20,000 INDIGENOUS PEOPLE MARCH IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO
By Gloria La Riva
Oct. 12 is Indigenous Day. This year it was proudly commemorated
through-out the Americas.
The most significant event was a militant march of 20,000
Indigenous people through the streets of San Cristobal de las
Casas, Mexico.
They demanded their land and social justice, and denounced the
Aug. 21 electoral fraud. Indigenous people and mestizos came from
all over the southern state of Chiapas.
At the rally in front of the town's cathedral, Antonio Hernandez,
a Tojolabal Maya, read a statement from the Zapatista National
Liberation Army (EZLN) announcing its decision to break the
ongoing discussions with the Mexican government.
These negotiations had begun three months after the Jan. 1
uprising.
The EZLN declaration read in part: "Listen, brothers and sisters,
we are tired of hearing the same, we are tired of waiting for
truth to win out over the lies. We have decided to break the
dialogue with the bad government.
"Until there is truth in the words of the government, they will
find no place in the heart of truthful men and women.
"Today our pain once again seeks a place in your hearts. Our
thoughts ask for little: that our search for our lost dignity
not be held back; that even just a tiny bit of your heart be
Zapatista; that you not surrender; that you resist; that you may
continue, in your place and through your own means, struggling
always for dignity, against poverty, and that this be harvested
in every corner of the country.
"We are the original inhabitants of these lands. Everything was
ours before the arrival of arrogance and money. By right
everything belongs to us. We never had any problem sharing it
with justice and reason.
"We will never accept a government that is not ours. We prefer to
die rather than live with the shame of a tyranny deciding our
direction and words.
"We will fight, we will die--but this long night will not
continue without our light announcing the morning ... for
everyone." (WW translation)
CONFRONTATION BREWING
Although the EZLN is made up almost entirely of Indigenous
people, the most exploited and abused of Chiapas, its message was
strongly for all Mexicans--Indigenous, workers and campesinos.
Hernandez continued: "Our struggle, armed with hope, is not
against the mestizo; it is against the race of money. It is not
against the color of one's skin, but against the color of money.
"It is not against a foreign language, but against the language
of money.
"That is why we are an army of national liberation. We fight for
the Indigenous, but not just for them.
"We fight for the campesinos without land, for the farm workers,
for the workers in the city, for the humiliated women, for the
forgotten old people, for the children without a future, for the
unemployed, for the teachers, for the students, for housewives,
for all those who are poor today but will have dignity in the
future.
"Ours is not the Zapatista Army of Chiapas Liberation, ours is the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation--and until there is freedom,
democracy and justice in every corner of our nation that is
Mexico, we will keep waving the five-pointed red star on the black
flag, and the Zapatistas will continue in the Mexican mountains."
Workers World spoke by telephone with the Rev. Pablo Romo,
director of the Human Rights Center at the Diocese of San
Cristobal de las Casas. Romo said the situation there is
critical.
"The military planes haven't stopped flying overhead. And despite
the cease-fire, the presence of the Mexican army is growing," he
said.
"They are moving into the so-called `gray zones'--areas like
Altamirano and Morelia."
Romo estimated there are now about 40,000 troops in the area. He
explained that the EZLN announced the break of dialogue because
none of its demands had been met.
"The EZLN felt that there is no real answer to their demands of
political reform, of social and economic issues," Romo said,
adding that Bishop Samuel Ruiz recently initiated a call for a
new dialogue between the Mexican government and the EZLN. So far
there has been no response.
Meanwhile, the Indigenous and campesinos are continuing
occupations, sit-downs, road blockades, and land takeovers. "For
example, Indigenous communities just took over the city halls of
Simojovel and Huitiupan, near Chiapas de Corzo, and the land
takeovers are gaining," Romo said.
One of the main issues in Chiapas is the gubernatorial election
results. An overwhelming sector of the population is demanding
that the government admit opposition candidate Amador Avenda$o
won--and not inaugurate the ruling party's Eduardo Robledo
Rincon.
The New York Times reported Oct. 18 that at an EZLN gathering in
the Lacandon Jungle on Oct. 15, Subcommander Marcos threatened
military action otherwise. Marcos reportedly said: "If Robledo is
imposed as governor, there is going to be war here.
"Here means Mexico, not just Chiapas. If they want lead we'll
give them lead. We are an army. ... "
The Oct. 12 demonstration itself provided powerful evidence that
the elections did not derail the struggle. The EZLN statement
reminded participants: "Today marks 502 years of colonization,
exploitation, the subjugation and extermination of our peoples,
without seeing yet the light of a new day.
"Long has been our night. They crushed us, they tried to rob us
of our territory and resources, of our lands. ...
"The Indigenous peoples say that the end of silence has arrived.
The movement for our claims is profound and comprises millions of
Mexicans--Indians and non-Indians. ...
"The moment has arrived."
(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World,
55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@blythe.org.)
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