Salinista celebrations dashed
WITH the ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement in
December of last year, the Salinista government was preparing to celebrate its entry to the "First World". The new Zapatistas have
International Viewpoint #253 February 1994 smashed the illusion. ALFONSO MORO - 11 January 1994
T HE agreement was only
ratified after the Mexican government made a number of last minute concessions and after the Clinton government clumsily bought votes of support from a number of American elected representatives.
Leaving aside references to the date chosen for the insurrection — for example, on 1 January 1959, the rebel army led by Fidel Castro entered the city of Havana, Cuba — the armed uprising showed the whole world the impoverishment to which millions of Mexicans have been subjected for years. A political and social expression of growing discontent, the indigenous revolt has put the Mexican regime up against the wall. The semi-dictatorial regime has always been characterised by the scanty attention it has paid to the democratic demands of the population; and over the last ten years it has chosen to take the economy down the path of the most extreme forms of neo-liberalism.
Chiapas is one of Mexico's poorest states. It is twice the size of Belgium, and is populated by a large proportion of indigenous peoples who have seen a number of promises made but not kept by politicians of all ideologies. These promises have now given way to plunder and social exploitation akin to that of the eighteenth century.
It is a region where petty tyrants and large landowners - both Mexican and foreign - conspire with local and federal authorities from the governing PRI party to impose their "law". This is the "law" of the plunder of land, the murder of peasants, electoral fraud, and the use of natural resources from which the indigenous peoples have never benefitted.
### MEXICO
Chiapas has one-hundred and eleven municipalities, ninety-four of which were defined as having a "high" or "very high" level of poverty, in a 1990 study by the National Population Council (CONAPO). Illiteracy affects 30% of the population aged over fifteen, more than triple the national average. In the municipalities of Altamirano, Ocosingo and Margaritas — where there were major confrontations between the army and the EZLN — 80% of families earn less than $US25 per month. In spite of the fact that the state contains 30% of the country's fresh water supplies, only 57% of inhabitants have running water, and the majority of these are centred in the tourist zones or cities.
### Forgotten
The indigenous peoples, at 12 million, number more than 15% of the population and they constitute a significant sector of those forgotten in the Mexican political system. They have said "Enough is enough!" in a radical way, advancing a number of demands which strike at the heart of the political structure which has been in place since 1929 — the year in which the Institutional Revolutionary Party's (PRI) predecessor, the National Revolutionary Party, was founded.
"Work, land, housing, food, health care, independence, democracy, justice and peace" are demands with which the majority of the Mexican population can easily identify, even if they have not chosen the path of the EZLN.
The social conflicts in Chiapas are not new. Among the earliest uprisings of indigenous people can be cited the events of 1712-13, when 32 communities of the Tzotziles rebelled against colonial domination. Later, in 1869-70, the Chamulas Indians led another uprising in defence of their lands and communities.
In the "modern era", we need go back only so far as the beginning of the 1980s, when social pressures on land ownership increased, after thousands of Guatemalan refugees crossed the border fleeing repression and Guatemalan government-instigated murder. In 1982. General Absalon Castellanos, a sinister personality and at the time of writing an EZLN hostage, became the state Governor. In 1988, he was replaced by Patrocinio González Garrido — until then the Minister of the Interior — who followed in his footsteps and used repression in reply to the demands of the population.
The targets of the local government's repression, usually with the open or indirect support of federal authorities, tended to be the indigenous peoples, peasants, exiled Central American teachers, 16133) opposition political parties, and the Church itself - which for several years has held a progressive position in defence of the dispossessed, in particular indigenous peoples. New sources of social tension developed in early 1993. In May a number of indigenous people fell victim to persecution, detention and torture from elements within the Mexican army after being accused of killing two officers. The government resorted once again to the use of force to impose its "solution" to the desperate protests of the indigenous peoples and also of the Bishop of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Samuel Ruiz. Ruiz is hated by the region's wealthy citizenry and political
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International Viewpoint #253 February 1994 leaders for his principles and the Pope, John Paul II, himself tried to have him removed through a despicable manoeuvre involving the Minister of the Interior and the Vatican's representative in Mexico.
To this should be added the consequences of the changes made by the Salinista government to Article 27 of the Constitution, which formalised the privatisation of the communal lands known as "ejidos". This has left millions of peasants more vulnerable than ever, as many will be forced to sell their lands.
