counties were initiated soon after
the Uprising. They are
composed of Zapatista supporters who live in
resistance to the local,
state and federal governments. The autonomous
counties democratically
elect their own autonomous county councils to
carry out the usual
functions of local government: recording
births, marriages and deaths;
obtaining development projects; constructing
schools and clinics, etc.
They also have a judicial function: dispute
resolution.
The
autonomous county councils
resolve disputes which arise within Zapatista
counties between members
of the organization. They also attempt to
resolve disputes between
Zapatistas and non-Zapatistas within their
territory. This latter
function has caused friction between
Zapatistas and anti-Zapatistas. It
is important to note here
that many non-Zapatistas have accepted the
role of the autonomous
councils. The anti-Zapatistas are those with
an axe to grind, such as
paramilitaries, quasi-paramilitaries and those
at the service of local
politicians and cattle ranchers.
Other
problems between the
autonomous counties themselves have been the
unequal distribution of
economic support from civil society and the
imposition of projects by
some international aid organizations. The
Juntas were created, in part,
to address these problems and inequities.
On a
recent fact-finding trip,
this writer met with the Good Government Junta
based in the community
of La Garrucha. Its chairperson stated that
its functions were
equitable distribution of economic solidarity,
resolving complaints of
human rights abuse, and resolving disputes
between people in different
autonomous counties.
The
chairperson explained that
cases were initiated by someone who believes
he/she has been wronged or
cases are referred by the local courts in the
official government
county. In other words, the Juntas provide an
alternative court system
to that of the constitutional state government
and, amazingly,
according to the Junta and several experts,
the local branches of the
state government are cooperating!
Cases
heard by the Juntas are
free to all parties and hearings are conducted
in the local indigenous
language. This contrasts sharply with the
state courts which cost lots
of money (graft) and are conducted in Spanish
and legalese. Many
indigenous people in Chiapas do not speak
Spanish at all and certainly
not well enough to understand a court
proceeding. Nor does the average
indigenous campesino understand the legal
system. Therefore, in order
to pursue a case in a local court, indigenous
people must pay the fees
and hire a lawyer and also an interpreter.
There are few indigenous
peasants who can afford these costs.
Consequently, most indigenous
people do not have access to the state courts
for resolving problems,
and unresolved problems can escalate into
violence. The reduction of
violence may motivate the present-day
cooperation of the local courts
while a justice system conducted in their own
language, free of charge
and free of racism is a strong motivation for
the average peasant with
a grievance to use the Juntas.
An
alternative system of
justice necessarily raises the question of
what rules or laws form the
basis for decision making. An autonomous
council president explained it
perfectly: "We resolve problems according to
indigenous justice, not
according to money like they do in Ocosingo"
(where the government
courts are located). The new Juntas rely on
traditional indigenous
concepts of justice to resolve disputes just
as the autonomous councils
have been doing for at least five years.
It
became apparent during my
interviews that there is another dimension to
the Good Government
Juntas: territorial control. The Juntas want
to know what is going on
within what they consider Zapatista territory.
This derives directly
from the San Andres Accords which granted a
degree of territorial
control to indigenous peoples throughout
Mexico. The Juntas expect all
those doing business inside their territory to
obtain permission from
the Junta for their activities. One means of
doing this is through the
appellate function of the Juntas. A conflict
which remains unresolved
at the autonomous
council level can be taken up by the Juntas,
thereby enforcing
requirements and/or decisions of the
autonomous councils within the
region.
In
several instances where
anti-Zapatista groups have threatened the
Juntas with violence, the
state government has intervened so as to
prevent violence. The
assertion of territorial control over
businesspeople, transport
companies, construction companies and
anti-Zapatistas will continue to
present challenges to the Juntas as long as
the Mexican Congress fails
to convert the San Andres Accords into law.
Despite
these challenges, the
Juntas represent a significant step in
converting the regional
administration of justice and territory from
the EZLN military
structure to an EZLN civilian structure. It is
sometimes difficult for
observers of the Zapatista movement to
separate the civilian side of
the EZLN from the military side. According to
Marcos, this will become
easier because the lines will no longer cross.
