Chiapas, Mexico - Wander the Planet .net

THE STATE OF CHIAPAS, MEXICO

I went to Chiapas as part of a working delegation training Zapatista communities. We stayed in two of the autonomous communities (Aguascalientes) and did some sightseeing in San Cristobal, Tonina, Chamula, and San Pedro. Chiapas is a beautiful state and even though it has become increasingly militarized, tourist revenues are welcome.

Zapatista Rebellion

The indigenous people of Mexico have struggled against racism for centuries. Up until 1974, the Chiapas state constitution stated that all Indians had to dress in their native costumes and that if a Mexican of mixed blood or Spanish descent passed by on the sidewalk, the Indian had to walk in the street.

During the last 70 years or so, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) has dominated the political structure. The PRI has made land owners richer and the people that work the land poorer. In 1890 approximately 50,000 hectares were ruled by just 6 haciendas, which was one factor that led to the 1910 Mexican Revolution, led by Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919). The revolution was victorious in securing land reforms which protected communal land holdings from privatization.

However, President Salinas pushed through an amendment that repealed the protection of land holdings after the institution of NAFTA on January 1, 1994. This, in effect, ended any hopes landless peasants had of owning their own farms. Not coincidentally, also on January 1, 1994 an organization of indigenous peasants from the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico came into the world's view when they took over five towns, including San Cristobal de Las Casas.

The Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN), referred to as the Zapatistas, called for changes in the Mexican economy and political structure which would guarantee increased democracy and self-determination for the Mexican people - particularly indigenous groups. Six months before January 1, 1994, undercover Zapatistas joined the Mexican army. On New Year's Eve, undercover Zapatistas told real soldiers to take the night off and spend it with their families. When the Zapatistas arrived in San Cristobal for the uprising, the undercover Zapatistas took off their Mexican Army uniforms and changed into their real Zapatista uniforms.

Since then, the charismatic spokesman, Subcommander Marcos, has manipulated mass media and charmed onlookers with his eloquence. During negotiations with the Mexican government to change the Mexican constitution, the Zapatistas worked with the National Indigenous Congress (made up of delegates of 56 groups) and CONAI (the National Intermediation Commission) headed by Bishop Samuel Ruiz of San Cristobal. However, presently the negotiations have stalled and Bishop Ruiz is set to retire this fall.

The Zapatistas focused criticism on the current globalization of economics experienced in many countries. The Zapatistas have explained that their struggle is for the following eleven points: 1) Work, 2) Land, 3) Housing, 4) Food, 5) Health Care, 6) Education, 7) Independence, 8) Liberty, 9) Democracy, 10) Justice, and 11) Peace. Additionally, in the national and international plebiscite called by the EZLN last year (1.2 million voters), five new points were added including: culture, information, security, combating corruption, and protection of the environment.

In January, 1995, Chase Manhattan sent a memo stating that the Mexican "government will need to eliminate the Zapatistas to demonstrate their effective control of the national territory and of security policy."

On December 22, 1997, armed supporters of the PRI massacred 45 unarmed indigenous persons who had sought refuge from earlier violence in Acteal in the county of Chenalho in the Chiapas highlands. The victims were Zapatista supporters or members of the peasant organization, Sociedad Civil Las Abejas, a group with politics similar to the Zapatistas but which does not support armed struggle. They were attending Mass in the Catholic church when the shooting started by 60 heavily armed men. The attackers were armed with AK-47 and M-16 rifles and expanding hollow-tip bullets (weapons which could only have been obtained from military or police). The massacre lasted five hours, during which time the police stood by and refused to intervene. The Mexican Red Cross reported 45 deaths, including 9 men, 21 women, 14 children, and one baby. The Mexican government reacted immediately, not by sending needed supplies and medical help to survivors, but by sending an additional 5,000 troops to Chiapas.

On January 12, 1997, state police in Ocosingo opened fire on rock-throwing demonstrators protesting the massacre. An indigenous woman was killed, and her three-year-old daughter and a young man were wounded. The police refused to transport her to the nearest hospital. Although there was a video showing at least three police officers shooting at the demonstrators, by June all but one of the accused had been released. The final accused officer was only charged with malicious wounding.

I caught a flight from Mexico City into Tuxla Gutierrez. From there, you can catch a taxi into San Cristobal. Fares are about $35-40 - so find a group to split the cost.

The state of Chiapas is Mexico's southernmost state and is home to 2 million people. Chiapas borders Guatemala and is home to the Palenque and Tonina ruins. Much of Chiapas lies in the mountains of the Sierra Madre del Sur.

Chiapas has some of the richest natural resources, including oil reserves, in Mexico - which explains the government's stronghold, as well as the role of the United States.

Hydroelectric plants in Chiapas generate 60% of the country's hydroelectric energy. Although the state has an abundance of natural resources, the level of poverty and lack of a basic standard of living among the indigenous groups is abysmal.

Ten million of Mexico's 93 million people are indigenous from the following groups: Tzeltales, Tzotziles, Choles, Lacandones, Tzoques, Tojolabales, Mames, Chujes, Cackchiquéles, and Mochos. Ninety percent of the other 83 million are of mixed descent.

Chiapas produces coffee, corn, cocoa, cattle-ranching, hydroelectric power, and timber harvested from the Lacandona rainforest.

Since the uprising in 1994, Mexico has deported more than two hundred foreigners, and "requested" the departure of others. Those expelled have included journalists, human rights workers, foreign Catholic priests, and students.