Zapatista Army of National Liberation
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN) is an armed revolutionary group based in Chiapas, one of the poorest states of Mexico. The EZLN claims to represent the rights of the indigenous population, but also sees itself and is seen as part of a wider anti-capitalist movement, fighting for democracy, peace and justice for all Mexicans, and for all people. The Zapatistas are consciously opposed to neoliberalism, the economic system advocated by the Mexican presidents from 1982 to 2000. The group takes its name from the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata; they see themselves as his ideological heir and the heir to 500 years of indigenous resistance against imperialism.The EZLN breaks from the ordinary mold of revolutionary groups; except for the initial uprising on the first two weeks of 1994, they aren't known to have used any weapons or bombs and have remained primarily in Chiapas. They refuse to use the normal channels Mexico provides to listen to demands and provide solutions--including running for public office or endorsing political parties. They say these channels have been ineffective for the indigenous and for everyone else for too much time (500 years, as they say), thus the EZLN motto: ¡Ya Basta ("That's Enough!"). A few times, some of their elements have publicly visited (disarmed) Mexico City, marching down the streets, doing press conferences and organizing meetings with the civilian population and some political parties. The great march to Mexico City, described later, was also relatively peaceful, with some minor, mostly verbal, incidents. This peaceful approach is one of the reasons for its longevity and some popularity with the civilian population.
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2 Communications 3 Ideology 4 See also 5 Further reading 6 External links |
The group was formed on November 17, 1983 by former members of different groups, some of them fighting, some of them peaceful and ignored by the government. They broke onto the national and international scene on January 2, 1994, just one day after the North American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and Canada became operational. Later they declared it was their way to say We are still here in the middle of globalization. Indigenous fighters wearing ski masks staged an armed uprising, took hold of five municipalities in Chiapas, officially declared war against the Mexican government and announced their plans to march towards Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. After just a few days of fighting, President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, then in his last year in office, offered a cease-fire agreement and opened dialog with the rebels, whose official spokeperson was Subcomandante Marcos.
The dialogue with the government extended over a period of three years and ended with the San Andrés Agreement, which entailed modifying the national constitution in order to grant special rights to the indigenous people, including the desired autonomy. A commission of deputies from political parties called COCOPA modified slightly the agreements with the acceptance of the EZLN. President Zedillo, however, said it was congress who would decide whether to pass it or not. Claiming a violation of promises at the negotiating table, the EZLN went back into the jungle while Zedillo increased military presence at Chiapas to prevent the spread of EZLN's influence zone. An unofficial truce accompanied by EZLN's silence ensued for the next three years, the last in Zedillo's term.
After the dialogue ended, many accusations were made against the Mexican army and para-military groups due to prosecution and detentions of Zapatistas; one particular incident was the Massacre of Acteal, where 45 people attending a church service were killed by unknown persons. The motives and the identities of the attackers aren't clear, but many blame the Army for this.
New President Vicente Fox Quesada sent the so-called COCOPA Law (constitutional changes) to Congress on his first day of government (January 2, 2001), as he had promised during his campaign. Subcomandante Marcos and his group decided to go to Mexico City unarmed in order to speak at Congress in support of the modifications to the constitution. After a march through seven Mexican states with substantial support from the population and media coverage (and escorted by police to protect the EZLN members), representatives of the EZLN (not including Marcos) spoke at Congress in March, 2001, in a controversial session.
Soon after the EZLN had returned to Chiapas, Congress approved a different version of the COCOPA Law, which did not include the autonomy clauses, claiming they were in contradiction with some constitutional rights (private property, secret voting); this angered the EZLN and other political groups. These constitutional changes still had to be approved by a majority of state congresses. Many political and ethnical groups filed complaints both against and in favour of the changes, which were finally approved.
After that, a constitutionality complaint was filed to be resolved by the Supreme Court of Justice, which ruled in late 2002 that since they were constitutional changes made by Congress and not a law as it was wrongly called, it was outside its power to reverse the changes, as that would be an invasion of Congress' sovereignty. This, and the still recent President Fox's electoral victory in 2000 (the first of an opposition member in the last seventy years) slowed down the movement, which rarely appeared in the media for the rest of the year.