The military's function
will be the protection of the civilian
population and will no longer be
involved in civilian functions.
Overseeing
the
distribution
of
economic
solidarity
and
approving
projects by
national and
international organizations present
challenges. The Zapatista
communities are developing an indigenous
economy, often referred to as
a solidarity economy or campesino economy by
those advocates of
constructing another world. It is referred to
here as an indigenous
economy because it is rooted in an indigenous
tradition of peasant
farmers, an indigenous emphasis on the primary
importance of community,
and on a traditional practice of working
collectively for the
community.
The
1994 Uprising claimed
thousands of acres of former cattle ranches as
Zapatista territory. The
need for land was a major reason for the
rebellion, just as defending
themselves against armed aggression by cattle
ranchers was a motive for
arming themselves. The land taken by the
Zapatistas ("recovered land")
has been settled by Zapatistas from other
communities in need of land.
New communities were founded with just a piece
of land (no water
supply, no electricity, no houses, no schools,
clinics or stores). The
rather awesome task of the autonomous councils
was and still is to
develop these services. This has been
accomplished by means of projects
by nongovernmental organizations: water
projects, ongoing training of
health promoters and education promoters
(teachers) and economic
support from civil society (the construction
of schools, clinics and
collective stores). Other projects have
included coffee cooperatives,
weaving cooperatives, blacksmith shops,
shoemaking shops, organic
vegetable gardens, bread-baking cooperatives,
cafes and even the
reproduction of their music on CDs and
cassettes. Nevertheless, the
communities must be able to create a commerce
of their own, independent
of outside economic support. They must be able
to generate funds to
maintain the autonomous councils and to buy
supplies for their schools
and medicine for their clinics.
One
proposal for generating
profits is the construction of at least ten
warehouses throughout
Zapatista territory. These warehouses would
buy necessities wholesale
rather than through a middleman and then sell
to the community stores
at a small profit. This would generate the
funds necessary for the
daily maintenance of autonomous institutions.
Eventually, the
warehouses could purchase products from their
region for trade with
other regions and would be in a position to
seek markets for their
products. The labor of the warehouse workers
is labor donated to the
autonomous county, that is, collective work.
The warehouse project is
already under way in several regions.
Another
world is not generated
overnight. One autonomous council president
told us that the name of
the cooperative coffee shop in his community
is Smaliyel. That means
"slow going" in the Tzeltal Maya language.
They chose that name because
progress is made slowly. What is important is
that several hundred
thousand Zapatistas have begun the process of
constructing their own
world with cultural values opposed to those of
neoliberalism.
(This
article appeared in the
Spring, 2004 edition of Left Turn magazine. It
gives a good summary of
what is taking place inside the civilian
Zapatista communities as they
construct autonomy. It is also available in
Spanish. )
_______________________________________________________________
Zapatistas
Retake
the
Political
Stage
in
Mexico
by Mary
Ann Tenuto Sanchez, Sept. 26, 2003.
Chiapas Support Committee
What
do a pink shoe with a
stiletto heel and five conch shells have to
do with the Zapatista Army
of National Liberation's (EZLN's) latest
initiative to recapture
political space in Mexico for the indigenous
movement? Stay tuned for
the answer from that master of prose,
rebellion, and public relations
himself, Subcomandante Marcos (aka "the
Sup").
The comunicados began flooding our email
bins in mid-July. First, an
announcement by the commanders that Marcos
would be temporarily
speaking for the 30 autonomous
municipalities. Next, a few brief
statements on the international, national,
and local political scene
and two bold announcements: 1) that the Plan
Puebla Panama (PPP) would
not be permitted in Zapatista territory; and
2) that the Zapatistas
would implement the San Andres Accords
without the government's
permission.
Then came the announcement of a death.
Marcos didn't say who or what
was about to die and left us worrying
whether the Sup was gravely ill.
