Forwarded message:
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 10:49:15 -0800
From: La Mujer Obrera <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Your letter
URGENT LETTER
FROM
NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR DEMOCRACY
IN MEXICO, USA
601 N. Cotton Street, #A103
El Paso, Texas 79902
January 4, 1995
Dear Friends,
For the past five months the Commission
has worked to establish its mission. Its
tasks and functions have evolved. Local groups
and individuals have affiliated. The
Commission now has a presence in almost every
region in the country as well as contacts in
Canada and extensive relationships in Mexico.
Apart from carrying out public education, the
Commission has also worked with local media.
Local committees have carried out a good bit
of fundraising, most of which has gone
directly to support the people of Chiapas. The
last intense effort was the organization and
completion of a humanitarian aid caravan which
in the period of one month managed to generate
three tons of food, medicine and clothing and
was enormously helpful to the people in
Chiapas as they faced the militarization in
December.
The essence of the work of the Commission
is to struggle for peace and democracy; to
give people in the United States an
independent peaceful option for information
and coordinated action. It is symbolic of the
EZLN's acknowledgement of the importance of
international involvement and of peaceful
civic action. Like the Democratic National
Convention in Mexico, the existence of the
Commission embodies the hope of the EZLN that
peaceful civic action, in the United States,
can deter and re-shape the intervention of the
United States in the affairs of Mexico.
What kind of intervention you say? How
about the latest news about the $9 billion the
USA will pledge to Mexico in order to salvage
its floundering peso? How about the $6 billion
floated in 1988 to help the PRI overcome its
fraudulent election, again in March of 94 to
survive the shock of the assassination of
Colosio, and the $214 million in military
sales from 1988-1994? In the name of its
investments, the US inadvertently continues to
support the PRI, a corrupt dictatorship which
has controlled the fate of Mexico for the past
65 years. This blind support denies the
Mexican people the opportunity to define their
own destiny.
In July of 1994 when I was named by
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos to organize
for the EZLN, he pointed out to me "..if the
people are interested in the success of
genuine democracy in Mexico and find your work
useful they will support you." Instead of
commissioning a high-powered lobbyist or a
public relations firm, the EZLN chose to
commission a group of grassroots people with a
great deal of hope, energy and commitment.
Not enough to counter the power of $9
billion you say? We believe it is the
strongest and the only foundation for building
an alternative vision. We believe an
alternative vision must be built from the
ideas and actions of the people who are being
victimized by economic policies which place
profits over human beings. We believe that
honest people of many backgrounds and in many
countries are starving for an ounce
of integrity, hope, and truth. It is for that
reason that the EZLN has survived in Mexico
and captured the imagination of those of us in
the international community. We believe that
the past years of "economic re-structuring"
have been devastating to the world's peoples
and natural resources, and that now is the
time to begin to seek out an alternative.
We believe that the narrow and
belligerent ideology of the World Bank, the
IMF, and the handful of billionaires in the
world is beginning to run its course. We
think that those of us with sufficient vision
to believe that human beings are capable of a
better world, must be about our business of
creating, in the words of the EZLN, a new
political morale and new political
relationships.
In the five months of its existence the
Commission has had a consistent presence in
the National Democratic Convention, has made
public presentations in California, New York,
and Montana, has issued three urgent action
alerts, and has begun to open public relations
with the United Nations, the Carter Center,
and Reverend Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow
Coalition.
The organizing has not been difficult.
With the enthusiasm and sacrifice of hundreds
of volunteers all over the country the
Commission has managed to cast a far-flung net
of information and engagement. The financing
as always, is another matter. We have many
plans and needs for the New Year. We would
like our newsletter to be much more frequent
and well-presented. We would like to have a
greater presence in the media, and make many
more public presentations. We would like to
establish a stronger distribution system for
the videos, books, and other educational
materials from Mexico. We would like to
organize a translating and public information
team which can get more comprehensive
information to you. We would like to work
closer with local committees and have a better
staff capacity.
In order to grow in strength and
sophistication we need your support. Please
send donations of any size possible. The need
to quickly build a national network and
establish a public profile has far outstripped
our resources. Unless we receive help from
you we will be forced to close our office in
February of 1995. Contributions to the
Commission are tax-deductible. Help us to
prepare to grow to meet the challenges of the
New Year. 1995 will be an extraordinarily
difficult year for the people of Mexico.
Wishing you the best I remain,
Sincerely yours,
Cecilia Rodriguez
Representative
National Commission for Democracy in Mexico,
