And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: This message is forwarded to you as a service of Zapatistas Online. Comments and volunteers are welcome. Write [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send submissions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 15:54:47 -0700 Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Commandante Null <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Multiple recipients of list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Fiona Sucks - Outsiders resented in Mexico's Chiapas state Outsiders resented in Mexico's Chiapas state 03:16 p.m Aug 29, 1999 Eastern By Fiona Ortiz SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico, Aug 29 (Reuters) - When trouble erupts in Mexico's southern Chiapas state these days, Indians in traditional costumes usually are joined by striking students and foreign tourists in demonstrations of support that have fuelled resentment against outsiders. ``We don't want revolutionary tourists. They are just trying to heat up the conflict,'' San Cristobal de las Casas mayor Mariano Diaz told Reuters in an interview this week. Outsiders have been a source of discontent to many people in Chiapas since 1994, when Subcommander Marcos and the Zapatista rebels launched a rebellion, demanding improved rights for Mexico's 10 million Indians. In the early days, foreigners came as human shields for Indian villages that believed the army would not risk an international incident by firing on them. In the years since the uprising, immigration authorities have taken a tougher stance. They have expelled dozens of Europeans, Canadians and Americans who were accused of meddling in internal politics by marching or working for the Zapatistas. The resentment also has turned against Mexican outsiders. In a case that made headlines across the country, San Cristobal authorities recently declared actress Ofelia Medina persona non grata after she spearheaded anti-military marches in this colonial city. Officials said she was hurting the precious tourist industry. Also, many of the state's residents have criticised striking university students from Mexico City who came down to support a Zapatista protest against a road project seen as helping the army get better access to rebel-held zones. ``We don't need meddling from outsiders. The students have nothing to do with this,'' said Juan Trinidad, a professor from the Pacific coast city of Huehuetan. It has been a long-held belief among many in Chiapas that foreigners manipulate the Indian movements or profit from the conflict by earning high salaries as human rights workers. Recently, several Chiapas towns have held marches calling for foreigners, and north Mexicans, to get out. Jose Juan Ulloa Perez, a state deputy of the centre-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), said that attitude was ``xenophobic.'' ``The conflict is national and is already in the eyes of the world,'' he said. State officials say they are frustrated with the federal government's failure to negotiate an end to the conflict. ``We in Chiapas are capable of transforming our own state,'' Gov. Roberto Albores said at a recent rally in San Quintin. ``To those who have come to Chiapas to agitate, I say to them clearly: 'Get your return tickets.''' But the idea of allowing the violence-torn state to solve its own problems does not impress members of the federal Congress' Cocopa peace commission. PRD Dep. Gilberto Lopez y Rivas said given the deep-seated divisions in the state, ``it would exaggerate the crisis.'' Others say the state cannot wrap itself in a cocoon and cut itself off from the rest of the nation. ``The students have the right. They are Mexicans,'' said Baldemar Jimenez, a restaurant owner in the town of Altamirano who supports the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party. Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NPC Information Associates "Intelligence for the Underdog!" [EMAIL PROTECTED] 770-457-6758 Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
