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Show L | JA LU] MEA WINTER 1994 4 -VENCEREMOS ¡VIVA ZAPATISTAS! Jason Settle and Tomás Martinez Zapata's Revolution reaches Chiapas; Salinas out, EZLN in! suppressed, foreign businesses EZLN sympathizers around the country underscored the controlled the economy and the need for a peaceful resolution to government making political solutions virtually impossible. the crisis. Mexico City demonure on so odd a fate. Come starations in “support of While the Revolution changed hell, high water, agitators from -Chiapas' indígenas have drown _this for some Mexican's, the the outside, or report ofa - crowds as large as 100,000 par-: Revolution never the state of Chiapas. Until Today. -greener pasticipants. At Timeline of a Revolution tures elsewhere, . least three -“We have no mid- bombings “in In the morning hours of they insisted only on staying dle class; there are solidarity” with January 1st, EZLN forces occuin the villages EZLN pied the cities of San Cristóbal _the rich, who are . the de Las Casa's, Altamirano, and little towns uprising have very rich, and the occurred (the Ocosingo and Las Margaritas. where they had o E e poor, who are EZLN claiming - Police forces in these cities “This is... about country people who did not want to move and therefore got into a revolution. They did not fig- before . where their them ancestor : e Mexican Revolution,” by John Womack Jr., 1968. On January 1, 1994, violence broke out in the southern state of. Chiapas Mexico. Revolutionaries wearing red bandanas (symbolic of other - Central American revolutions) and calling themselves the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) (named for Mexico's 1910 Revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata), seized control of the cities of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Las ness reported as many as 1000 a communiqué the . Electricity to responsibility sive. His besieged by accusations of systematic human _ The New Year's Day insurrection was timed to coincide with torture, random _arrests, mass executions and cremations the world. Though human The lands there are so poor that most of the men were forced into migrant labor, and most of the women into prosti- tution to support themselves. rights investigators have stopped short E the beginning of the North of confirming that any abuses have occurred (instead characterizing them as “possible” abuses), Amnesty In a communiqué issued after January 1st offensive, the EZLNSs self-identified commander “Comandante Marcos” declared war on the Mexican - government saying, “We.are the product of 500 years of struggle ... But today we say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.” AAA Governor General Absalón uprising Alleged incidents of - Castellanos Domínguez report- American Free: Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which became effective on January 1, 1994. : the out the first floor, seizing radio “and communications equipment and downing power and telephone lines. The niece of Chiapas former rights abuses perpetrated by the Mexican army/'s response to the EZLN's human rights investigators from around colonial times. fighters strong) promptly sacked government offices and buildings. In San Cristóbal, the EZLN occupied the city government's office building, burning administration The EZLN's uprising is only the - onymous with Chiapas since for downing electrical towers in the states of Puebla and Michoacán on. : The events have placed Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari on the defen- have deluged the state with draconian social conditions syn- and claimed sent Margaritas, Altamirano, and several other smaller towns. most recent chapter in a long history of struggle against the at unaware Commission the EZLN also - only for one). In for hundreds of years had lived .and died ...” - -Preface from “Zapata and the were caught responsibility ” were subdued with minimal fighting. After taking control of these cities, the EZLN forces [eyewit- extremely poor. International's Researcher for Mexico told the Interpress News Agency, “We have information that in the hands of most people would mean confirmation.” e : Before the 1910 Revolution, all of Mexico was a nation of Chiapases: Wages were intolerably low, dissent was cruelly photo courtesy Associated Press Indigenous women clutch their babies as they wait out the uprising. ed. that. her tourists. The EZLN allowed uncle was taken from his -Ninety-five tourists caught unexpectedly by the uprising to leave San Cristóbal on January home at gunpoint by EZLN forces. The rebels 2. They were taken to the capital, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, under barricaded army escort. State department roads delegates leading from the occu- sent to Chiapas to insure the safety of American tourists confirm that no well after the EZLN had retreated : U.S. made helicopters and combat aircraft backed the army's ground