EZLN Communiques on march to Mexico City
Originally published in Spanish by the EZLN | 02.02.2001 17:43
EZLN Communiques on march to Mexico City
#1 EZLN Communique 7 January 2001: 24 Commandantes to
leave Chiapas for Mexico City on 25th February, with
possible detour via Cancun (meeting of World Economic
Forum on 26th February)
#2 EZLN Communique 6 January 2001: preliminary
information about March to Mexico City
#3 EZLN Communique 12 January 2001: Demonstration in
San Cristobal de la Casas, seven years after
international mobilisations
#4 EZLN Communique 12 January 2001: to the P\'urhepecha
Community of Nurio, Municipality of Paracho,
Michoaca\'n, and to the National Indigenous Congress
(third meeting on 2-4 March 2001)
#5 EZLN Communique 12 January 2001: more information
on the March to Mexico City, Zapatista Information
Center, plus website
http://www.ezlnaldf.org
#6 Call for Solidarity In Order To Finance the
Zapatista Mobilization to Mexico City
*****************************
#1
Originally published in Spanish by the EZLN
_______________________
Translated by irlandesa
Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Mexico.
January 7, 2001.
TO the national and international press:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The first of the information is off concerning our
delegation\'s trip to
Mexico City. We\'ll be leaving on February 25, because
we\'re looking into
whether we might drop in at Cancu\'n. I mean, so we
can get rid of a little
of the paleness which the mountain gifts us with. We
were going to include
Tabasco in the itinerary, but, with so many interims
coming and going, we\'d
certainly get lost.
What happened recently in Zinacanta\'n (PRD vs. PRI)
and in Chenalho\' (PRI vs.
PRI) (in both cases, incidentally, not one zapatista
participated)
demonstrates that the PRI continues to have many
enemies. The main one is
the PRI itself. And, if you don\'t believe me, pop
into the State Congress
of Chiapas. And then they were amazed that they lost
the elections.
We know that Fox said it wasn\'t necessary for us to go
to Mexico City, but,
if we had to, we could go without ski-masks. We are
very sorry: we are
indeed going to go to Mexico City, and we are indeed
going to wear
ski-masks.
Organize, that is indeed going to be \"a close shave\".
What does not make us laugh is the bit about there
being fewer than 10,000
soldiers in the Southeast military zone. Either Fox
doesn\'t know how to
count, or he\'s trying to be slick. Incidentally, note
the federal army\'s
following \"contributions\" to peace: they doubled the
number of troops in
the barracks at Cuxulja\' and Roberto Barrios, they are
continuing their
checkpoints there, and they reinstalled the one at
Amparo Agua Tinta.
Vale. Salud and, if you know how to count, how many
times has Fox said
contradictory things about Chiapas?
>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
Mexico, January of 2001.
______________________________
#2
Communique\' from the Clandestine Revolutionary
Indigenous Committee -
General Command of the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation.
January 6, 2001.
To the People of Mexico:
To the Peoples and Governments of the World:
To the National Indigenous Congress:
Brothers and Sisters:
The EZLN is releasing publicly the first information
about its delegation\'s
trip to the Federal District:
First. - The zapatista delegation will leave from San
Cristo\'bal de Las
Casas, Chiapas, on February 25, 2001. The trip will
be made by land.
Second. - During its travels to Mexico City, the
zapatista delegation will
cross through the lands of the states of Chiapas,
Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz,
Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, Quere\'taro, Michoaca\'n, the State
of Mexico and Morelos.
Third. - During the journey, the zapatista delegation
will make a stop at
the place, and on the date on which, the Third
National Indigenous Congress
is being held, in order to participate in their work.
Fourth. - During the journey, the zapatista
delegation will hold joint
events with the CNI and civil society. The programs
will be made public in
due time.
Fifth. - The EZLN calculates that its delegation will
arrive in Mexico
City on March 6, 2001.
