---------- From: John Clancy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 16:47:11 -0700 Subject: Mexico News Summary, July 8-14,2001 Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK WEEKLY NEWS SUMMARY JULY 8-14, 2001 CONTENTS: 1. Controversy follows ratification of indigenous law by necessary states 2. PAN sweeps low-turnout Baja California elections 3. Spy ring linked to State of Mexico government 4. Briefs 1. INDIGENOUS LAW RATIFIED BY REQUIRED NUMBER OF STATES; CONTROVERSY ENSUES The legislatures of Tabasco, Michoac�n, and Nayarit voted in favor of ratification of the package of constitutional reforms on Indigenous Rights and Culture this week, bringing the total number of states in favor of the measure to 17. The law was passed by Congress in April, but for the proposed reforms to take effect within the Mexican Constitution it had to be ratified by at least 16 of Mexico's 31 state legislatures (excepting Mexico City). The bill is strongly opposed by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), and dozens of other indigenous organizations across the country. Opponents consider the bill to be a mutilation of the San Andr�s Accords on Indigenous Rights and Culture, signed in 1996 between the EZLN and the federal government, and of the subsequent "COCOPA" initiative for the implementation of those Accords. The states which have now approved the indigenous law (in order of their vote) are: Veracruz, Puebla, Colima, Aguascalientes, Campeche, Guanajuato, Quer�taro, Durango, Quintana Roo, Coahuila, Jalisco, Sonora, Tlaxcala, Nuevo Le�n, Tabasco, Michoac�n, and Nayarit. Those states whose legislatures have voted against ratification, under heavy pressure from Mexico's national indigenous movement, are: Oaxaca, Zacatecas, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Morelos, Chiapas, Guerrero, Hidalgo, San Luis Potos�, and the State of Mexico. The Chihuahua, Yucat�n, Baja California, and Tamaulipas legislatures have yet to vote on the reforms, although it appears now that their votes may be irrelevant. Senators Manuel Bartlett (PRI) and Diego Fern�ndez de Cevallos (PAN), the authors of the "indigenous law" and the coordinators of their respective party benches in the Senate, claim that the constitutional process is now over, and that therefore they will call on the Permanent Commission of Congress to officially validate the ratification of the reforms as early as Wednesday, July 18. Nevertheless, a legal controversy is brewing over the manner in which many of the states approved or rejected ratification of the law. The governor of Tlaxcala, Alfonso S�nchez Anaya, vetoed the bill of ratification in his state legislature on July 9, claiming that the "indigenous law" is fundamentally flawed. Most constitutionalists, however, insist that a governor has no legal right to approve or to veto a legislature's vote on ratification of reforms to the federal constitution; but nevertheless it is still unclear whether or not Tlaxcala should be counted among the states which ratified the law. A lawsuit has been filed to force the governor to accept ratification. In Morelos, meanwhile, the legislature's vote against ratification was considered invalid because the vote was too close; according to the state constitution, a qualified two-thirds majority is required to either approve or disapprove any constitutional reform measure. This week, Morelos legislators announced that, in fact, they are not the only ones with such a requirement, and that at least twelve of the 26 state legislatures which so far have voted on the indigenous law, not including Morelos, did so illegally. This includes Zacatecas, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, and San Luis Potos�, all of which voted against ratification. It also includes Aguascalientes, Quer�taro, Durango, Quintana Roo, Jalisco, Sonora, Tabasco, and Michoac�n, all of which voted in favor of the indigenous law. If the interpretation of the Morelos legislature proves correct, then the ratification vote on the "indigenous law" is reduced to nine in favor, five opposed. It is also unclear whether or not, in such a scenario, those legislatures which did not achieve a two-thirds majority would have the opportunity to vote again. According to Ignacio Burgoa Orihuela, one of Mexico's most renowned jurists and constitutional lawyers (and, ironically, also a vehement opponent of the San Andr�s Accords), the Morelos interpretation is correct, as is the interpretation that the fourteen states which did not approve or reject the law with the required qualified majority would be unable to vote again. Thus, according to Burgoa, the indigenous law is dead. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has already granted a hearing to a complaint by an indigenous municipality in Puebla, which insists that both the Puebla state legislature and the federal Congress have violated constitutional norms in the way that the ratification process has been carried out. Constitutionalists in the Morelos legislature also plan to file suit before the Supreme Court to block final ratification of the indigenous law. Others who have jumped on the legal bandwagon opposed to ratification are the national leadership of the PRD, which has already asked the Court for an advisory opinion on the matter; the Advisory Council for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples (CDPI), a new national indigenous organization created by President Vicente Fox in March; and a number of indigenous municipalities, primarily in Chiapas. The Oaxaca state legislature may also file a constitutional lawsuit, since various elements of the federal "indigenous law" are directly contravened by Oaxaca's own state constitution, which in many respects served as a model for the San Andr�s Accords. Nevertheless, Senators Bartlett and Fern�ndez de Cevallos seem intent on placing the indigenous law on a fast-track towards final ratification by the end of the week. They insist that there is no constitutional requirement for a qualified majority vote within state legislatures, that no governor can veto a legislature's ratification bill, and that neither the President nor the Supreme Court can overturn the decision