Propaganda war in southern Mexico
Finding a real understanding of the situation and events in Chiapas is not easy.On 10 February, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported
Chiapas rebel desertion: "Nearly 200 families have abandoned the Zapatista rebel movement in Polho, one of its strongholds, turning to the government for aid at a time when the insurgents are complaining about the loss of outside support. On Wednesday, each family received initial payments of $43 in a ceremony with Salvador Escobedo, a top official with the federal government's Social Development Ministry. The government is promising similar payments every two months, as well as a school and medical center."
On 12 February, Bill Weinberg wrote in his blog at World War 4 Report, Zapatistas "stronger" —despite paramilitary backlash.
"Refuting widespread media portrayal of the 'erosion' (desgaste) of the rebel Zapatista movement, Jorge Santiago, director of the local group Economic and Social Development of the Indigenous Mexicans (DESMI), which has been working with Maya communities in the Highlands of Chiapas for 35 years, told Blanche Petrich of the Mexican daily La Jornada that 14 years after the armed uprising, 'we are stronger, because we are linked' with social struggles across Mexico. 'Our word has to do with the words of others. The people are beginning to have confidence in themselves as builders of relations, with the local base.' He especially credits the Zapatistas' maintenance of the moral high ground—'The decision not to instigate confrontations with the local enemies, in spite of harassment and the onslaught on their territory.'
The La Jornada article cited by Weinberg is El zapatismo está más fuerte que hace 14 años
"San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chis. El zapatismo llega a sus 14 años de vida con una visión del país y del mundo que le ha permitido tejer alianzas continentales y contar con una base social que se ha expandido a regiones más allá de los límites de los municipios autónomos. 'Y con una conclusión: somos más fuertes, porque estamos vinculados. Nuestra palabra tiene que ver con la palabra del otro, de la otra. En la práctica, la gente empieza a confiar en sí como constructora de relaciones, con base local. Y con algo que no se trasluce en la información pero es muy fuerte: la decisión de no confrontarse con los enemigos locales, a pesar del hostigamiento y el embate que marcan su entorno.'..."
Weinberg also reports, "Paramilitary harassment of the Zapatista communities continues unabated. At Bolon Ajaw settlement... gunmen with shotguns and rifles opened fire on community members working in the corn fields... [and] routinely set up illegal roadblocks, threatening community members and impeding access to their farmlands. [Community members] blame the attacks on the Organization for the Defense of Indigenous and Campesino Rights (OPDDIC), which they charge is a paramilitary group loyal to the political machine of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
The source of the second report is Bolon Ajaw, nuevas agresiones.
"A Bolon Ajaw (Nueve Reyes, en tzeltal) se llega a pie, por una vereda que recorre un costado de las famosas cascadas de Agua Azul. Las 47 familias que habitan este poblado son bases de apoyo del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN). Son 200 hombres, mujeres y niños, cuya vida transcurre entre disparos al aire, agresiones físicas, amenazas, insultos, quema de milpas y casas, bloqueo a la entrada de su pueblo y una serie de hostilidades protagonizadas por el grupo paramilitar Organización para la Defensa de los Derechos Indígenas y Campesinos (Opddic)..."
posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:26 AM
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