National: Multiple Mobilizations on Centenary of Death of Emiliano Zapata

CNI march in Chiapas (@SIPAZ)

On April 10th, as part of the centenary of Emiliano Zapata’s death, indigenous people, campesinos and teachers mobilized in seven states: Chiapas, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Michoacan, Guerrero, Aguascalientes and Morelos.

In Chiapas, approximately 3,000 members of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym) and the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG in its Spanish acronym) marched in San Cristobal de Las Casas. They denounced that the president’s development plan “brings dispossession and the destruction of our territories”, with projects such as the Maya Train, which, they warned, “will not happen, whatever the cost, we will not allow their rotten ideas, with their megaprojects, enter and strip us of our territory, because the bad government will not come to command, to silence or to intimidate in our houses, even if they are thinking of doing it with their national Guard.” In a pronouncement they stated that, “those who dressed up as the left have only put on masks of good faces, but of very bad intentions. They wear clothes of other colors and call themselves by other names, but they do not deceive us the original peoples in struggle and resistance, because they are the same foremen who want to impose plans of death with their lying and rigged consultations.” They also said that the government “does not ask us in their consultation if we want to live, but in what way we want to die. There are many wars that we face, but we are not afraid of them.”

Although it was not present here or in Morelos, where the CNI also called a march, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) published a statement in which he explained that his absence has a “simple” reason: “in our mountains and valleys the military presence has increased, police, paramilitary, and spies, ears and informants (…), the threat of death travels by air and land to indigenous communities who have decided to remain in resistance and rebellion to defend the land.” Although it noted a continuity with the previous governments, it pointed out that “today the persecution, harassment and attack against our communities is “for the good of all” and is done under the banner of the supposed “IV Transformation.” The EZLN also said that the new government seeks to appropriate the image of Zapata “so that, with his death, the defense of the land also dies.” However, “the original peoples will continue in rebellion and resistance,” it said.

In Morelos, social organizations from various states of the Republic arrived in Chinameca, where Zapata was murdered, and criticized President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for “the incongruity with which he seeks to legitimize his government by trampling on the rights of the people.” Jorge Zapata Garcia, grandson of the revolutionary, said that “100 years ago Madero betrayed Zapata and now 100 years later, the same government again betrays the ideals of Zapata. For me it is a mockery what he did to decree 2019 the year of General Emiliano Zapata and to commemorate it by handing over the water of the ejidos to the transnational companies. In addition, it is a provocation because the peoples have already shown that the thermoelectric plant is not going to be allowed.” For its part, the People’s Front in Defense of the Land and Water for Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala denounced the lack of action in the case of the murder of Samir Flores on February 20th, and demanded that Lopez Obrador announce the suspension and cancellation of the gas pipeline in Morelos.

The members of the CNI present at the event declared themselves on alert to the megaprojects that the federal government intends to impose on their territories and against the criminalization of social protest. They warned that “today 100 years after the betrayal and the lie that cowardly ended life of General Emiliano Zapata, that lie and betrayal returned with a supposed face of democracy, but, as then, that word, when it comes from above, only means war, impersonation and deception of the whole nation.” They announced that they would continue an organizational process that articulates the different expressions of struggles and agreed on a second national assembly on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, with a date to be defined.

In Veracruz, the demonstrations also denounced the projects of transnational companies, in particular Nestlé, which intends to grow coffee for a plant it wants to establish in the state. In Oaxaca, professors of the National Coordination of Education Workers (CNTE in its Spanish acronym) demanded the abrogation of the educational reform. They also raised demands regarding reconstruction after the 2017 earthquakes and rejection of the federal megaprojects based on the Special Economic Zones and the Program for the Isthmus of the Tehuantepec Region. In Michoacan, the teachers also marched. In Guerrero, teachers and students of Ayotzinapa marched and took over highway tollbooths and reiterated their request that their 43 disappeared in Iguala in 2014 companions reappear. Finally, in Aguascalientes, the offices of the Welfare Secretariat were occupied to demand the delivery of programs.

