This posting has been forwarded to you as a service of the Austin Comite
de Solidaridad con Chiapas y Mexico.
Because so many seriously concerned people are trying to figure out how to
intelligently find their way into the Chaipas area without joining a Caravan
and experiencing the usual roadblocks or having to resort to the local
transportation system, I have found a great alternative. There is an American
adventure travel company that has expedition trucks and vans that come fully
equipped with camping gear that are stationed in the south of Mexico and can
be chartered for small or large groups wishing to travel into the Chaipas
area. They will pick you up in Cancun, Mexico City or Guatemala City and
take you anywhere you desire it seems. They are well known in the area and
are treated with much respect, most likely because they have been doing this
since 1985. The fact that they are usually transporting adventurous
"tourists" has allowed them to pass all the roadblocks, both military and
indigenous with a minimum of hassel. I recently traveled on the normal 21 day
Ruta Maya trip and came away with a good overview of the Mayan world along
with gaining a wealth of understanding about the indigenous struggle. Because
the trip explores the Mayan world in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize,
I would say it is a good trip for those who want an education filled with
relaxation, adventure and discovery. This company, Toucan Adventures, has
been in San Cristobal for almost every event starting with the beginning of
the Zapatistas revolt on January 1st, 1994, continuing with the first peace
process in San Cristobal, the second uprising, the military takeover, and now
the current peace process. After taking the normal La Ruta Maya trip that
Toucan offers and reading Rebellion from the Roots by John Ross, and Basta!
by George Collier, I was fortuante enough to get invited along on one of
Toucan's special exploratory trips into Chaipas and came away with a much
deeper understanding of the political and cultural situtation. The guide we
traveled with was one of the first through the area with a tourist group only
a few days after the initial Zapatista take over in January 1994, so he had
many stories and points of interest to share that really brought clarity to
the situtation. My point in sharing all of this is, for those interested in
putting any groups into the area at a minimal expense should really consider
this alternative. The leaders are very knowledgable about the situtation,
safety is always a great concern and the means of transportation has got to
be one of the best for this sort of trip since they are set up to travel on
very poor roads and they carry the kitchen with them. I know that most of
Toucan's business is European and they don't really advertise much in the
U.S. because most of their business comes word of mouth, so, I too,. must
lend my two cents worth since it may be a solution to someone's group looking
for a modest and convenient way to participate in the observation of the
transition to peace. I believe you will be able to obtain more information
from Toucan Adventures, fax- (805) 927-0929, tel. (805) 927-5885 or request
their brochure at P.O. Box 1073, Cambria, Ca. 93428.
Bgrace
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Faxes to major networks to air Chiapas news!! (fwd)
From: Martha von Ellenrieder <marthav@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu>
Subject: send faxes to major networks to air Chiapas news!!
Please repost:
In the past few months we have seen the American press censor and ignore
any news from Chiapas.
We feel this is morally and ethically wrong. We want to encourage all of
the Chiapas committees and concerned citizens to send a fax to all our
leading mass media centers. Please try to get them there within the next
three days so the impact of all our faxes at one time will be greater.
If they do not reply, it will not matter, the whole purpose of our faxes
will be so that in the future they cannot say "We were not aware of the
atrocities that were occurring in Mexico."
If they do not reply, our faxes will make them responsible for their
neglect and conspirators with Zedillos tyrannical government.
The more faxes they get, the less excuses they will have for not covering
Chiapas.
Below is a list of the media companies, followed by a sample letter.
The main companies and their addresses and fax numbers are:
American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
77 W 66th Street
New York, NY 10023
(212) 456-7777 FAX (212)456-7112
Columbia Broadcasting Company (CBS)
51 W 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019
(212)975-4321 FAX (212)975-7133
Cable News Network (CNN)
PO Box 105366
Atlanta, Ga. 30348
(404)827-1500 FAX (404)827-1593
National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10012
(212)664-4444 FAX (212)664-7234
The New York Times
229 W 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
(212) 556-1234 FAX (212)556-4603
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Chairman and CEO
**** SAMPLE LETTER ****
Dear Sir:
Last December the monetary crisis in Mexico caused great panic in
the International Market and in Wall Street. Because of that panic, the
business community found a scapegoat in the Zapatistas. In January we saw
the infamous Chase Manhattan Memo, which stated that while the Zapatistas
were not a real threat to Mexico's economy, they were perceived as such
and therefore had to be eliminated.
