CUAUHTEMOC CARDENAS' DECLARATION ON THE CONFLICT IN CHIAPAS
Mexico D.F. January 4, 1994
The people of Chiapas continue to live in an extremely grave
situation which affects the well-being and functioning of the
entire country. To reverse the situation demands taking urgent
measures that go to the roots of the problems, and actions of the
same dimension to prevent the exploitative and deteriorated
conditions in which the people of Chiapas live from spreading to
other parts of the country.
The rebellion of thousands of peasants and indigenous people in
Chiapas, an answer to the call of an armed organization, is the
result of the inhuman conditions of oppression, misery, hunger,
extreme deprivation, and the denial of democratic and human rights
which the PRI regime and President Carlos Salinas de Gortari have
brought upon this country and in particular its indigenous sectors.
The indigenous rebellion is a desperate call to defend the dignity
of human beings, stepped upon and ignored by successive state and
federal governments and their protectors, the local leaders and
Chiapan landowners.
The government, on the other hand, has modified the National
constitution to its liking and pleasure and has violated the basic
rights of all Mexicans. It has compromised and put at risk
national property such as petroleum and other underground products
found in the Chiapan forests. This government has also violated
rights which were conquered through much bloodshed such as
peasants' rights to communal lands as guaranteed in Article 27 of
the constitution. And they have done so without being punished and
without answering to anyone.
The one who is responsible for the social explosion manifested by
the armed uprising in various municipalities in Chiapas, which
regrettably has already cost 200 lives on both sides, is the
country's government. The government's ineptitude and
insensitivity, the corruption and despotism of many of its
officials in Chiapas and other parts of the country, and the actual
state government's actions have stained the 1994 election year with
blood.
No one can deny that except for short periods of light, Chiapas has
for decades been governed by means of arbitrariness, corruption,
repression, the exploitation of its people, and the depredation of
their resources. In addition, for the past year it has been
governed from a distance making corruption and illegal acts even
more widespread. At the present moment there are no civil powers
and all important decisions have been left in the hands of military
leaders who intervene in and determine the country's future without
making it clear in which laws the ordinances they are making are
based.
As responsible Mexicans, we are concerned about Carlos Salinas'
government's paralysis and astonishment in response to recent
events in Chiapas. The very highest authorities have distorted and
hidden information and still have not given the country a clear
explanation. The astonishment is the same as that which the
government showed after the September 1985 earthquake. The
silence, lies, and evasions are the same as those facing Cardinal
Posadas' assassination last year. It is the same informative and
political confusion that the disgraceful underhanded agreements
which resolved the recent electoral fraud in Yucatan allowed us to
witness.
It is unthinkable that the government, through its multiple
agencies- Ministry of Government, national security, federal and
state judicial policies, military zones, etc.- has not noticed ,
and consequently has not acted to attend to the region's acute and
long-standing problems, the preparation of a movement which
involves both directly and indirectly, thousands of people in a
vast territory. Or did it deliberately ignore the situation to
provoke the social explosion? Or is it possible that government
officials are that inept?
At this time, that which the country should fear the most is
the imminent massacre of the population in Chiapas and that the
government thinks that the solution to the problem is to adopt
policies to devastate land and wipe out strategic towns.
The conflict in Chiapas is a political problem and therefore
should receive political attention and be resolved in a political
fashion.
Carlos Salinas' overdue, tepid, insufficient, and indirect
recognition of the serious social problems arising from the misery
and underdevelopment in Chiapas is inadequate. An energetic and
decisive action is lacking that would lead to the resolution of the
agrarian problems, put a definitive limit to the despoilment
committed, in intimate complicity, by local leaders, large
landowners, and authorities against local communities, rigorously
punish corruption and violations of the law, guarantee the
execution of constitutional rights, institute, with the
communities' direct participation, programs which effectively
improve the population's incomes and standard of living,
particularly for indigenous groups.
In Chiapas there is a lack of a civil authority which
effectively governs the state. Furthermore, it is necessary that
the military be subordinated to the search for an enduring
political solution to the conflict.
The country's central problem at this moment is the re-
establishment of peace. This could be accomplished through a new
political order of justice, well-being, and democracy. This new
order can only be achieved through free and respected elections.
The 1994 elections run a serious risk, not only because since
the fraudulent 1988 elections there has not been a single clean or
fair election in the entire country, but also because the person
directly responsible for conducting the electoral process is
precisely the person responsible for breaking the public peace in
Chiapas and the current instability of the state.
For years we have untiringly warned that the implementation of
neo-liberal policies and the corruption of officials would lead to
desperation of which the social uprising presently underway in
Chiapas is but one manifestation. We have also insisted for years
that only through democracy, clean and credible elections, and
respect for the law and the dignity of Mexican citizens will the
nation come out of the national crisis.
The unpunished assassination of more than 250 militants and
sympathizers of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) since
1988 has been the government's principal response to our
criticisms. The media, which is controlled by the PRI, has
permanently slandered us and tried to represent us as a violent and
intolerant party. Just recently, our party's militants who
defended their rights and their votes in Coyuca de Catalan,
Guerrero have been attacked, beaten, and many of them seriously
wounded by 400 armed state police officers.
Under the present conditions we continue to affirm that our
means to improve the country's conditions is to establish
democracy. We opt for the organized, legal, and peaceful
mobilization of the Mexican people to defeat the PRI in the 1994
elections and begin the democratization process.
The crisis in Chiapas indicates that this could be the last
opportunity to save the peace, assure the stability of the country,
and stop the regime from bringing on further violent social
uprisings.
We are certain that August 1994 will be the month for the
victory of democracy in Mexico, and once again we say to the people
and warn the government: we are not going to back down a single
step. We will not allow the farce of the 1988 elections to repeat
itself, when there was not yet sufficient organization to defend
our victory. In 1994, we and the Mexican people are going to
systematically defend in an organized fashion throughout the
country the votes and the electoral victory over the regime that
oppresses us. We will not allow fraud because that, as we are
seeing right now, is what is staining our land with blood. We
repeat: Let us organize throughout the country to form a great
Mexican Alliance for democracy, a national network of local and
regional committees for democracy which controls the election,
guarantees democracy and freedom during the electoral campaign,
organizes polling officials into a network which will defend the
legitimate electoral results and which is disposed to mobilize the
entire country in unison if the government tries once again to
impose its candidates through fraud and violence.
In sum, in response to the extremely grave situation in
Chiapas, we propose to the country and demand of the authorities
the following:
1. That the government avoid falling into a situation which will
lead to the massacre of indigenous and peasant communities in
Chiapas.
2. That they take the necessary steps to find a political solution
to the conflict which prevents the loss of lives and bloodshed and
begins to effectively solve the problems that afflict indigenous
communities.
3. That the government publicly accept responsibility for
resolving the Chiapas situation. It is fundamentally important
that the government not give to the military responsibilities that
correspond to the highest civil officials.
4. That government authorities facilitate the efforts of the media
so that the public receives accurate information on the Chiapas
conflict.
5. That they support all efforts to guarantee respect for human
rights, lend whatever cooperation necessary to national and
international human rights organizations in their efforts to assess
the situation, put their officials to work on possible solutions,
honestly inform and propose consensus solutions which will lead to
peace, respect for human rights, and the dignity of the people of
Chiapas, especially the indigenous sectors.
* Origin: el bbs-point (3:970/4.175)