And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1999 07:48:04 -0600 (CST) >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Chiapas95-english) >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: En;EZLN Communique,Jan.2 > >This message is forwarded to you as a service of Zapatistas Online. > > >Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1999 18:57:53 -0800 >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: "PRENSA NUEVO AMANECER" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: Multiple recipients of list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: English: ccri-cg communique > > >Originally Published in Spanish >************************************** >TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH BY irlandesa FOR THE EZLN >AND NUEVO AMANECER PRESS >****************************************** > > >January 1, 1999 > >To the people of Mexico: > >To the peoples and governments of the world: > >Brothers and sisters: > >Today marks the fifth anniversary of the uprising of the zapatista troops >demanding democracy, liberty and justice for all Mexicans. For this >reason, the CCRI-CG of the EZLN says its word. > >I. Acteal: Ethnocide and Impunity as State Policies > >The year of 1998 was the year of the government war against the indigenous >communities of Mexico. This year of war was begun on December 22, 1997, >with the Acteal massacre. On that day, paramilitary gangs, armed, trained >and directed by the federal and state governments, assassinated 45 >children, women and men, all of them indigenous. The brutal act signaled >the beginning of a long military and police offensive against the Indian >peoples of Chiapas. > >Acteal serves as the best example of the manner in which Ernesto Zedillo's >government makes politics. The crimes committed by the powers receive a >guarantee of impunity and cover-up by the entire State apparatus. The only >objective of the poorly named "White Book" of the Attorney General's Office >of the Republic is to guarantee impunity to the sick masterminds who >conceived, designed and ordered the Acteal massacre. It will be >ineffective. > >Those intellectually and directly responsible for the Acteal massacre have >first and last names. The list is headed by Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, >followed by Emilio Chuayffet, Francisco Labastida, General Enrique >Cervantes, Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro and Adolofo Orive. They have been >joined, in the cover-up work, by Rosario Green, Emilio Rabasa Gamboa, >Roberto Albores Guillen and Jorge Madrazo Cuellar. These criminals hold, >or held, various government positions in the federal and state arenas, and, >sooner or later, they will have to appear before the law and answer for >their level of involvement in this brutal and bloody event, which now >definitively marks the Mexican end of century. > >The activation of the paramilitary groups constitutes the backbone of >Zedillo's govenrment's dirty war against the Mexican indigenous. From >February, 1995, when the military offensive, unleashed by the government >betrayal, failed, Ernesto Zedillo knew of, approved and set in motion the >paramilitary strategy, in order to resolve the zapatista struggle through >the use of force. While the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) set to >work in this business of death, and the federal Army supplied weapons, >munitions, equipment, advisement and training, Zedillo's government began >to fabricate a dialogue and a negotiation which did not seek, nor does it >seek, the peaceful solution to the conflict. On the contrary, the >government's different "negotiating" teams have had only one maxim: "To >simulate a willingness to dialogue and to continually postpone the >achieving of accords and their carrying out, and to prevent the signing of >a definitive peace." Esteban Moctezuma Barragan, Marco Antonio Bernal, >Jorge del Valle, Gustavo Iruegas and Emilio Rabasa Gamboa are the different >names for the governmental hypocrisy. None of them have had the courage, >knowing themselves being used for the war, to refuse to be accomplices of >the assassinations, which have been the government's only resource in the >conflict in the Mexican southeast. > >One name sums up the government's position regarding Chiapas: Acteal, the >ethnocide which it wants to conceal with hypocrisy, impunity guaranteed by >institutional legality. > >II. Attacks Against the Peace in Chiapas > >The crime of Acteal was followed by a chain of violent events, all led by >the government, whose direction was clear: break all peace initiatives, >destroy all hope of a peaceful solution to the conflict and, time and >again, renew the chant of war and death against the original inhabitants of >these lands. > >a) Attacks Against the Autonomous Municipalities. Recognized by the San >Andres Accords, signed by Zedillo's representatives at the dialogue table, >the autonomous municipalities were the military objectives of the federal >armed forces and the pack of dogs which pretends to govern the state of >Chiapas. Tani Perla, municipal seat of