With that pretext, the Mexican government has declared a silent
war on the poorest of the poor: the indigenous Mayan people living in the
Lacandon jungle. As Americans of Mexican descent this is matter of great
concern to us, and we are very disappointed in our news media for failing
to expose the holocaust and genocide that is taking place in Chiapas.
All over our country, concerned Americans are meeting in
universities, churches, and civic groups to discuss the crimes that are
being committed in Chiapas. We have videos, photographs and eyewitnesses
that speak to us on the subject. While the mainstream media may refuse to
give a true report on Mexico, our history will document all the horrors
that are occurring there today. These documents can be found in
California, Texas, Oregon, New York, Vermont, Salt Lake City, even Canada
and Europe. You can no more silence their cry, "than you can block the
sun from shinning." (old 15th century Chiapan saying).
The economy and well being of wealthy investors might be at
stake, but the lives of the Lacandonian people should not be used to pay
for the mistakes of the greedy Mexican elite and the greedy international
investors. Chiapas holds a large share of Mexico's wealth: oil,
hydroelectric power, and rich fertile land. Those same stakes are the
reason why the military is burning down homes and stealing documents to
the land that belongs to the Lacandonian communities.
To remain silent is morally wrong, we as Americans and you as
journalists, silence turn us into accomplices of a crime similar to that
of Wounded Knee. If you do not heed the terrible injustice in Mexico, and
pretend that everything is business as usual, the problem will not go
away, it will only escalate. You do not do Americans a service by being
silent conspirators with President Zedillo, by distorting or blocking out
the news about Chiapas and the crisis in all of Mexico.
We only expect our mainstream media to go beyond Rwanda, Bosnia,
Haiti or Cuba when exposing injustices, and also visit the Lacandon
jungle: Naha, Taniperlas, La Garrucha, El Prado, and many other
indigenous communities that were ravaged by the Mexican army.
We hope that you heed our plea, in the name of the people of
Chiapas who are dying of starvation and curable diseases, their homes and
crops being destroyed by its own government.
Anxiously awaiting your reply,
(Your Name Here)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: NAJA UPDATE(ENGLISH):IT CAN BE DONE!
****Naha update ... Si se puede!****
May 5, 1995 Palenque
Communique from: Porfirio Camacho, Lacandonia AC
On May the 5th at eleven o'clock the Lacandonia committee met at the
cultural center in Palenque with state officials. Those present were the
following; the delegates of the agrarian reform and the agricultural
department. The sub delegation from SEDESOL, the state secretaries from
the agricultural and ecology department, the state secretary from the
environmental department (semarnap), and the representative from the
office of the director of the Montes Azules reserve.
An ARIC (Oficial) came before the negotiating table with a plan
completely opposite to his previous hostile proposals. He defined his new
position as no longer supporting the invading groups in Naha and tried to
distance himself from the actions of the invaders.
Federal and state officials defined the legal aspects of invading Naha,
admonishing the invaders for acting directly on the community without the
consent of the Naha community. This meeting gave us concrete results and
greatly advanced our cause. We were able to accomplish now what we had
not been able to accomplish in the past three years. I consider this a
great success, thanks to the efforts of our friends who supported us on
the internet. Your efforts and intervention played a decisive roll in
this event.
We owe a great debt of gratitude to all of you for having generated the
interest in Naha and for opening the "Pandoras box", so that concrete
solutions to our problems could be discussed and settled. The invading
group from Villa Las Rosas retreated with the coming of the army into the
community. The invading group from El Jardin has asked authorization from
the Lacandon community to return and harvest their chile crops. They
requested that thirty five of their people be allowed to work within the
Naha territory. They also asked for time to consult with their people and
find a solution to their problem, they want to buy land where they can
resettle.