He kept us hanging until the next day when
we learned that the five
Aguascalientes had received the death
sentence. We waited yet another
day to find out that those same five
communities (Oventic, Morelia, La
Garrucha, La Realidad and Roberto Barrios)
would die in order to be
reborn as Caracoles (conch shells). Conch
shells? Spirals that lead to
the heart.
Rather than the political support, dignity,
and respect the communities
deserve, Marcos said, they have received
many cast-off items from
modern industrial societies: one pink shoe
with a stiletto heel, old
computers that don't work, expired
medicines, and inappropriate
(useless) clothing. He characterized this
charity, which was delivered
to the five Aguascalientes, where it remains
unusable, as the
"Cinderella Syndrome." Marcos also reported
that the Aguascalientes
experienced the imposition of unnecessary
projects by some nonprofit
organizations.
The death of the Aguascalientes signifies
the end of their acceptance
of such charity and imposed projects. The
Caracoles will no longer
accept cast-off items or imposed projects.
Rather, they expect dignity,
respect, and political support.
Since 1996, the five Aguascalientes
functioned as spaces where civil
society could meet and dialogue with the
Zapatistas. They also served
as training and cultural centers for
communities in the region. The
Caracoles will continue to perform those
functions as well as some
additional ones.
Building the Material Conditions for
Resistance
In a communique entitled "A History," Marcos
evaluated the progress
made by the autonomous municipalities over the
last seven years, a very
practical and down-to-earth assessment of the
current situation in the
communities. He praised them for the important
advances they made in
such high-priority areas as health care and
education, with the support
of civil society (that's us). Marcos reminded
us that resistance means
great material sacrifice for the communities
because they will accept
nothing from the "bad government" (mal
gobierno).
Progress has taken place "under conditions of
extreme poverty,
shortages, and technical and information
limitations . . . ," he
continued. "Its having managed to survive
under conditions of
persecution, harassment, and poverty that have
rarely existed in the
history of the world speaks to the fact that
[autonomous government]
has benefited the communities." Marcos
recognized that, with support
from civil society, the autonomous councils
have carried on the labor
of building the material conditions for
resistance. However, he said,
the development of these autonomous
municipalities has not been equal.
The inequality had been caused by several
factors: 1) the autonomous
municipalities (counties) in which the
Aguascalientes were located have
tended to receive more attention and more
economic support from civil
society than other municipalities; and 2)
those
autonomousmunicipalities which are easy to
reach have also received
more economic support and thus are more
developed. The resulting
inequality in development is unfair and causes
friction between
communities and between autonomous
municipalities.
The success of the autonomous councils in
dealing with conflicts
between Zapatista communities and nonZapatista
communities got mixed
reviews. Thus, the new plan to remedy the
inequalities: Good Government
Committees (Juntas de Buen Gobierno or,
simply, Juntas).
These are juntas of good government in
contrast to the "bad government"
of Mexico (as the Zapatistas usually refer to
it). The Juntas will take
on the duties of distributing economic
solidarity and projects in an
equitable manner throughout their region. They
will also resolve
disputes which cannot be resolved locally.
They will regulate who
enters and leaves their region. Marcos put it
this way:
"The Caracoles will be like doors for going
into the communities and
for the communities to leave. Like windows for
seeing us and for us to
look out. Like speakers for taking our word
afar and for listening to
what is far away. But, most especially, for
reminding us that we should
stay awake and be alert to the rightness of
the worlds which people the
world."
The Juntas will be composed of one or more
representatives from each
autonomous municipality within the
jurisdiction of each Caracol, in
other words, regional self-government. A bold
move, which takes
autonomy to another level and places it on the
national agenda once
again. Suddenly, Mexican newspapers were full
of articles pro and con
the new Zapatista initiative on autonomy and
the legality of its Juntas
(or lack thereof). Mexico City's progressive
daily, La Jornada, called
it "autonomy without permission."