Sixth. - The EZLN will shortly be announcing more
details of this
mobilization, such as: the geographic points of the
trip, places where it
will be spending the night and joint activities with
the CNI and civil
society.
Democracy!
Liberty!
Justice!
>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
Mexico, January of 2001.
______________________________
# 3
Originally published in Spanish by the EZLN
_______________________
Translated by irlandesa
Communique\' from the Clandestine Revolutionary
Indigenous Committee -
General Command of the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation.
January 12, 2001.
To the People of Mexico:
To the Peoples and Governments of the World:
Brothers and Sisters:
Today, January 12, 2001, we zapatistas are
demonstrating in this city of
San Cristo\'bal de Las Casas, Chiapas.
Tzotziles, Tzeltales, Choles, Tojolabales, Zoques,
Mames and mestizos, all
zapatistas, have come down from different parts of the
mountains of the
Mexican Southeast in order to come to this city and to
say our word.
For seven years, we have been fighting openly for
respect for the Indian
peoples of Mexico.
For seven years, we have been holding the dignity of
the Mexican indigenous
very high.
For seven years, we have been demanding that those
governing recognize the
rights and culture of those who have given history and
honor to our patria,
which is Mexico.
For seven years, we have been besieged, persecuted,
vilified, imprisoned,
tortured, assassinated.
With bullets or with lies, or with both, they have
wanted to do away with
us and to silence us.
And we, for seven years, have insisted on the path of
dialogue with
everyone in order to reach peace.
Now that a new century and a new millennium are
beginning, we are insisting
on the path of dialogue in order to end the war.
During these seven years which have gone by, those who
were the government
used dialogue in order to conceal the war they were
waging against us.
They lied.
Today we do not want lies.
We do not want deceit.
We want the dialogue to be real, so that the peace
will be real as well.
Today we know there is a new government.
But our distrust is not new.
It comes from a long time ago.
>From many years.
>From entire centuries.
But we shall not shut ourselves away in it forever.
That is why we have pointed out the key for unlocking
the door of our
distrust.
That key is made with the release of all the zapatista
prisoners, the
army\'s withdrawal from the seven positions, and the
constitutional
recognition of indigenous rights and culture.
Today, we now have 17 zapatistas released from jails
in Chiapas.
But there are still more than 80 who are imprisoned in
Chiapas, Tabasco and
Quere\'taro.
Today, the federal Army has left three positions.
But four others remain.
Today, the constitutional recognition of indigenous
rights and culture has
still not been ratified .
There is progress. Yes.
But it would appear that they are trying to present
these small advances
deceptively.
As if everything were already finished.
As if dialogue and peace were right here, very close.
As if they wanted to resolve the distrust which
government statements had
cultivated through just a few actions and many more
statements.
National and international civil society want there to
be dialogue in
Chiapas and for peace to arrive.
The Mexican government must respond to that.
Or do they only want the radio, television and
newspapers to say that the
government wants peace and that the zapatistas do not
want it?
If the government truly wants peace, they only have to
give us 3 signals.
Everyone can tell them that they are small.
That the government is not losing anything.
That the zapatistas do indeed keep their word, and
they will not ask for
anything else in order to sit down to dialogue.
But, if the government does indeed only want the media
to say and to shout
that it does want peace, and we do not, because we are
intransigent,
because we want all or nothing and other nonsense,
then the government may,
perhaps, be able to fill the people with noise.
The government has the money and the power to make
much noise about peace
and to allow the noise of war to not be heard.
But there will be no dialogue in that way, and peace
will not arrive.
For weeks, months, perhaps years, the voices of the
government will be
heard very loudly.
But there will be no peaceful solution.
In the end, the government will only have spent much
money in making the
people believe it wanted peace.
But it will not have peace.
And it is going to see that, in the end, the people
are going to say that
what they wanted was peace.
And not a publicity campaign.
Brothers and Sisters:
Today we wish to make a special commemoration.
Seven years ago, the other uprising took place.
The uprising of hundreds of thousands of Mexicans of
all colors, of all
sizes, of all sexes, of all social classes and
throughout the entire
country.