For more information in Spanish:

PRONUNCIAMIENTO DE LOS PUEBLOS DEL CONGRESO NACIONAL INDIGENA, CONCEJO INDIGENA DE GOBIERNO EN CHIAPAS (CNI Chiapas, 10 de abril de 2019)

Mensaje del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional en los 100 años del asesinato del General Emiliano Zapata (EZLN, 10 de abril de 2019)

Recuerdan a Zapata con protestas contra autoridades en seis estados (La Jornada, 11 de abril de 2019)

El gobierno actual quiere secuestrar la imagen de Zapata: EZLN (La Jornada, 10 de abril de 2019)

Más de 3 mil indígenas marchan en Chiapas en memoria de Zapata (La Jornada, 10 de abril de 2019)

“Así como Madero quiso comprar a Zapata, el mal gobierno quiso comprar a Samir y a los pueblos que resisten”: EZLN a cien años del asesinato de Emiliano Zapata (Desinformémonos, 10 de abril de 2019)

Entre consignas contra el “mal gobierno”, lanzan vivas a Zapata en Chinameca (Proceso, 10 de abril de 2019)

Congreso Nacional Indígena, en alerta contra los megaproyectos del gobierno de AMLO (Proceso, 10 de abril de 2019)

En ceremonia por Zapata, Blanco justifica consulta de AMLO sobre termoeléctrica en Huexca (Proceso, 10 de abril de 2019)

En ceremonia por Zapata, Blanco justifica consulta de AMLO sobre termoeléctrica en Huexca (Proceso, 10 de abril de 2019)

Con ausencia de nieto de Zapata “decepcionado” de la 4T, AMLO conmemora centenario luctuoso del caudillo (Proceso, 10 de abril de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional: CNI, EZLN y organizaciones indígenas convocan a las jornadas de lucha “Zapata vive, Samir vive, la lucha sigue” (19 de marzo de 2019)

Nacional: Se lleva a cabo la tercera asamblea del Congreso Nacional Indígena y el Concejo Indígena de Gobierno (CNI-CIG) en la Ciudad de México (8 de marzo de 2019)

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Oaxaca: Consultation Takes Place in Tehuantepec Isthmus Amidst Doubts from Various Social and Civil Players in the Region

@Página3.mx

On March 30th and 31st, consultations were held by the Government of Mexico, through the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP in its Spanish acronym) and the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI in its Spanish acronym). They were directed to indigenous peoples to pronounce themselves on the “Integral Development Program of the Tehuantepec Isthmus”, a development project that would include the modernization of the ports of Salina Cruz, in Oaxaca, and Coatzacoalcos, in Veracruz, and that aims to recover the railway of around 300 kilometers between both points.

Seven Regional Consultative Assemblies were held. On March 30th, 501 representatives were prsent in Jaltepec de Candayoc; in Santiago Laollaga, 479; in Salina Cruz, 183 (headquarters established at the last moment because the community of San Mateo del Mar – where it would originally have taken place – announced its rejection of the program); and in San Pedro Huamelula, 275. The following day more than a thousand people were in Santa María Chimalapa; in Oteapan, Veracruz, 549 and in Uxpanapa there were 705 representatives.

The process has been questioned by several indigenous groups, including the National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym) and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN in its Spanish acronym), which said in a statement: “We reject and ignore any simulation that proposes the imposition of megaprojects of death, as is the supposed consultation that the bad governments intend to carry out in various communities of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec on March 30th and 31st. We denounce the corrupt practices that bad governments through the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples have been carrying out in order to divide, deceive and intimidate our communities, where they offer programs and projects in exchange for saying ‘yes’ in their supposed consultations, as if territory and natural resources were not at stake.”

Several civil and social organizations of Oaxaca also strongly rejected the holding of the Assemblies and the haste with which they have been organised from a way unrelated to “the times, uses, customs and forms of decision making of the communities, as well as their representative representatives.” They considered that “Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the general comments and recommendations emanating from the universal system of human rights” are not being respected. They stressed in particular that “indigenous consultation processes are not a single punctual act, but must be carried out in all phases of planning and implementation; we observed and denounced the violation of the prior nature of the consultation and consent, as it was reported in December 2018 when presenting the project in reference to investments that were already contemplated for this project of the Tehuantepec Isthmus, which confirms that the regional consultative assemblies are a simple formality for projects that have already been begun to be implemented.”