An important episode ocurred in the late months of 2002. Subcommander Marcos wrote a letter to a spanish supporter on October 12, a date indigenists claim signals the begginning of their suffering, the arrival to America of Columbus. In that long, winding letter, Marcos calls spanish Judge Baltazar Garzon a "grotesque clown" for, among other things, banning the Independentist Basque Party after claiming it was supporting Spanish terrorist group ETA, and then calling Garzon's attempt to trial chilean General Pinochet for human right violations against Spanish citizens a "fool-deceiving tale". Subcommander Marcos also made heavy criticism of the Spanish monarchy and then Spanish President José María Aznar. After the publication of the letter by the mexican press in November 25, Marcos and Garzon exchanged many more via the international press, in a not-so-elegant duel of words, which included Marcos' joking acceptance of Garzon's challenge to a debate, betting to reveal his secret identity if he lost against Garzon's commitment to the EZLN cause if he won. The whole incident caused much stir among many of Marcos' supporters. Some were upset about Marcos devoting his time to other causes; others thought the tone of his letters was improper of the official spokesman of the EZLN and finally others interpreted his letters as supporting the ETA.
Later, in February 2003, he wrote a letter condemning his political allies, the Democratic Revolution Party congressmen, claiming they agreed to approve a modified version of the EZLN-sanctioned COCOPA Law the previous year. That letter and the replies that followed left many of EZLN's strongest and most influential allies indisposed toward Marcos. Having lost much of his charm, Marcos still wrote many "comunicados" for the rest of that year, but most went unnoticed. Aside from criticism to political actors, he described EZLN's ongoing work in their zones of influence, and changes in their internal organization.
For the first half of 2004 Marcos remained silent. By the middle of the year Luis H. Alvarez, Head of COCOPA, the official communication link between the EZLN and the Mexican government, declared Marcos hasn't been seen in Chiapas for some time, and that he didn't know his location. However the EZLN was still active, mostly by tending the local governments it has created.
Since December 1994, the Zapatistas had been gradually forming several Autonomous Municipalities, independent of those staffed by government officials. Marcos described how these municipalities had gradually developed local government "juntas", communitarian food-producing programs among indigenous peasants and free health and school systems supported in part by NGOss and again independent of government-provided systems that had paid no attention to indigenous medicine, needs and culture. Then he announced the creation of several "Committees of Good Government" formed by representatives of the autonomous municipalities and overseen by the EZLN, which serve to verify that no corruption or abuses of power are committed, and that the committees and local juntas follow the Zapatistas mandate: mandar obedeciendo (to command by obeying the people). Some analysts applauded this initiative: government by the people for the people, in the face of great inefficacy of the State in attending the needs of the people; others however, indicated that this Zapatista initiative amounts to forming a state within the state, a dangerous proposition at best.
The EZLN placed a very high priority on communication, with the rest of Mexico and the rest of the world. From their first public actions, they produced declarations and analysis written in plain prose, and sent these to local, national, and international media. They also made excellent use of technology, in the form of satellite phones and the internet to communicate with supporters in other countries, helping them gain international solidarity and support from less radical organizations and people. For some time, on almost every trip abroad the president of Mexico was confronted about "the Chiapas situation".
Their public spokesperson is Subcommander Marcos, a pipe-smoking middle-aged man whose real identity, according to the Mexican government, is Rafael Guillen, a middle-class university teacher. Marcos himself denies this, but keeps his identity secret. His skin tone is relatively whiter than that of the average Mexican, definitely not indigenous, something his critics use to question his goals and motives, while his supporters claim Zapatistas aren't fools just following a white man. Marcos was recognized by many as an outstanding and eloquent communicator; his writings, colloquial, ironic, and with references to indigenous stories were eagerly published by the media in the first years. However, after 2001 a long period of silence made the relation to the media reach an standstill.
Later, in 2002, after the public exchange of letters with Judge Baltazar Garzon, many, including former admirers, saw Marcos as supporter of spanish terrorist group ETA, and his public image suffered.
By 2004 the EZLN communication strategy wasn't clear. Except for isolated letters and "comunicados" about the political climate, mostly criticism, the EZLN had been silent for almost three years, and the media simply moved on.
The EZLN claims most indigenous people want to leave behind centuries of poverty, abuse and lack of education but at the same time retain the best of their customs and way of life, including communal property and public election of authorities. The EZLN has been mainly fighting for autonomy of the indigenous population—a kind of state within a state where peoples can retain their ways of government and communal way of life yet receive outside support in needed areas.
This situation is very complex. Chiapas is a very rich state in terms of natural resources, especially petroleum and biodiversity, and most of the country's electricity is generated there. Despite this, its indigenous population is among the poorest in Mexico. The autonomy proposed by the EZLN included control over the use of these resources, which precipitated opposition from all kinds of groups. Critics are quick to point out that the firearms and gear used by the Zapatistas, especially Marcos, are expensive, speculating about who funds the movement and the means whereby those funds were obtained.
History
Communications
Ideology
See also
Further reading
External links