Along with them, there also rose up good persons from
other countries, who
are far away in distance, but very close in dignity.
That other uprising, the one by civil society, was,
and is, a great lesson
for us, the zapatistas, and for our country\'s history.
They were, and are, many.
Workers and campesinos.
Indigenous from the North and from the South, from the
East and from the
West.
Students and teachers.
Housewives and neighbors.
Religious men and women.
Intellectuals and artists.
Employees and drivers.
Small shopkeepers and business owners.
Market tenants and persons who are well-off.
Homosexuals and lesbians.
Doctors and nurses.
Fishermen and street vendors.
Businesspersons and the unemployed.
All the faces and names which the people have.
Everyone put silence aside and made their voices
heard.
They spoke with strong and clear voice.
Their word brought a message of justice, of respect,
of liberty, of
democracy.
All of those names named the peace which we all want
and need and deserve.
It was not the government which began speaking of
peace.
Nor were we zapatistas the first.
It was all of those men, women, children and old ones
who, in Mexico and in
the world, began demanding that the war be stopped,
and that it be words of
reason which led the way.
It has been seven years since we zapatistas heard that
voice, and we
listened to it well.
We curbed our weapons and we began building a bridge
with words.
They were not, nor are they, new words.
They are the same words which have been being repeated
since man has been
man on the earth.
They are the same words which are said in every corner
of the five
continents.
They are the same words which all men and women say.
These words are democracy, liberty and justice.
And we wish to recognize all those men and women who
refused to conform and
who spoke these words.
To those who have lived and died them every day since
humanity began
walking this world.
Brothers and Sisters:
For having given us this opportunity to say and live
these words.
For having listened to us.
For having opened the path of dialogue and having
closed the path of war.
For having accompanied us.
For all of this and more, we are today giving our
regards to national and
international civil society.
We are sending our regards today to those who have
been the best teachers
to us, the zapatistas.
To the men, women, children and old ones who, in
Mexico and all throughout
the world, are repeating, over and over, so that no
one forgets them, so
that everyone will raise them up, the words of
democracy, liberty and
justice.
And we especially want to greet those who, today, as
they did seven years
ago, are mobilizing in Mexico and in other parts of
the world.
Salud, brothers and sisters!
Viva civil society!
Vivan the Indian peoples!
Democracy!
Liberty!
Justice!
>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
By the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee
-
General Command of the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
Mexico, January of 2001.
______________________________
#4
Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Mexico.
January 12, 2001.
To the P\'urhepecha Community of Nurio, Municipality of
Paracho,
Michoaca\'n:
To the National Indigenous Congress:
Brothers and Sisters:
I am writing you in the name of the women, men,
children and old ones of
the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
We learned today of the National Indigenous Congress\'
decision to hold its
third Congress on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of March, 2001,
in the P\'urhepecha
community of Nurio, in the municipality of Paracho,
Michoaca\'n.
We applaud the CNI\'s decision, and we respectfully ask
the P\'urhepecha
brothers and sisters of Nurio to allow us to come to
their community, and
to allow us to be there during the days that the Third
National Indigenous
Congress is being held. It would be a great honor for
the entire zapatista
delegation (comandantes, comandantas and
subcomandante) to be received by
our P\'urhepecha brothers.
We are letting you know that we already doing well at
organizing the
delegation\'s trip, so that we may be there,
punctually, on March 2, 2001,
the date that the National Indigenous Congress will be
beginning its work.
Please accept our respectful regards, awaiting the day
when we shall be
able to do so personally.
Vale. Salud, and may the P\'urhepecha nobility have a
place for the
zapatistas.
>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
Mexico, January of 20001.
*******************************************
#5
Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Mexico.
January 12, 2001.
To Civil Society:
Madame:
I am writing to you while it is raining and we are
waiting here for the
return of the compa~eros and compa~eras who went to
the march in San
Cristo\'bal de Las Casas. In a manner which is not
customary for us, we are
trying to keep you informed as to how things are going
here through letters
like this.