of a majority of states to ratify constitutional changes. With this logic, they are likely to attempt to validate all votes of the state legislatures regardless of any Supreme Court decisions or attempts by President Fox to intervene. Fox himself has been remarkably silent about the indigenous law in recent weeks, although his aides have suggested that any deficiencies in the law should be corrected through promulgation of new federal regulations, rather than through actual constitutional changes to the current version of the indigenous law. Governors Pablo Salazar (PAN/PRD-Chiapas) and Jos� Murat (PRI-Oaxaca), meanwhile, warned that the indigenous law, if allowed to stand, will be "politically stillborn," since it has already been rejected by a majority of the indigenous groups and organizations in the country, as well as by those states with the highest proportion of indigenous population and social conflict, namely Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Guerrero. In an open letter last week to the remaining states which have yet to vote on the indigenous law, the governors claimed that the law lacks legitimacy and that its approval will only aggravate tensions in conflict-strained indigenous regions of both Oaxaca and Chiapas. Meanwhile, former members of the National Intermediation Commission (CONAI), responsible for brokering the 1996 San Andr�s Accords between the Zapatista Army and the federal government, issued a sobering report this week on the future of the peace process in Chiapas. The group warned that, with the ratification of the "indigenous law," there are no short-term conditions for a resumption of dialogue and negotiations, and that the "political transition" in Mexico is simply not capable of constructing a solid peace process at this time. Even worse, they pointed out, is that the message being sent is that "politics is still not capable of being offered as a form of participation and dispute for all sectors and all causes. Thus, for various sectors, the rationale for the use of arms remains in effect...." For its part, the Zapatista National Liberation Army has maintained public silence since its rejection and condemnation of the indigenous law in April. 2. PAN RE-ELECTED IN BAJA CALIFORNIA The conservative National Action Party (PAN) swept local and gubernatorial elections for the third consecutive time in the state of Baja California on July 8, winning the governor's race, four out of five municipalities, and an absolute majority of thirteen seats in the state legislature. The PAN's candidate in the gubernatorial race, Eugenio Elorduy, won close to 50% of the vote. The only serious opposition to the PAN in Baja California was the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which retained control of the municipality of Tecate by just 87 votes and won a plurality of the legislative vote in only three electoral districts. The vote for the PRI's gubernatorial candidate, Daniel Quintero, was approximately 36%. Apart from its three directly-elected seats to the state legislature, the PRI is also likely be the greatest beneficiary of the nine additional proportional representation seats which are to be distributed among the PRI, the Green Party (PVEM), and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Following a recent trend in local polls, abstention in the Baja California races was the highest on record, estimated at 64%. The PRI quickly accepted defeat in the state elections. Nevertheless, the party suggested it will challenge the final results in the municipality of Ensenada, where the PAN mayoral candidate won with only a 700 vote margin over his opponent from the PRI. The PAN, for its part, may also challenge the 87-vote PRI victory in Tecate. 3. SPY RING LINKED TO MEXICO STATE GOVERNMENT The domestic spy ring which operated in Mexico City and the State of Mexico, and which was partially dismantled last week with the arrest of twelve of its members, may have been linked to the PRI government in the State of Mexico. The espionage ring was responsible for spying on the leaders of all major political parties, as well as on state and federal government officials. Of the twelve members arrested, six were apparently on the payroll of the Mexico state government, and several have talked openly to investigators about their work. One of them, Luis Ignacio Zendejas Fuerte, declared that the group was first established in 1994, during the state government of Emilio Chuayffet (who later became the federal Interior Minister). Zendejas claimed that the spy group formed part of a "phantom" section of the Mexico State government, known as the Directorate of Information and Analysis (DIAN), which used government funds from secret accounts but operated on the margins of official institutions and was responsible only to certain "unidentified" but high-placed state government officials. The linking of the espionage ring to the Mexico State government has unleashed a broader political scandal implicating Governor Arturo Montiel, state Interior Minister Manuel Cadena, and assistant state public security chief Alfonso Navarrete Prida. No charges against higher officials have yet been filed, although the federal government has said it is committed to carrying out a thorough investigation in the matter. But while Montiel and Cadena deny all knowledge of the spy ring, Navarrete Prida told the LA JORNADA newspaper that, following the Zapatista uprising in 1994, the federal government encouraged states to create their own semi-clandestine espionage units to detect guerrilla activity. He added that many such groups were filled with employees who had previously worked for Mexico's official national security agency (the CISEN) or for its predecessor, the infamous Federal Security Directorate. Nevertheless, Navarrete himself denied knowledge of such a group being created in the State of Mexico. Both the PAN and PRD parties, meanwhile, have called for Governor Montiel's impeachment, insisting that he cannot elude his responsibility in the matter. PRI leaders in the state, however, claim that the entire spy network is a fraud, created by the CISEN in order to undermine and frame the state government. 