The above changes have to be taken into account in order to fully understand the events in Chiapas. Historically, Mexican agriculture has been divided in to two clearly distinct types. Firstly, there are the large properties owned by the "latifundistas" (large estate owners). These receive full financial backing from the government, are worked with modern technology, and their produce is largely destined for foreign markets. The coffee and banana plantations and the harvesting of precious forest products are all controlled by less than 25 families. At the same time, the indigenous peoples of the Chiapas highlands, along with the majority of the peasantry, are used for cheap labour.
Secondly, there are also thousands of small parcels of land, whose products are consumed by those who work the land and survive on a subsistence diet.
The agrarian counter-reform, undertaken necessarily within the framework of the NAFTA agreement, has paradoxically led to the weakening of populist controls over the peasantry and indigenous population.
With the official motto "modernisation and productivity" — the near-magical words which have governed the Sallnista government's economic policy — the agrarian counter-reform was imposed with the idea that there would be a negligible reaction from the peasantry and indigenous population, as if they had no historical memory.
But it is clear that they made a monumental error, because these oppressed groups know that they have very little chance of improving their situation under current economic policies. What is more, they cling to the historic quest of Emiliano Zapata for "Land and liberty" - for which he fought from 1910 until his assassination in
Millions of Mexicans continue to hope that the century's first social revolution will bring them justice — a justice which drifts further and further away 10 with every trade agreement which is signed and with every promise made by the government about taking them down the path of the "First World". The Mexican government is now beginning to pay the price for its unrelenting policy of attacks on social gains made during the revolution of 1910-17.
Chiapas is one of the states where electoral fraud, common currency in Mexico, has reached previously unimaginable heights. In 1988 the PRI used the full weight of its political machine to install its candidates - including Salinas de Gortari himself, the President of the Republic. In this state, as in many others, results coming from the most remote (and predominantly indigenous) regions were shown to be entirely favourable to the PRI - even though it was obvious that thousands of people had voted for opposition candidates. This scenario was played out again for the election of federal deputies in 1991.
This being the case, it is not surprising that the Selva Lacandona Declaration, released by the general command of the EZLN on 1 January, states:, "In keeping with this Declaration of War we call on the other governmental institutions of the nation (legislative and juridical) to restore the legality and stability of the nation, and oust the dictator", a clear reference to Salinas de Gortari.
### Elections
In a year dominated by the politicalelectoral struggle — in August there will be elections for the Presidency, the Parliament and the Senate — the immediate reaction of the government to the uprising was one of surprise and attempting to play down events.
At the same time, a vicious military offensive — harkening back to the wars of imperial conquest — was being launched. Tanks, armed helicopters, planes and 12 thousand soldiers were sent to crush the conflict, rather than the government seeking a solution. Unable to achieve its objective immediately, several days later the government adopted a well-known approach. In a message broadcast on all radio and television channels on 6 January, Salinas spoke of the "professionals of violence, Mexicans and a foreign group" who were out to "'undermine the country's prestige". This is the same type of line taken by the Salvadorean and Guatemalan governments when confronted with similar develop-
It was the conspiracy theory version of history, which sees everything as a foreign plot. It was also racist, inasmuch as it explicitly denied that indigenous peoples can act as conscious social agents, standing up for themselves against the weight of oppression.
The government is attempting to treat the problem as one which only affects a clearly demarcated region, as if poverty did not affect more than 35 million Mexicans. It insists on centring its efforts on the effects (the indigenous uprising) and not the causes (misery, despotic rule, exploitation), attempting a "solution" by using its traditional methods of repression.
But the air force's indiscriminate bombing and the cold-blooded murder of dozens of indigenous people who were captured alive have awakened a society which is fed up with government impunity and various foreign democratic sectors have rightly held the government responsible for its genocidal policy.
