RECENT ZAPATISTA NEWS

RECENT ZAPATISTA NEWS

1. Massacre in Chiapas re: Chinkultic Archaeological Site - On October 3, state police opened fire on unarmed indigenous residents of Miguel Hidalgo ejido, ultimately killing 6, injuring 17 and leaving 36 held in police custody. 4 of the dead were summarily executed with a shot to the head by police. The stage for this tragic incident was set on September 9, when indigenous campesinos living near two government-run sites, Lagos de Montebello National Park and Chinkultic Archaeological site, occupied them. They  said that the government agency involved, known as INAH, was not taking good care of the sites and was charging too much for admission. The INAH went to court to evict the campesinos. A court ordered the eviction of Lagos de Montebello National Park and federal and state police carried out that eviction without incident on October 3. There was no court order to evict the Chinkultic archaeological site. Nevertheless, some of the police split off from the group that went to Lagos de Montebello and, instead, went to the Miguel Hidalgo ejido, where the campesinos lived who were occupying Chinkultic. Of the 4 who were summarily executed by police, 3 were seriously injured. The fourth man was taking them to the hospital in his truck. Police pulled the driver out of his truck and killed him along with the 3 injured men. Miguel Hidalgo has no connection to the Zapatistas, the Other Campaign or any other social or political organization. Its residents have generally cooperated with the government and, in fact, were negotiating over the occupation and care of Chinkultic when the massacre occurred. 3 low-level state officials have been fired and several state police officials are under house arrest. Several other patrol officers are in jail. The state government of Chiapas is giving every possible kind of attention (and lots of goodies) to Miguel Hidalgo residents. Chinkultic has not yet been returned to the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH, its initials in Spanish).

2.  EZLN Extends Invitations to the “World Festival of Dignified Rage” -  On September 15, the EZLN issued a communique detailing plans for an end-of-year celebration of its 25/15 Anniversary (25 years since the EZLN’s founding and 15 years since the Jan. 1, 1994 Zapatista Uprising). The celebration will take place in three locations: Mexico City (December 26-29 ); Oventik (December 31, 2008 and January 1, 2009); and San Cristóbal de las Casas (January 2,3,4,5). The communique stated that participation in  the Festival would be by invitation. The Chiapas Support Committee was honored to receive an invitation this week (October 27). Information about activities is now on the Enlace Zapatista blog in English, Spanish, French, etc. http://www.ezln.org.mx (click on Enlace Zapatista).

3.  “Former” Opddic Members Given Control of Agua Azul Ticket Booth  -  e wreported on the new toll road planned between the Chiapas cities of San Cristobal de las Casas and Palenque, one part of a mega-plan for tourist “development” in the Northern Zone of Chiapas. The mega-plan, formally known as the San Cristobal-Palenque Planned Integral Center and billed as an “eco-archaeological tourism” project, includes “theme parks” at the beautiful Agua Azul Cascades and the exquisite archaeolo-gical site of Palenque, bridges over 3 rivers, hotels, restaurants, related businesses and an expansion of the Palenque Airport. Although Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderon, did not specifically announce the toll road while he was in Chiapas this month, he did promise more dollars for tourism. And, La Jornada reported that the “former” Opddic paramilitaries who attacked the Zapatista community of Bolom Ajaw have now been given the legal right to operate the ticket booth that collects entry fees to Agua Azul. Moreover, the state government has anointed these same “former” paramilitaries as the official guardians of the Agua Azul Cascades park, uniforms and all! Not surprisingly, these guardians of the Cascades immediately requested the eviction of Bolom Ajaw, although they have no rights or jurisdiction over Bolom Ajaw’s land. 

4.  Opddic Members Attack 9 Year Old Zapatista Boy With Machetes - On October 10, 3 Opddic members attacked nine-year-old Carmelino Navarro Jimenez and his sister-in-law, Manuela. Both were on their way to the coffee field where Carmelino’s father and brother were working. Two of the attackers were armed with pistols, the third with a machete. Carmelino fell as he ran away from the attackers and was then struck with a machete. Manuela was able to escape and reach the coffee field to get help for Carmelino, who required 15 stitches for his wound. These are the same Opddic leaders who attacked Carmelino’s father and brother last year. Arrest warrants were pending against the three, but were never detained by police. This occurred in the community of Bayulubmax, Olga Isabel autonomous municipio (county), in the Northern Zone of Chiapas. Amnesty International has expressed its concern about future danger to Carmelino’s family.

