CNI at Oventik Caracol (@SIPAZ)
From October 9 to 13, within the framework of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), the “Fifth National Indigenous Congress” was held at CIDECI-Unitierra in San Cristobal de Las Casas. About 500 delegates from 32 nations, peoples and indigenous tribes of Mexico, as well as members and support bases of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) and other guests participated. It worked in thematic working groups around the following themes: dispossession and repression; our resistances and rebellions; a review of the CNI; proposals for strengthening the CNI. On October 12, Columbus Day, a political-cultural event in Oventik Caracol was also held.
Zapatista militia on the arrival of the CNI at Oventik, October 12, 2016 (@SIPAZ)
On closing the event, the CNI and the EZLN published a statement entitled “May the Earth Tremble at its Core” (paraphrasing the national anthem), in which they reported 27 grievances dispossessions indigenous peoples in the country are facing. What created the biggest stir was the announcement of the start of a consultation to examine the convenience of appointing an indigenous council of government and inviting an indigenous woman to participate in the upcoming presidential elections to be held in 2018. The statement says: “Given all of the above, we declare ourselves in permanent assembly and we will consult in each of our geographies, territories and directions the agreement of the Fifth CNI to appoint an indigenous council of government whose word will be materialized by an indigenous woman, a delegate of the CNI as an independent candidate who contends on behalf of the National Indigenous Congress and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in the 2018 election for the presidency of this country.”
The statement says that “It’s time to attack, to go on the offensive” and clarified that “our struggle is not for power, we do not seek that; but we will call on indigenous peoples and civil society to organize to stop this destruction, to strengthen us in our resistance and rebellion” the Zapatistas said in a statement in which they made a call to organize “from below.”
The joint statement ends by emphasizing “It is time for rebel dignity, to build a new nation for all people, to strengthen the power from below and the anti-capitalist left, and for those who are to blame for the pain of the people of this multicolor Mexico to pay.”
For more information in Spanish:
Congreso Nacional Indígena: 20 años (La Jornada, a 11 de octubre 2016)
QUE RETIEMBLE EN SUS CENTROS LA TIERRA (Comunicado conjunto EZLN/CNI, 14 de octubre de 2016)
El EZLN postulará a una mujer indígena como candidata independiente para 2018 (Sin Embargo, 14 de octubre de 2016)
EZLN lanzará candidata indígena para la presidencia en 2018 (Regeneración, 14 de octubre de 2016)
El EZLN da un giro y apuesta a la vía electoral; postulará a mujer indígena en el 2018 (Revista Proceso, 14 de octubre de 2016)
Los zapatistas se presentarán a las elecciones (El País, 15 de octubre de 2016)
Lanzarán EZLN y CNI candidata indígena independiente para 2018 (La Jornada, 15 de octubre de 2016)
Congreso Nacional Indígena: 20 años (La Jornada, 11 de septiembre, por Luis Hernández Navarro).
For more information from SIPAZ :
Chiapas/Nacional : Convocatoria al V aniversario del CNI en Chiapas (1ero de septiembre de 2016)
Chiapas: Anuncia EZLN actividades para el 2016 (9 de marzo de 2016)
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