Chiapas/National: Controversy Following Proposal of EZLN and CNI

oventik Celebration of V National Indigenous Congress at Oventik Caracol, October 2012 (@SIPAZ)

The proposal of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) on October 14, in which both announced that they will consult the possibility of submitting an indigenous woman as a presidential candidate in the 2018 elections with their support bases, has created a stir in the media. The controversy has been fueled by both critics and supporters.

Among the protagonists belonging to the political parties, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, national leader of the Movement for National Regeneration (MORENA), acknowledged that the EZLN has every right to participate in the political life of the country. However, he declared that this proposal was a maneuver “that plays into the hands of the government” so that “there is no transformation and regime change.” For his part, Francisco Garate, PAN representative to the National Electoral Institute (INE), considered the initiative as an “event” and a “nonsense”: “today the country’s indigenous population is less than one percent and spread across towns ranging from Sonora to Yucatan.”

In a statement entitled “Questions without Answers, Answers without Questions, Councils and Counsel” on October 21, the EZLN gave its opinion on the criticisms made so far, pointing to Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Margarita Zavala del Campo (possible candidate for National Action (Acción Nacional) and wife of former President Felipe Calderon), whom it called “the Big Boss” and “La Calderona” respectively.

Among other things it asked “To what degree does the proposal that an indigenous governing council (council with a “c”), that is, a collective and not an individual, be in charge of the federal executive bolster-presidential-rule-become-complicit-in-the-electoral-farce-contribute-to-reinforcing-bourgeois-democracy-play-to-the-oligarchy-and-to-Yankee-Chinese-Russian-Judeoislamic-millenarian-imperialism-in-addition-to-betraying-the-highest-principles-of-the-global-proletarian-revolution? (…) How solid can the Mexican political system be, and how well-founded and reliable the tactics and strategies of the political parties, if, when someone says publicly that they are thinking about something, that they are going to ask their equals what they think of what they are thinking, the entire political party system becomes hysterical?

For more information in Spanish:

Reprueba AMLO la candidatura independiente del EZLN (La Jornada, 16 de octubre de 2016)

La candidatura presidencial del EZLN es para hacerle el juego al gobierno, acusa AMLO (Animal Político, 16 de septiembre de 2016)

Ni AMLO ni Margarita; el EZLN construye su propio 2018 (Crónica) (Aristegui Noticias, 20 de octubre de 2016)

Preguntas sin respuestas, respuestas sin preguntas, concejos y consejos (Comunicado del EZLN, 21 de octubre de 2016)

Sugiere EZLN posibilidad de un debate entre la candidata indígena y “la Calderona” (Revista Proceso, 21 de octubre de 2016)

El EZLN responde a críticas por su candidata para 2018 y llama a Margarita Zavala “La Calderona” (Sin Embargo, 22 de octubre de 2016)

“Ocurrencia” y “disparate”, una candidatura indígena, califica el PAN (Desinformémonos, 24 de octubre de 2016)

Opinion:

La candidatura de una mujer indígena y el racismo en México (TV Sur, 24 de octubre de 2016)

EZLN y CNI: la vía electoral como herramienta para luchar contra el sistema (Diagonal, 23 de octubre de 2016)

Una candidatura bienvenida (La Jornada, 23 de octubre de 2016)