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Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 13:54:22 -0800
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From: "PRENSA NUEVO AMANECER" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Subject: Five Years With the EZLN (Eng).
ORIGINAL IN SPANISH AT WEB PAGE OF ENLACE CIVIL,A.C..
TRANSLATED BY LESLIE ANN LOPEZ
***************************************************
IN SUPPORT OF THE NATIONAL CONSULTATION FOR THE RESPECT OF INDIGENOUS
PEOPLES AND THE END OF THE WAR OF EXTERMINATION
WEB PAGE OF ENLACE CIVIL, A.C.
http://www.laneta.acp.org/enlacecivil/
FIVE YEARS WITH THE EZLN
Highlights of the last five years of zapatista history, from the moment of
their appearance to the present
by
Ondina Peraire
*****************************
1994
It's now been five years since the dawn of that January first on which we
woke up to a different Mexico knocking on the doors of our conscience. We
quickly learned that there are indigenous people in Chiapas, that the
southeast of Mexico exists, and that those indigenous people are risking
everything for survival and a better world. The North American Free Trade
Agreement with the United States and Canada was not going to work as a
death certificate for the poorest among us.
Suddenly, an indigenous army was erupting, reclaiming the figure of Zapata
from the Mexican Revolution at the dawn of the century--like a nightmare
for some, and like the lancing of a badly-healed wound for everyone.
The insurgent men and women zapatistas and their troops take seven Chiapan
towns that first of January, all of them municipal seats: San Cristobal,
Las Margaritas, Altamirano, Oxchuc, Huixtan, Chanal and Ocosingo. The
Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), in the First Declaration of
the Lacandon Jungle, declares war on the government of Carlos Salinas de
Gortari and the Mexican Army.
On the 2nd of January, the zapatista forces retreat in an orderly fashion
while the federal army reacts with military force. In order to cover the
withdrawal of their troops, the rebels mount a three-flanked attack on
Ranch Nuevo Headquarters, the base for Military Zone 31, in order to cover
the withdrawal of their troops. The offense on the Mexican Army's most
modern base lasts more than a week.
It is in Ocosingo that this war's bloodiest confrontations unfold. A
group of rebels is trapped in the municpal market, along with some
civilians who had joined up with them. The morning of January 3rd the
soldiers take the market, which results in more than nine deaths (five
zapatistas were killed summarily, with their hands tied and
execution-style shots in the head at close range).
Throughout the day on the 4th of January there are violent confrontations
on the outskirts of Ocosingo. The Secretary of National Defense
calculated 61 fatalities as a result of those clashes. That same day,
planes and helicopters of the Mexican Airforce begin bombing the mountains
south of San Cristobal de las Casas. Seven planes are damaged by
zapatista troops.
The Federal Army militarizes the region (with a deployment of some 25,000
soliders) and blocks access to the Jungle and Highland regions. By
January 9th, 15 municipalities have been isolated, while Non-Government
Organizations and Human Rights groups, journalists and representatives of
civil society attempt to break the military barrier.
On the 6th of January Salinas issues his first message to the nation, in
which he denies that this has anything to do with an indigenous uprising,
and offers a "pardon" to those who put down their arms. Later,
Subcomandante Marcos responds with a communique entitled "What are you
going to pardon us for?" a piece considered by writer Carlos Monsivais to
be a magnificent and indisputible summary of the reasons behind the
zapatista struggle: Who must ask for pardon, and who can grant it?
On January 12th, 100,000 people overflow the Zocalo in Mexico City to
demand that the president declare a cease-fire and begin to dialogue with
the insurgents. Salinas decrees a cease-fire: "The Army will only attack
if it is attacked."
Between January 13th and 24th, the EZLN recognizes Manuel Camacho Solis as
representative of the federal government and proposes a four-point agenda
for the negotiation: economic demands, social demands, political demands
and a halt to hostilities.
THE FIRST PEACE DIALOGUE: THE SAN CRISTOBAL CATHEDRAL
On February 20th, nineteen delegates from the EZLN arrive in San Cristobal
to participate in the dialogue with the government, with Bishop Samuel
Ruiz mediating. The Red Cross, civil society and military police set up
belts of people to guard the negotiations. The government presents a
document on which it offers 34 commitments: two declarations regarding the
national situation and 32 proposals to resolve the problems in Chiapas.
