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CLASS WAR IN MEXICO: Armed Struggle Erupts in Chiapas By Gustavo Rodr!guez "Our Indians are dying of hunger, and we therefore have started this armed revolution. We have tired of the government not listening to our demands for better health, education, justice and the right to work." -- Tzetzal, an indigenous resident of Chiapas, Information commissioner for the EZLN (translated from Tzetzal) No matter how you look at it and from any point of view, Mexico will never be the same. That Mexico of the "Institutionalized" Revolution (the party in power in Mexico is the Party of the Institutionalized Revolution [PRI]), the Mexico of presidential succession by decree, that Mexico of the party-government, has died. This act of killing Mexico began during the early hours of the morning of the first day of this year. The indigenous-peasant uprising in Chiapas has given us faith of the death of this Mexico and in its place has begun to raise up a new Mexico. They may smash this insurrection militarily, they may send thousands of provisions to calm the hunger, the priests may control things momentarily but, but the causes of the rebellion are there to see and they extend throughout the whole mexican territory, especially sharply in indigenous communities; the possibility, therefore, of other insurrections will continue to exist. With the new year in Mexico we begin to hear about uprisings and armed insurrection, of Social Revolution, of rebellions. There is "official" talk about another army: The Zapatista Army of National Liberation. The country was shaken up on the second day of the year with headlines such as: "Violent takeover of five city halls by armed group in chiapas," "Municipal palaces destroyed and sacked in San Cristobal de las Casas, Ocozingo, Altamirano, Chanal and Las Margaritas," "EZLN declares war." That was exactly what happened in the first minutes of 1994 as NAFTA came into effect, signed and ratified by the dominant classes of the US, Canada and Mexico. What are the Causes? Class war has started in Mexico, that is not doubted even by the PRI (the ruling party). It's causes are well known secrets. In the October/November edition of Amor y Rabia (see vol 0, no. 7, Amor y Rabia Mexican Edition) in the article titled "Mexico: the Persistent Repression", Ana Laura and I clearly stated the causes of this armed revolt that now has taken so many by "surprise." We explained the situation of the Mexican state in "this six-year term, characterized by liberal politics and the abuse of demagoguery (which continues to repeat that Mexico is on the road of progress), the country has become still more poor. Unemployment in the countryside and in the city has increased suddenly, in accordance with the desperate situation for the majority of the population." We continued to state that "this situation has sharpened the class contradictions, ending finally with the proliferation of conflicts, multiplying labor and popular movements with the demand of social justice, which brings them into constant confrontations with repressive governmental forces..." Because of all of the preceding, the dominant classes and the electoral parties should not be surprised by what is happening in this country. We were still more concrete when we wrote, under the subtitle "Campesin@s and Repression", about the rural reality in the Mexican state where "agrarian conflicts, the utter exploitation of the natural resources and systematic repression...date from colonial times" and we documented that "30% of the native indigenous population of America lives in Mexico and of this percentage 45% suffer from hunger and malnutrition, among other violations of their human rights." So then, why are there so many who are taken by surprise by armed uprising? And as though misery, hunger, and hopelessness were not enough, we also documented the presence of troops in the area, their armed incursions, the detentions, the tortures, the registrations, the seizures and the evictions. In October we talked about the situation in Chiapas, especially about the presence of the army in Ocozingo and Altamirano and of the bombarding of the communities of Patat el Viejo y San Miguel. Our analysis of this grave and desperate economic situation and of the constant violations of the most basic human rights was of a general character, putting forth an analysis of the sad reality that faces the whole of the population of the Mexican state. Now, if we give a detailed analysis of the situation in the state of Chiapas we will see that it is second only to Oaxaca and Guerrero in poverty. According to the conservative figures of the Conapo (the National Council on Population), in Chiapas 94 of the 111 municipalities that make up the state find themselves within the definition of "very high" and "high" marginality; only 153 municipalities of the 2,403 in the whole country fit into this "category." In the whole of the state of Chiapas, there is not a single municipality that qualifies for the category of "very low" marginality, which describes characteristics of life similar to the working class of states such as Jalisco, Puebla, Nuevo Le"n and Mexico City (D.F.). In Chiapas 34.92% of the population is without electric power versus 13% at the national level; the level of illiteracy is three times higher than the national rate for population over 15 years old (30.12% versus 12.44%) and double the national level of adults who did not finish primary school (62.08% versus 29.31%); of the 22% of people living in homes without plumbing in all of the country, 42.66% live in Chiapas. The municipalities of Ocozingo, Las Margaritas, and Altamirano (occupied by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN)) hold 225,000 people, of whom 80% of the families spend less than the equivalent of US$260 per month, 48% of those older than 15 years are illiterate and 75.5% of the communities that make up these municipalities lack electric energy. According to the report about municipal marginalization made by Conapo in 1990, which is in accord with the latest facts from the INEGI (National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Computers) of the year 1993, little has changed for the 111 municipalities in Chiapas. Five have "low" marginality, 12 have "medium" marginality, 56 have "high" and 38 have "very high" marginality; none presented "very low" marginality. In the municipality of Ocozingo, more than 121,000 people live completely