Zapatista Caravan Comes to An End.

• Author: Kennis, Andrew
• Position: Zapatista Army of National Liberation

As late as a few months ago, it was hard to imagine the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional (EZLN, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation) would be traveling to Mexico City for possible peace negotiations with a newly elected government. Just as hard to imagine was the possibility that a complete transformation of the EZLN could take place, following their uprising seven years ago; the EZLN has gone on record as stating that they're "fighting in order to disappear."

On March 11, 2001 the Zapatista caravan completed its 15 day trip throughout a dozen states in Mexico. The last event of the tour was at the Zocalo, the historic central plaza, in Mexico City, which drew over 200,000 people.

The caravan included a diverse group of people, such as subcommandante Marcos, the spokesperson for the EZLN, 23 indigenous rebel leaders from the Comite Clandestino Revolucionario Indigena which heads the EZLN (CCRI, Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee), hundreds of indigenous Zapatista civilians, thousands of international supporters and observers, and crowds of enthusiastic supporters.

The purpose of the caravan was to publicize and garner public support for the preconditions the EZLN is demanding for the renewal of peace negotiations: the withdrawal of Mexican armed forces from 7 key military bases in Chiapas (President Fox has withdrawn only 4 of the 7 key bases while 255 remain, in total); for the release of the remaining 9 Zapatista political prisoners; and for the passage into law of the San Andres peace accords (which President Fox has introduced to the legislature, but has failed to lobby).

While the caravan has come to an end, the Commandancia (Commanders) of the CCRI are not leaving Mexico City. They will remain to lobby on behalf of the passage of the Indian Rights Bill. If passed, the legislation would put into law the San Andres peace accords, which include the recommendations by the Comision de Concordia y Pacificacion (COCOPA, the Commission for Concordance and Pacification).

Implementing the accords is widely seen as a crucial step in lessening the human rights abuses that occur in Mexico (particularly in Chiapas), at the hands of the US funded and trained Mexican army and their paramilitaries.

Zapatistas Emerge and Human Rights Abuses, Economic Oppression Increase

Human rights abuses against the indigenous peoples of Mexico have long been present. However, they increased markedly after the EZLN first emerged publicly on January 1, 1994. On that historic date, the EZLN had an uprising that resulted in the occupation of over four towns in the impoverished state of Chiapas. The date of the uprising was symbolic, as it coincided with the official date for NAFTA implementation, and as their spokesman subcommandante Marcos explained, the "free-trade" pact was a "death sentence for the indigenous peoples." The uprising lasted for 12 days until, after millions of Mexicans demonstrated for peace, the EZLN and President Salinas to agreed to a cease fire on January 12. Thereafter...