The Zapatista Information Center\'s mailbox has been
quickly filling, being
emptied, and filling up again. Greetings and
mobilization proposals from
various states in the Republic are arriving. In the
D.F., for example, a
very detailed proposal came from U.A.M. which,
however, presents serious
inconveniences. For example, they invite us to dine,
but how are we going
to eat with our ski-masks on? Ah, really? So the
promises about improving
the menu are of no use if, whenever they want, we\'re
going to end up being
fed intravenously. In Ciudad Jua\'rez, Chihuahua, they
were handing out
flyers in the streets today, and in Tijuana, B.C.,
they held a rally. From
Guanajuato, Morelos, Oaxaca, Puebla and Hidalgo, they
are asking us for the
dates and our itinerary in their states. Fine, we\'re
going to make this
public when we have it ready. Don\'t worry, and have
the parties ready.
On the international level, the influx is no less: a
delegation of
Italians, between 200 and 300 persons, confirmed that
they will be arriving
in Mexico in February, and they\'ll be prepared for
being expelled. From
San Francisco, California, U.S., they are advising us
they will be coming
to accompany the delegation, and they will be
informing the \"Frisco\"
community of everything that happens along the route
and during the stay in
the D.F. From Switzerland, they have confirmed the
attendance of a
delegation. We are being advised of the same from
Argentina and France.
In the State of Spain, they don\'t stop. In addition
to hanging from towers
and mountains, they are going to set out (they don\'t
say by what means, but
I imagine it won\'t be walking) to throw themselves
into the entire route.
Something verrry important: accommodations. And I\'m
not referring to the
accommodations for the zapatista delegation, but those
for all the people
who, from the states of the Republic and from other
parts of the world, are
going to participate in the march along with us. An
idea: that
organizations and groups which can offer places to put
people up please
advise the Zapatista Information Center, and the
\"pilgrims\" can then be
informed.
Concerning the technological breakthroughs, I am
informing you that the Web
page is now functioning. The address is:
http://www.ezlnaldf.org I am
taking the opportunity to make a request of all the
web pages that already
exist, or which refer to the zapatones and their
movement: please put in a
\"link\" or \"pass\", or whatever it\'s called, so that
those visiting your
pages can also have access to the one about the
current mobilization. We
also have our e-mail address now. The address is:
ciz@ezlnaldf.org
Good, that\'s how things are up to now. We\'ll be
passing along more
information to you in the next one.
Vale. Salud, and may peace come soon dot com.
>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
Mexico, January of 2001.
_________________
#6
Translated by irlandesa
Solidarity In Order To Finance the Zapatista
Mobilization to Mexico City
As is already public knowledge, the EZLN announced, in
late 2000, a
mobilization of 24 delegates from their General
Command, who will be going
from zapatista lands to the capital of the Mexican
Republic. Their purpose
is to expound upon the virtues of the Cocopa\'s
legislative proposal - which
faithfully reflects the San Andres Accords - to the
legislators of the
Congress of the Union. The EZLN also announced, early
this year, that the
Zapatista Information Center had been put into
operation. It will serve as
a communication point between national and
international civil society and
the EZLN.
Through communiques issued on January 6 and 7, the
EZLN confirmed the
mobilization, and they announced the first details
concerning the
delegation\'s trip, which will leave from San
Cristo\'bal de Las Casas on
February 25.
This mobilization will most certainly be of great
social and political
significance for the people of Mexico. Its fulfillment
will be dependent on
the combination of many efforts, various kinds of
support and on the direct
participation of thousands of enthusiastic persons.
We are calling on the solidarity of people,
collectives and organizations,
nationally and internationally - on civil society in
general - to
contribute financial help, which will enable the
planned departure of the
zapatista delegation on February 25 to be realized, as
well as to help pay
for the operating expenses of the recently opened
Zapatista Information
Center.
