INDIGENOUS PEOPLE RESIST STATE ATTACKS IN MEXICO

The Zapatista indigenous movement in Chiapas, Mexico has inspired people world-wide. The one thousand zapatista autonomous communities in resistance are living proof of an alternative to profit-dominated capitalism. But now zapatista villages are suffering violent attacks from paramilitaries and Mexican state forces.

On 21st February armed police invaded the zapatista village of Bolon Ajaw, firing three times. Villagers mobilised, grabbing large sticks to show their determination to defend their village. The police retreated, leaving two zapatista women badly beaten with gun butts. State and business interests want to evict the village to exploit nearby waterfalls through tourist developments.

Bolon Ajaw is near the well-known tourist site of Agua Azul, on the road to Palenque from San Cristobal de Las Casas. In their denunciation of this state violence, the Zapatista Council of Good Government of the Morelia Caracol , declared : “The comrades of the village knew since 30th January that the government had a plan to order the forces of public security into the village, they had threatened that they would invade the village on 20th February to evict the people…...”

On 1st February two zapatistas, from the community of Vetel Yochib, also near Agua Azul, were attacked while going to help in the construction of a Peace Camp for human rights observers. Armed police detained the two, a father and son, shooting the father in the foot. Taken to the prison Playas de Catazajá, near Palenque, they were then tortured for seven hours. Only after vigorous protests by groups like the Fray Bartolemew human rights centre and the Zapatista Council of Good Government of Morelia, were they eventually freed after a week in jail. Indymedia Chiapas has published photos showing the marks of torture the men suffered.

Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group is among groups world-wide supporting the zapatistas. On 10th December group members joined protestors from round Britain to blockade both the Mexican Embassy and the Mexican Consulate in London, denouncing the growing state violence against social movements throughout Mexico since President Calderon of the PAN party gained power in 2006.

If short of time, please jump to the end of the article to see what you can do – otherwise read on for more info about attacks on zapatista communities all round Chiapas.

The following are very brief accounts of just some of the recent attacks :

In Zinacantan in the Highlands of Chiapas the PRD party are preventing the zapatistas in the community of Sok’on accessing the drinking water from their local spring.

In autonomous municipality Ricardo Flores Magon in the Lacandona jungle, the Federal Electricity Commission have cut off electricity to zapatista supporters, and similar actions are reported elsewhere.

A combined police-army operation on 30th January in the communities of Xuxch’ en, Cotsilna’m, and Xulumo’ resulted in the illegal detention and ill-treatment of two zapatistas, plus the unjustified seizure of a comrade’s vehicle. The detained zapatistas were freed after the intervention of Fray Bartolemew human rights centre. These communities all belong to autonomous municipality Magdalena de la Paz, in the Highlands.

In the neighbourhood “5th March” in San Cristobal de Las Casas the local authority has cut off the water supply to 26 families who are zapatista supporters and adherents to The Other Campaign.

On 29th December armed members of the Police, and a member of OPDDIC, fired several shots from a police car at zapatista supporter Pablo Silvano Jimenez while he was walking along the Ocosingo - Palenque road near his community of Vetel Yochib, close to Agua Azul waterfalls. Mr. Jimenez was wounded in the leg and needed hospital treatment.

In Chiapas the repression against the zapatistas comes not only directly from the state but also from organisations who pretend to be peasant groups but are actually paramilitary-style organisations, covertly supported by the state, and often linked to political parties like the PRI. The zapatistas of Ricardo Flores Magon denounce new aggressions by the organisations Opas, Oppdic y Aric Unión de Uniones against an autonomous clinic and education centre. OPDDIC, has also been consistently menacing the zapatistas in autonomous municipality Olga Isabel. This has included massing mobs to threaten to destroy the main village in the municipality, brutally beating a health worker, and firing shots in the vicinity of villages.

In the context of the attacks on zapatistas at Bolon Ajaw and Betel Yochib, described earlier, human rights activists and researchers CAPISE report that the area around the Agua Azul and Misol-ha waterfalls, one of the principal tourist areas in Chiapas, has also become one of the most dangerous areas of the state due to the intertwined activities of paramilitaries, criminal gangs and the state police (PEC division).

The attacks on the zapatistas are linked to international plans for “development”. Last year the Zapatista village of "San Miguel" was evicted by armed police, and more evictions are threatened in the same area, the resource-rich Montes Azules part of the Lacandona rainforest, eyed greedily by multinationals. Chiapas is part of the region targeted for major capitalist development through the "Plan Puebla Panama", backed by the USA, Mexican and Central Americangovernments as well as by many major corporations, and linked to the plans for the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

The current wave of attacks on the zapatistas is an attack on their whole system of autonomy, built up since – and even before – the 1994 uprising. The autonomous health clinics, schools, the communal land, the co-ops – all are under attack.

The Zapatistas took a risk in initiating The Other Campaign, reaching out to other exploited groups to try and help construct a movement from below to challenge capitalist power. The ruling class in Mexico are determined to do away with such threats to their power. More than ever, international solidarity is vital, not only to defend the zapatistas but to defend and strengthen the global movement to create a different better world.

What you can do: Protest to The Ambassador Juan José Bremer de Martino, The Mexican Embassy, 16 St. George Street, London W1S 1FD Tel: 020 7499 8586 E-mail via:

http://portal.sre.gob.mx/reinounidoeng/

Or e mail the Ambassador via the assistants to the Ambassador :

cmoye@sre.gob.mx

or

jlopezr@sre.gob.mx

If you live in or near Edinburgh, we invite you to get involved in the Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group. Contact

Edinchiapas@yahoo.co.uk

for info on our activity, we meet regularly at the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh and very much welcome new people.

If you live elsewhere in Scotland, we are happy to help you get zapatista solidarity activity underway in your area, eg by helping you put on a public event in your locality, and sending you leaflets and other material.

If you live in England or Wales we can put you in touch with your nearest group, and also supply you with leaflets and information.

Wherever you are in The UK, we encourage people interested in ongoing activity to get involved in the UK Zapatista Solidarity Network, so we can organise more effective solidarity with the Zapatistas and make the Mexican state realise they cannot get away with this violent repression in silence.

(Information on repression in Chiapas translated from

www.chiapas.indymedia.org

and

www.capise.org.mx

. )