Ricardo Flores Magon, and Amparo >Aguatinta, head of the Tierra y Libertad municipality, were taken by blood >and fire by joint troops of the federal Army, the federal Judicial police >and the Chiapas state police. More than a thousand armed men destroying >community houses, pharmacies and libraries, beating and torturing children, >women, men and old ones. Alone, the government, and some media which >accompanied them in their loss of legitimacy, applauded themselves. In the >name of a legality built on dissimulation and corruption, the hope of a >real and prompt peace for the war in the Mexican southeast was beaten and >destroyed. > >Each new repressive blow by that mixture of lapdogs and attack dogs called >Albores Guillen, was accompanied by a Zedillo who was willing to personally >back the war against the indigenous. > >The autonomous municipality of San Juan de la Libertad received the bloody >stamp promised by Acteal in the armed clashes of Chavajeval. Three >indigenous persons were assassinated, and, in Union Progreso, five >indigenous were taken prisoner and summarily executed by combined troops >from the federal Army and Chiapas state security police. And so, Ernesto >Zedillo Ponce de Leon added more dark deaths to his somber resources. > >b) Attacks Against the Conai and the Cocopa. The mediation and coadvisory >bodies were also defined as objectives to be destroyed in the Mexican >government's shameful war. > >The attacks against the Commission of Concordance and Peace (Cocopa) >followed the logic of the "settling of accounts" of the political class in >power. Following the dangerous gane of "now yes, now no", the government >first accepted the law drawn up by the legislative commission, and then >they retracted it. Having a peaceful solution within reach, Zedillo struck >at the dialogue table, and UNILATERALLY presented an indigenous legislative >proposal to the Congress of the Union, thus refusing to recognize what its >representatives had signed at the San Andres table. After attempting to >politically destroy the Cocopa, the federal government ordered it to define >itself in its favor (that is, in favor of the war). The legislators >refused, and now the government is trying to set them to aside and to >convert them into a useless and showy ornament. The federal Executive does >not conceive of the Legislative branch in any other way: it either >unconditionally follows its war-like adventures or it is a hindrance. > >This time the Congress of the Union asserted its independence as a branch >of the Federation, and dignified and reasonable voices within the different >parliamentary groups blocked the federal Executive's proposal, and thus >stopped what was being concealed behind it: the renewal of the open war >against the zapatistas. The defeat of Zedillo's proposal in Congress did >not concern the government. What did and does concern them is not finding >consensus or support, not even within the State party, for their war >program. > >If Acteal and the premeditated attacks against the autonomous >municipalities are demonstrations that the Zedillo government wants nothing >other than the annihilation of the Mexican indigenous, the presentation of >Zedillo's proposal is a symptom of his definitive decision to not keep his >word and of his desperation to put a mask of legality on the illegitimate >war which he is carrying out. > >Parallel with his reducing the Cocopa to ridicule, Zedillo carried out a >true campaign of attacks (which included assassination attempts) against >the National Intermediation Commission (Conai), and especially against its >President, Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia. To the failed ambushes carried out >by the military arm of the Department of Social Development, the self-named >"Peace and Justice" gang, the government added an intense campaign of >discrediting in the press, radio and television, joint harassment by the >Department of Govenrment and the high Catholic clergy, and the police >attacks by the National Immigration Institute. > >The destruction of the National Intermediation Commission was completed >just hours prior to the vile assassination of five indigenous persons in >Union Progreso, and three in the armed clash in Chavajeval. The death of >the Conai was immediately followed by its logical consequence: the violent >death of indigenous and the renewal of the fighting. > >If reducing the Cocopa to paralysis, and unilaterally sending its own >legislative proposal, were the signals which Zedillo sent to Congress so >that they would understand that he would not accept the Legislative >branch's impeding his war, the destruction of the Conai signified the >dismantling of the only bridge for dialogue and communication between the >parties. > >Attacking the Congress of the Union and national civil society, represented >symbolically by the Conai, the federal government repeated the message >which it had written in blood in Acteal. > >c) Attacks Against International Observers. Ernesto Zedillo's blatant >decision for war received not just the rejection by the Federal Legislative >branch and the open