repression | Mexico: Offensive against Zapatista communities

Courageous resistance: Indigenous organizations march in Chiapas, Mexico, against highway construction on their territory. Photo: Gobierno Comunitario Chilón (Facebook) The renowned human rights center Fray Bartolomé de las Casas (Frayba) from the southern Mexican state of Chiapas is sounding the alarm: "We publicly denounce the serious dangerous situation that communities of EZLN supporters are facing in their regained territories," says a current communiqué.

In the past few days, grassroots communities of the social-revolutionary movement around the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (EZLN) have been threatened and harassed several times. Parts of their lands were occupied, communally cultivated corn fields and forest areas were destroyed and cattle were stolen. There have also been fines or arrests of people who sent their children to the autonomous Zapatista schools or who used the EZLN's independent health system.

All of these practices, according to Frayba, "contradict government rhetoric, as they are a series of counterinsurgency measures that could lead to a serious incident like the Acteal massacre." In 1997, 45 - explicitly pacifist - pro-Zapatista residents were murdered by paramilitary forces in this village. They had direct contact with the federal army and police. The state security forces stationed within sight did not intervene.

“These attacks imply a direct threat to the integrity of communities, their territory and the exercise of their autonomy,” the center continued. They "take place in the context of the ongoing construction of the San Cristóbal-Palenque highway - officially known as the 'Route of Mayan Cultures' - and in the context of the ongoing attacks that have already made public the General Assembly of the Collectives of Zapatista Autonomous Governments (ACGAZ)".

There are currently reports that the construction of this highway, which is designed for tourism and extractivism, is destroying intact rainforest and being forced on small farming communities through corruption, disinformation and threats of violence. According to Frayba, even state environmental laws were not sufficiently followed. The ILO Convention 169 on indigenous rights, signed by Mexico, is therefore constantly being violated. Surveying and construction work with heavy equipment is also continuing on Zapatista lands.

For them, these are provocations of the elites in a larger context: »This year in July we announced our intention to travel to Mexico City to meet with the groups, collectives or groups without groups from the searching families. To listen to their story and the story of their missing people: group by group, family by family.«

In its communiqué of November 3rd, the General Assembly of the Zapatista Autonomous Governments ACGAZ made it clear: “The rulers are playing with fire. We don't want to cause a stir, but we can. These provocations do not force us to cancel the trip.«

The Zapatistas accuse the government of tolerating and sometimes even protecting human rights violations: "Those who are provoking are members of the cartel around Mario Delgado, Minister of State for Public Education. The main assassin is Eusebio Cruz Ruiz, who presents himself as a teacher and says he receives direct orders from Delgado."

In light of the events, Frayba calls on the government to immediately stop all attacks on the Zapatista communities and to fully respect their right to autonomy and self-determination. A clear sign of the importance of the EZLN's current mobilization is the solidarity of the independent union “National Coordination of Education Workers” (CNTE) with “our Zapatista brothers”. Around 500,000 activists, mainly teachers, are organized in the CNTE.

The planned Zapatista activities are the second stage of the “Journey for Life”, the “Mexico Chapter”. As part of the "first chapter" of the "Journey for Life", over 170 delegates from the EZLN and the National Indigenous Congress CNI visited over 250 cities in "resistant Europe" in 2021 and exchanged intensively with anti-systemic left-wing groups. Regarding the current plans in Mexico City from December, Subcomandante Moisés from the EZLN made it clear: "We will come whether they want it or not."

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