The EZLN decides to take the government's proposal back to the communities
who support them, in order to consult them on the matter.
A month later, on March 23rd, 1994, Luis Donaldo Colosio, the PRI's
presidential candidate, is assassinated. The EZLN puts out a "red alert"
and decides that it cannot sign the peace with a government which kills
its own candidates.
The 12th of June, 1994, the EZLN issues its Second Declaration of the
Lacandon Jungle, in which they call on civil society to achieve a peaceful
transition to democracy, and convoke a National Democratic Convention
(CND), to occur August 5th through the 9th in the first "Aguascalientes"
forum built by insurgents in the jungle community of Guadalupe Tepeyac.
Close to 7,000 Mexicans answer the call to rebel territory. The EZLN
calls for civil society to "defeat us" by opening up the possibility for a
peaceful means for struggle.
July 25th, civil society's candidate Amado Avendano, registered with the
PRD in the gubernatorial race in Chiapas, suffers a nearly fatal attempt
on his life. In the elections of August 22nd, an obvious electoral fraud
places the official PRI candidate, Eduardo Robledo Rincon, in the
governor's chair. Civil resisters name Avendano Governor-in-Rebellion of
the state of Chiapas.
On December 19th, 1994, the EZLN breaks the military seige, and without
firing a single shot, rebels appear in 38 municipalities in the state,
which are declared autonomous and rebel municipalities.
*************************
1995
In January of 1995, the EZLN unveils the Third Declaration of the Lacandon
Jungle. In it, the rebels call for the creation of a Movement of National
Liberation.
After an interview with the Secretary of State, on January 15th, 1995, the
EZLN declares a unilateral and indefinite offensive cease-fire. The 9th
of February, President Ernesto Zedillo appears on national television,
announcing the identity of zapatista leaders and ordering their arrest.
The Federal Army forces on Chiapas detail launch a military offensive in
order to capture the EZLN's leaders and make incursions into the Lacandon
Jungle; thousands of indigenous people flee their towns to avoid selective
repression, and are then displaced.
People across the country mobilize to stop the war, and the National
Mediation Commission, presided over by the Bishop of San Cristobal de las
Casas, Samuel Ruiz Garcia, issues an urgent call to both parties to get
back on the road to negotiation.
Arrests, skirmishes, murders, rapes, sacked towns and more than 30,000
displaced people are the result of the military offensive, finally stopped
through the civil protest of Mexicans.
>From the 6th to the 11th of March, the federal congress discusses and
approves the Law for Dialogue, Conciliation and Dignified Peace in
Chiapas.
The EZLN thanks civil society for its mobilization and formally renews its
commitment to work towards a negotiated end to the conflict.
On the 9th of April the Joint Declaration of San Miguel and the Protocol
on the Grounds for Dialogue are both signed, and the town of San Andres
Sacamchen is declared the permanent base for peace encounters.
At that time, negotiation rounds begin at San Andres. The 23rd of June,
1995, the Secretary of State initiates his policy of expelling foreigners
and directly attacking the San Cristobal de las Casas diocese with the
expulsion of three priests: Rodolfo Izal (Spanish), Jorge Baron
(Argentinian), and Loren Riebe Star (of the United States).
On June 28th, 1995 there is a massacre at Aguas Blancas, in the state of
Guerrero, in which police end the lives of 17 unarmed campesinos.
The EZLN convokes the first big consultation, the Consultation for Peace
and Democracy, which is held on August 27th with the participation of more
than 50,000 promoters, 10,000 tables and 1,088,000 votes by Mexicans, the
majority of whom ask the EZLN to become a political force and abandon the
armed route.
On December 4th, 1995, the EZLN, in preparation for the second-year
anniversary celebration of the armed uprising and decides to build five
new civil society encounter forums, or "Aguascalientes," in the Jungle and
Highlands of Chiapas, since the army completely destroyed the
Aguascalientes at Guadalupe Tepeyac and converted it into a huge military
base. The people of Guadalupe Tepeyac remain in exile in the mountains
and refuse to return to their homes until the military troops leave.
