* ZAPATISTAS PLAN FORUM FOR CONTINENT'S INDIGENOUS
* INDIGENOUS MAZAHUAS WOMEN CHOOSE JAIL OVER LACK OF WATER
* OAXACA STILL UNDER SCRUTINY; CIVIL SOCIETY LIMITS STATE VIOLENCE
* BORDER NEWS: GUNMEN FORCE U.S. NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS
* REMAINS OF COAL MINER RECOVERED
* ZAPATISTAS COVERING THEIR FACES IN ORDER TO BE SEEN
Committee of Indigenous Solidarity (CIS). CIS is a Washington, D.C.
based activist group committed to the ongoing struggles of Indigenous
peoples in the Americas. CIS is actively supporting the struggles
of the Indigenous peoples of Mexico while simultaneously combating
related structures of oppression within our own communities.
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http://lists.mutualaid.org/pipermail/mexico-week/
"Para Todos, Todo; Para Nosotros Nada"
ZAPATISTAS PLAN FORUM FOR CONTINENT'S INDIGENOUS
The Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) called for a National
Indigenous Congress and meeting of all native peoples of the American
continent from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. At the closure of the
Meeting of the Zapatista peoples with the Peoples of the World held
in the San Andres Sakamchen de los Pobres municipality, Chiapas, this
insurgent organization invited all indigenous communities of the
region, to be held on October of this year. The announcement was made
on the 13th anniversary of the EZLN armed uprising to an audience of
more than four thousand indigenous peoples, mostly Tzotziles and two
thousand participants from 47 nations.
Commandant David renewed the Zapatista commitment of his organization
with the aboriginal peoples and for an improvement of living
conditions. The objective, he pointed out, was to invite all these
peoples for a political and peaceful struggle, to create an
anti-capitalist, progressive movement. "It will be a turning point in
these 13 years of war to demand democracy, freedom and justice for
all the indigenous peoples," he affirmed, while reiterating the
purpose of joining this battle with many other peoples who suffer
injustice and humiliation. The EZLN leader stated that the battle is
peaceful but decidedly against capitalism and neoliberalism. In
summarizing the meeting he insisted that the movement has a history
of collective dignity for all the exploited of the country while he
demanded freedom and justice for all the political prisoners of
Mexico.
Source: Prensa Latina: 01/08
====
INDIGENOUS MAZAHUAS WOMEN CHOOSE JAIL OVER LACK OF WATER
Although they live near a gigantic water distribution system, the
indigenous Mazahuas lack access to water and live in deep poverty.
Since Dec. 11, when they shut off the valves of one of the system's
plants in protest, Mazahua women have kept up the vigil -- and warn
that it could turn radical. "We prefer jail over continuing without
water," Beatriz Flores, a member of the "General Command of the
Mazahua Women's Army in Defense of Water", told TierramC)rica.
The group, despite its name, declares itself to be a peaceful
movement. Its protest consists of maintaining an encampment of 50 to
70 people outside "Los Berros" water purification plant in the
Mazahua town of Villa Victoria. The plant where the protesters shut
off the valves is part of the Cutzamala water system, which supplies
the capital and part of the state of Mexico, neighboring Mexico City.
Flores, 27, has three young daughters and combines her domestic
duties with activism for water rights. Her family gets by thanks to a
vegetable garden and the exhausting farm work of her husband. "We
asked them to supply water in our houses, and also an integrated
development plan to get out of poverty. That is why we won't leave
the plant until they listen to us," Flores said in a TierramCerica
interview. Feeling the pressure, the government of President Felipe
Calderon initiated talks with the indigenous women, but some
officials claimed that part of the demands had been met in 2004 when
the Mazahuas staged their first protests.
There are some 100,000 Mazahuas living in the state of Mexico, in 13
mostly rural municipalities, nine of which are considered highly
impoverished. The Cutzamala water system, built in the 1980s, passes
near their communities, but most do not have access to this essential
liquid. According to the non-governmental Latin American Water
Tribunal, based in Costa Rica, the Cutzamala system led to a decline
in the environmental, social, cultural and economic conditions of the
Mazahua peoples in Mexico, and prompted numerous problems and
increasingly organized peasant protests.
