Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 20:20:20 -0800
From: irlandesa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Originally Published in Spanish in La Jornada
______________________
Translated by irlandesa
Tuesday, December 22, 1998.
ACTEAL AND THE LOST WAR
Adolfo Gilly
One year from the Acteal massacre, Doctor Ernesto Zedillo, commander-
in-chief of the Mexican Army, has lost the war in Chiapas, as surely
as the United States had lost the war in Viet Nam, France the war in
Algeria and the Soviet Union the war in Afghanistan, well before
their troops had withdrawn from the scene.
In these three colonial wars, the United States, French and Soviet
troops had fought against local forces. But, in that undertaking
they had, above all, become bogged down, first, in the implacable
resistance of the population of the invaded lands; later, in the
growing opposition to the war by the societies of their respective
metropolises; and, finally, as a corollary, in the cracks, the
discontent and the symptoms of dissidence within their own armies.
It is said that these were colonial wars. It is true. But Dr.
Zedillo's war agaisnt the zapatistas and the rebel indigenous
communities in Chiapas also has marked features of a colonial war.
It is enough to read the PGR's White Book, where the indigenous are
clearly the Other (and this without the writers themselves even being
aware of it), to confirm that the war in Chiapas is not the same as
the wars against the Colombian or Salvadoran guerillas, but rather a
domestic colonial war in a geographic, cultural and human territory
clearly delineated by its history, and against a population which is
treated as "different."
There are at least four stages in this defeat of Doctor Zedillo's in
Chiapas.
First, the failure of his attempt to capture Subcomandante Marcos in
an ambush of betrayal in February of 1995.
Second, his failure to recognize his government's signing of the San
Andres Accords. This decision, inconceivable in a true leader,
frustrated the greatest and best developed opportunity for the
government to achieve a peace with dignity. It would have been a
peace between equals, freely agreed in negotiations, approved by the
Congress and supported by society, which would have protected the
integrity and the honor of all parties, beginning with the armed
forces, whose commander-in-chief is the President of the Republic.
An honorable and peaceful withdrawal of all the arms would have
dismantled the machinery of violence and left Chiapas and its
residents the possibility of resolving democratically, and through
the vote, its government and its destiny. Doctor Ernesto Zedillo did
not want that. The cost which the country is continuing to pay is
incalculable.
Third, the Acteal massacre of December 22, 1997. Maintaining all
sense of proportions, the massacre of the unarmed campesinos in
Acteal by the paramilitaries was the equivalent of the My Lai
massacre in Viet Nam, one of the many which led to the demoralizing
of the United States soldiers and to the rebellion of its youth
against that cruel and unequal war. Since Acteal, one long year now,
until today, the entanglement in this domestic colonial war, without
justice and without a possible military solution, has been made
clear.
Fourth, one year from Acteal one of the most serious symptoms of this
situation appears: a protest movement by high officials and classes
of the Army, which, whatever their flags and immediate demands may
be, could indicate a state of discontent more widespread in other
levels of the armed forces. It is hard to imagine the dissidents
having the audacity to march down the Paseo de la Reforma if they had
not felt supported and understood in other levels and places, which
were not visible. An additional indication is that General Juan
Arevalo Gardoqui, President Miguel de la Madrid's Secretary of
Defense, and a group of generals, have seen it necessary to make a
public statement and to close ranks around the current Secretary of
National Defense. This is called a crisis.
The greatest error would be to remain silent, to look away or to look
for culprits. It is necessary to stop the sordid war in Chiapas; to
disarm and to punish the paramilitaries, parallel forces whose
existence itself breaks down any national army; to sign the peace
with the zapatistas according to the accords already agreed to; to
call the state powers of Chiapas to peaceful and open elections, and
to win the peace with honor and dignity.
I persist in believing that the institutional focus of this conquest
of peace continues to be in the Congress of the Union, and that, one
year from Acteal, the most recent events indicate that it is a top
responsibility of the legislators, whatever their party or line, to
present, to debate and to open, through the legislative branch, an
immediate institutional solution to this situation.
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