The building of the new Aguascalientes bothers the Mexican government
enormously; it responds to these measures as armed activities, and sends
the army to occupy the meeting spaces. These are moments of great
tension.
****************************
1996
On January 1st, 1996, the EZLN issues the Fourth Declaration of the
Lacandon Jungle, in which it lays out the need for the construction of
build a political force of a new kind: one which is non-partisan, which
instead of becoming engaged in struggles for power, remains independent
and autonomous, civil and peaceful: the Zapatista Front of National
Liberation (FZLN).
On the 3rd of January, 1996, in San Cristobal, there occurs an event
unprecedented in modern Mexico: in the Special National Forum of
Indigenous Rights and Culture--convoked by the zapatistas in the framework
of the San Andres negotiations--more than 500 representatives participate,
from at least 35 indigenous groups; and they arrive at a consensus on
their demands and needs. The 10th of January those attending the Forum
agree to constitute the National Indigenous Congress (CNI).
The 16th of February, the EZLN and the federal government sign the first
agreements on Indigenous Rights and Culture. The government makes a
commitment to recognize indigenous peoples in the Constitution, and to
construct a new juridical framework which guarantees their political,
jurisdictional and cultural rights.
The 14th of March of 1996, the paramilitary group Peace and Justice
destroys a Catholic temple in the municipality of Tila.
The 21st of that month, the second negotiating table begins, on Reforms of
the State, but the government representatives remain silent during every
session. Meanwhile, repression and violent displacement in the state
intensify.
The 22nd of March, a police operation in the Nicolas Ruiz municipality
leaves four campesinos dead.
>From the 4th to the 8th of April, in La Realidad--the autonomous
municipality of San Pedro de Michoacan, in the Lacandon Jungle--the First
Continental Encounter for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism is
celebrated. Thousands of people of all of North and Latin America come to
participate.
On the 2nd of May, 1996, a Tuxtla Gutierrez judge decides the case of
Sebastian Etzin Gomez and Javier Elorriaga (who had been arrested in
February, 1995, under suspicion of being a zapatista leader), sentencing
them, on charges of terrorism, to 6 and 13 years of prison, respectively.
The EZLN declares that the judge's decision is a provocation to violence
and in violation of the Law for Dialogue, and suspends its part in
negotiations.
Paramilitary groups proliferate: on May 6th the Chilon paramilitary group
known as "the Chinchulines" attack campesinos from Bachjon and burn
several homes.
The 31st of that month, the paramilitary group Peace and Justice attacks
the community of Usupa in Tila, and its residents flee to the mountains.
The 6th of June, following an intensive national and international
mobilization, the Supreme Court appeals the judge's decision and Javier
Elorriaga and Sebastian Etzin are set free.
June 28th of 1996, en Guerrero, the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) makes
its first appearance, at the anniversary memorial of the Aguas Blancas
massacre.
>From June 30th to July 6th the Special Forum for the Reform of State is
held. More than 1,300 people participate, representing political, social,
union, and citizen organizations as well as intellectuals and well-known
personalities.
>From July 27th to August 3rd, the First Intercontinental Encounter for
Humanity and Against Neoliberalism is held. Close to 4,000 people from 42
countries come to the five zapatista Aguascalientes: Oventic, La Realidad,
La Garrucha, Morelia and Roberto Barrios.
On September 2nd of 1996, after consulting with its bases, the EZLN
decides to suspend its participation in the San Andres dialogues, in view
of the lack of compliance with the first agreements, and the dirty war.
The rebels establish five minimum conditions--which to date have never
been met--before they return to the negotiating table: freedom of all
those presumed to be zapatistas; a governmental commission which has real
decision-making power and which respects the zapatista delegation; the
installation of a Follow-Up and Verification Commission for the accords
achieved; minimum and real proposals for the table on democracy and
justice; and an end to the climate of military and police persecution of
indigenous communities. From then on, up to today, in January, 1999, the
dialogue has been suspended.
In October of 1996 the CNI is founded, and the EZLN decides to send
Comandante Ramona to Mexico City to attend the event. Tens of thousands
of people give a warm reception to the first zapatista to arrive in the
country's capital. Comandante Ramona, a diminutive Tzotzil woman who was
ill at the time, gives a speech which culminates with "Never again a
Mexico without us," a slogan taken up from that moment on by the Mexican
indigenous movement.
