There has been a good deal of discussion on the PROFMEXIS
list regarding the Chiapas uprising and the Zapatistas, and
the fact that the events coincided with the coming into
force of NAFTA. When I was in Mexico City in March I noticed
an encampment of Senderistas or Sendero supporters in one of
the city squares. It occurs to me to wonder therefore if
anyone knows if there is any political and/or ideological
link between Sendero and the Zapatistas, in spite of the
fact that press reports (and Mexican government sources)
have suggested the obvious link with movements in Central
America. Does anyone know of rural guerrilla movements
drawing their inspiration from or consciously encouraged by
Sendero which have arisen elsewhere in Latin America?
Pat Noble
PS - George Baker has just circulated on PROFMEXIS a report of a
visit he recently made to Mexico City and the discussions he
had there with various people about the Chiapas incident and
its implications.
********************************************************************
Original-Sender: G.BAKER@COM.CGNET
to: Profmex members
fr: George Baker
re: Chiapas situation
1. Richard Salvucci, Political Science, Trinity College, San Antonio
(RSALVUCC@TRINITY.EDU
RSALVUCC@TRINITY.EDU) would like to hear views on the Chiapas crisis from other
Profmexis users.
2. I received a few calls from the press asking about the connection betwee
Chiapas and Pemex. There are 3 wells near the town of Ocosingo (occupied by
the insurgents), but they are exploratory wells, not production wells. Hence
no Pemex production is in jeopardy. Why the guerrillas have not attacked
these installations, if only to further annoy the Government, is a mystery
to me.
For having, just two years ago, made the trip from San Cristobal to
Villahermosaa,a
by bus, I regard it as completely unrealistic for the Indians to attack Pemex
production rigs in the Reforma area in Tabasco.
3. It seems to me that the crisis in Chiapas obeys to some extent the normal
logic of election years. Each state, region, profession, etc. tries to make
as much noise as possible to get the attention of the next administration.
4. The logic of this uprising has nothing to do with NAFTA, except as it
is a source of added embarrassment to the Salinas Government. There are
not markets nor sources of raw materials that are in the least way affected
by NAFTA (in Chiapas or Oaxaca, that is).
5. I also don't see that Cardenas is served by this event. His neck would be
in jeopardy the moment he were to give any encouragement to social violence.
6. In one comment to the Wall Street Journal I urged the correspondent to
avoid what Cardenas complains as the "geometrizing" of his political efforts.
He once told me, "Why do I have to be described as 'on the left.' Why can't
I be described as someone working for social and political justice in Mexico?
I think there's a real point here. Everytime that the PAN is said to be
on the right and the PRD on the left, one more vote of moral support is added
to the supposed center (the PRI). So I would vote to eliminate the spatial
locators in our descriptions of political events in the election year in
Mexico.
Salvucci's address is RSALVUCC@TRINITY.EDU. Give him or me a shout on any
of these points.
Saludos,
GB
***************************************************************************
Let me add a couple of comments to George's response on Chiapas:
NAFTA is a bigger part of the uprising than perhaps George is suggesting
in that there has been considerable discussion in Mexico, and concern
especially in the South, about the impact of lower grain prices on the
subsistence farmers in the South.
Even the limited discussion in the Mexican press of regional impacts of
NAFTA have pointed to the disproportionate benefits to be reaped by the
North, and most of the new investment since liberalization has tended to
be concentrated North of an East-West line through Puebla.
Unless Salinas is able to respond with regional compensation programs for
the increasingly DISfavored zones, the Chiapas phenomenon will only spread.
THAT, I suggest, is what this surprising uprising is all about!
=================================================================
Michael E. Conroy | NEW HOME PHONE & FAX NUMBER
Department of Economics | >>>>> 512/303-0041
University of Texas at Austin | Not to worry, still part of
512/471-1724 Fax: 512/471-3510 | the wilds of Bastrop County
=================================================================
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