Participation in the Forums did not imply a necessary endorsement of the project. For example, in Santa Maria Chimalapa, the representatives asked that their old agrarian conflict be resolved in the border between Oaxaca and Chiapas, and that a program of attention to their demands and needs be incorporated before considering this Program. For their part, members of the Network of Community Defenders of the Peoples of Oaxaca (REDECOM in its Spanish acronym) were present during the consultations, denouncing that it was an express consultation and in the manner of governmental interests.

For his part, the head of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples, Adelfo Regino Montes said in the media that the statutes of ILO Convention 169 were respected and said that “in a second stage specific consultation processes will be carried out in cases of direct effect to the lands and other fundamental aspects of the life of the indigenous communities of the region. “

For more information in Spanish:

Programa del Istmo, de la mano con indígenas (NVI Noticias, 28 de marzo de 2019)

Denuncia el PCI-UCIZONI Oaxaca violación a derechos de los pueblos indígenas del Istmo de Tehuantepec por parte del INPI (PCI-Ucizoni, 28 de marzo de 2019)

Cambian de sede la consulta sobre proyecto del Istmo (La Jornada, 29 de marzo de 2019)

Cumplimos convenio de la OIT en consulta del Istmo de Tehuantepec: Adelfo Regino (Aristegui Noticias, 29 de marzo de 2019)

CONSULTA EN EL ISTMO DE TEHUANTEPEC, GRAVE SIMULACIÓN DEL ESTADO MEXICANO (OSC, 29 de marzo de 2019)

Comunicado del CNI-CIG y el EZLN ante nueva situación de consulta para imponer mega proyectos en el Istmo de Tehuantepec (CNI/EZLN, 29 de marzo de 2019)

Organizaciones indígenas rechazan Consulta Istmo (La Jornada, 30 de marzo de 2019)

Pide CNDH proteger a pueblos indígenas por proyecto del Istmo (La Jornada, 30 de marzo de 2019)

Baja participación en primer día de consulta en el Istmo (Pie de Página, 31 de marzo de 2019)

Mínima participación en Asambleas de consulta sobre Programa de Desarrollo del Istmo de Tehuantepec (Página 3.mx, 31 de marzo de 2019)

Miles participan en la segunda jornada de la consulta sobre el Programa de Desarrollo del Istmo (Sin Embargo, 31 de marzo de 2019)

Baja participación en foros de consulta del plan de desarrollo del Istmo de Tehuantepec (Video; Aristegui Noticias, 1ero de abril de 2019)

For more informatio from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: New Consultations in Tehuantepec Isthmus Questioned (March 28, 2019)

National: Chamber of Deputies Approves Ruling on Revocation of Mandate and Consultations (March 21, 2019)

National/International: UN Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Peoples Calls on AMLO Government to Comply with International Standards on Indigenous Consultation for Megaprojects in their Territories (March 19, 2019)

Mexico: Consultations on Maya Train and Nine “Priority” Projects of New Government (December 13, 2018)

 

National: CNI Spokesperson Marichuy Says Asking Spain for Apology is “Simulation”

Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez, Marichuy (@SIPAZ)

In the framework of her visit to the mountain communities of Chihuahua at the end of March, the spokesperson for the National Indigenous Council (CNI in its Spanish acronym) and former candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez, Marichuy, said that the request for an apology from Spain by the President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) for the grievances to the indigenous peoples during the Conquest of Mexico, is a “simulation.”

She affirmed that with this approach the federal government deceives the citizenship because meanwhile it continues the dispossession and displacement of the indigenous peoples to seize their territories and impose megaprojects on them. Marichuy Patricio Martinez said that the peoples will not stop fighting and will seek an organization from below, against the destructive actions of the megaprojects.

At the beginning of March, in the context of its third Assembly, the CNI stated that “the neoliberal government led by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has its sights set on our peoples and territories, where, with the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples, a network of cooptation and disorganization, which opens the way to a war that has an industrial name, made of projects and violence, which, together with the other wars and networks of war, spread a dark web of death among the native peoples of the country.”

In the immediate term, the publication of the letter sent by AMLO to Spain has sparked controversy both in Mexico and in Spain with expressions of both support and rejection of the proposal.