Sensing that he risked being cornered, Salinas decided on 9 January to dismiss the Minister of the Interior, Gonzalez Garrido, replacing him with Jorge Capizo, who had until recently been the President of the Human Rights Commission. Capizo had been unable to resolve the problem of nearly five-hundred political disappearances and in 1987, while Rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), his attempt to push through a number of neo-liberal reforms was met with the biggest student demonstrations since
Defuse
Manuel Camacho Solís, the former mayor of Mexico City, was called on to assist Capizo. In December Camacho Solís became Minister of Foreign Affairs, in order to defuse the crisis in the PRI which broke after the nomination of the party's candidate for the Presidency. Famed as a "negotiator and moderniser", in 1993 he was behind the proposed reform to the law which would have increased tenants' rents and was entirely to the benefit of property speculators. Thousands of people mobilised in Mexico City and the project was withdrawn.
Salinas has thus sacrificed one of his lackeys (Garrido) and made kings out of Capizo and Camacho Solís. The manoeuvre is aimed at reducing pressure from inside and outside the country but could cost him dearly in the coming months.
Of course, it is difficult to equate Capizo or Comacho Solís with Garrido.
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But two important factors remain untouched: the army and Salinas himself, both directly responsible for the murders in Chiapas. In any other country where there is real democracy, both would surely have had to face a trial of some sort. For example, one need only recall the corruption scandals which forced both the Brazilian and Venezuelan Presidents to resign last year.
While it now seems that negotiations are under way, this may be just another manoeuvre to gain time. The army has not withdrawn from the occupied municipalities and is now involved in a campaign of selective repression.
The brutal reaction of the Mexican government to the progressive sector of the Church will have its own consequences in the coming months. As already mentioned, for more than one and a half years, with the complicity of the Vatican, the government has tried to get rid of Bishop Samuel Ruiz and other Bishops of the Chiapas diocese, who are all identified with liberation theology. The unconditional support given to them by all democratic sectors in Mexico has obliged both the government and the rightwing Church leadership to retreat.
Judging by official declarations which insidiously seek to blame Bishop Ruiz for the Chiapas uprising, there is no question that the government would like to settle its score with the democratic sector of the Church. But their declarations have been so clumsy, and the repression in Chiapas so brutal, that the Cardinal of Mexico himself, Corripio Ahumada, had to demand a halt to the killing and request that the government furnish some evidence to back their accusations.
### Pope
These are important developments, especially as the Mexican government re-established ties with the Vatican less than a year ago, and the Pope himself has helped to boost the image of the government by making two visits in under five years (the most recent being last August).
Thus far, no-one has been able to characterise the leadership of the EZLN in any real sense. Certainly, there does not seem to be any direct link between the various armed actions which have taken place in the country since 1 January, although credit for these actions has been taken by what seem to be remnants of guerrilla organisations from the 1970s - groups which were crushed at the time by State repression in a dirty war about which little has been said in Mexico, and nothing said abroad.
What is clear is that throughout 1993, there were various reports in the Mexican press concerning the existence of camps in Chiapas which were training armed groups. Near the end of May, the army released its findings in an extensive report, yet the government failed to take action.
Although faced with the evidence, the former Governor of Chiapas and (recently dismissed) Minister of the Interior, Garrido, asserted in August that, "There is no guerrilla force in Chiapas. To accept this false rumour would cause great damage to development in our State, because it would lead to a breakdown in foreign and domestic investment in the agricultural sector." He added, "The government of Mexico denies the possibility that a guerrilla force exists in the southern part of the Mexican Republic, or that there is any other group which claims to be in rebellion against the marginalisation of indigenous peoples and the peasantry."
Those familiar with the Mexican police and army know that when they want they can act with tremendous zeal and efficiency.
The facts demonstrate that, blinded by the unprecedented concentration of powers in the hands of the President, Salinas and his entourage of loyal servants underestimated the popular explosion which was taking shape from the misery in the south-east of the country
Torpedo
Given the current conditions in the country, the EZLN's armed uprising has become a veritable earthquake which is shaking the Mexican political system to its roots. It is a torpedo which has made a direct hit on a State-party system which has had great difficulty responding. As other observers have pointed out, Mexico became another country on 1 January and political conditions in the country have changed qualitatively, as a result of the genuine popular uprising.
So much for the policies invariably applied by Mexico's rulers — and praised abroad by such institutions as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The crude reality of Mexican life has taken centre stage. It is clear that if the just demands of the people — thirsting for democracy and dignity — are not met, they may very well seek to take matters into their own hands, as between 1910-17.*
International Viewpoint #253 February 1994 11
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