Everyone with the EZLN to Mexico City!
http://www.chiapaslink.ukgateway.net
#1 EZLN Communique 7 January 2001: 24 Commandantes to
leave Chiapas for Mexico City on 25th February, with
possible detour via Cancun (meeting of World Economic
Forum on 26th February)
#2 EZLN Communique 6 January 2001: preliminary
information about March to Mexico City
#3 EZLN Communique 12 January 2001: Demonstration in
San Cristobal de la Casas, seven years after
international mobilisations
#4 EZLN Communique 12 January 2001: to the P\'urhepecha
Community of Nurio, Municipality of Paracho,
Michoaca\'n, and to the National Indigenous Congress
(third meeting on 2-4 March 2001)
#5 EZLN Communique 12 January 2001: more information
on the March to Mexico City, Zapatista Information
Center, plus website
http://www.ezlnaldf.org #6 Call for Solidarity In Order To Finance the
Zapatista Mobilization to Mexico City
*****************************
#1
Originally published in Spanish by the EZLN
_______________________
Translated by irlandesa
Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Mexico.
January 7, 2001.
TO the national and international press:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The first of the information is off concerning our
delegation\'s trip to
Mexico City. We\'ll be leaving on February 25, because
we\'re looking into
whether we might drop in at Cancu\'n. I mean, so we
can get rid of a little
of the paleness which the mountain gifts us with. We
were going to include
Tabasco in the itinerary, but, with so many interims
coming and going, we\'d
certainly get lost.
What happened recently in Zinacanta\'n (PRD vs. PRI)
and in Chenalho\' (PRI vs.
PRI) (in both cases, incidentally, not one zapatista
participated)
demonstrates that the PRI continues to have many
enemies. The main one is
the PRI itself. And, if you don\'t believe me, pop
into the State Congress
of Chiapas. And then they were amazed that they lost
the elections.
We know that Fox said it wasn\'t necessary for us to go
to Mexico City, but,
if we had to, we could go without ski-masks. We are
very sorry: we are
indeed going to go to Mexico City, and we are indeed
going to wear
ski-masks.
Organize, that is indeed going to be \"a close shave\".
What does not make us laugh is the bit about there
being fewer than 10,000
soldiers in the Southeast military zone. Either Fox
doesn\'t know how to
count, or he\'s trying to be slick. Incidentally, note
the federal army\'s
following \"contributions\" to peace: they doubled the
number of troops in
the barracks at Cuxulja\' and Roberto Barrios, they are
continuing their
checkpoints there, and they reinstalled the one at
Amparo Agua Tinta.
Vale. Salud and, if you know how to count, how many
times has Fox said
contradictory things about Chiapas?
>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
Mexico, January of 2001.
______________________________
#2
Communique\' from the Clandestine Revolutionary
Indigenous Committee -
General Command of the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation.
January 6, 2001.
To the People of Mexico:
To the Peoples and Governments of the World:
To the National Indigenous Congress:
Brothers and Sisters:
The EZLN is releasing publicly the first information
about its delegation\'s
trip to the Federal District:
First. - The zapatista delegation will leave from San
Cristo\'bal de Las
Casas, Chiapas, on February 25, 2001. The trip will
be made by land.
Second. - During its travels to Mexico City, the
zapatista delegation will
cross through the lands of the states of Chiapas,
Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz,
Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, Quere\'taro, Michoaca\'n, the State
of Mexico and Morelos.
Third. - During the journey, the zapatista delegation
will make a stop at
the place, and on the date on which, the Third
National Indigenous Congress
is being held, in order to participate in their work.
Fourth. - During the journey, the zapatista
delegation will hold joint
events with the CNI and civil society. The programs
will be made public in
due time.
Fifth. - The EZLN calculates that its delegation will
arrive in Mexico
City on March 6, 2001.
Sixth. - The EZLN will shortly be announcing more
details of this
mobilization, such as: the geographic points of the
trip, places where it
will be spending the night and joint activities with
the CNI and civil
society.