For more information in Spanish:

Pedir perdón a España, una simulación, mejor detengan el despojo a comunidades: Marichuy (Proceso, 26 de marzo de 2019)

Lo que AMLO tiene que hacer “es dejar de despojar de la tierra a las comunidades”: Marichuy (Desinformémonos, 27 de marzo de 2019)

Marichuy en desacuerdo con AMLO sobre petición a España (Regeneración, 27 de marzo de 2019)

Marichuy, Vargas Llosa, Pérez-Reverte… llueven críticas a perdón que pide AMLO (ADN Político, 27 de marzo de 2019)

Marichuy a AMLO: carta a España es simulación, mejor detenga despojo (Político.Mx, 27 de marzo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Second National and International Encounter of Women Held in Mexico City (March 26, 2019)

National: CNI, EZLN and Indigenous Organizations Announce “Zapata Lives, Samir Lives, The Struggle Continues” (March 21, 2019)

National: Third Assembly of National Indigenous Congress and Indigenous Council of Government (CNI-CIG) in Mexico City (March 14, 2019)

National: Controversy between EZLN and AMLO Supporters Floods Social Networks    (January 18, 2019)

National: CNI, EZLN and Indigenous Organizations Announce “Zapata Lives, Samir Lives, The Struggle Continues”

In a communiqué published on March 16th, the National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym), the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN in its Spanish acronym) and several indigenous organizations called for days of struggle called “Zapata Lives, Samir Lives, the Struggle Continues” taking place on April 9th and 10th, within the framework of the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Emiliano Zapata “by the political regime that, despite its “transformations “, continues to govern us to this day.”

More specifically, they convened a National Assembly between the Indigenous Peoples of the National Indigenous Congress / Indigenous Council of Government and the adherents of the Sixth, Support Networks for the Indigenous Council of Government and Collectives and Organizations that fight and organize against capitalism, to be held on April 9th in Amilcingo, municipality of Temoac, Morelos. Similarly, they called for a national and international mobilization 100 years after the assassination of General Emiliano Zapata Salazar, in Chinameca, Morelos, on April 10th.

For more information in Spanish:

CONVOCATORIA A LAS JORNADAS DE LUCHA “ZAPATA VIVE, SAMIR VIVE, LA LUCHA SIGUE” A 100 AÑOS DEL ASESINATO DEL GENERAL EMILIANO ZAPATA SALAZAR (CNI, 16 de marzo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Third Assembly of National Indigenous Congress and Indigenous Council of Government (CNI-CIG) in Mexico City (March 14, 2019)

National: Controversy between EZLN and AMLO Supporters Floods Social Networks    (January 18, 2019)

Oaxaca : CODEDI denuncia hostigamiento militar ; CNI exige que cese la represión en su contra (November 1, 2018)

Chiapas: Second Assembly of National Indigenous Congress (CNI) (October 22, 2018)

National: Third Assembly of National Indigenous Congress and Indigenous Council of Government (CNI-CIG) in Mexico City

On the first weekend of March, the third assembly of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym) and the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG in its Spanish acronym) took place in Mexico City, with 288 participants among delegates, councilors and guests from various towns in Campeche, Mexico City, Chihuahua, Chiapas, Guerrero, Jalisco, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Sonora, Tabasco and Yucatan.

In the final pronouncement, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN in its Spanish acronym), the CNI and the CIG considered that the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is nothing more than the “continuity” of the neoliberal governments that have held power since Miguel de la Madrid. They even stated that the current government “deepens neoliberalism”, even “with more brutality and cynicism if possible.”

They also denounced that “the neoliberal government led by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has its sights set on our towns and territories, where, with the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples, a network of co-optation and disorganization is laid, opening the way to a war that has an industrial name, made up of projects and violence, which, together with the other wars and war networks, spread a dark web of death in the original peoples of the country.”

They said that, with their “simulated consultations”, the new government only intends to impose megaprojects throughout the country. They made it clear that “our people, in exercise of their fundamental rights of autonomy and territory say NO to policies and megaprojects of dispossession, death and destruction, as well as to the consultations organized by bad governments to obtain the consent of our peoples to said policies and said megaprojects.” They said that, “in the exercise of our territorial rights and autonomy, we say that these megaprojects will be faced with the will of our peoples.”

They affirmed that the supposed transformations are taking place “in function of the interests of the oligarchies and those that have the power, which are increasingly smaller and bigger, that do not cease to live off the oppression, exploitation, and destruction of the same ones as always.” Instead, they stressed that “for the indigenous peoples the only ‘true change’ is the increase in lies, deceit, persecution, threats, imprisonment, dispossession, assassinations, ridicule and contempt, human exploitation and the destruction of nature; in sum: the annihilation of the collective life that we are.”

