ZAPATISTA ARMY OF NATIONAL LIBERATION
MEXICO

July 20, 2003.

To the national and international press:

Ladies and gentlemen:

Don't let yourself be victims. I know you've missed my bad jokes. But you aren't going to suffer any longer: here I am again. And, given that I assume you're bored with the tragicomedy of national political life, I'm taking back up that bright and playful style that was, in days gone by, the delight of great and small.

I am aware that your editors have found themselves disconcerted. And it's understandable: one doesn't know where to put the articles about Gordillo and the "new PRI," Digna Ochoa's "self-suicide," Blair's difficulties and Kelly's "self-suicide" (now that it's an epidemic), and the distribution of the loot from the naming of the "party heads." Where do those articles go? In the crime section? On the society pages? In the comic strips? Well, you don't have it easy. That is why, in an act of supreme magnanimity, I'm handing you some "leaks," but don't reveal the source, so they don't do me in, British-style, then. No, there's no reason to give them. Sale.

ONE. - The zapatistas tell you to tell Luis Ernesto Derbez, the Secretary of Foreign Relations, that the "relaunching" of the Plan Puebla Panama should be into the abyss, because that plan is not going to be allowed on rebel lands. The zapatones have the necessary and sufficient means and organization for preventing the implementation of that plan. it's not a threat, but a prophecy.

TWO. - The Comandancia General of the EZLN sent a message to the paramilitary gangs that are swarming throughout Chiapas. The message said, more or less: "According to the Lex Talion, it's "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," but we're having a special deal and offering "two eyes for each eye and a whole set of teeth for a tooth," so you can say if you're encouraged."

THREE. - The famous (in the mountains of the Mexican southeast) and slippery (on the dial) "Radio Insurgente. Voice of the EZLN" will soon begin operating on short wave, in its galactic transmission. The Sup will have a special one-hour musical program, and it will be transmitted, by law, at dawn. No, the Sup will not sing, but he will be presenting musical pieces accompanied by stories and tales. We're not sure about the "Durito DJ" program, because the beetle is has his back up, and he hasn't signed a contract (he wants a daily 24 hour program).

Four. - It would be good if national and international civil society were to not make any commitments for August 8, 9 and 10. We don't know why.

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.

SupMarcos
Mexico, July of 2003

 

COMMUNIQUÉ FROM THE CLANDESTINE REVOLUTIONARY INDIGENOUS COMMITTEE -
GENERAL COMMAND OF THE ZAPATISTA ARMY OF NATIONAL LIBERATION

JULY 20, 2003.

TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO:
TO THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD:

BROTHERS AND SISTERS:

A FEW MONTHS AGO WE DENOUNCED THE TIES AND AGREEMENTS THAT EXISTED BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENTS OF MEXICO AND THE STATE OF SPAIN IN ORDER TO SUPPRESS THE STRUGGLES OF THE MEXICAN INDIGENOUS IN EXCHANGE FOR THE EXTRADITION OF BASQUE CITIZENS WHO ARE RESIDENT IN OUR COUNTRY. THE MASSACRE IN ACTEAL, CHIAPAS, IN DECEMBER OF 1997, AND THE ILLEGAL AND ILLEGITIMATE DEPORTATIONS OF BASQUE CITIZENS BY THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT IN THE LATE 90S BECAME THE HALLMARK OF THE GLOBALIZATION MODEL THAT IS PROMOTED BY THE POWERS.