marginalized: 60.24% of the houses have no plumbing or latrines; 67.95% don't have electric energy; 49.17% of the inhabitants have no running water; 74.68% live in houses with dirt floors; overcrowding affects 80.80% of the population; 46.71% of the inhabitants 15 years or older are illiterate and 78.29% did not finish primary school. (This municipality is the most densely populated by the EZLN). En Altamirano, there are more than 17,000 people. Of those, 43.67% live without plumbing and latrines; 75.01% lack electricity; 48.75% have no running water; 79.56% live in houses with dirt floors; 51.76% of those over 15 years old are illiterate and 83.31% of that age group did not finish primary school. In Las Margaritas, 86,000 inhabitants, marginality was "very high"; 48.37% of the population 15 years and older are illiterates; 83.27% of those did not finish primary education; 38.54% live in houses without plumbing or latrines; 66.4% don't have electric energy; 72.72% of the houses don't have drinkable water; 83.36% of the houses are in conditions of overcrowding and 77.9% have dirt floors. In San Cristobal de las Casas, 89,000 inhabitants experience the "best standard of living" of the region (the first municipality abandoned by the Zapatistas). The poverty indexes in San Cristobal are all much lower, even though they are alarming compared to the national averages. 25% of the population over 15 are illiterate; 44.79% of that age group did not finish primary education; 21.72% live in houses without plumbing or latrines; 27.47% have no running water; 16.95% have no electricity; 60.06% live in conditions of overcrowding and 33.99% have dirt floors. After reviewing these statistics, I ask myself again, how could the armed uprising take so many by surprise? ZAPATISMO AND THE INDIGENOUS MOVEMENT It is still premature to talk about a serious analysis of the Zapatista National Liberation Army. It cannot be known at this early stage who, exactly, are the members of the EZLN. The Maoists (in capitalist press coverage) shouted that Chiapas began the "Popular War" and that this uprising obeyed the advanced Maoist International in the last minute of the centenary year since the birth of Mao (they did not specify if the orders were from Presidente Gonzalo or from Presidente Ismaelito); for their part, the Stalinist-Trotskyists and the Stalinist-Castroists baptized the Zapatistas as the "vanguard" of the mexican revolution and predicted the start of a "socialist" state in Mexico. Information from the government tells us that we are witnessing an invasion of "foreign terrorists" and by provocateur priests and liberation theologists; the documents that have been made public that are credited to the Zapatistas have a confusing language that is difficult to understand and goes from nationalist positions, constitutionalist positions, electoral, autonomist and even liberatory positions (according to an article published in the magazine Proceso). The only thing that can be clearly taken from the communiques is what they have openly said from the first minute of this year: the disgust with having to wait more than 500 years for justice, equality, well being and freedom. We cannot talk about the indigenous rebellions and insurrections in Mexico without referring to the history of Chiapas. Even to mention only two of the most important indigenous uprisings in the state, we immediately come to the insurrection of the Tzeltal people in 1712 and that of the Tzotzil people in 1868 (which lasted until 1872), both in search of respect for their culture and their dignity. Chiapas did not play a very important part within the ranks of the Ejrcito Libertador (Liberation Army) during the mexican revolution, 1910-17 (precisely during the height of zapatismo in the south and center of Mexico). To the contrary, the local rebels rose up in arms against the revolutionary laws of the government of Alvaro Obreg"n. The caudillos who fought against the redistribution of land to peasants and indians were then put in charge of the Agrarian Reform by decision of the central government. It was not until 1935 with the government of L zaro C rdenas, in the full swing of populism that the doling out of land for commonly held lang and for communities in Chiapas: "En a celebrated conference today with the Lic. Gabino V zquez, chief of the Agriculture Department, instructions were received to intensify the work of giving out land throughout the country. The government should abolish the plantations, and instead construct common lands; this is both in order to be true to the agrarian laws and to avoid the violence that occurs between the plantation owners and the peasants asking for land."* Even in times of "liberty and democracy" military uprisings have been reported in this southern state: In 1974 there were insurrections in the municipalities of San Andrs Larr inzar y Venustiano Carranza (this last brutally repressed by the mexican army); In 1975 the evictions in the army and the municipality of Simojovel; in 1976, the invasions of Frailesca, near Carranza and the violence in May; in 1977 the military repression against Choles and the workers of PEMEX (Mexican Petroleum). in the north of the state and the july revolt in Simojovel with a total of 16 ejidos (collectives which own common land) torched by the army, 10 dead including two peasants thrown from helicopters and ambushed; in 1978 the army assaulted Monte L!bano, in the middle of the jungle and carried out "actions of punishment against rebelling indians"; in 1979 evictions and total state repression increased; in 1980 repression increased still more, and in July another massacre occurred in Woloch n, where the army attacked a town by surprise with rockets and machine guns, and 12 tzeltales (indigenous inhabitants of the region) were assassinated and incinerated. This "operation" was carried out under the orders of the then maximum chief of the 31st Military Zone who would later become the governor of the state: General Absal"n Castellanos Dom!nguez (currently a prisoner of the Zapatista Army). The repression, the evictions, the detentions, the tortures, the assassinations all continue in an interminable list that goes right up to our times, up to this January of 1994 when the world found out about these bombing, these summary executions, these evictions, and when these "law breakers", these "professional terrorists", these "foreigners" filled the pages of the western press with the cry: -Zapata vive!