Among other more specific denunciations, they condemned the murder of Samir Flores in Morelos who was fighting against the Huexca thermoelectric plant: “Samir was killed by the neoliberal regime; we do not know if the government, if the entrepreneurs, if their criminal cartels, or, if the three together. The offers made by AMLO, not to those below, but to the owners of money and power, the veiled threats against those who defend life, laid the foundations of the murderous assassination.”

They finally expressed that “below, in all the geographies that the original peoples are, we continue to sow autonomy, we build and deploy power from below in what are also networks of networks, but of resistance and rebellion, which are also the mirrors not only of the peoples that we are the CNI – CIG and the EZLN, but many others that sow the hope and of which this is our mirror, our third national assembly.”

For more information in Spanish:

La Cuarta Transformación es más brutal que los anteriores gobiernos: EZLN (Radio Formula, 8 de marzo de 2019)

El gobierno de AMLO “profundiza” el neoliberalismo, acusan el EZLN y el CNI (Proceso, 7 de marzo de 2019)

Megaproyectos se toparán con voluntad de pueblos: EZLN y Congreso Nacional Indígena (El Universal, 7 de marzo de 2019)

¡SAMIR VIVE, LA LUCHA SIGUE! PRONUNCIAMIENTO DE LA TERCERA ASAMBLEA NACIONAL DEL CONGRESO NACIONAL INDÍGENA, EL CONCEJO INDÍGENA DE GOBIERNO Y EL EZLN (Comunicado CNI y EZLN, 6 de marzo de 2019)

El Congreso Nacional Indígena: balances y desafíos (La Jornada, 5 de marzo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Controversy between EZLN and AMLO Supporters Floods Social Networks    (January 18th, 2019)

Oaxaca : CODEDI denuncia hostigamiento militar ; CNI exige que cese la represión en su contra (1 de noviembre de 2018)

Chiapas: Second Assembly of National Indigenous Congress (CNI) (October 22nd, 2018)

Chiapas/Mexico: Invitation to the Second National Assembly of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Indigenous Governing Council (CIG) (September 18th, 2018)

National: Controversy between EZLN and AMLO Supporters Floods Social Networks

(@Quinto Poder)

Following the position proposed by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in the framework of the 25th anniversary of the armed uprising on January 1st, thousands of social network users strongly challenged the Zapatistas. Rebelion magazine summarized the opinions expressed in the following terms: “The accusation that the EZLN was an “instrument of Carlos Salinas de Gortari” predominated; questioning their belligerence against this government and their limited opposition to the governments of Felipe Calderon (PAN) and Enrique Peña Nieto (PRI); (…) contempt and underestimation towards the AMLO voters; racist expressions against Zapatismo were also broadcast and there were even calls to liquidate Sub-commander “Marcos-Galeano”.

Zapatista sympathizers pointed out “ignorance”, “falsehoods” and “slander” in what was circulating. “The slander and lies campaign against the #EZLN, mounted by trolls, bots and some followers of the 4T (Fourth Transformation announced by AMLO), has far exceeded the malicious stories propagated by the PRI, PAN and the agencies of government intelligence for 25 years”, even Luis Hernandez Navarro, journalist with La Jornada, stressed. The Zapatista supporters set up the hashtag #OtroMundoEsPosible [another world is possible – one of the best known slogans of the EZLN internationally], in response to what they considered to be “a hate campaign”, a label that trended in the following hours.

It should be recalled that in its communiqué at the beginning of the year, the EZLN clearly marked its distance from the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and his National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), and rejected three key projects of the AMLO proposal for the development of southeastern Mexico: the construction of a trans-tropical railway in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Maya Train and the project of reforesting 500,000 hectares with a million trees.

However, this discord is not new, but dates back to 2001, when the “Indigenous Law” was approved, which the EZLN considered a “betrayal” of the San Andres Accords on indigenous rights and culture and which were signed between the movement and the federal government in February of 1996. This approval was given when Andres Manuel served as Head of Government of Mexico City and had a wide influence in the fraction of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD in its Spanish acronym) in the Congress of the Union, which he did not use.

