This message is forwarded to you by the editors of the Chiapas95
newslists. To contact the editors or to submit material for posting send
to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 19:08:27 -0800
From: Mexico Solidarity Network <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Mexico Solidarity Network Email List
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: MSN News &Analysis, January 23-29, 2006
MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK
MEXICO NEWS AND ANALYSIS
JANUARY 23-29, 2006
1. OTHER CAMPAIGN IN CAMPECHE AND TABASCO
2. PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS (OR THE oTHER CAMPAIGNS)
3. BORDER DISPUTES CARRY POLITICAL OVERTONES
4. NARCO-DEATHS IN ACAPULCO
5. MAQUILADORA EMPLOYMENT REACHES NEW HIGH
6. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
1. OTHER CAMPAIGN IN CAMPECHE AND TABASCO
The Other Campaign was well received in the southern
states of Campeche and Tabasco this week. On Monday,
Subcomandante Marcos, now known as Delegado Zero, called
for Southeastern Mexico to convert itself into "the base
of a huge rebellion. Here what has to rise up, as it is
rising up throughout the country, is something that must
be named: a national rebellion that transforms the
country. Not just to change the government, but rather to
change who has the wealth and who produces it, to change
the contemptible system." Marcos continued with his
pointed critique of politics as usual in Mexico, but his
most important message is hope and inspiration. The Other
Campaign is trying to incite the poor majorities of Mexico
to rise up, take control of their communities and directly
challenge the existing power structures. On Saturday,
Marcos spoke in Chacalpa, in the heart of Tabasco?s
petroleum country, a region that has suffered almost
unimaginable contamination from oil spills: "We have come
to the conclusion that the time has come for us to take
what is ours. And what is ours, what belongs to we who
are campesinos, is the land, the machinery to work it, the
markets where we sell our products. When we [EZLN] took
up arms, we recovered our lands and improved our situation
a little." The Other Campaign is an effort to unite an
anti-capitalist left in Mexico and, eventually, throughout
the world. To sign onto the Other Campaign, go to
http://zeztainternazional.ezln.org.mx/.
2. PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS (OR THE oTHER CAMPAIGNS)
Robeto Madrazo, the PRI candidate for president and
perhaps the most corrupt politician in Mexico, got his
campaign off to a shaky start on Tuesday when he was booed
off the stage at the University of Hidalgo, historically a
PRI stronghold. Thousands of students greeted Madrazo
with whistles (a particularly derogatory gesture in
Mexico) and shouts of support for other candidates. PRD
candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador tried,
ineffectively, to mimic some of the Zapatista's rhetoric
when he promised to "govern by listening." Lopez Obrador
is plagued by a party whose leaders (including Lopez
Obrador himself) are mostly PRI castoffs not adverse to
using traditional dirty tricks to obtain electoral posts.
The fight for local candidacies in Mexico City has been
particularly brutal, and the party is badly divided. PAN
candidate Felipe Calderon is bogged down by the continuing
scandal in Los Pinos (Mexico's White House) over the
unexplained enrichment of the sons of first lady Martha
Sahagun. President Fox raised the stakes this week by
publicly proclaiming the innocence of his wife's sons, in
anticipation of an investigation commissioned by Congress
that should be released next week. It was bad timing for
Calderon, who is trying to build his campaign around
honesty in government.
3. BORDER DISPUTES CARRY POLITICAL OVERTONES
The US-Mexico border was again at the center of disputes
this week. On Monday, men dressed in Mexican military
uniforms crossed into the United States guarding a
shipment of marijuana. Texas police confronted a convoy
of three SUVs with at least ten heavily armed men aboard
on I-10 about 50 miles east of El Paso. The vehicles did
a quick U-turn and headed back to Mexico. One vehicle
suffered a flat tire and a second got stuck while crossing
the Rio Grande, where an army-style Humvee tried in vain
to extract it. The smugglers left more than half a ton of
marijuana in the first car and burned the second after
unloading bales of pot. No shots were fired during the
encounter. Press reports noted that military style
uniforms are readily available in Mexican markets;
however, they failed to mention that humvees are much
harder to come by and military style weapons are strictly
controlled in Mexico.
The hot tempered US Ambassador Tony Garza quickly issued a
formal diplomatic note demanding an exhaustive
investigation. Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez
responded on Thursday with his own diplomatic note,
calling on the US to investigate the December killing of a
Mexican immigrant by the US Border Patrol. Derbez
demanded that the US Embassy lower its tone, and suggested
that US soldiers disguised as Mexican troops may have been
in the Humvee. Three US soldiers recently pleaded guilty
to running a smuggling ring from a US base in Colombia and
a recent FBI sting, dubbed Operation Lively Green, netted
more than a dozen military and civilian workers in Arizona
who transported drugs in official vehicles, including
Humvees. Derbez denied that the Mexican army had anything
to do with the affair, suggesting that someone might be
using Mexican military uniforms to "damage the image of
our armed forces." By Friday, Ambassador Garza issued a
much toned down diplomatic note, and it was hard to find
any US official who would speak on the record. Apparently
the Bush administration realized that the dispute might
negatively impact the PAN presidential campaign, and
decided that a narco-military adventure on the US side of
the border was of relatively less importance than a
victory for the PAN in July's presidential election. Or
could it be that they really were US military personnel in
that Humvee?
