Zapatista march draws attention
By GARY MacEOIN
Special to the National Catholic Reporter
The masked leader of the Zapatistas, a movement in open rebellion
against the Mexican state for more than seven years, has pulled off his biggest
public relations coup to date with a symbolic 650-mile march to Mexico City.
The march from Chiapas, the Zapatistas guerrilla stronghold, has
generated strong support and excitement along the way.
The effect is to put pressure on the government to make peace with
the rebels, who have taken up the cause of Mexicos downtrodden in their
demands for indigenous rights. With massive publicity from Mexican media and
heavy coverage internationally, Subcomandante Marcos, the Zapatista leader,
emerged from the forests of Chiapas Feb. 25 to lead the march. Leaving their
weapons behind, wearing their trademark bandanas, 24 Zapatista leaders set off
in a caravan of 30 automobiles and 27 trucks with a carefully planned
itinerary.
The groups march into Mexico City recalls a triumphal march
to Mexico City in 1914 by peasant champion Emiliano Zapata, from whom the
Zapatistas take their name. Zapata was assassinated during peace talks five
years later.
Several times along the way, Marcos has lambasted President
Vicente Fox and the Mexican business establishment, saying that Foxs
words have not been followed by actions. Fox, who took office Dec. 1, has
repeatedly said he is committed to indigenous rights. He has described the
march as a bridge to peace.
Foxs first act on taking office was to send the contested
Indian rights bill to Congress. He has released scores of jailed sympathizers
and closed four of seven military bases near the rebels stronghold. Yet
Marcos continues to express distrust and has criticized Fox for taking credit
for promoting peace before implementing the agreement on Indian rights, known
as the San Andres Accords.
For four years before Fox took office, there had been a total
breakdown of negotiations between the Mexican government and Zapatista rebels.
The government had reneged on the accords, though they had been signed by
former President Ernesto Zedillo and Marcos in the presence of Samuel Ruiz
García, then the bishop of San Cristóbal de Las Casas in
Chiapas.
The agreement gave the indigenous communities control over public
expenditures, participation in development plans, control over their
administrative and judicial affairs, and autonomy or self-government.
The long stalemate diverted public attention from the Zapatistas,
but a new political and social dynamism is now evident. Some 500 groups are
busy collecting signatures and organizing meetings to pressure Mexicos
Congress to act. Marcos and his associates stopped in Nurio, Michoacán,
for a 3-day meeting of the National Congress of the Indigenous, at which
hundreds of observers from Italy, Switzerland, France and Argentina were
present.
The impact of Marcos was electric. The 3,700 delegates from 40
indigenous groups insisted that the San Andres Accords are not
negotiable, and they called on the government to demilitarize all
indigenous regions, especially Guerrero, Oaxaca and Veracruz, as well as
Chiapas. The delegates decided to send representatives to accompany the
Zapatistas to Mexico City.
Gov. Ignacio Loyola Vera of Queretaro had warned publicly that he
would shoot any Zapatista who set foot in the state. The federal government,
however, took steps to ensure safe passage, and the governor kept a low profile
as the caravan passed.
Everywhere thousands turned out in greeting, offering food and
shelter. Only one incident occurred. The driver of one of the caravans
buses lost control, causing a pile-up in which a police officer serving as an
escort was killed. There were rumors of sabotage, but apparently they were
without foundation.
While the two big TV networks, both government-controlled, have
tended to minimize coverage, most of the major newspapers are giving
substantial space to the march and generally favorable comment.
Excelsior of Mexico City, for example, sees the social unrest in the
southern states as justified because it seeks to end control by
caciques, or bosses, to get better help and education, a voice in public
spending, more jobs and fair wages.
The six southern bishops who form the Episcopal Commission for the
Indigenous commented, We think the proposals of the Zapatistas are
designed to ensure dignity, justice and development for all Mexicans.
Noting that practically every Mexican has indigenous blood, the
bishops said they hope that discussion of the San Andres Accords will lead to
more just and equitable legislation for all minorities.
The next several weeks will be decisive. A Zapatista spokesperson
has had discussions with a government commission to arrange the place and time
for a meeting in Mexico City between the Zapatistas and the Senate. Some
senators of Foxs party openly oppose legislation favorable to indigenous
rights.
Nobody thinks, however, that all issues will be quickly resolved.
The demands of the Zapatistas as a preliminary to negotiations have as yet been
only partially met. Three of seven military bases encircling the Zapatistas
encampment in the Lacandon forest remain open, and 60 of 100 Zapatista
sympathizers remain in jail.
Gary MacEoins e-mail address is
gmaceoin@cs.com
National Catholic Reporter, March 16,
2001
|