Flores, who has to walk two kilometers to collect limited amounts of
water for daily use -- a task she shares with her eight-year-old
daughter -- spoke with TierramCerica by telephone from Villa Victoria.
TIERRAMERICA: The authorities say they already answered many of your
demands in 2004, that they fixed the roads in your communities, among
other assistance. Is that true?
FLORES: In these two years that we have been protesting, they haven't
really supported us in anything. They provided some assistance, but
the leaders we had kept part of the benefits and resources.
Everything was left incomplete, roads half finished and even some
waterless toilets they gave us were just left about.
TIERRAMERICA: What do you plan to do now? Do you trust the government?
FLORES: A while ago we announced that some day we would take over the
(Los Berros) plant, and the moment came. We remain at the plant.
Until we see the government turn to our side and change our region,
we will stay there. Furthermore, if they don't comply, we'll shut the
valves again, but this time completely. They tell us that by January
they'll resolve the problems. We're hoping they aren't misleading us.
TIERRAMERICA: Are you aware that closing the valves at the water
plant is a serious federal crime?
FLORES: Our protest will continue in spite of all that. If the
government doesn't keep its promises we will take over the system
again. We've already said it: we prefer jail to going without water.
But it must be clear that we are not just asking for water, but
rather an integrated plan to get out of poverty.
TIERRAMERICA: Why are women the ones leading the protests? Where are the men?
FLORES: We women are here fighting for water because we are the ones
who suffer most the lack of water in our houses; we are the ones
maintaining the household. The men go out to work, but we are the
ones carrying the water. But the men do support us.
TIERRAMERICA: How do you deal with the lack of water?
FLORES: The Cutzamala system takes it all, and it's unfair that we
don't have water. It's very difficult for us to live this way,
because with water we would be able to do many things. But we feel
like our hands are tied without it. We have to carry water two
kilometers, transporting it with burros and 20-liter containers for
cooking and other needs. I go in the morning, and in the afternoon my
eight-year-old daughter goes.
TIERRAMERICA: Why do you think the authorities haven't supported you?
FLORES: We don't understand why they've abandoned us. They don't
support us Indians. They don't want to see our problems. But we are
strong and persistent, and the fight will continue until we are able
to change the region and have water for everyone.
[Diego Cevallos is an IPS correspondent. Originally published by
Latin American newspapers that are part of the TierramCerica network.
TierramCerica is a specialized news service produced by IPS with the
backing of the United Nations Development Program and the United
Nations Environment Program.]
Source: InterPress Service (IPS): 12/30
====
OAXACA STILL UNDER SCRUTINY; CIVIL SOCIETY LIMITS STATE VIOLENCE
A number of thick files contain the details of human rights abuses
committed in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, where a social
uprising lasting more than six months was put down by force by police
and illegal armed groups, leaving 20 people dead, 349 under arrest
and 370 injured. Eighty people are still in custody, including the
leaders of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO). But
most of those arrested, who were housed in jails in several states,
have now been freed after the state government, paradoxically the
main alleged perpetrator of the violence, paid millions of pesos to
bail them out.
"If it hadn't been for the international and national pressure added
to the accusations by human rights organizations, the repression
would have been even more violent, and there would still be dozens of
people under arrest; of that we are certain," Adrian Ramirez,
president of the non-governmental Mexican League for the Defense of
Human Rights (LIMEDDHH), told IPS. The state of Oaxaca, one of the
poorest in the country, was the scene of an uprising led by APPO, a
collective of more than 350 social organizations, between June and
November. The main aim, which it failed to achieve, was the
resignation of the state governor, Ulises Ruiz, who has long been
accused of abuses, corruption, violence and authoritarianism.
The conflict broke out in May when local teachers held protests to
demand better salaries, but it escalated in June in response to
police violence against the protesters, following Ruiz's orders. In
October, the administration of then-president Vicente Fox sent
thousands of federal police to regain control of the capital of
Oaxaca, which bears the same name. In late November there were fierce
clashes between the police and demonstrators. Presumed activists
burned and destroyed several public buildings, unleashing a wave of
mass arrests, which pulled in the leaders of APPO. Then the federal
police took control of the capital, part of which they later handed
over to the local police. Today the situation is one of relative
calm. APPO has sustained some splits in the last few weeks, but is
still negotiating with the government of President Felipe Calderon,
who took office on Dec. 1. Meanwhile, national and international
scrutiny of the human rights situation continues.