opposition by national civil society. The >international community saw with horror the genocide which those government >measures heralded, and it quickly mobilized itself in order to do whatever >it could to stop the death which was now being sown on indigenous lands. >Observers from North, Central and South America, as well as from Europe and >Asia, crossed thousands of kilometers and entire oceans in order to arrive >in the Mexican southeast with just one message: PEACE WITH JUSTICE AND >DIGNITY. The federal government then decreed that the war of extermination >against the indigenous was a demonstration of national sovereignty, and it >demanded that there be no witnesses, only accomplices. Thus, all of those >who did not dissimulate and did not applaud the war were accused of being >"revolutionary tourists", and of "trying to interfere in domestic matters". > The accusations were followed by expulsions, and today the result is >obvious: foreigners who applaud the war and the destruction are welcome in >Chiapas, and those who seek peace and construction are harassed and >expelled. > >Drunk with blood, the government not only disregards the Congress of the >Union and the Mexican people, it also ignores the international outcries >which echo the same demand to Zedillo: stop your war and commit yourself >to peace. > >This was 1998 for the federal government in the conflict in the Mexican >southeast: the massacre of indigenous, the attack against the autonomous >municipalities, the renewal of combat, the destruction of the Conai, the >immobilizing of the Cocopa, the failure to carry out the San Andres >Accords, scorn for the Congress of the Union and the expulsion of >international observers. > >This is the summary of a year, that of 1998, for the federal government: >war of extermination against the Mexican indigenous, impunity for the >criminals, failure to carry out signed accords, destruction of the bridges >of dialogue and negotiation and defiance of national and international >public opinion. > >In 1998, the Mexican government offered Mexico's indigenous nothing but war >and destruction. > >III. The Government's Economic Policies: The Other War of Destruction > >While the government carried forward its war of extermination against the >indigenous peoples, another war continued. The neoliberal economic >policies which Ernesto Zedillo is imposing, with the support of a handful >of accomplices, and against the will of the great majority of Mexicans, >continued destroying the material foundations of the national state. >Prisoner of an international financial crisis which had just barely >announced itself, the Mexican economy promises only to be worse every day >for the poorest Mexicans, and to assure the so-called "middle classes" a >place among the dispossessed. Neither small nor medium-sized businesses >have the most minimal real possibilities of surviving within this economic >model. Even the large national businesses are confronting, and will be >confronting, disadvantageous conditions in competition for markets. > >The enormous growth in the prices of basic products, the budget cuts, the >unpayable debts at usurous interest rates, the impunity for the criminal >bankers, the increase in taxes, public insecurity as heritage: it is all >part of an imported economic model which operates in Mexico like a cruel >social leveler. The majority of Mexicans are in egalitarian life >conditions, but not of prosperity nor of the minimal levels of a dignified >life. No, on the contrary, today poverty equalizes the middle class of >yesterday with the poor of forever. The only thing that grows in an >appreciable manner within this economic model are the poverty indices, the >number of dispossessed and the quantity of national businesses in >bankruptcy. > >In 1998, the signs that the economic model is criminal and ineffective do >not come merely from inside the country. They come from the most distant >points of world geography, one after the other, waves of financial crises >which ended up destroying national business, devaluating the Mexican peso >and narrowing even more the already slim expectations for recovery. But >neither the protests and discontent of the citizens, nor the serious >warnings of the financial crises in Asia, Europe and South America, >convinced the reduced group of blind illuminati who direct the fate of this >country. In opposition to all the citizens, in opposition to history, even >in opposition to reality, the zedillistos have decided not to change the >course towards shipwreck. > >In the depleted ship of the national economy, the drunken helmsman has now >decided who will be sacrificed first in the imminent shipwreck. Tens of >millions of Mexicans will see their living condiitons reduced to less than >minimal levels, the leaders will privatize even the national flag and >shield, the rich will be fewer but richer, and, in the press, the radio and >the television, we will be told that it is all for our well-being...and >that of our family. > >The administration of impunity in the economic crime which is called >neoliberalism had an opportunity