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MEXICO:
Zapatistas Have a
Surprise Up Their Sleeve, Say
Observers
Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, (IPS) - The
Zapatista guerrillas in the
southern Mexican state of
Chiapas have pledged that they
will not take up their weapons
again.
But they have also announced
their determination to ensure
that the ”scoundrels” - a
catch-all term to describe all
politicians - ”will not get
their own way,” but rather will
”be held accountable” and forced
to pay.
What will the next step be for
this poorly-armed indigenous
rebel movement, which has
captured the world's attention
with daring political actions
throughout its 11-year history,
but has maintained a markedly
low profile over the last four?
For the moment, the government
of President Vicente Fox is
breathing a sigh of relief now
that the Zapatista National
Liberation Army (EZLN) has
clarified that it will not be
undertaking military actions.
A communiqué released earlier in
the week raised considerable
concern and confusion, when the
group announced that it was on
”red alert”, without specifying
the reasons for or consequences
of this measure.
Through a spokesperson, the
leader of the EZLN, known as
”Subcomandante Marcos”, revealed
that the group is planning to do
”something else” to put forward
its demands, but has still not
specifically stated what it
means to do or when.
”This other thing does not imply
any kind of military offensive
on our part. We are not planning
or discussing the resumption of
combat,” Marcos noted in one of
several communiqués released
this past week.
Over the last four years, after
their last major public action
in 2001 - when the rebel leaders
made a highly publicised trip
from Chiapas to the Mexican
capital to urge Congress to pass
a bill on indigenous rights and
autonomy - the Zapatistas have
remained far outside the media
spotlight.
”Knowing the history of the
Zapatistas, there will soon be a
surprise that will catapult them
back on the scene, and we are
all hoping that it will not stir
up or inflame the political
climate,” political analyst
Patricio Benevides commented to
IPS.
The EZLN burst onto the
political stage on the last day
of 1993 by seizing a number of
villages and highways in the
southeastern Mexican state of
Chiapas.
After 12 days of skirmishes with
army troops, in which most of
the guerrillas were armed with
old hunting rifles, machetes or
simply sticks, the government of
then president Carlos Salinas
(1988-1994) declared a
unilateral ceasefire, which
remains in effect today.
In subsequent years, the group
undertook a series of
high-profile political actions,
earning them strong
international support from civil
society sectors and culminating
in the trip to Mexico City in
2001.
But in recent years, as the
political stage on which they
made their debut has altered,
they have been largely removed
from the public eye.
When Vicente Fox of the National
Action Party (PAN) assumed the
presidency in December 2000, he
brought an end to the 71-year
stronghold on power exercised by
the Institutional Revolutionary
Party (PRI). Today, there are
few who challenge the legitimacy
of the Congress or the
presidency, which was not the
case when the EZLN emerged.
Now, as Mexico is gearing up for
the presidential elections in
2006, the Zapatistas have
returned to the political arena
by issuing a series of
communiqués. In one they promise
to fight ”to stop the scoundrels
from getting what they want.”
”It is time to begin fighting to
ensure that all those up there
who scorn history and look down
on us are held accountable, and
are made to pay,” declares one
of the messages signed by
Marcos.
Among the ”scoundrels” of
Mexican politics, the rebel
leader included Andrés Manuel
López Obrador, the left-leaning
mayor of Mexico City and
potential presidential candidate
who has been leading the polls
for the last six months.
According to Marcos, the
political and macroeconomic
stability that López Obrador has
pledged to establish if he is
elected president will merely
mean ”growing profits for the
rich, poverty and growing
plunder for the dispossessed,
and an order that keeps the
discontent of the latter under
control.”
The main demand of the
Zapatistas is for the state to
guarantee full autonomy rights
for the country's indigenous
people, as was stipulated in
1996 in the only agreement
signed between the EZLN
leadership and the government,
led at the time by president
Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000).
But the Zapatistas have also
consistently demanded justice
for the poor.
Almost half of Mexico's 103
million inhabitants live in
poverty, and the poorest of the
poor are its roughly 10 million
indigenous people.
It was the emergence of the EZLN
- which now maintains political
and administrative control over
an area comprising 15 percent of
the state of Chiapas, which is
home to some 100,000 primarily
indigenous people - that first
brought the issue of the poverty
and marginalisation suffered by
aboriginal Mexicans to the
discussion table.
Little has changed in the lives
of the country's indigenous
people since the group first
appeared on the scene, but the
conditions of those who live in
the area controlled by the EZLN
are generally considered better
than those of the Indians
residing in the rest of the
state of Chiapas.
With financial support from
national and international
non-governmental organisations,
and the tolerance of the
government, the EZLN
”insurgents” - estimated to
number around 5,000 in all -
have established community
development, education and
health care programmes within
their zone of influence.
In addition, from the time they
first appeared until the late
1990s, the Zapatistas were a
major force in the worldwide
movement against ”neoliberal”
globalisation.
The EZLN organised the First
Intercontinental Gathering for
Humanity and Against
Neoliberalism in the jungles of
Chiapas in 1996, an event
attended by dozens of activists
from around the world.
In recent years, however, the
group has played an extremely
limited role in the worldwide
anti-globalisation struggle, and
has largely ceased to
participate in international
meetings.
But now the group is preparing
to take centre stage again, with
a strategy that is as yet
unknown.
”We will adopt a collective
decision. The pros and cons are
being weighed. The calculations
are being carefully made,
regarding what will be lost and
what will be gained. And, seeing
that what is at risk is not
insignificant, a decision will
be made,” announced Marcos in
his latest communiqué, dated
Jun. 21.
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