The Political Context
Many of the problems this initiative addresses
have been around for a
while. Those of us who travel to Chiapas
frequently (and have learned
to listen and see) have observed the unequal
development, imposed
projects, and useless cast-off items for some
time. So the logical
question is, Why has the EZLN waited until now
to launch their new
initiative?
We have only to look at the election debacle
of July 6 of this year for
the answer. Mexican voters expressed
themselves by abstaining from
voting. Nearly 60 percent failed to vote. In
Chiapas, the rate of
abstention was close to 70 percent, a negative
referendum on the failed
promises of the Fox presidency. The PAN (Fox's
political party) lost
seats in the Chamber of Deputies whereas both
the PRI and the PRD
gained.
There is much talk about the inability of Fox
to govern for the
remaining three years of his term. A political
power vacuum results.
Enter Marcos, the EZLN, and the autonomous
communities to fill that
vacuum, reopening space for the issue of
indigenous autonomy. The
Zapatistas are reuniting the nation's
majority, which supported them on
the March of Indigenous Dignity during
February-March of 2001. They
invited civil society to three days of fiestas
in Oventic this past
August 8, 9, and 10 to commemorate the death
of the Aguascalientes and
the birth of the Caracoles. Indigenous peoples
from all over Mexico, as
well as some campesino organizations, the
press, and civil society,
attended. An estimated 15,000 or more greeted
this new phase of EZLN
resistance to globalization and bad
government.
Warning Issued to Paramilitary Leaders: 2 for
1
Marcos reported that the activity of
paramilitary gangs has increased
in Chiapas, especially in Los Altos (The
Highlands). Once again, these
gangs are threatening attacks against Acteal
and Polho similar to the
Acteal massacre of December 1997. Marcos put
the paramilitary leaders
on notice that there will be no impunity for
them if they attack. He
stated that for every Zapatista killed, the
EZLN will kill two
paramilitaries, his point being that this time
the paramilitaries will
suffer the consequences of their actions.
In his letter to the festival in Oventic,
Marcos spelled out very
clearly that the autonomous municipalities and
Good Government Juntas
will have autonomy from the EZLN's military
structure. Members of the
military will no longer perform police
functions, like maintaining
checkpoints and collecting taxes from
individuals. Therefore, all
checkpoints and tax collections will be
terminated immediately. This
announcement was well received by the
mainstream media and the
government, a good public relations move by
the EZLN, interpreted by
some as a signal for peace and dialogue.
Marcos said clearly that the
military's role would be to defend the
communities.
Plan La Realidad to Tijuana (Plan RealiTi)
Interspersed among the practical matters of
moving toward regional
autonomy, Marcos repeated his scathing
critique of the Plan
PueblaPanama (PPP), that ill-fated plan by the
Fox administration to
"develop" the infrastructure of indigenous
Mexico, not for indigenous
people but to accommodate transnational
corporations and the FTAA. The
Sup boldly
announced that the PPP would not be permitted
in Zapatista lands. He
also predicted that all the resistance
movements throughout Mexico and
Central America had already doomed any attempt
to implement the PPP.
The comunicado on this issue is worth reading
for his critique of "big
capital."
A big surprise came when Marcos announced the
Plan La RealidadTijuana
(Plan RealiTi). This plan involves linking all
the resistance movements
in Mexico and together rebuilding the country
from below. And . . . the
Zapatistas have four more plans to deal with
the rest of the world,
including the U.S. and Canada!
In connection with globalization, an
announcement was made during the
Oventic fiesta that the Zapatista word would
travel to Cancun in
mid-September for the WTO gatherings.
Conclusion
We congratulate the Zapatistas on this advance
in their construction of
indigenous autonomy. A Chiapas Support
Committee delegation will
deliver our congratulations in person to the
Caracol of La Garrucha
when we travel into the river valleys of the
Lacandon. We will be
asking the questions everyone has about what
the reorganization means
to those of us in civil society. Join us on
our October 5 to October 12
delegation
to Chiapas, and help construct the material
conditions for resistance.