Democracy!
Liberty!
Justice!
>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
Mexico, January of 2001.
______________________________
# 3
Originally published in Spanish by the EZLN
_______________________
Translated by irlandesa
Communique\' from the Clandestine Revolutionary
Indigenous Committee -
General Command of the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation.
January 12, 2001.
To the People of Mexico:
To the Peoples and Governments of the World:
Brothers and Sisters:
Today, January 12, 2001, we zapatistas are
demonstrating in this city of
San Cristo\'bal de Las Casas, Chiapas.
Tzotziles, Tzeltales, Choles, Tojolabales, Zoques,
Mames and mestizos, all
zapatistas, have come down from different parts of the
mountains of the
Mexican Southeast in order to come to this city and to
say our word.
For seven years, we have been fighting openly for
respect for the Indian
peoples of Mexico.
For seven years, we have been holding the dignity of
the Mexican indigenous
very high.
For seven years, we have been demanding that those
governing recognize the
rights and culture of those who have given history and
honor to our patria,
which is Mexico.
For seven years, we have been besieged, persecuted,
vilified, imprisoned,
tortured, assassinated.
With bullets or with lies, or with both, they have
wanted to do away with
us and to silence us.
And we, for seven years, have insisted on the path of
dialogue with
everyone in order to reach peace.
Now that a new century and a new millennium are
beginning, we are insisting
on the path of dialogue in order to end the war.
During these seven years which have gone by, those who
were the government
used dialogue in order to conceal the war they were
waging against us.
They lied.
Today we do not want lies.
We do not want deceit.
We want the dialogue to be real, so that the peace
will be real as well.
Today we know there is a new government.
But our distrust is not new.
It comes from a long time ago.
>From many years.
>From entire centuries.
But we shall not shut ourselves away in it forever.
That is why we have pointed out the key for unlocking
the door of our
distrust.
That key is made with the release of all the zapatista
prisoners, the
army\'s withdrawal from the seven positions, and the
constitutional
recognition of indigenous rights and culture.
Today, we now have 17 zapatistas released from jails
in Chiapas.
But there are still more than 80 who are imprisoned in
Chiapas, Tabasco and
Quere\'taro.
Today, the federal Army has left three positions.
But four others remain.
Today, the constitutional recognition of indigenous
rights and culture has
still not been ratified .
There is progress. Yes.
But it would appear that they are trying to present
these small advances
deceptively.
As if everything were already finished.
As if dialogue and peace were right here, very close.
As if they wanted to resolve the distrust which
government statements had
cultivated through just a few actions and many more
statements.
National and international civil society want there to
be dialogue in
Chiapas and for peace to arrive.
The Mexican government must respond to that.
Or do they only want the radio, television and
newspapers to say that the
government wants peace and that the zapatistas do not
want it?
If the government truly wants peace, they only have to
give us 3 signals.
Everyone can tell them that they are small.
That the government is not losing anything.
That the zapatistas do indeed keep their word, and
they will not ask for
anything else in order to sit down to dialogue.
But, if the government does indeed only want the media
to say and to shout
that it does want peace, and we do not, because we are
intransigent,
because we want all or nothing and other nonsense,
then the government may,
perhaps, be able to fill the people with noise.
The government has the money and the power to make
much noise about peace
and to allow the noise of war to not be heard.
But there will be no dialogue in that way, and peace
will not arrive.
For weeks, months, perhaps years, the voices of the
government will be
heard very loudly.
But there will be no peaceful solution.
In the end, the government will only have spent much
money in making the
people believe it wanted peace.
But it will not have peace.
And it is going to see that, in the end, the people
are going to say that
what they wanted was peace.
And not a publicity campaign.
Brothers and Sisters:
Today we wish to make a special commemoration.
Seven years ago, the other uprising took place.
The uprising of hundreds of thousands of Mexicans of
all colors, of all
sizes, of all sexes, of all social classes and
throughout the entire
country.