>From the 24th to the 9th of November, the Peace and Accords Commission
(Cocopa), the National Mediation Commission (Conai) and the EZLN meet to
draft the constitutional reform initiative on indigenous rights and
culture. The government and the EZLN agree that it should be the
legislators in the Cocopa who draft a legal proposal to be accepted or
rejected without modifications.
On November 29th, the Cocopa presents its final proposal and the EZLN
accepts it. The Secretary of State, Emilio Chauyfett, also gives his
verbal approval, but asks that it be submitted to President Zedillo in
order to formalize the agreement.
The president rejects the proposal and the entire peace process enters a
period of deep crisis. The government presents its own counterproposal
which rejects the basic aspects of the San Andres Agreements.
*******************************
1997
So begins the year 1997, with a meeting between the EZLN and the Cocopa in
La Realidad, on the 11th of January. The zapatistas announce that the
EZLN will not return to the negotiating table until the San Andres
Agreements on Indigenous Rights and Culture are fulfilled. The next day,
the military presence is increased throughout the whole state of Chiapas.
In February, coinciding with the anniversary of the signing of the
agreements, more than 10,000 indigenous zapatistas march in San Cristobal,
demanding that the government accept the reform proposed by the Cocopa.
On the 4th of March, the Cocopa makes a statement withdrawing its support
of the bill it had drafted.
On the 8th of March, the state police arrest two jesuit priests, one of
them an advisor to the EZLN in the dialogue process. On the 14th of that
month, a police raid in San Pedro Nixtalucum, in the Chiapan Highlands,
results in the death of four zapatista campesinos and 29 wounded.
On July 27th of 1997, a zapatista delegation leaves the country for the
first time to participate in the Second Intercontinental Encounter for
Humanity and Against Neoliberalism, in Spain.
In September, 1,111 people of the EZLN support base march to Mexico City.
The reception by the people in the capital and in all the towns through
which the rebel caravan passes is multitudinous and enthusiastic. In the
country's capital, the zapatista delegates are witnesses to the foundation
of the FZLN and participate in the Second Assembly of the CNI. During the
founding ceremony of the FZLN, the zapatistas announce that due to the
conditions of war in which they live, they are unable to join this civil
and political force. The Front is born as a sister organization,
autonomous of the EZLN.
In Chiapas, the dirty war advances and the paramilitary strategy
proliferates. On November 4th, there is an attempt made on Bishop Samuel
Ruiz and his Co-Adjutor Raul Vera in Tila, resulting in several people
being wounded, presumably by the paramilitary group, Peace and Justice.
Thousands of indigenous people suffer the aggressions of the
paramilitaries in the Chenalho municipality, in the Chiapas Highlands.
With the protection of police and soldiers, the paramilitaries forcibly
recruit people, levy taxes and burn the homes of those who oppose them.
The impunity and violence culminate on December 22nd with the most
atrocious massacre in the the country's memory. In Acteal 45 indigenous
people, the majority children and women, of the group called "The Bees"
were massacred with firearms and machetes by 60 armed men belonging to a
paramilitary group made up of indigenous people belonging to the PRI and
the PARM. In the attack 25 were wounded, several of them children. The
gunfire lasted more than six hours, and though dozens of Public Security
police were located about 200 meters away from where the massacre was
occurring, listening to the shots and the screams, they did not intervene.
As of now, 125 individuals have been charged in relation to the massacre,
including the PRI mayor and several chiefs of police, but the roles of
responsible officials further up the ladder have not been addressed. One
year later, the Acteal crime remains unpunished.
On December 26 of 1997, four days after the massacre, more than 2,000
soldiers arrive in Chenalho.
****************************
1998
In January of 1998, the Mexican Army initiates various disarmament
operations outside the region where the Acteal killing occurred and makes
incursions in various zapatista communities in the jungle, the Highlands
and the northern area of the state. The images of the civil population,
the majority of whom are women, rejecting the military presence, are seen
all over the world.
As a consequence of the national and international indignation over the
Acteal massacre, Emlio Chauyffet is removed from office as the Secretary
of State, and Francisco Labastida Ochoa is put in his place. The interim
governor of Chiapas, Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro, resigns and on the 8th of
January, President Zedillo designates Roberto Albores Guillen to take his
place.