Source: InterPress Service (IPS): 01/04
====
BORDER NEWS: GUNMEN FORCE U.S. NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS
National Guard troops at an observation post near the Mexico border
were forced to flee a group of armed people, who later ran into
Mexico, authorities said. The troops, who are not allowed to
apprehend illegal border crossers, withdrew safely and no one was
injured, said National Guard Sgt. Edward Balaban.
U.S. Border Patrol officials are investigating the incident and
trying to determine who the armed people were and why they approached
the post near Sasabe, in the desert corridor between Nogales and
Lukeville. Balaban said the troops didn't know how many people were
involved because it was so dark. That area has been the busiest in
the Tucson Sector for marijuana seizures. Agents have seized 124,000
pounds of marijuana there since Oct. 1, said Rob Daniels, spokesman
for the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector. "We don't know if this was a
matter of somebody coming up accidentally on the individuals, coming
up intentionally on the individuals, or some sort of a diversion,"
Daniels said.
With more Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops patrolling
the Arizona section of the U.S.-Mexico border, it has become more
difficult to smuggle drugs and people across and "that heightened
frustration may have been connected to what took place last night,"
Daniels said. Balaban said officials would investigate and then
determine whether to change any procedures for troops at the border.
Since arriving in mid-June, the Guard has assisted the Border Patrol
by manning control rooms, repairing roads, fences and vehicles, and
spotting and reporting illegal border crossings to the Border Patrol.
President Bush said last spring he would have up to 6,000 National
Guard troops deployed to assist the Border Patrol.
Source: Associated Press: 01/05
====
REMAINS OF COAL MINER RECOVERED
The remains of one of 65 coal miners killed nearly a year ago in a
mine blast have been recovered, officials said. The remains of 63
other miners have yet to be found. In June, rescuers found the body
of one other miner, but tons of wood, rock and metal have hindered
the recovery efforts. The mine has been closed since the explosion on
Feb. 19, 2006. The remains were found half-buried under tons of
scattered debris, said Sergio Robles, deputy secretary of civil
protection for the state of Coahuila, where the Pasta de Conchos mine
is located.
A buildup of methane gas is believed to have cause the underground
explosion at the mine near San Juan Sabinas, about 85 miles southwest
of the Texas border. Company officials "express their deepest respect
to the families of our deceased colleagues," said Xavier Garcia de
Quevedo, president of Minera Mexico, a subsidiary of mining company
Grupo Mexico SA de CV. Last month, prosecutors in Coahuila state said
they would seek to charge 10 mine managers and federal government
inspectors with homicide, after investigators allegedly found that
they did not correct unsafe conditions detected eight months before
the blast.
Source: Associated Press: 01/01
====
ZAPATISTAS COVERING THEIR FACES IN ORDER TO BE SEEN
They had to cover their faces to be seen. This was the explanation
for why thousands of indigenous rebels continued to wear black ski
masks long after the gun battles stopped and talks with the
government began 13 years ago. And the same remains true today. In a
country with 12 million indigenous inhabitants, most remain invisible
to the world beyond their villages. Few Mexicans and non-Mexicans
alike can name more than a handful of the 62 distinct indigenous
languages spoken throughout Mexico. But almost everyone knows about
the Zapatistas.
>From Dec. 30 through Jan. 2, over 1,000 people from 47 countries
traveled to Oventic, a hillside Zapatista community about an hour
north of San Cristóbal de las Casas, for a gathering between
indigenous rebels and activists, artists and curious individuals from
across the world. The Zapatistas organized conference-style
discussion sessions on indigenous autonomy, health, education,
women's participation and experience, media, art, culture and land
where representatives from the five rebel Zapatista regions took
turns speaking on their experiences organizing village life without
help or permission from the federal government. Thousands of masked
Zapatista men, women and children also attended the event attracting
the eyes and camera lenses of the international visitors, and showing
that their metaphor of the mask as their visibility cloak still holds.