Along with them, there also rose up good persons from
other countries, who
are far away in distance, but very close in dignity.
That other uprising, the one by civil society, was,
and is, a great lesson
for us, the zapatistas, and for our country\'s history.
They were, and are, many.
Workers and campesinos.
Indigenous from the North and from the South, from the
East and from the
West.
Students and teachers.
Housewives and neighbors.
Religious men and women.
Intellectuals and artists.
Employees and drivers.
Small shopkeepers and business owners.
Market tenants and persons who are well-off.
Homosexuals and lesbians.
Doctors and nurses.
Fishermen and street vendors.
Businesspersons and the unemployed.
All the faces and names which the people have.
Everyone put silence aside and made their voices
heard.
They spoke with strong and clear voice.
Their word brought a message of justice, of respect,
of liberty, of
democracy.
All of those names named the peace which we all want
and need and deserve.
It was not the government which began speaking of
peace.
Nor were we zapatistas the first.
It was all of those men, women, children and old ones
who, in Mexico and in
the world, began demanding that the war be stopped,
and that it be words of
reason which led the way.
It has been seven years since we zapatistas heard that
voice, and we
listened to it well.
We curbed our weapons and we began building a bridge
with words.
They were not, nor are they, new words.
They are the same words which have been being repeated
since man has been
man on the earth.
They are the same words which are said in every corner
of the five
continents.
They are the same words which all men and women say.
These words are democracy, liberty and justice.
And we wish to recognize all those men and women who
refused to conform and
who spoke these words.
To those who have lived and died them every day since
humanity began
walking this world.
Brothers and Sisters:
For having given us this opportunity to say and live
these words.
For having listened to us.
For having opened the path of dialogue and having
closed the path of war.
For having accompanied us.
For all of this and more, we are today giving our
regards to national and
international civil society.
We are sending our regards today to those who have
been the best teachers
to us, the zapatistas.
To the men, women, children and old ones who, in
Mexico and all throughout
the world, are repeating, over and over, so that no
one forgets them, so
that everyone will raise them up, the words of
democracy, liberty and
justice.
And we especially want to greet those who, today, as
they did seven years
ago, are mobilizing in Mexico and in other parts of
the world.
Salud, brothers and sisters!
Viva civil society!
Vivan the Indian peoples!
Democracy!
Liberty!
Justice!
>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
By the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee
-
General Command of the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
Mexico, January of 2001.
______________________________
#4
Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Mexico.
January 12, 2001.
To the P\'urhepecha Community of Nurio, Municipality of
Paracho,
Michoaca\'n:
To the National Indigenous Congress:
Brothers and Sisters:
I am writing you in the name of the women, men,
children and old ones of
the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
We learned today of the National Indigenous Congress\'
decision to hold its
third Congress on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of March, 2001,
in the P\'urhepecha
community of Nurio, in the municipality of Paracho,
Michoaca\'n.
We applaud the CNI\'s decision, and we respectfully ask
the P\'urhepecha
brothers and sisters of Nurio to allow us to come to
their community, and
to allow us to be there during the days that the Third
National Indigenous
Congress is being held. It would be a great honor for
the entire zapatista
delegation (comandantes, comandantas and
subcomandante) to be received by
our P\'urhepecha brothers.
We are letting you know that we already doing well at
organizing the
delegation\'s trip, so that we may be there,
punctually, on March 2, 2001,
the date that the National Indigenous Congress will be
beginning its work.
Please accept our respectful regards, awaiting the day
when we shall be
able to do so personally.
Vale. Salud, and may the P\'urhepecha nobility have a
place for the
zapatistas.
>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
Mexico, January of 20001.
*******************************************
#5
Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Mexico.
January 12, 2001.
To Civil Society:
Madame:
I am writing to you while it is raining and we are
waiting here for the
return of the compa~eros and compa~eras who went to
the march in San
Cristo\'bal de Las Casas. In a manner which is not
customary for us, we are
trying to keep you informed as to how things are going
here through letters
like this.