The border incident followed a story in the Inland Valley
Times Daily Bulletin in Ontario, CA, on January 15 that
claimed over 200 border incursions by the Mexican military
since 1996. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff
played down the report, claiming the vast majority were
innocent crossings in remote areas where the border is
poorly marked. He failed to explain how officials knew
the border had been crossed if it was poorly marked. The
incident also happened in the context of a US
Congressional effort to build a 700-mile wall covering
more than a third of the border. And the Mexican Human
Rights Commission, a government agency, announced, then
canceled, plans to publish 70,000 maps of the border
region highlighting water stations, highways and rescue
beacons that could save the lives of undocumented workers
crossing the dangerous desert region. The Human Rights
Commission claimed to have second thoughts, since the maps
could be used by vigilante immigrant hunters on the US
side, but vigilante groups claimed publicly that they
already know where most of the watering stations are
located.
4. NARCO-DEATHS IN ACAPULCO
At least four drug smugglers died during a shootout on
Friday in an upscale neighborhood on the outskirts of the
Mexican beach resort of Acapulco. The narcotics smugglers
used military style assault weapons and grenades, wounding
at least five police. By Saturday, the city of Acapulco
was under a state of siege, with army troops and other
federal agents occupying city streets and government
buildings. And on Tuesday, two soldiers were killed in a
car accident while being chased by assailants, probably
drug traffickers, firing weapons. It was unclear why the
traffickers were doing the chasing. More than 1,000
people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico over
the past year, part of a turf war between the Gulf Cartel
of Northeastern Mexico and an alliance of smaller mafias
from the western state of Sinaloa. The increased violence
may also be related to this year?s presidential elections.
Drug money finds its way into most political campaigns,
and the battle may have more to do with control of
politicians than control of territory.
5. MAQUILADORA EMPLOYMENT REACHES NEW HIGH
Maquiladoras employed 1.2 million workers at the end of
2005, and those numbers are expected to increase this year
to 1.4 million. While employment in the clothing sector
decreased by 25% in 2005, employment in automotive parts
and electronics grew by 15% and 11% respectively. At the
end of last year, 2,890 maquiladoras, located mainly along
the US border, produced mainly consumer goods valued at
US$113 billion. Direct foreign investment is expected to
reach US$3 billion this year. Ciudad Juarez led
employment in the maquiladora sector with 229,000 workers,
while Tijuana had the largest number of plants with 576.
Maquildoras are assembly plants, mostly foreign owned or
subcontracted to foreign companies, that produce almost
exclusively for export. About 90% of Mexico's maquiladora
production is destined for the US market. A typical
mquiladora worker earns from one to three dollars an hour,
including benefits and production bonuses.
6. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
January 20 - February 20, 2006: Another Kind of Politics:
Autonomy, Community Power and Zapatismo in the US Tour on
the East Coast. The Snail's Pace Collective, formed
during the fall MSN study abroad program, will offer
workshops on grassroots resistance in the US, with lessons
from the Zapatista Movement.
February 5 - May 13, 2006: Spring Study Abroad Program.
Students and activists can earn 16 credits studying
Mexican social movements.
February 24- March 11, 2006: Historical Lessons in
Immigration Policy: Ex-Bracero/Wells Fargo Tour in
California.
March 1 - 15, 2006: International Women's Day Tour to
Demand Justice for Victims of the Femicides in the
Northeast.
March 12-24, 2006: Women Confronting Globalization Tour:
Militarization, Human Rights and Fair Trade Tour in PA, NY
and Canada.
March 26 - April 8, 2006: Women Confronting Globalization:
Militarization, Human Rights and Fair Trade Tour in MN,
IA, NE, KS, and OK.
April 2 - 14, 2006: Women Confronting Globalization:
Militarization, Human Rights and Fair Trade Tour in the
Southeast.
April 17 - May 1, 2006: Socioeconomic Context of
Immigration Today: Stories from Chicago Day Laborers in
ND, SD, MN, WI, IL, IN, MI and MO.
April 24 - May 3, 2006: Immigrant Rights: Ex-Bracero Tour
in DC, MD, VA, NC, and SC.
May 28 - July 8, 2006: Summer Study Abroad Program: Earn
8 credits studying Mexican social movements in the context
of the upcoming Mexican presidential election.
Alternative Economy Internships - Develop markets for
artisanry produced by women's cooperatives in Chiapas and
make public presentations on the struggle for justice and
dignity in Zapatista communities. Interns are currently
active in Fort Collins, OR; Spokane, WA; Alexandria, VA;
Grand Haven, MI; Chico, CA; Sacramento, CA; Stonington,
ME; Lancaster, PA; St Paul, MN; Louisville, KY; San
Francisco, CA; Turner, OR; Athens, GA; Chicago, IL;
Philadelphia, PA; Guelph, Canada; Davis, CA; Tempe, AZ;
and Madison, WI.
#############################################################
Mexico Solidarity Network http://www.mexicosolidarity.org
This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
the mailing list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
--
To unsubscribe from this list send a message containing the words
unsubscribe chiapas95 (or chiapas95-lite, or chiapas95-english, or
chiapas95-espanol) to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Previous messages
are available from http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/chiapas95.html
or gopher to Texas, University of Texas at Austin, Department of
Economics, Mailing Lists.