The rupture with AMLO supporters was consummated in 2006, when AMLO was presented for the first time in the campaigns for the presidency of the Republic and the EZLN did not support his candidacy but said that the candidates “are all the same.” When AMLO lost in the midst of what was designated as electoral fraud, the perception remained among his supporters that the EZLN had played a role in favor of the PRI and PAN parties. By that time, the EZLN had clarified through the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle that its position was “anti-capitalist” and “anti-systemic”, and its position was “below and to the left”, something that would increasingly distance it from the electoral left.

It should be noted that the EZLN is not the only one that has positioned itself in this way faced with the new federal government. The National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym) and the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG in its Spanish acronym) said that they felt themselves “reflected in the path of the Zapatista indigenous communities.”

In a statement that also came out on the anniversary of the uprising, they said that “the INPI [National Institute of Indigenous Peoples] and its new indigenous policy is nothing more than the deepening of this offensive against life, with which they want to weaken the struggle for the autonomy of the native peoples that, with their struggle, stop the devastation that they impose from above. The CNI and our colleagues from the Indigenous Council of Government do not believe the foreman of capitalism who claims to govern Mexico, and we will not accept any false consultation like those with which they want to legitimize the theft of indigenous and campesino territories, our extermination and the exacerbation of the war against us. We will not accept our death even if they bring thousands or millions of votes which, according to them, decided it this way.” They also announced that, “along with with the deepening of the capitalist war we will also deepen our resistance and rebellion. The mining companies with which they made pacts, the megaprojects in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the immoral project of the Maya Train, the devastation and privatization to plant industrial forest plantations in the Lacandon Jungle and the territorial alienation to big capital that are [represented by] the Special Economic Zones will confront with true power, the one below. The one that does not surrender, that does not sell out and does not give up, because to do that is to know we are dead as peoples.”

For more information in Spanish:

La soledad de los zapatistas en la multitud que son (Ojarasco, 11 de enero de 2019)

Celebrando el 25 aniversario del alzamiento zapatista (Desinformémonos, 9 de enero de 2019)

Amarga celebración: Los 25 años de la experiencia zapatista (Espoir Chiapas, 9 de enero de 2019)

EZLN: ¿hay vientos que anuncian tempestades? (La Jornada, 8 de enero de 2019)

La soledad del EZLN (ALAI, 7 de enero de 2019)

EZLN: 25 años de resonancia (Sin Embargo, 6 de enero de 2019)

Entre el EZLN y AMLO, desencuentro eterno (Proceso, 5 de enero de 2019)

Las discrepancias AMLO-EZLN se suben a la Red. Usuarios asumen la polémica en favor y en contra (Sin Embargo, 5 de enero de 2019)

Conflicto EZLN-AMLO puede elevarse a escala internacional (Cuarto Poder, 4 de enero de 2019)

El CNI y CIG se alinean con el EZLN y rechazan megaproyectos del gobierno federal (Proceso, 3 de enero de 2019)

Comunicado del Congreso Nacional Indígena y el Concejo Indígena de Gobierno por el 25 Aniversario del levantamiento armado del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (CNI, enero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Zapatista Mass Meeting in Realidad Caracol 25 Years after Armed Uprising (January 14th, 2019)

Chiapas: Second Assembly of National Indigenous Congress (CNI) (October 22nd, 2018)

Chiapas/Mexico: Invitation to the Second National Assembly of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Indigenous Governing Council (CIG) (September 18th, 2018)

Chiapas : CNI denuncia amenazas y agresiones en la zona Norte, 16 de agosto de 2018

National: First National Encounter of Women Convened by CNI (August 10th, 2018)

National: CNI Will not Support any Presidential Candidate and Calls on Peoples to Organize (May 10th, 2018)

Chiapas/National: Roundtable Discussion “To Watch, to Listen, to Speak: Forbidden to Think?” (May 5th, 2018)

 

Chiapas: Zapatista Mass Meeting in Realidad Caracol 25 Years after Armed Uprising

(@SIPAZ)

On December 31st, within the framework of the 25th anniversary of the armed uprising, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN in its Spanish acronym) announced from the Caracol de La Realidad, in the Lacandon Jungle, border region, that it will oppose several of the plans “of destruction” of the new president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), including the massive planting of trees in several states, including Chiapas, the Maya Train, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Project (Oaxaca) or the National Guard (which would prolong the military presence in public security work as has been pointed out by national and international human rights organizations): “As much as they try to humiliate us with the repressive forces such as the National Guard, we will not rest in defending our Mother Earth because in her we were born, in her we live and in her we will die. We will not surrender, we will not sell out and we will not give up.” “Let us fight. We are going to confront, we are not going to allow (Lopez Obrador) to pass his destruction projects here. We are not afraid of his National Guard, who changed its name, so as not to say Army”, Sub-commander Moises said.

