`Subcomandante Marcos' did not put in an appearance at the three-day party in Oventic which launched the Zapatista movement's new strategy, based on the coordination of its 30 `autonomous municipalities' in Chiapas by five `good governance' committees and the withdrawal of their armed core -- the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN -- from administrative tasks to concentrate on defence, and on `reaching out' beyond the confines of Chiapas.
The event went off without any incident other than a delay in the launch of the Zapatistas' new shortwave broadcasting station, Radio Insurgente, which was blamed on alleged government jamming. In the background, however, many thought they discerned an ominous tone to the government's statement that any changes made by the Zapatistas should be kept within the framework of the constitution, and its announcement that it had convened a meeting of its top security advisers to analyse the developments. This came as civil organisations in Chiapas reported an `increased military presence' close to some of the `autonomous municipalities'.
The alarm proved unfounded. When the government unveiled its formal reaction to the Zapatistas' initiatives on 11 August, it appeared to have taken its lead from Chiapas governor Pablo Salazar, who chose to see things through the rosiest lenses (WR-03-30). The interior minister described the changes as `positive' and said, `The possibilities of dialogue have grown, since we are talking about a peaceful, civilian movement, not a military one.' Like Salazar, Creel said that the `autonomous municipalities' are not in breach of the constitution; indeed, he said, they are in line with international agreements signed by Mexico.
The underlying strategy
The minister was particularly warm in his praise for the EZLN's decision to lift its roadblocks, cease to `tax' those transiting through their zone of influence, and respect the non-Zapatista indigenous communities. This was leading up to the core of the government's strategy: to wrongfoot Marcos by giving him nothing to fight against. Creel proclaimed that the government had already met all four of the conditions laid down by the Zapatistas for the resumption of peace talks: the removal of seven military roadblocks, the submission to congress of a revised indigenous rights bill, a commitment to honour the amnesty law, and the release of jailed Zapatistas. The conclusion: it is now up to the Zapatistas to make the next move.
Chiapas variant
Once again, though, Chiapas seems to be ahead in this game. Fernando Pérez Noriega, a congressman from the ruling Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), which had previously adopted the hardest line on the Zapatistas' new tack, came up with a formula under which there would be no need for the negotiations to resume. He says that all that it needed is to amend some pieces of Chiapas state legislation to accommodate the `autonomous municipalities' and their `good governance' committees.
After that, he says, `if on the ground there is no action by the EZLN against the federal government, if the law of Chiapas is accepted and if the situation returns to normal, there is no need to sign a peace agreement.'
The overlooked items
In all this, the authorities have studiously avoided any mention of what Marcos had proclaimed as one of the pillars of the new Zapatista stance: the reaffirmation of `resistance as the Zapatistas' main form of struggle.' Also ignored was the announcement by the EZLN at the Oventic gathering that one of the motives for the Zapatista army's dissociation from administrative matters was to enable it to project its action `beyond the confines of Chiapas'. One of the top leaders present at the fiesta, `Comandante Esther' called upon all of Mexico's indigenous communities to follow the Zapatista lead and adopt in their territories the régime of the San Andrés Larraínzar agreements which congress departed from in 2001.
`We must exercise our rights ourselves,' she said. `We do not need permission from anyone, least of all from politicians who are only engaged in deceiving the people and stealing money. We have the right to rule, and to rule ourselves according to our own thinking.'
The EZLN promised to unveil soon a national plan, dubbed La Realidad-Tijuana (in deliberate opposition to the government's Plan Puebla-Panamá), to be based on several agreements; respect for autonomy; defence of peaceful civil resistance; promotion of fair, not speculative, trade; and non-privatisation of the country's natural resources, especially fuels. It said it would call upon all `non-governmental organisations independent from the state and the political parties' to `discuss, and eventually approve, improve and apply' this plan.
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