Report From Chiapas ------------------- At the beginning of January, 1994, a new chapter began in the five hundred years long struggle of Mexico's indigenous people against colonization. Under more and more pressure - now mainly from U.S. imperialism - the indigenous Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) rose up and succesfully created an autonomous zone in the Lacondon Forest in the Mexican state of Chiapas. This zone covered a large number of indigenous villages in what is one of the last remnants of forest left in Mexico. (Like everywhere else in the world, the imperialist agenda of total environmental destruction is nearing completion here.) This autonomous zone existed and flourished all through 1994, giving everyone living there equal control over the running of their communities. But in February 1995, under extremely powerful economic and political pressure frrom the U.S. goverment, the mexican army was sent in to destroy it. Realizing that the high price of defending the zone would be paid for in indigenous blood, which has been considered cheap for far too long, the EZLN decided against a fight. The Mexican army took control of the area, using standard and well-tested colonial techniques. With beatings, rape, torture and murder, they drove the indigenes out of their villages and forced them to seek refuge deeper in the forest. Then they completely destroyed all the villages and poisoned the water supplies to prevent them from returning. They also set up their own camps and occupied the area themselves. In April, May and again in June, the government and delegates from the EZLN held peace talks, which they call "dialogues", in the Tzeltal indian village of San Andres Larrainzar (or San Andres Sacamch'en), which is near San Cristobal de las Casas, a small city over 2000 metres up in the Chiapas altiplano. A fourth dialoge there is scheduled for the 4th of july. These dialogues are a complete farce, with the government deliberately setting out to confuse the Zapatistas, whose first lanugages are the local indigenous ones, rather than Spanish and to buy time in which to increase the pressure on their communities. But the EZLN has no choice except to try and get some positive results from them. Their communities want them to talk. They don't want the war which seems to be the only alternative. And whether or not they really have any faith in a government which is just another force of colonialism in a five hundred year long history of european colonization, they seem to see it as the only solution. There might be better prospects for a positive outcome if it wasn't for the U.S. government, like a hungry wolf panting at the border, waiting for an opportunity to march in and exert military control in addition to the economic power they already have. It's only 150 years since the U.S. forcibly took over half of Mexico and incorporated it into their country, and of course they're not happy with just half, they want the whole bloody lot! The dialogue in San Andres Sacamch'en over the weekend of the 12th to the 6th of May was a very strange event. It struck me as being something that could probably only happen in Mexico. The talks took place in a group of buildings on one side of the Zocalo, which is the square in the centre of Mexican towns, including one building specially built for the purpose on what used to be a basketball court. Around this block, there were four cordons - the inside one made up of Red Cross volunteers, the second of local indigenous people, the third of other concerned members of the Mexican public and the fourth cordon, on the outside, was of military police, armed only with batons. The Red Cross were there as an internationally recognized body, supposedly impartial, hoping to prevent any violent clashes between the two sides. The indigenous and other Mexicans, making up what's known as the "Cinturon de Paz", or "peace cordon", were there to make sure the government forces didn't try any dirty tricks with the EZLN delegates. And the army was there to protect the government representatives and show that the government was in control of the situation. The whole thing created a very wird atmosphere in the town. I was one of a group of twenty or so international observers, who were there to keep a less easily silenced eye on the conduct of the government and the army. Around sunset on the first day, the EZLN delegates arrived, in two groups of three and one group of two, in three separate convoys of cars with red cross and civilians accompanying them to ensure their safety. The first three were dressed entirely in black, with black balaclavas covering their whole face except for their eyes. In a bizarre contrast, they were wearing a local style of brightly coloured hats which have multicoloured streamers hanging from the brims. They were greeted by loud cheering and clapping as they drove through they cordons and got out of their car. The second group arrived in the same manner. They were dressed similarly, except they weren't wearing the coloured hats. The last convoy to arrive came after dark and included the ony woman in the group, Comandanta Trinidad, known as "Trini". She was the only one dressed in normal clothes, although she had a scarf over her nose and the lower part of her face, to disguise her features. It was a strange, but moving spectacle, watching the arrival of these freedom fighters who have risked their lives - and even right there and then were putting themselves at risk - to fight for land rights and equality and against colonialism and genocide. At this point in history, these people and the rest of their communities are involved in what's probably the most important strugle for land rights in terms of global