Call (510) 6549587 or email: cezmat@igc.org
Note: All the EZLN's comunicados can be read
in Spanish at:
www.ezlnaldf.org and in
English at:
www.eco.utexas.edu/facstaff/Cleaver/aguascalientes.html.
_______________________________________________________
The
War in Chiapas: CSC
delegation report (March,
2003)
Military
Situation.
There is a war in Chiapas. It is called a
"low-intensity" war. It is a
war directed at the civilian population.
From time-to-time orchestrated
violence breaks out. All is watched and
controlled by the Mexican
Army's estimated 70,000+plus troops
stationed throughout the EZLN zone
of influence. We saw troops everywhere we
went: on the main highway
between San Cristobal and Ocosingo, on the
dirt road into the Las Tasas
Canyon, on the road into the Patihuitz
Canyon and on the mountain road
that passes the entrance to Polho.
They were "on patrol." The entire
countryside is dotted with military
camps and bases of various sizes, beginning
with the gigantic
olive-green 39th Military headquarters
across the road from the Tonina
Ruins and the community of Jerusalen. They
watch, harass and frighten
civilian Zapatista supporters. They protect
and coordinate with the
paramilitary groups.
Paramilitary Situation.
The paramilitary groups do the dirty work
for the government and the
Mexican Army. When violence is planned, it
is the paramilitaries who do
it. They have complete impunity. In the
Northern Zone, the autonomous
counties do not publicly announce themselves
for fear of attack by
Development, Peace and Justice, ironically
the name of a large
paramilitary group. In the canyons east of
Ocosingo, some counties do
not publicly announce the name of the county
seat for fear of
paramilitary reprisal. County headquarters
are rotated. Communities
protect themselves by close coordination and
cooperation/ support in
the event of an attack and with denuncias
(public announcements) of
paramilitary activity. They stressed the
importance of international
observers in their peace camps and of
international civil society
distributing information about events in
Chiapas.
We learned that the paramilitary group MIRA
has disappeared because,
according to the companeros, civil society
found out about it and it
was denounced. It has been replaced with a
new paramilitary group, the
Opdic, which operates in the canyons of the
Lacandon Jungle. The Opdic
is said to be responsible for several of the
attacks last July-August.
We also learned that it is growing and
spreading throughout the canyons
east of Ocosingo. According to the
companeros and the Mexico City
newspaper La Jornada, the Opdic is organized
and financed by the
Municipal president of Ocosingo, Omar
Burguete and by Pedro Chulin, a
delegate to the state Congress from a
district in Ocosingo county (the
largest in terms of square miles in Mexico).
Autonomy
Although the Mexican Congress and Supreme
Court have refused to
implement the San Andres Accords into law,
the Zapatista communities in
Chiapas have constructed autonomy on their
own. They have developed a
structure of self governance based on their
cultural values and on the
principles of their resistance against neo-
liberalism and a "bad
government." They elect their own
authorities who in turn implement
programs for autonomous education and
health. They construct schools,
libraries, health clinics and begin to
develop an autonomous economy.
They face many obstacles: lack of money,
inability of many to read and
write, lack of transportation, lack of
medicine, etc. They know it will
take a long time to accomplish all they hope
for, but they are
diligently working on it.
Polhó Refugee Camp
There are still many refugees from the
"low-intensity" warfare. 8,000
are in the autonomous refugee camp of Polho,
possibly
the world's only entirely self-managed
refugee camp. They are
in resistance. One of the leaders told us
that they will not sell out
by returning to their villages of origin
while there are still
paramilitaries there. They were critical of
those who did return.
As I emerged from the van at Polho, trucks
full of soldiers were no
more than 15 feet away on the road, glaring
at me and at those guarding
the entrance to the refugee camp. The
patrols were frequent. The
military camp is adjacent to Polho. It is
active and menacing.