offensive against _the retreating rebels. Observers reported the indiscriminate. bombings of civilian targets. Journalists (in clearly marked vehicles) were also fired upon from aircraft armed with rockinconvenienced by the events. ' ets. Mexico's Secretary of tal. E "Duxtla Defense has ordered an investiThe army postponed its offenGutiérrez. The sive until the rebels began their gation into these allegations. EZLN did not attempt to Responding to the violence in - voluntary retreat. The rebels advance on the capital. : Chiapas, the Mexican army San Cristóbal and The Mexican army did not left began stepping up its garrison in intially attempt to retake the Altamirano early Jan. 3. Deaths mounted when government the nearby state of Guerrero. towns seized; instead, troops troops fired on the retreating The government fears that the were ordered to stay inside their barracks. This policy of inaction rebels. These pitched battles “violence in Chiapas will spread “was taken to protect civilian left more than 100 people dead into Guerrero where Armed Peasants revolted in the 1970s. lives that might have been lost (some of them civilians). Reliable information concern- . The fighting subsided after if heavy fighting broke out. This ing the nature of the fighting is most of the rebels had retreated could have been a foreign relaback into the jungle. sketchy since the Mexican tions disaster for Mexico since EZLN Declares War on army prevented journalists from many of the towns siezed are see “Chiapas” on page five popular destinations for entering combat areas until pied cities to . the state's capi- tourists were significantly “Today we say enough is enough” The following is the full text of the declaration from the Lacandon jungle by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation: . - TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO: MEXICAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS: W: are a product of 500 years of struggle: first against slavery, then during the War of Independence against Spain led by insurgents, then to avoid being absorbed by North American imperialism, then to promulgate our constitution and expel the French empire from our soil. Later, the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz denied us the just application of the Reform laws, and the people rebelled; leaders like Villa and Zapata emerged, poor men just like us. We have been denied the most elemental preparation so they can use us as cannon fodder and pillage the wealth of our country. They don't care that we have nothing, absolutely nothing, not even a roof over our heads, no land, no work, no health care, no food nor education. Nor are we able to freely and democratically elect our - political representatives, noi is there independence from foreigners, nor is there peace nor justice for our- selves and our children. But today, we way ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. We are the inheritors of the true builders of our nation. The dispossessed, we are millions and we thereby call upon our brothers and sisters to join this struggle as the only path, so that we will not die of hunger due to the insatiable ambition of a 70-year dictatorship led bya clique of traitors that represent the most conservative and sell-out groups. They are the same ones that opposed Hidalgo and Morelos, the same ones that betrayed Vicente Guerrero, the same ones that sold half our country to the foreign invader, the same ones that: imported a European prince to rule our country, the same ones that formed the “scientific” Porfirista dictatorship, the same ones that opposed the Petroleum Expropriation, the same ones that massacred the railroad workers in 1958 and the students in 1968, the same ones that today take everything from us, abso- lutely everything. j To prevent the continuation of the above and as our last hope, after having tried to utilize all legal means based on our Constitution, we go to our Constitution to apply . Article 39, which states: “National Sovereignty essentially and originally resides in the people. All political power emanates from the people and its purpose is to help the people. The people have, at all times, the inalienable right to alter or modify their form of government.” a Therefore, according to our constitution, we declare the following to the Mexican federal army, the pillar of the Mexican dictatorship that we suffer from, monopolized by a one-party system and led by Carlos Salinas de Gortari, the maximum and illegitimate federal executive that today holds power. According to this Declaration of War, we ask that other powers of the nation advocate to restore the legitimacy and the stability of the nation by overthrowing the dictator. : : We also ask that international organizations and the International Red Cross wateh over and regulate our battles, so that our efforts be carried out while still pro- tecting our civilian population. We declare now and see “Declaration” on page ten |
