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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2005 
Rebels Ready to Wage Peaceful Civil Movement
 Wire services
| | The Zapatista rebels pledged Thursday to build a political alliance of the left, "without guns, with a peaceful, civil movement." |
The Zapatista rebels pledged Thursday to build a political alliance of the left, "without guns, with a peaceful, civil movement," and said they would send a delegation on a nationwide tour to drum up support ahead of next year's presidential race.
In a statement released from the mountains of the southern state of Chiapas, the group said it was seeking to broaden its appeal to "all parts of Mexico where there are humble and simple people, like us."
Such a tour would mark the first time the rebels emerged en masse from their jungle strongholds since organizing a triumphant caravan from Chiapas to Mexico City four years ago.
The communique said the Zapatistas would stay out of electoral politics because "we already know all candidates are neo-liberals," but instead would push for a new constitution that "recognizes the rights and liberties of the people, and defends the weak against the powerful."
The six-page statement came a week after the rebels declared a "red alert" to hold high-level internal discussions about the future of their movement, and three days after they said they would seek to move toward politics and away from armed conflict.
"The EZLN continues its commitment to a cease fire and there will be no attack against government forces or military offensive movements," it said, referring to the rebel army by its Spanish initials.
The Zapatistas changed the way the world thought about Mexico in January 1994, when they burst from the depths of the Lacandona Jungle and seized several cities and towns in Chiapas, which borders Guatemala.
A cease-fire took hold after only a few days, but the group broke off negotiations for a lasting peace with authorities from the government of President Vicente Fox in 2001.
The rebels have largely focused their movement on demanding Indian rights and autonomy, but now appear ready to take on broader demands, in a move timed to coincide with the start of campaigns for the presidential elections a year from Saturday.
"We are going to keep fighting for the Indian communities of Mexico, but now not only for them nor with them, but for all of Mexico's exploited and marginalized, with all of them, all over the country," Thursday's statement said.
The president has cheered the rebels' plan to seek political solutions to the problems of the country's mostly poor Indian population, going so far as to say he was "at the service" of Zapatista military commander Subcomandante Marcos, whenever he was ready to help steer the group toward politics.
A Zapatista statement released late Wednesday night unleashed a tirade against political parties, however, and the latest communique clarified that the group "was going with another form of politics, for a program of the left and a new constitution."
The rebels also said they would seek to strengthen relations with leftist organizations in Cuba, Bolivia and Ecuador, and would consider sending aid to activists in those countries. |
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