International Solidarity Meeting we will always have to work with the
IMF and World Bank, others say we must get rid of them. A minority of our members think we should repay the More than 2,700 delegates from 108 different countries met in Havana from 21 to 25 existing foreign debt. The majority, November 1994. Delegates from parties in power included the ANC of South Africa, including the entire trade union the Mozambican Frelimo, the Angolan MPLA, the Vietnamese, North Korean and leadership, think Senegal should refuse to pay, and that we should leave the Most of the left wing forces of Latin America were present, including C. Cardenas and French-controlled CFA currency zone. If Rosario Ibarra from Mexico, the controlling body of El Salvador's FMLN (without we came to power, the exact policy Villabos), Daniel Ortega from the FSLN and a representative of the Workers' PArty would obviously depend on the balance of forces at that time. For the moment, European delegates included representatives of the French Communist Party, the the stress we put on the rejection of the Italian Party of Communist Reformation, United Left (Spanish state), the Portuguese IMF and WB plans reflects our base in Communist Party, the PDS (Germany) and the Fourth International. The European those sectors of society which are most Social Democratic or Labor parties and the Greens were absent. implicated in the opposition to the
The sizeable delegation of North American solidarity was led by the black preacher, structural adjustment programme - the Lucius Walker, who organised the drive with several peace caravans to the island, unions, youth organisations, and braving the blockade decreed by his country. community groups.
Most PADS militants come from the This meeting took place at a time when although the living conditions for the Cuban Maoist current. This affects their view on population had improved a little, the situation was still critical. The reintroduction of a peasant free market after the crisis of "balseros' in August has brought back onto the the kind of party we should build. But market certain basic necessities which previously, like dollars, could not be found. there is general agreement on the needs
Since then the frantic search for greenbacks has diminished, and the dollar has lost its to fight in the trades unions against the value. On the black market, the American dollar's exchange rate was 85 pesos in structural adjustment plan of the regime December 1993 as opposed to 120 pesos in August 1994 at the worst moment of the and its consequences, to organise crisis), its rate having been established at 40 pesos in early 1994. With the liberta' (the students at the secondary and university ration card), families can provide the basics for about a week. For the rest of the time level to fight for autonomy from the they have to manage by buying on the market with pesos or dollars. Pensioners regime and to create independent, receive between 90 and 130 pesos a month, the majority of wage earners receive recognised student unions. between 180 and 350 a month. On the free market the prices are very high: 40 pesos
In practice, the various currents in for a kilo of rice, 45 pesos for a kilo of pork. In January 1995 there was a vigorous the party, including the OST (Fourth introduction of new taxes which shocked Cubans who had not paid them since the International) develop and defend their own positions both inside and outside the Monetary reform is predicted which ought to allow a new parity to be established with party. The different currents are the dollar. On the international scale the situation has cooled a little. At the end of represented on the Internal pluralism is October 1994, the General Assembly of the UN once again condemned the blockade an important part of the PADS statute. implemented by the USA against Cuba. 101 countries voted in condemnation of the The question of external activities is still blockade, whilst only two countries, the USA and Israel, voted against the resolution. under debate. *
1) If the 1993 elections had not been manipulated by Diouf, the PDS would have won a majority nationwide, not just in Dakar.
Chinese Communist Parties).
(PT) from Brazil).
revolution.
regime from the conference.
13
----- pull-quotes on this page -----
Cuba
Stop the war! Zedillo Resign !
International Viewpoint #264 MARCH 1995
Mexico
by Ulises Martinez by On 9 February the Mexican government broke its fragile truce with the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). Half the soldiers in the Mexican army were deployed in a military and police attempt to wipe out the Zapatista leaders. By 11 February, the government of Ernesto Zedillo had authorised an indiscriminate bombing of the civilian population in the Lacandona forest region where the EZLN is based.
A handwritten press release by the EZLN military command, smuggled out of the combat zone on 12 February, reports that, since midday on 10 February, "four helicopters bombard the Morelia and La Carrucha regions, and direct machine gun fire at the entire zone under Zapatista control... So far, we have done all we can to withdraw without fighting [to save the civilian population|"
The government's justification for breaking a truce respected by the other side, and their fakes astonishment at the discovery of supposed EZLN arms caches across Mexico verge on the ridiculous. As National Democratic Convention president Rosario Ibarra told the magazine Proceso, "for one year, they have negotiated with armed rebels, and now they are suddenly surprised to discover arms." And the existence of the Zapatistas in other zones of the country was public knowledge from the start, even though open conflict had been confined to Chiapas state.
It was clear to some of us that the government was preparing this new hard line even while negotiations were continuing. It should have been clear to everyone on 8 December, when President Zedillo participated in the inauguration of Eduardo Robelo, PRI candidate in the falsified state elections in Chiapas state. The EZLN had already called this step a tacit declaration of war.
And although the economic crisis of December-January obliged the government to calm the political situation for a while, it now returns reinforced by its foreign loans, to reestablish itself politically, including over the Chiapas conflict. But as a result of that economic crisis, the government is weaker and more vulnerable to all kinds of pressures than even two months ago. It seems clear that one of the pressures towards a military 'solution' of the Chiapas conflict comes from international financial circles. Already on 13 January a representative of Chase Manhattan Bank told journalists that the Mexican regime would have to "eliminate" the Zapatista rebellion as a proof that it was in charge of 14 the entire territory. The United States government is another of the pro-war factors in the government camp: as the New York Times points out, the discovery of the EZLN arms caches across Mexico and the alleged identification of Marcos as one Rafael Guillen could only have come about through U.S. secret service cooperation with their Mexican counterparts. And according to the Washington correspondent of Mexico's El Financero newspaper, "sources close to the U.S. security forces claim that the order to arrest the Zapatista leaders are the result of an "ultimatum" to president Zedillo from the U.S. armed forces command.
The Mexican leader relies much more on the military than on the other institutions of the state. But a military coup is unlikely in the current international context, where the imperialist powers prefer to see countries ruled by the regular institutions of bourgeois democracy. What seems more likely is a repetition of developments in Peru. Zedillo has effectively charged the army with "solving' what is the country's most pressing social and political problem, and given the generals complete freedom of action. The parliament is relegated to a back seat, and the traditional supporters of the regime: the apparatus of the ruling P.R.I. party, the peasants' associations and trades unions are out in the cold.
All this suggests that the new hard line will not just be applied to the Zapatistas in Chiapas, but to the democratic opposition as a whole. Leaders of a range of civic associations have already been arrested as supposed Zapatistas: their organisations' offices have been raided, police surveillance of militants in a range of social movements has been intensified and so on. There have even been attempts to tar the bishop of St.
Cristobal, Samuel Ruiz, as a militant of the EZLN, rather than the honest negotiator and friend of the Maya Indians which he is.
Meanwhile, the Zapatistas evaporated before the advancing soldiers without the slightest difficulty. The regime desperately claims that it is winning a total victory. whereas, once again, the Zapatistas have demonstrated their superior tactics and impressive preparations for the expected govemment invasion.
In Mexico City, over 100,000 persons demonstrated against the government invasion on 11 February. Chanting all Marcos," they demanded an end to the war, the immediate liberation of all detainees, and a government commitment to a peaceful negotiated solution which would respect democracy, justice and the dignity of ordinary
The wide range of speakers at the demonstration suggests that the inept government intervention has in fact galvanized civic society and the opposition currents, rather than split it into "militants" and "moderates".