President Zedillo presents a legal initiative to the federal congress on
Indigenous Rights and Culture, as distinct from the Cocopa proposal and
the San Andres Accords.
Militarization increases in Chiapas and as of March, the EZLN begin a
prolonged period of silence.
On April 8th, an impressive police and military operation results in the
arrest of evangelical indigenous leaders in the La Hormiga colony, in San
Cristobal de las Casas.
On April 11th, in Taniperla, seat of the autonomous municipality of
Ricardo Flores Magon, more than 1,000 soldiers, police and immigration
agents carry out an operation to arrest and jail zapatista civilians and a
group of observers. In all, 16 people are arrested and put in prison,
among them a university professor, Sergio Valdez, and a student, Luis
Menendez; and 12 foreigners are expelled from the country.
On May 1st, another joint police and military operation dismantles Amparo
Aguatinta, seat of the autonomous municipality Tierra y Libertad. The
residents of that place confront the order-keeping forces and soldiers
with hand-to-hand blows and stones. The police burn and sack the
zapatista city council offices and beat several women. Fifty-three people
are arrested. Eight of them are charged and imprisoned.
May 5th, a new operation occupies the municipality of Nicolas Ruiz,
dominated by the opposition. Thousands of military and police personnel
dissolve a protest demonstration and destroy homes to arrest 150
inhabitants.
These operations to "restore the State of Law" provoke serious human
rights violations. The climax of the violence against zapatista towns and
municipalities occurs on June 13th with a broad operation in El Bosque,
where combined forces of soldiers and police attack three towns. In
Chavajebal, soldiers shoot firearms and bazookas, and 3 campesinos and one
police officer lose their lives. In Union Progreso, where nobody
resisted--according to the testimony of its residents--seven young
campesinos of the zapatista support base are executed by the police.
Dozens of indigenous people are arrested.
In June, the EZLN breaks its silence with the Fifth Declaration of the
Lacandon Jungle and convokes the National Consultation on the Law of
Indigenous Rights.
Broad sectors of Mexican civil society demand that the EZLN participate in
an encounter in order to pool everyone's ideas and prepare the
consultation.
The EZLN accepts, and from the 20th to the 22nd of November the EZLN-Civil
Society Encounter is held in San Cristobal de las Casas, attended by 32
zapatista delegates and more than 3,000 Mexicans.
In December of 1998, the EZLN makes public the convocation of the
Consultation For the Respect of Indigenous Peoples' Rights and Against the
War of Extermination, which will take place the 21st of March, 1999, with
the following questions:
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Question 1) Do you agree that indigenous peoples should be included with
all their strength and richness in the national project and take an active
part in the construction of a new Mexico?
Question 2) Do you agree that indigenous rights should be recognized in
the Mexican Constitution, as stipulated in the San Andres Accords and the
corresponding proposal of the Cocopa?
Question 3) Do you agree that we should achieve true peace through the
route of dialogue, demilitarizing the country by returning soldiers to
their bases as established by the Constitution and laws?
Question 4) Do you agree that the people should organize themselves and
demand that the government "rule by obeying" in all aspects of national
life?
The EZLN encourages all Mexican men and women to form brigades to promote
and diffuse the consultation, registering in the Consultation Contact
Office:
Avenida Ignacion Allende #22-A, Barrio San Antonio
C.P. 29250. San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico.
Telephone and fax: (967) 8-10-13 and (967) 8-21-59
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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1999
In January of 1999, the army, under the pretext of destroying some
marijuana plants, makes an incursion into the community of Aldama, in the
municipality of Chenalho.
Military patrols by land and air increase in the entire zapatista zone and
the communities live under the constant threat of open war.
___________________________________________________
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
giving credit to NAP.**
General Director:Roger Maldonado-Mexico Director Europe: Darrin Wood-Spain
Advisor and Special Correspondent:Guillermo Michel-Mexico.
NAP Coordinator:Susana Saravia
*************[EMAIL PROTECTED]*************
"If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. . .But if you have
come because your liberation is bound with mine, then let us work together."
--Aboriginal Woman
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