politics. In fact it's possibly one of the most politically important things happening in the world today, although it's being heavily suppressed in the international media. If the indigenous peoples of Chiapas win this struggle, it can't fail to have a serious beneficial effect on land rights campaigns and fights for indigenous survival elsewhere in North America and all round the world. Which of course is why the U.S. government and multinational companies are leaning so heavily on the Mexican government. The dialogue went on from the Friday evening to late on Monday night, with the cordons maintained continuously, in shifts for the whole time. They gave the whole thing an atmosphere of a vigil, with maybe more spiritual significance than political, encircling the block motionless and silent, in the hot sun of the afternoon and the cold mountain darkness of the night. In the early afternoon and late evening every day, somebody would come out of the talks and give a report to the press, who were assembled on a large, covered, stage-like structure in front of the main building. The afternoon report was always made by someone from the governent team and invariably consisted of rambling, jargon-infested, anonymous nonsense, which said absolutely nothing at all. This was repeated in the evenings too, but also at that time there would be statements from some of the EZLN delegates, masked up as usual and dressed in black. These were invariably clear, easy to follow and personally expressive accounts of what was happening in the dialogue - which was basically a frustrating, confusing runaroud, with the government totally uninterested in making any concessions at all. The pressures of tiredness and the strain of having to try and deal with the nonsensical talking-machines representing the government eventually became too much for the EZLN delegates and on Sunday evening they stopped listening and left the conference room. At this point, the government ordered in two more batallions of armed soldiers who completely surrounded the village - presumably with the intention of aresting or killing the Zapatistas on the pretext that the talks had broken down. The soldiers in the cordon around the talks moved away and gathered in large groups and the Red Cross abandoned their cordon to congregate at the doors of the buildings. All the indigenous people mobilized and grouped up and the stage was set for what could easily have been the spark that would ignite a civil war in Mexico. However, the intermediaries in the talks managed to smoothe things over and get the two sides talking again and nothing came of it in the end. But it had come very close that night, to a situation the U.S. governent is undoubtedly hoping will go all the way very soon. The dialogue ended very late the next night and all the outsiders and foreigners on the peace cordon were taken in, in small groups, for a quick meeting with the Zapatistas. We moved quickly among them, shaking hands and mumbling inconsequential words of support and then left them to get ready for the long trips back to their comrades and communities in the Lacondon forest. There were no agreements reached, partly because the EZLN delegates have no power to agree to anyting without a mandate from their communities. But there were a couple of small points for them to take back for discussion before the next dialogue. This took place on the 7th of June and was very much the same as the one before. There was one addition to the EZLN team - another woman, Commandanta Andrea, who arrived dressed in black clothes and a black balaclava. Apart from this, there seemed to be no significant differences and no real advance in negotiations. At this point, it's beginning to look like an endless series of dialogues stretching well into the future. However, something's going to have to change sooner or later. It's just a case of which side takes the initiative and when... Meanwhile, the work of rebuilding the indigenous communities destroyed by the army in February is well underway. Made possible by the organization of encampments of foreigners and civilian Mexicans who are keeping an eye on the army, all but one of the villages have been reoccupied. However it's a massive task to recover from the damage done. Rebuilding houses, planting crops and finding ways around the problem of poisoned water supplies is enough in itself, but the biggest problem is that they haven't got any food. Because they were driven out of the villages, they've been unable to plant crops and therefore there's no harvest to live off. There's a disatrous level of malnutrition, with a lot of the children showing bloated bellies as a result. However, from what i've heard these problems are being overcome somewhow and the villages are being rebuilt, still along the political lines of the old autonomous zone. There *is* hope, but there's a great need for outside help. Support, both personally and financially from independent overseas sympathizers will play an important part in helping the indigenous people of Chiapas overcome the latest in a long series of imperialist attacks. Anyone who is going to Mexico and wants to get information on the current situation and ways to help should go to: Centro Fray Bartolome de Derechos Humanos, Avenida 5 de Febrero, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas. If you want to go to a forest encampment, you'll have to be able to speak reasonably good spanish. This report is my impression of the situation here in Chiapas. I've only been in Mexico six weeks and it's possible i've misinterpreted some aspects of the way things are. However it's entirely a personal view and i make no claim to being impartial. Will Kemp, Chiapas, Mexico, June 1995.