in 1998 to reveal its corruption. With >Fobaproa, it not only condemned entire generations of Mexicans to paying >for the illicit enrichment of bankers and leaders, it also demonstrated the >true objective of governmental economic policies: protecting the rich and >powerful, even at the cost of everything and everyone. > >The changing of the Fobaproa's name by the PRI and the PAN did not mange to >conceal the nature of their action: despite the clear evidence of >violations of the Constitution by the Executive, despite the fact that the >fund was used for partisan political purposes, despite the fact that the >money was used to finance white collar criminals, and despite the fact that >the economic cabinet's responsibility is undeniable in this dirty affair, >the legislative betrayal was sealed, and it demonstrated that the ordinary >everyday citizen is defensless in the face of the actions by the bad >govenrment. > >There is no way out of this dark neoliberal tunnel. The only real, >possible and necessary way out, is the change of the economic model. > >IV. A Demonstration of the Crisis of the Mexican Political System > >The last of the Mexican State institutions to continue supporting the >collapse, the federal Army, discovered in this year of 1998, that their >crisis was not just one of legitimacy. Thanks to the decisions and the >orders of their "supreme commander" (Ernesto Zedillo), the federal Army saw >itself working as "firemen" for the politicians. There, where their >politics failed, the Army would go. And, since the policies are failing >everywhere, and at all levels, the military has found itself in a terrain >which, as an institution, does not belong to them. The results were not >long in coming, in addition to the obvious violations of human rights in >Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, la Huasteca and Jalisco, the contagion of drug >trafficking grew and internal discontent once again manifested itself. > >After a costly publicity campaign which sought to recover its compromised >image, the federal Army saw the little it had gained collapse in a matter >of minutes. On October 30, 1998, 30 years after a crime which they had >believed to be forgotten, history came to present its bill, and the Army >paid, and paid dearly. Just a few weeks later, just before the first >anniversary of the Acteal massacre would once again put the military in the >defendants' seat, a group of dissident soldiers with the name of "Patriotic >Command for the Raising of the Peoples' Awareness" took their voice to the >streets in order to denounce a series of irregularities within the ranks of >the military. > >The soldiers of the Patriotic Command for the Raising of the Peoples' >Awareness received, in response to their demands, the same thing which all >Mexicans receive from the powers who individually or in groups demand their >rights: condemnation, publicity campaigns against them, slander, >discredit, accusations of treason, persecution, silence. > >Certainly the Patriotic Command raised not a few doubts, and the path they >will have to travel in order to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the public >is still long. > >It remains to be seen. > >V. EZLN: Against the War of Extermination, Resistance > >The government offer of death was not bought by the zapatistas. To the war >of extermination, we do not oppose our war. To destruction, we do not >respond with destruction. To death, we do not reply with death. > >One word sums up a silent heroism led by tens of thousands of indigenous >men, women, children and old ones: RESISTANCE. > >All the organizing efforts of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation >have turned inward again. Silent to the outside, the zapatistas turn >within ourselves, and we are organizing the resistance of our peoples. All >our human and material resources were devoted, not to war, but to >reisistance against the war. All our strength was oriented not towards >destruction, but rather to construction. Our flag was not death, but >rather life. > >A calm analysis of the government's actions made us understand that their >objective was open war. We then decided to not only not follow in their >invitation to horror, we also strove to see that it failed utterly. > >A war is not defeated with war initiatives. It is defeated with >initiatives of peace. And, in order to prepare those initiatives of life, >we closed oursleves up in ourselves, and we then raised the weapon of >silence. Protected by that, we looked at the immediate past and we saw our >commitments, we looked at the far past and we saw our experiences and >understandings, we looked at the collective future and we saw the tomorrow >for everyone. That is how we decided on reisistance, that is how we lived >it, that is how we sustain it. > >In order to not fall into the game of death, into that bloody trap of war >among the indigenous, thousands of zapatistas left everything they had and >became the war displaced. Men, women, children and old ones, tzotziles, >tzeltales, tojolabales, chjoles and mames, abandoned their homes and lands >because we