The Zapatista Information Center\'s mailbox has been
quickly filling, being
emptied, and filling up again. Greetings and
mobilization proposals from
various states in the Republic are arriving. In the
D.F., for example, a
very detailed proposal came from U.A.M. which,
however, presents serious
inconveniences. For example, they invite us to dine,
but how are we going
to eat with our ski-masks on? Ah, really? So the
promises about improving
the menu are of no use if, whenever they want, we\'re
going to end up being
fed intravenously. In Ciudad Jua\'rez, Chihuahua, they
were handing out
flyers in the streets today, and in Tijuana, B.C.,
they held a rally. From
Guanajuato, Morelos, Oaxaca, Puebla and Hidalgo, they
are asking us for the
dates and our itinerary in their states. Fine, we\'re
going to make this
public when we have it ready. Don\'t worry, and have
the parties ready.
On the international level, the influx is no less: a
delegation of
Italians, between 200 and 300 persons, confirmed that
they will be arriving
in Mexico in February, and they\'ll be prepared for
being expelled. From
San Francisco, California, U.S., they are advising us
they will be coming
to accompany the delegation, and they will be
informing the \"Frisco\"
community of everything that happens along the route
and during the stay in
the D.F. From Switzerland, they have confirmed the
attendance of a
delegation. We are being advised of the same from
Argentina and France.
In the State of Spain, they don\'t stop. In addition
to hanging from towers
and mountains, they are going to set out (they don\'t
say by what means, but
I imagine it won\'t be walking) to throw themselves
into the entire route.
Something verrry important: accommodations. And I\'m
not referring to the
accommodations for the zapatista delegation, but those
for all the people
who, from the states of the Republic and from other
parts of the world, are
going to participate in the march along with us. An
idea: that
organizations and groups which can offer places to put
people up please
advise the Zapatista Information Center, and the
\"pilgrims\" can then be
informed.
Concerning the technological breakthroughs, I am
informing you that the Web
page is now functioning. The address is:
http://www.ezlnaldf.org I am taking the opportunity to make a request of all the
web pages that already
exist, or which refer to the zapatones and their
movement: please put in a
\"link\" or \"pass\", or whatever it\'s called, so that
those visiting your
pages can also have access to the one about the
current mobilization. We
also have our e-mail address now. The address is:
ciz@ezlnaldf.org Good, that\'s how things are up to now. We\'ll be
passing along more
information to you in the next one.
Vale. Salud, and may peace come soon dot com.
>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
Mexico, January of 2001.
_________________
#6
Translated by irlandesa
Solidarity In Order To Finance the Zapatista
Mobilization to Mexico City
As is already public knowledge, the EZLN announced, in
late 2000, a
mobilization of 24 delegates from their General
Command, who will be going
from zapatista lands to the capital of the Mexican
Republic. Their purpose
is to expound upon the virtues of the Cocopa\'s
legislative proposal - which
faithfully reflects the San Andres Accords - to the
legislators of the
Congress of the Union. The EZLN also announced, early
this year, that the
Zapatista Information Center had been put into
operation. It will serve as
a communication point between national and
international civil society and
the EZLN.
Through communiques issued on January 6 and 7, the
EZLN confirmed the
mobilization, and they announced the first details
concerning the
delegation\'s trip, which will leave from San
Cristo\'bal de Las Casas on
February 25.
This mobilization will most certainly be of great
social and political
significance for the people of Mexico. Its fulfillment
will be dependent on
the combination of many efforts, various kinds of
support and on the direct
participation of thousands of enthusiastic persons.
We are calling on the solidarity of people,
collectives and organizations,
nationally and internationally - on civil society in
general - to
contribute financial help, which will enable the
planned departure of the
zapatista delegation on February 25 to be realized, as
well as to help pay
for the operating expenses of the recently opened
Zapatista Information
Center.
Everyone with the EZLN to Mexico City!
http://www.chiapaslink.ukgateway.net
Originally published in Spanish by the EZLN