4. BRIEFS - The official vehicle of Chiapas Peace Commissioner Luis H. Alvarez veered into an oncoming lane of traffic between Tuxtla Guti�rrez and San Crist�bal de las Casas late on July 8, and crashed into an oncoming passenger bus, knocking it off the road and into a ravine. In what is perhaps one of the most tragic ironies of the year, the eight indigenous men and women who died in the crash, all passengers on the bus, turned out to be members of the Choir of Acteal. The victims were beginning a tour through different parts of Mexico to bring the message of the survivors of the 1997 paramilitary massacre in Acteal to the rest of the country through song. Seventeen others were injured in the accident. Peace Commissioner Alvarez was not in the truck at the time of the crash, and his driver has since been charged with causing the accident. - The Jos� Mar�a Morelos National Guerrilla Coordinator responded this week for the first time to continued written attacks by the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), accusing the EPR of being "another organ" of the Fox administration dedicated to dividing and repressing armed movements in Mexico. According to the Guerrilla Coordinator - a rebel coalition made up of the People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARP), the People's Revolutionary Villista Army, and the Revolutionary Clandestine Committee of the Poor - June 28 Command (CCRI-CJ) - the top ranks of the EPR have dedicated themselves to "disarticulating" the "revolutionary democratic struggle." The communique, published in a Oaxaca newspaper and directed to the members of the rebel alliance, also said that "instead of promoting the unification of the country's revolutionary forces," the EPR "has generated a confrontation between them, in a way which directly benefits the intelligence apparatuses of the State." The three organizations which united in the Guerrilla Coordinator all previously belonged to the EPR, but split off between 1998 and 2000 after serious ideological, strategic, and tactical differences emerged between them and what they considered an undemocratic and overly-dogmatic EPR leadership. - Following multiple attempts by PAN and PRI representatives in the Mexico City legislative assembly to accuse former PRD mayor Rosario Robles of illegal and corrupt acts while mayor, she was absolved of any wrongdoing this week by the city prosecutor. The District Attorney's office, which was investigating charges that Robles mishandled government funds in contracting a public relations firm in the year 2000 to improve the image of the city government, declared that "the actions under investigation do not constitute crimes of corruption or abuse of authority." - Economy Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez warned this week that, notwithstanding the optimistic outlook of President Vicente Fox, there will be no economic rebound in Mexico before the end of the year. Derbez also said that it would be "difficult" for the economy to grow at the officially forecasted (and repeatedly downgraded) rate of 2.5%. For his part, President Fox essentially threatened the nation with economic recession if Congress does not quickly approve his much- maligned fiscal reform proposal. Fox said that approval of the plan is an "urgent" necessity, since "otherwise" Mexico will face a recession. - Pope John Paul II this week named two new Roman Catholic Bishops for the state of Chiapas. Jos� Luis Ch�vez Botello, currently an auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Guadalajara, will become the new Bishop of Tuxtla Guti�rrez; while Rogelio Cabrera, currently Bishop of Tac�mbaro, will be transferred to Tapachula. Both bishops are considered conservative elements within the Mexican church. _______________________________________________________________ SOURCES: La Jornada, El Universal, El Financiero, Proceso. This report is a product of the Mexico Solidarity Network. Redistribution is authorized and encouraged provided that the source is cited. Comments: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This and previous news updates are archived at: http://www.mexicosolidarity.org ****** from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subject:msn:Mexico Solidarity Network July 20 Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "Mexico Solidarity Network" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: ORGANIZE THE TACO BELL BOYCOTT IN CHICAGO! Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 Meeting to build a Chicago coalition to support the Taco Bell Boycott. Wednesday, July 25th at 7:30 PM at LUNA LLENA, a little store in PILSEN. 1626 West 21 Street (not 21 Place), between Paulina and Ashland, BLUE LINE, 18th street stop. Meeting is called by the Mexico Solidarity Network For more information call 773-583-7728 or email [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) is a farm workers� organization based in Immokalee Florida. They organize mainly Latino farm workers of the Southeast to defend their rights against corporate agribusiness that insists on low pay, long hours, horrible working conditions, and union busting. CIW is calling for a boycott of Taco Bell, the major purchaser of tomatoes form Florida. If Taco Bell raises the price they pay for tomatoes by one cent per pound, this could double the extremely low salaries of tomato pickers. CIW is mounting a caravan across the nation, culminating with a big protest at Taco Bell Headquarters in Los Angeles and the end of September. The CIW caravan will arrive in Chicago on September 16 when there will be a rally and action at a centrally located Taco Bell. Mexico Solidarity Network is in contact with CIW and invites you to join a local coalition to build the September 16th action and support the boycott of Taco Bell in Chicago. COME ON DOWN AND LET�S BUST THE BELL!!! For those interested, we will also discuss an Alliance for Responsible Trade speaking tour coming to Chicago in October focusing on the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Logistic organizing and outreach is needed. Help to build this important event. FOWARD THIS MESSAGE, POR FAVOR. " JC _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