want peace with justice and dignity. We do not want surrender >nor simulated peace nor war among the poor. > >That is why our people do not make war against the indigenous or civilians, >but neither do they accept government charity. We did not rise up in order >to gain benefits for ourselves. Our struggle is for everyone, everything, >nothing for ourselves. This is our resistance. A wager on a better >tomorrow, yes, but with everyone. > >At the end of this fifth year of the war against the forgetting, we >zapatistas can say that we are more and we are stronger. We are so because >our heart and our primary strength, the zapatista peoples, have resisted, >patiently and with wisdom, one of the worst offensives against us. It is >not the first. Nor will it be the last. But, sooner or later, our demands >will have to be met, and then, only then, peace. And it will be real. > >The Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee - Gneral Command of the >Zapatista Army of National Liberation, here and now publicly recognizes the >zapatista indigenous peoples. They are our true chiefs, our blood, our >weapon and flag. > >After having demonstrated that silence is also a weapon in the hand of the >dispossessed, strengthened and clear, we zapatistas issued in June the >Fifth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona. In it we called on the Mexican >people and the people of the world to a mobilization for the recognition of >the rights of the Indian peoles and for the end to the war of >extermination. > >Despite the fact that we only received messages of invitation for making >war from the government, we zapatistas are responding with a political >initiative which is, essentially, a new effort for dialogue and peace. > >Understanding that, on the part of the government, there is neither the >will nor the intention nor the sincere commitment for assuming the path of >dialogue with all its consequences, the EZLN insists on directing itself to >those parts of Mexican society who desire, and who are promoting, peace as >path, route and destiny. > >National civil society, that new political and social force, despised >anytime and anywhere they are not voting, is called upon to become the >primary architect and protagonist, not just in the peace process, but also >of the fundamental transformations which will make this country a >democratic, free and just nation. This civil society is whom the EZLN >recognizes as interlocutor in a new dialogue. > >The Congress of the Union is another part of the Mexican state which has >the opportunity to construct peace. The Legislative branch is just that: >the power to make laws which benefit, which recognize, which make justice. >The hour of the Congress is coming, and at that hour it should respond to >an important question, even more so than any law concerning income and >expenditures, and define itself in terms of peace. > >As part of the mobilization called by the Fifth Declaration, the initiative >has been launched for a consultation by all Mexicans on the recognition of >the rights of the Indian peoples and for an end to the war of >extermination. This consultation will be held on Sunday, March 21, 1999, >all over the country and in all places in the world where Mexican men and >women organize themselves to participate and to have their opinions known. > >In order to promote and carry out this consultation, 5000 zapatista >delegates (2500 men and 2500 women) will mobilize themselves in order to >visit all the municipalities in the country. The consultation will be >based on four questions: two concerning indigenous rights, one concerning >the war and one concerning the relationship between those who govern and >the governed. > >Made up of several stages, the consultation is now in publicity and >promotion. Today we repeat our invitation to all Mexican men and women to >form brigades of publicity and to promote the carrying out of this >democratic mobilization, which seeks only two things: the recognition of >indigenous rights and peace in Mexico. > >VI. The Recognition of the Rights of the Indian peoples, Principal Demand >of the EZLN > >Today, five years from the start of our uprising, the Zapatista Army of >National Liberation repeats: our objective is not to take power, nor to >obtain govenrment positions, nor to convert ourselves into a political >party. We did not rise up for charity or credits. We do not want control >over a territory or separation from Mexico. We are not counting on >destruction nor on gaining time. > >Our principal demands are the recognition of the rights of the Indian >peoples and democracy, liberty and justice for all Mexican men and women. > >We are accompanied in these demands not just by the more than ten million >Mexican indigenous, but also walking with us are millions of men and women, >workers, campesinos, unemployed, teachers, students, artists, >intellectuals, neighbors, housewives, homosexuals and lesbians, handicapped >persons, HIV positive persons, retired persons and pensioners, religious >men and women, drivers, street vendors, small businesspersons, pilots and >flight