"They haggled with us on fundamental issues," stated a communique
Communique from the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee--
General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation
San Andres Sacam Ch'en de los Pobres
January 18, 1996
To the people of Mexico:
To the national and international press:
To the peoples and governments of the world:
Brothers and sisters:
This delegation of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, present in
this first part of the resolving plenary of the table on Indigenous Rights
and Culture, states the following:
First.- The rising up in arms of an army of indigenous was necessary. The
war, the death, the suffering of our companeros, was necessary so that
today the federal government commits, on paper, to push forward the
recognition of our existence and our rights.
It should be cause for national shame that only in the last decade of the
20th century, almost 200 years after our country was born, has the
government begun to show signs of recognizing our existence and our
rights.
The recognition of our right to free determination, to our autonomy, to
our right to freely associate, to apply, in our own spaces, indigenous
laws regarding the concepts of people and territory; our right to a
political representation nationally and at the states' level, and certain
basis for a judicial pluralism.
But at the same time the federal government has haggled with us over a
series of fundamental demands.
The rising up in arms of an army of indigenous people was necessary in
order to make ourselves heard and so that the most basic demands of the
indigenous people and of all the people of Mexico open up even slightly
the spaces for being heard.
Second.- One of the principal causes of the uprising of the Zapatista Army
of National Liberation has been the oppression, injustice and
marginalization to which we the indigenous peoples of Mexico have been
submitted. We decided to take up arms because the voices of our peoples
were not being heard, because our demands were not being addressed,
because the law, when it was applied, was used only to persecute us and
repress us and was never used to achieve justice for us.
We rose up to demand a justice that did not simply achieve some certain
remedies, but rather a justice that can only be achieved with a profound
transformation of political, social and economic relations.
A transformation that could not be limited to the indigenous people nor to
Chiapas. A transformation that has to include the entire Mexican society,
all of its structures, all of its forms of existing.
We are absolutely convinced that without national democracy, without
liberty and justice, it will not be possible that we, the indigenous
people, occupy the place that belongs to us.
Third.- In this resolving plenary of San Andres Sacam Ch'en we did not
come alone. We came accompanied by the intense mobilization of the
indigenous peoples in many forums, community assemblies, meetings at the
state and national levels, discussions in universities and in the press.
We came with the force of the National Indigenous Forum convened by the
EZLN during the first days of this year. With the force of more than 500
delegates coming from 178 indigenous organizations, members of 32
indigenous peoples. We also came with the committed support from our
advisors, honest men and women from all sectors of Mexican society,
indigenous and non-indigenous, who brought here the best of themselves and
of the others who could not be here, determined to add their efforts to
ours. We came with this force and even with all of this they haggled with
us on our demands.
Fourth.- Now we are going to the consultation, to hear the word of our
peoples regarding these commitments and proposals, but we say this
clearly: words and commitments that are proposed as serious and firm will
be useless if the harassment of our peoples and other peoples in other
states persists; if throughout Chiapas the will of the people continues to
be denied and the post-electoral conflicts, against all reason or justice,
are prolonged; and if public forces continue to be used to remove our
indigenous brothers and sisters who through their own decision and
organization seek respect for the will of the majority.
The signs of reducing tension must be full lighted so that they reflect
that the government is determined to advance along the paths of the
dialogue. The signs, with actions, must be fully lit so that they allow
the realization of the consultation with our peoples. The government has
now the opportunity to continue with determination to open new paths, new
doors. The government has the possibility to demonstrate that war is not
the road.
Democracy!
Liberty!
Justice!
Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee--General Command of the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation
Mexico, January 1996