Lack of food is a problem for everyone in
the community of Polho. The
International Red Cross has reduced the
amount of food aid to 25% of
the minimum daily requirement. To that
amount is added the food from
those fields which it is safe for some of
the refugees to work plus the
money contributed by national and
international civil society. There is
hunger there. It seems to me that the
refugees are the responsibility
of all of us.
We were shocked to hear that the Mexican Red
Cross, which is supposed
to be providing health care to the county,
developed a little housing
project which was for PRI families (read
paramilitaries) in other
communities and they are using it to divide
communities. The
paramilitaries have been given 1,000 tons of
building materials
(gravel, cement, wood, tin roofs).
Montes Azules - Mesoamerican Biological
Corridor-Mexico.
The threat of eviction looms heavy over the
indigenous communities
settled inside the Montes Azules Biosphere
Reserve. Towards the end of
our delegation, Global Exchange took a group
of NGO workers and press
people for a flight over the area and a
visit to several communities.
Their report confirmed all we have
previously said about the phony
"green" reasons being but an excuse to evict
troublesome indigenous
communities in the way of corporate
exploitation of the rainforest.
They echoed our criticisms of Conservation
International's (CI's)
position on this matter. We applaud their
work. The more voices that
are added to the critique of what is really
happening in the Montes
Azules the better.
In one of our informational briefings we
were told that one of the
things CI is doing in the Montes Azules is
catching butterflies to send
to a tourist park in Cancun. They also send
fungi and orchids to the
U.S.
Both before and after the delegation,
several of us met with friends in
Tuxtla Gutierrez, where we discussed the
Mesoamerican Biological
Corridor-Mexico (MBC-M). In the opinion of
these folks there is no
doubt that it is being used for
counterinsurgency purposes. The
reserves of El Triunfo and the Chimilapas
are home to the EPR and both
EZLN and EPR respectively. Civilian
communities supportive of these
groups live inside the reserves. The Montes
Azules is only the first
biosphere reserve to be threatened with
evictions.
Jerusalen/Rancho Esmeralda.
While several of us were en route to
Chiapas, EZLN bases of support
surrounded Rancho Esmeralda, the now
notorious "ecotourism" ranch owned
by a couple of U.S. citizens. Zapatistas
took control of the property
several weeks after it was abandoned by the
owners, who remain in
Chiapas and talk to the press, U.S.
government representatives, and to
representatives of the Chiapas government
regularly. We did not detect
much sympathy for them among Chiapanecos.
They are asking the Chiapas
government to indemnify them in the amount
of $5,000,000.00 pesos
($500,000.00 U.S. dollars). The governor has
refused.
This is a difficult subject to discuss
because we do not have the
benefit of the EZLN's word on this. They are
completely silent on this
subject. However, some information was
published in La Jornada and the
local Chiapas papers while we were there.
The essence of the published
information is that a top-level Israeli
military official was the
leader of the "eco-tourist" group that
caused the problem last
December. The group is known to have ties to
the Guatemalan military
and it is suspected that they brought arms
with them as well as
satellite telecommunications equipment. They
must have been seen as a
threat to civilian Zapatista bases of
support in Jerusalen, so the road
through Jerusalen was closed to further
Rancho Esmeralda "eco-tourists."
The remainder of our experience was a mix of
serious interviews and
celebrations in autonomous communities. We
are producing a video on
that part of our trip for presentation at La
Pena Cultural Center, 3105
Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, on April 9 at
7:30 PM.
______________________________________________________
* The Chiapas Support Committee's (CSC) 4th
Annual Delegation for
International Women's Week began on March 2
when all eleven delegates
gathered in San Cristobal de las Casas
Chiapas, Mexico. We were 7 from
the Greater Bay Area (6 from Oakland), 1
from Davis, California and 3
from Germany.