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) took the nation and
the world by surprise on Jan. 1, 1994, when they rose up in arms,
taking over major cities in the southernmost and heavily indigenous
state of Chiapas. The rebels´ battle cry, "Ya basta!" or "Enough!"
resonated with millions of poor Mexicans, and the EZLN's charismatic,
pipe- smoking spokesperson, Subcomandante Marcos, enchanted the media
and much of the middle class with witty quips to spin the
government's logic on its head. Marcos got his start as spokesperson
when asked by the indigenous commanders to translate for a group of
French-speaking tourists who were demanding information. The tourists
complained that they needed to catch a flight in Mexico City and
Marcos´ response became the stuff of legend: "We are sorry to bother,
but this is a revolution."
After two weeks of fighting and huge demonstrations calling for peace
in Mexico City, the government called a cease-fire to seek a
negotiated settlement to the conflict in Chiapas, where the
indigenous rebels´ complaints of suffering racism and abandon were
widely seen as legitimate and long neglected. After several failed
attempts, the Zapatistas and the Ernesto Zedillo administration
signed the San Andrés Accords in February 1996, promising greater
levels of autonomy and self-determination to the indigenous peoples
of Mexico. The EZLN had convoked all of Mexico's indigenous peoples
to the dialogue so that the agreements would spread to indigenous
communities across the nation and not just in Chiapas. President
Zedillo, however, refused to implement the accords, leading the
Zapatistas to withdraw from further dialogue with the government
until after Vicente Fox's 2000 election.
In March 2001, the EZLN indigenous commanders and the world-famous
Marcos left Chiapas in a caravan that traveled through the southern
and central regions of Mexico drawing huge crowds of supporters,
before arriving in Mexico City to speak before Congress, calling on
the elected representatives to pass the San Andrés Accords into law.
In an effort led by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and
Fox's National Action Party (PAN), Congress passed a reworked version
of the accords that denied granting indigenous communities autonomy
and in turn further bound them to federal control. The Zapatistas and
other indigenous communities across Mexico called the new law a
betrayal. The EZLN returned to Chiapas and again cut off relations
with the federal government.
In the succeeding years they set about implementing the San Andrés
Accords on their own, building the foundations for complete autonomy
in their forms of governance and provision of social services such as
health care and education. In 2003, the EZLN helped set up "Good
Government Councils," composed of men and women elected in open
assemblies, to organize regional and village affairs. The councils
would replace the military leadership structure of the EZLN,
following the Zapatista first rule of governance: "mandar
obedeciendo," or "command by obeying."
This year's gathering was the first between international visitors
and the autonomous councils and an opportunity to hear first-hand
from the typically elusive Zapatistas about what autonomy means for
them. "The people make the decisions, we only propose; we don't
impose," said Jesús, a young member of the good government council of
La Realidad during the workshop on autonomy that was held in a wood
and corrugated sheet metal auditorium with a dirt floor covered in
pine needles as soft as any carpet. Council members are elected in
open assemblies; they serve for three years without salary, though
villagers support them with food, childcare and travel funds.
In the four years of operating in Good Government Councils,
Zapatistas have opened schools in every village and regional center,
health clinics, women's artesian cooperatives, and organic coffee
cooperatives. For first-time visitors who do not speak one of the
four indigenous languages of the region, however, one of the most
impressive aspects of Zapatista villages are the murals that adorn
walls throughout the community. "The murals are another way of
expressing, or telling our own history," said Karina, another member
of the good government council of La Realidad. "At first we had
problems with brothers and sisters from other places who came and
painted things that we did not understand," she said. "But we talked
it over, and now the whole village decides what to paint. We elect
mural commissions to work with the painters so that we can explain
the meaning of the paintings to all our other visitors."
And the main image in all the paintings is that of the ski-masked
face, with only the eyes visible. The face that had to be covered to
be seen.
Source: The Herald Mexico El Universal: 01/04
====
The above articles were originally published and copyrighted by the
listed sources. These articles are offered for educational purposes
which CIS maintains is 'fair use' of copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
end: Mexico Week In Review: 01.01-01.07
--
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