attendants, deputies, senators, Mexicans who live abroad, >non-governmental organizations, boys, girls, men, women, old ones...and >military persons. > >With the recognition of the rights of the Indian peoples, peace will be >possible. Without that recognition, none of the unfinished issues on the >long national agenda will be able to be fully resolved. With democracy, >liberty and justice for all Mexicans, another country will be possible, one >that is better, and more good. > >VII. 1999: The Old and the New Politics > >Brothers and sisters: > >This is the Mexico we have at the beginning of this year of 1999. In this >year, the sixth of the war, two ways of doing politics will once again >confront each other. > >On the one side, the registered > political parties will have to choose their candidates for the Presidency >of the Republic and for the Congress of the Union. With the selection of >those candidates, they will choose, explicitly or implicitly, the different >proposals for the nation, the economic programs, the political positions. > >For the Mexican political class, 1999 is the year of the political parties, >of internal adjustments (which, in the case of the PRI, could once again >reach assassination), of preparations and internal elections. This is the >old politics, that which is decided among professionals, and which only >sees the citizen when it needs his vote. After that moment, they hijack >his capacity for decision-making, they take away his rights as a citizen, >and they oppose his demonstrations of dissidence, rebellion or disagreement >with the machinery of the state. This politics has demonstrated its >ineffectiveness, its exclusion, its authoritarianism. > >The political parties are certainly necessary. What is unnecessary is a >way of doing politics, that which does not govern obeying, nor has the >mechanisms to govern obeying. > >On the other side, the social, citizens and individual forces should define >the space of their political participation. Not just for the year 2000, >but also for 2000. From this first of January until March 21, 1999, a >space has been opened in order to try to construct another way of doing >politics, one which includes and tolerates, one which constantly listens, >one which is built on the sides and looks above with dignity, and also with >the tools necessary for obligating those above to be constantly looking >towards below. > >With this new dialogue effort, as a demonstration of our willingness for a >peaceful solution, as a reaffirmation of our commitment with the Indian >peoples, as a reiteration of our desire for life, as a collaboration in the >struggle to open spaces for citizens' participation, as one more struggle >for the building of a new way of doing politics with the people, for the >people and by the people, this first of January of 1999, sixth year of the >war against the forgetting, we zapatistas call on everyone to participate >in the consultation for the recognition of the rights of the Indian peoples >and for an end to the war of extermination on Sunday, March 21. > >For this year of 1999, we do not call the people to war, but nor do we call >them to conformity nor to paralysis. > >We call them to peaceful mobilization, to the struggle for the rights of >everyone, to the protest against injustice, to the demand for spaces for >democratic participation, to the demand for liberty. > >We call on everyone to not just dream, but to something simpler and >definitive, we call them to awaken. > >Democracy! Liberty! Justice! > >>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast > >Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee - General Command of the >Zapatista Army of National Liberation > >___________________________________________________ >NUEVO AMANECER PRESS-N.A.P.To know about us visit: >http://www.nap.cuhm.mx/nap0.htm (spanish) > ******************* >In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107,this material is distributed without profit or >payment to those who have expressed a prior interest. This information is for non-profit research and >education purpuses only. **We encourage you to reproduce this information >but please give credit to the source, translator and publication. thank you.** >General Director:Roger Maldonado-Mexico Director Europe: Darrin Wood-Spain >Advisor and Special Correspondent:Guillermo Michel-Mexico. >NAP Coordination:Susana Saravia >*************[EMAIL PROTECTED]************* > >-- >To unsubscribe from this list send a message containing the words >unsubscribe chiapas95 to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Previous messages >are available from http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/chiapas95.html >or gopher://eco.utexas.edu. > <<<<=-=-=FREE LEONARD PELTIER=-=-=>>>> If you think you are too small to make a difference; try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.... African Proverb <<<<=-=http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ =-=>>>> IF it says: "PASS THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW...." 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