During the 9-day delegation we received
excellent informational
briefings from Enlace Civil, the Coordinator
of Civil Society in
Resistance and the awesome research center,
CIEPAC. We traveled to four
communities in the canyons east of Ocosingo
(where the U.S. State
Department advises us not to go), spending
four days and three nights
there. We had formal meetings with
autonomous authorities in two
communities and chatted informally in
others. In addition, we visited
the archaeological ruins of Tonina,
celebrated International Women's
Day (a day late) at a fiesta given for us by
the women's collective
store in the community of San Jose and ended
the delegation with a
visit to the Polh' refugee camp on
March 10. A very full
itinerary and an amazing experience. Below
we summarize what we learned
about the general situation.
For more information about Chiapas, the La
Pena program or about future
delegations to Chiapas, please contact us.
___________________________________
CNC Activity
(REPORT
from
CHIAPAS
-
PART
3)
The
CNC
is
a
national
peasant
organization
affiliated
with
the
Partido
Revolucionario
Institutional
(PRI),
the
ruling
party
in
Mexico
and
Chiapas
until
the
elections of 2000. The PRI still controls
the
enormous county of Ocosingo. It soon became
apparent that the CNC
members in La Providencia were interested in
more than just having some
land. Some of them, Los Lecheros, were one
of the groups which
pretended to leave the Zapatistas and faked
turning in their weapons to
former Governor Roberto Albores
Guillén. Around the same time
(1999) this group began to provoke the
Zapatistas by making false
reports to the police and causing the
wrongful detention of one of the
Zapatistas. Moreover, they entered Zapatista
houses.....
See
story
Mexican
Human
Rights
Lawyer
Is
Killed
A
winner of Amnesty International's Enduring
Spirit Award, had been
menaced by death threats for years, often in
notes devised from
newspaper clippings that appeared under her
door. In 1999, she was
kidnapped and beaten. Two months later, she
was tied, blindfolded and
tortured in her home for nine hours. No
arrests were made in the
attacks.........
See
story
Report
on
Chiapas - Parts
1
&
2
Chiapas state elections
& Francisco Gómez
".....it was clear that
the PRI
remained the majority party. [Later results
showed that the PRI was
indeed the #1 favorite of the people who
bothered to vote, with the PRD
a distant second and the PAN (Fox's party)
third.] The PRI will have a
majority of deputies in the state Congress
and maintains control of a
majority of the municipal governments. A big
surprise was that a
previously unheard of party, the PAS, won
control of San
Cristóbal municipal government. It is
rumored that the PAS was
founded by a rich conservative (redundant?),
but who knows!
Pérez López and Morales Ramírez shared
the analysis that there was one crystal clear message to be learned from this year's election: if you want to beat
the PRI, you must do so
in alliance with other parties..."
See
story
Worsening situation
of
internally displaced Chiapas refugees &
threats from paramilitaries
against Zapatista bases of support.
"We Will Die of Hunger Without Red Cross
Committee Aid." Say Chenalhó Displaced Elio Henríquez, correspondent San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas.
Indigenous from the municipality of Chenalhó, displaced from
their communities, asked the International
Committee of the Red Cross
(CICR) to reconsider its decision to reduce
their humanitarian aid
deliveries because, if they do not, "we are
going to die of hunger...."
See
story
Brief
Background on Chiapas
The EZLN.
On January 1, 1994, the Zapatista Army of
National Liberation (EZLN)
declared war against the Mexican government by
seizing the four largest
municipal governments in the state of Chiapas,
Mexico. The EZLN, or
Zapatistas as they are often called, is
composed largely of indigenous
Mayan campesinos. Their demands include land,
housing, food, schools,
health care, roads, electricity, safe drinking
water, and democratic
elections.
After thirteen days of fighting, a fragile
truce was called by the
government. Peace talks resulted in an initial
agreement on Indigenous
Rights and Culture in February, 1996. (This
agreement is referred to as
the "San Andres Accords.") Additional talks
were called off in
September of that year when the government
failed to implement the
agreement it signed. In November, 1996 all
parties to the peace talks
agreed to language for implementing the
initial accords into law. The
president of Mexico refused to sign the
language to which his own
negotiators agreed. No talks have been held
since.