“We tell him that we do not believe him”, he added, describing AMLO as “tricky” and “crafty” for wanting to pretend to be with the original peoples of Mexico when, in fact, he said, he seeks to “destroy them.”

Although during the five days prior to the anniversary, the EZLN held a meeting with members of the National Indigenous Council (CNI in its Spanish acronym), the Indigenous Council of Government and solidarity groups, it said that for 25 years “we have seen that we are alone; what we have achieved has been with our work and effort, with our mistakes. (…) We went to awaken, we went to tell the poor people of Mexico, of the countryside and the city. Many did not pay attention to us, some are organizing themselves, and we hope they continue yo organize. But we see that most did not listen to us. But we did the work, and we have more to do. (…) People come and go from outside. We continue here. Each time they come as tourists, but misery, inequality and injustice are not for tourism. The young people of Mexico will continue to die. What a pity that they pay attention to someone who is there deceiving the people.”

He finished his statement emphasizing: “we are going to defend what we have built. (…) The change we want is that one day the people, women and men are those who have to decide how they want their life, not that a group decides the lives of millions of human beings. We say it only with these words: the people rule, and the government obeys. That is why we say: here we are, we are the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, and here we will continue!”

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador affirmed that he will not fall into “any provocation” from the Zapatista movement: “Even if they want to confront us, there will be no response. (…) I express my respect for their plans, programs and decisions. We live in a free country, there is no repression and there is no censorship,” he said.

For more information in Spanish:

López Obrador responde al EZLN: ‘Amor y paz… no me van a cucar’ (Vanguardia, 2 de enero de 2019)

EZLN y Marcos: ¿cuál es el principal aporte del zapatismo a México a 25 años de su levantamiento armado? (BBC, 1ero de enero de 2019)

EZLN, balance a 25 años (Proceso, 1ero de enero de 2019)

AMLO está engañando a los pueblos; nosotros no le creemos: EZLN (Aristegui Noticias, 1ero de enero de 2019)

EZLN: a 25 años del embeleso mundial que causó el zapatismo (Excelsior, 1ero de enero de 2019)

El EZLN advierte que se opondrá al Tren Maya y a la Guardia Nacional (Animal Político, 1ero de enero de 2019)

El EZLN advierte que se opondrá a los proyectos de AMLO (ADN Político, 1ero de enero de 2019)

En su 25 aniversario el EZLN critica al gobierno de AMLO (La Jornada, 1ero de enero de 2019)

Las victorias del EZLN (La Jornada, 31 de diciembre de 2018)

Los 25 años del EZLN: la vigencia de sus demandas (Proceso, 31 de diciembre de 2018)

EZLN prepara “red de resistencia” contra proyectos de López Obrador (Vanguardia, 30 de diciembre de 2018)

PALABRAS DEL CCRI-CG DEL EZLN A LOS PUEBLOS ZAPATISTAS EN EL 25 ANIVERSARIO DEL INICIO DE LA GUERRA CONTRA EL OLVIDO (EZLN, 31 de diciembre de 2018)

EZLN: veinticinco años (LA Jornada, 24 de diciembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/National/International: EZLN Invitation to 25th Anniversary of Zapatista Uprising and Meeting of Networks (December 11th, 2018)

Chiapas : segunda y tercera parte del comunicado del EZLN compartido durante el Encuentro de Redes en Morelia, (23/08/2018)

Chiapas: Comunicado EZLN (primera parte) UNA FINCA, UN MUNDO, UNA GUERRA, POCAS PROBABILIDADES, (22/08/2018)

Chiapas: Meeting of CIG Support Networks, COMPARTE 2018 “For Life and Liberty” and 15th Anniversary of the Zapatista Caracoles (August 22nd, 2018)