When the people of El Jardin return in the coming days, to give the
government their reply it will be possible for them to negotiate the
purchase of land with the government to resettle outside of Naha.
The Lacandonian people are aware of all the work that our friends in the
internet are doing all over the world and have asked us to give you their
message of gratitude and a fraternal embrace from all of them. Yet we
must not forget that there is still a great deal of work to be done in
Chiapas and we ask you to keep supporting us by asking Zedillo to end the
invasion of Chiapas. Thanks to you a small part of the world (140 heads
of families) which is in the heart of Chan K'in viejo is today more
tranquil, because the threat of invasion appears to be over, although the
people of El Jardin are still in possession of over two thousand hectares
(5000 acres) that are within the Naha zone.
In the name of the Naha community I wish to express my thanks for all
your support and hope you will continue sending letters of support for a
positive solution to the agrarian problems of the Lacandon people.
Porfirio Camacho
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: New Report on HR in Mexico
The North America Project of the World Policy Institute at The New
School for Social Research announces publication of DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN
RIGHTS IN MEXICO (68 pp, plus introduction), a comprehensive review of
present conditions and efforts at reform. The author is Andrew Reding,
Director of the North America Project and Senior Fellow for Hemispheric
Affairs (and author of the April 9 New York Times Magazine piece, "It
Isn't the Peso. It's the Presidency: Mexico's comeback depends on
reforming the inbred corruption of power at the top.")
Table of Contents:
Introduction
1. Political Background
2. The 1994 Election
3. Structure of Government
4. President ZedilloAs Initial Reforms
5. Constitutional Guarantees
a. civil and political rights
b. economic, social and cultural rights
(i) agrarian reform
(ii) protections for wage-earners
6. Security Forces
a. the armed forces
b. federal and state police structure and relationship
7. Corruption and Impunity: Reformers are Especially Vulnerable to
Retaliation
8. Elections, Electoral Fraud, and Selective Targetting of Opposition
Sympathizers
9. Groups at Risk
a. members and sympathizers of opposition political parties, and their
relatives
b. independent labor leaders and lawyers
c. indigenous peoples
d. clergy and laity who defend indigenous populations or support
liberation theology
e. journalists
f. human rights activists
g. gay men, transvestites, and AIDS activists
h. whistle-blowers
10. Human Rights Organizations
a. the development of nongovernmental human rights organizations
b. government-sponsored commissions: the National Human Rights
Commission and its state counterparts
Copies are available at a nominal cost (intended to defray cost of
publication) from the World Policy Institute at (212) 229-5808 in New
York. The fax number is (212) 229-5579.
Andrew A Reding
North America Project
World Policy Institute
andrew.reding@xevious.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Paper: D.Barkin,"Wealth Poverty, Sustainable Dev."(abstract)
I have placed the paper whose abstract appears below on an
easily accessible gopher at: csf.colorado.edu
environment/Authors/Barkin.David as two files (May95 and biblio)
I would very much appreciate your comments and feedback on its
content and usefulness.
David Barkin barkin@cueyatl.uam.mx
Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana
Xochimilco, Mexico City
ABSTRACT
Wealth, Poverty and Sustainable Development
David Barkin, 1995 (29 pp. + 11 pp bibliography)
The reorganization of space and resources, engendered by the
internationalization of rural production, is threatening the
environment and the viability of rural communities. The poor, who
are blamed for environmental problems, are frequently forced into
depredatory situations by the ruthless way in which the rich and
powerful defend their control. This duality characterizes the world
system as a whole and is not conducive to sustainable development.
Official development practice emphasizes the search for economic
efficiency, noting the natural destruction in areas occupied by
poor people; it seeks solutions through market-led structural changes,
removing people from their rural communities, and supporting large-scale
commercial and export agriculture to stimulate growth. In contrast, a
successful sustainable development policy must recognize the
polarized character of society and generate conditions that allow
poor people to strengthen their rural societies by rebuilding and
diversifying their productive systems while expanding the environmental
stewardship services they have always provided.