Meanwhile, the government has
implemented a strategy of
"low-intensity warfare" against civilian
communities supportive of the
Zapatista demands. This includes sending 70,000
military troops to
Chiapas (a state with only 3.2 million people),
allowing paramilitary
groups to terrorize with impunity, and the
military occupation of
civilian communities.
This strategy culminated in the
brutal Christmas Eve massacre
of 45 women, children and men, as they prayed in
the chapel of a
refugee camp in a village of Acteal, Chiapas.
Military and paramilitary
violence has driven 19,500 indigenous people
into makeshift refugee
camps where they lack food, shelter, medicine
and safe drinking water.
The hunger in these camps is now combined with a
critical food shortage
caused by this year's severe drought. We also
work directly with
indigenous communities.
A New President.
On Dec. 1,
2001, Vicente Fox became the President of
Mexico. His election
represented a change in political party for
the first time in more than
70 years. He is a member of the conservative
National Action Party
(PAN). Fox immediately indicated that he
wanted to resume peace talks
with the EZLN and sent the Cocopa Initiative
to Congress. The
Zapatistas set three conditions for returning
to the talks and
announced the March to Mexico City to address
the Mexican Congress
regarding the passage of the Cocopa
Initiative. The three conditions
were: 1) Implementation of the Cocopa
Initiative into law; 2) Release
of all Zapatista political prisoners; and 3)
withdrawal of the Army
from seven of the many military camps in the
zone of conflict. None
have been fully complied with.
The March to Mexico
City.
The March began in Chiapas on Feb. 24, 2001.
It passed through 9 nine
states of Mexico, participated in the National
Indiginous Congress and
arrived in the Zocalo of Mexico City on March
10, 2001. There were
between 200,000 and 250,000 people awaiting
the 24 comandantes (commanders)
in
the
Zocalo.
The Mexican Congress.
A delegation
of 4 civilian commanders addressed the Mexican
Congress on March 28,
2001, advocating for the passage of the Cocopa
Initiative. Their
historic presence was in spite of intense
opposition from PAN
legislators, a
rather ominous sign.
In April 2001, the Congress
passed a watered-down version of
the Cocopa Initiative, leading one Mexican
newspaper to label it
"Cocopa Light." The legislation failed to
recognize indigenous lands
and territories or recognize their right to
autonomy. The Zapatistas
rejected it, withdrew their government liaison
and broke off all formal
contact with the Fox government. The majority of
the states approved
the constitutional change, in spite of fierce
opposition. More than 300
appeals were filed with the Mexican Supreme
Court which has yet to
rule. A case was also filed before the
International Labor
Organization, a United Nations organization.
The Current Situation.
After the
states approved the constitutional changes,
Fox signed then into law.
Additional troops were sent to Chiapas,
paramilitary groups resurfaced
and low-intensity warfare resumed against
Zapatista civialian
communities. The current estimate is that
there are 80,000 soldiers in
Chiapas.
Analysis.
Although
conservatives claim "constitutional concerns,"
it is widely accepted
that the reason the Cocopa initiative was not
approved has more to do
with economic interests. Transnational
corporations and the
governments which they influence are anxious
to exploit the abundant
natural resources of Chiapas like oil,
biodiversity, water and
fertile land. The Plan Puebla-Panama (PPP) is
just beginning to develop
the basic infrastructure (roads, ports, dams,
railroads, privatization
of communal land, etc.) needed for monocrop
agriculture, biotech
research, "eco-tourism," and the maquiladora
industry. This
necessitates violent clashes between the
governments and many
indigenous communities which have vowed to
resist. (For further
introductory information on Chiapas, see Earth
Island Journal's
report
on Chiapas. Another
independent report is available
here.)
How You Can Help.
The
indigenous people of Chiapas need support form
the international
community in various ways: 1) International
human right observers in
Chiapas peace camps; 2) political support such
as letters to the
Mexican Consulates, U.S. politicians,
demonstrations, etc; and/or, 3)
Financial support. For more information, call
the Chiapas Support
Committee at: (510) 654-9587.
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