Zapatista Army for National Liberation
Sixth Commission of the EZLN
Mexico

September 11, 2008

To the compañeras and compañeros and compañeroas adherents of the Sixth
Declaration, the Other Campaign, and the Zezta Internazional:

To whomever feels addressed by these words:

Compas:

How about this "compañeroa" term? For our part here we are thinking that
this way we can resolve that problem of the @ sign, and go a little further.
Because, as the deceased Elias Contreras always said, it turns out that...
Well, I'm starting off a little muddled. Here we go again:

Compas:

First of all, receive zapatista greetings. We are writing you all (todos,
todas, y todoas) in order to talk a bit about what we're thinking, as
comrades in struggle.

It is not one single thought, however, but rather several. Well, it is one
thought but it carries many, that is, it's a complex thought. Mixed up, you
could say. And talking about it and writing about it and discussing it with
you all is how we accommodate it, how it comes out clear in the end. So we
thought that we'd start first things first.

And the first thing is our compañer@s who were unjustly taken prisoner those
first days of May, 2006, in the savage repression against the people of San
Salvador Atenco. While some have been freed, others remain unjustly
imprisoned, among them the compañero Ignacio del Valle, of the People's
Front in Defense of the Land. And we name him not because we are forgetting
or ignoring the rest, but rather because his case is emblematic of the
injustice that is a law and an institution in this suffering Mexico.

Well then, you all know more or less what happened, so what we want to talk
about now is what we are going to do, as zapatistas and with other compas
that aren't zapatistas but are part of the Other Campaign, that is,
compañeras, compañeros and compañeroas.

As of the first days after our compañer@s of the Other Campaign and the
People's Front in Defense of the Land were taken hostage by the federal
government (then and now the National Action Party) and the State of Mexico
(the PRI), and unjustly imprisoned, a small group of men and women of the
Other Campaign set up a small encampment in front of the prison at
Santiaguito.

Since then, with perseverance and without any recognition whatsoever, this
encampment has maintained itself, first in front of the Santiaguito prison
and later, when our prisoners were transferred, in front of the prison
Molino de las Flores (also in the state of Mexico). Their demand is and has
been that of all of us in the Other Campaign: freedom and justice for
Atenco.

But there is more. Over the course of these more than two years, and in
adverse conditions, this encampment has accompanied our prisoners and their
families, assuring them that they weren't and aren't alone, that we have not
forgotten.

In these more than two years, dozens of our compas-prisoners have been set
free. According to our thinking, this has been thanks to the mobilizations
carried out in Mexico and around the world, to the committed work of their
legal defenders, and to the tenacity of this small group of compañer@s that,
without any attention from the media (though with substantial attention from
the federal, state, and municipal police that have not ceased to harass and
threaten them), day and night they have raised the call for freedom and
justice for Atenco.

In these more than two years, it's true that some have withdrawn or vacated
their presence at the encampment. But there is a nucleus that has remained
constant and it is this nucleus that is the assurance to our prisoners that
our movement has not and will not abandon them.

As you all know, a few weeks ago that tragic farce that is Mexican legal
justice dictated a new and outrageous sentence against our compas in Molino
de las Flores and in the high security prison La Palma (Almoloya), in the
state of Mexico, adding a link to the already long chain of injustices
weighing down our compañer@s.

As of this moment, the EZLN made contact with the compañer@s that have
remained firm at the encampment, with some groups, collectives, and
organizations who are adherents of the Sixth Declaration, and with some of
those who were prisoners and have been released. We have had and have now
the goal of re-launching the National and International Campaign demanding
liberty and justice for Atenco, and of maintaining a constant bridge to our
compas who are still prisoner so that they feel and know that here among us
they are not forgotten.

We are speaking of, therefore, not just a few actions, as fleeting as the
few lines that were written about this injustice, but rather something
longer lasting, constant, and effective.

Among other things, and as a result of these contacts and counsels, a
variety of individuals, groups, collectives, and organizations that belong
to the Other Campaign, have convened the REINFORCEMENT, IN QUALITY AND
QUANTITY, OF THE ENCAMPMENT AT MOLINA DE LAS FLORES, CONVERTING IT INTO A
SPACE OF ENCOUNTER OF THE OTHER CAMPAIGN, IN ADDITION TO CONVOKING, AT
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVELS, THE RENEWING OF THE CAMPAIGN TO FREE OUR
PRISONERS.

We suggest that we rotate attendance at the encampment, promoting and
participating in political-cultural activities in that space, and taking up
the contacts that we had made in Mexico and the world to coordinate new
activities in demand of justice.

With the National Network against Repression and for Solidarity (made up
fundamentally by individuals, groups, collectives, and organizations of the
Other Campaign), with the National Independent Union of Popular
Organizations of the Left (UNOPII), and with Labor and Socialist Unity
(UNIOS), and with various libertarian groups and collectives, as well as
with compañeras and compañeros that have supported the Sixth Commission of
the EZLN in the Other Campaign, we have agreed upon a calendar of
participation and activities that are to begin this September 16th, 2008, on
the third anniversary of our movement.

That is why we are writing you. To invite you to attend the encampment at
Molino de las Flores, and to participate in the activities to take place
there, and to, in your own groups, collectives, and organizations, and in
the local, regional, and state work units of the Other Campaign, to propose
and carry out actions in demand of liberty and justice for Atenco.

Compañeroas, compañeras, and compañeros:

With this small effort we invite you to say, along with us, and to remind
ourselves and everyone else, that WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN... not our prisoners
nor those who have imposed this injustice upon them.

That is all, compañeros, compañeras and compañeroas. Soon we will send you,
on the Third Anniversary of the Other Campaign (that is, September 16 of
this year), another convocation for an activity that perhaps will interest
you.

Vale. Cheers and may the other reaffirm its existence.

LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ATENCO!

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
Mexico, September of 2008.