RECENTLY, SEÑOR FOX'S SELF-STYLED "GOVERNMENT OF CHANGE" HAS CONTINUED WITH THIS SHAMEFUL TIE, BY ARBITRARILY DETAINING, AND EXPELLING FROM MEXICO, BASQUES WHO HAVE BEEN ACCUSED OF CRIMINAL ACTS IN THE SPANISH STATE. THE DEPORTED BASQUES ARE FIRST TORTURED IN MEXICO BY THE MEXICAN POLICE, AND THEN, UPON THEIR ARRIVAL IN SPAIN, BY THE GUARDIA CIVIL, AS HAS BEEN DOCUMENTED IN THE CASE OF SEÑOR JOSÉ MIGUEL ETXEANDIA MEABE, WITHOUT THAT PURPORTED "NATIONAL HERO" OF HUMAN RIGHTS, BALTASAR GARZÓN, SAYING EVEN ONE SINGLE WORD. THE CASE OF SEÑOR LORENZO LLONA OLALDE, WHO IS CURRENTLY IMPRISONED IN MEXICO CITY, IS THE HEIGHT OF INJUSTICE, SINCE HE HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF CRIMES THAT WERE COMMITTED WHEN HE WASN"T EVEN IN IBERIAN TERRITORY, AND, IN ADDITION, HE IS A MEXICAN NATIONAL.

A FEW DAYS AGO, SEVERAL BASQUE CITIZENS WERE DETAINED AND DISAPPEARED BY THE MEXICAN POLICE, TO BE PRESENTED LATER UNDER THE ACCUSATION OF COLLABORATION WITH THE BASQUE POLITICAL-MILITARY ORGANIZATION ETA. THE EVIDENCE WHICH THE MEXICAN AND SPANISH GOVERNMENTS PUT FORWARD FOR THESE DETENTIONS ARE AS SOUND AS THE ONES PRESENTED BY BUSH AND BLAIR FOR JUSTIFYING THE ATTACK ON IRAQ. IN OTHER WORDS, THEY ARE FALSE.

SIMULTANEOUS WITH THESE DETENTIONS AND EXPULSIONS, THE ACTIVITIES OF PARAMILITARY GANGS IN THE SOUTHEASTERN MEXICAN STATE OF CHIAPAS HAVE BEEN ON THE INCREASE. PARTICULARLY IN LOS ALTOS REGION OF CHIAPAS, IN THE MUNICIPALITIES OF CHENALHÓ, PANTELHÓ AND CANCUC, THE PARAMILITARIES HAVE BEEN ENGAGING IN FEVERISH ACTIVITIES THAT SPEAK OF PLANS OF IMMINENT ATTACK.

THE PARAMILITARIES HAVE NOTED THE SAN PEDRO POLHÓ DISPLACED CAMPS, THE SO-CALLED "CAMPAMENTO OCHO" AND ACTEAL AS BEING PRIORITY OBJECTIVES FOR FUTURE ATTACKS. A FEW NIGHTS AGO THEY GATHERED TOGETHER IN ORDER TO GET DRUNK AND TO FIRE INTO THE AIR IN ORDER TO GET THEIR NERVE UP. AT THE SAME TIME, THE ARMY AND STATE POLICE GARRISONS LOCATED IN THE AREA WERE SHUT UP TIGHT, UNDOUBTEDLY SO THAT THEY COULD CLAIM "WE DIDN'T HEAR ANYTHING."

AND SO THE "ATMOSPHERE" IS NOW VERY SIMILAR TO THE ONE THAT EXISTED IN THE DAYS PRIOR TO THE KILLINGS IN ACTEAL, CHENALHÓ, CHIAPAS, IN WHICH 45 MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN WERE CRUELLY ASSASSINATED BY PARAMILITARIES.

THE EZLN HAS ALREADY WARNED THE LEADERS OF THOSE PARAMILITARIES THAT THIS TIME THEY ARE NOT GOING TO REMAIN IMPUGN.

WE ARE CALLING ON CIVIL SOCIETY OF MEXICO AND OF THE WORLD TO DEMAND OF THE MEXICAN AND SPANISH GOVERNMENTS AN END TO THAT CONSPIRACY WHICH IS ONCE AGAIN THREATENING TO STAIN THE LAND OF LOS ALTOS OF CHIAPAS WITH INNOCENT BLOOD.

DEMOCRACY!
LIBERTY!
JUSTICE!

By the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee-
Comandancia General of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
By the Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities.

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos
Mexico, July of 2003

Originally published in Spanish by the CCRI-CG of the EZLN
and the Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities
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Translated by irlandesa