5.  Oventik Junta Reports Paramilitary Threats to Polho - On October 31, the Zapatista Good Government Junta in Oventik released a denunciation regarding a series of incidents involving Zapatista bases in San Pedro Polho autonomous county and local Chenalho paramilitaries. The Junta alleges that the paramilitaries are members of the Cardenista Front and the PRI political party, that they are the same paramilitaries responsible for the 1997 Acteal Massacre, that the Chenalho municipal president is supplying them with high-caliber weapons, and that they are planning another attack against the autonomous Zapatista camps of those displaced by the 1997 paramilitary violence. 

6.  APPO  Supporter Arrested in Oaxaca, Charged with Brad Will’s Death - As Brad Will’s friends in the United States and Mexico remembered the 2nd anniversary of his brutal murder while filming events in Oaxaca, police arrested Miguel Cruz Moreno, an APPO sympathizer, accusing him of Brad’s murder. This is contrary to the evidence which clearly shows that the bullets came from a place where APPO supporters were not standing. Those who were in the place from which the bullets were fired were municipal police and paramilitary types collaborating with the police. This arrest fits into the analysis of Mexican human rights groups that social movements and social protest are being criminalized. 
 
 
Compiled by  the US Chiapas Support Committee.

To our compañeros and compañeras in The Other Campaign,
To our compañeros and compañeras in the Zezta Internazional,
To the adherents to the International Declaration in Defense of El Barrio,
To our allies all over the world:

From "The Other New York,” in East Harlem (El Barrio), Movement for Justice in El Barrio celebrates a second great victory in the struggle against neoliberal displacement and reaffirms that "El Barrio is not for sale".

On Sunday, August 24th, 2008, in a March for Dignity and Against Displacement, members of Movement for Justice in El Barrio celebrated our victory over the most powerful landlord in East Harlem: the London-based multi-national corporation, Dawnay Day Group.  Dawnay, Day has fallen prey to its own greed and, last month announced that it is now selling its properties to cover its debts. This celebration was made possible thanks to the unity of those of us who fought and continue to fight against transnational plans to gentrify East Harlem; to fill our community with hotels, banks, and housing that are only accessible to the wealthy and to push out all poor families from our Barrio.

Dawnay, Day Group is the second landlord that has failed in its attempts to impose its plans to crush the spirit of El Barrio, and instead, was forced to leave El Barrio and to sell its property. In our struggle against the greed of large transnational corporations, we are counting not only on local solidarity but also on the solidarity and support of our allies worldwide. Thanks to those who have supported us on an international level who’s  resistance has resounded across Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom, where Dawnay Day has its base.

This long struggle now claims two defeated landlords and many politicians exposed. These corporations try to push us out, they try to push out poor people, immigrant tenants, African-Americans, Latin Americans, Asians, and small-business owners. But the corporations are not alone in their attempts to displace us, they count on the support of the federal government (Republican controlled) and local governing bodies (Democrat controlled) as they seek to defeat us.  We've had to put up with attempts at bribery by the local Democrat controlled government: our members have received offers for well-paying jobs that came with the condition that they leave our movement. When these tactics did not have their intended divide and conquer effect, local representatives resorted to other corrupt strategies: slander, the spreading of unfounded rumors, the formation of divisive groups friendly to the local government that seek to divide rather than unite the community.  However, despite the abuse from this transnational corporation (which we granted the prize of "Worst Landlord" in one of our community marches) or the attacks from our local government (spearheaded by the Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito) we have not been held back. This is a struggle for a world where those who are excluded fit in; where Mexican and Dominicans immigrants in East Harlem alike, alongside the marginalized Puerto Ricans, African Americans, and Asians, will resist in order to fight back against attempts to push us from El Barrio for being different and for being poor.

Our march  was a confirmation of our unity in our struggle against capitalism. We marched from 116th street, stopping at the luxurious home of Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito, to remind her that "El Barrio Will Not Sell Out Like She Did." One of our members, whom the council member tried to buy off by offering him a job, spoke. Our brother stood in front of her house and denounced “the actions of the Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito, who is supposed to support the community in El Barrio, and who, it is plain to see, is actually supporting the displacement of the poor…as you can all see, she is rich. Look at where she lives. She does not know what it is to live without hot water, without heat during hard winters. She doesn’t know what it is to live with bedbugs, rats, sunken roofs, cockroaches and lead poisoning, which are the conditions poor people like us experience thanks to politicians like her, who, alongside the representatives of West Harlem and Central Harlem, voted for the expansion of Columbia University and the rezoning plans on 125th street, which will effect thousands of marginalized, low-income people."

From Viverito's home we marched towards the offices of transnational corporation Dawnay Day Group in order to remind them that we will resist all attempts, theirs and others, at pushing out the immigrant, African-American, Latin American and Asian women and men who have built El Barrio. We will resist alongside small business owners, street vendors, and everyone who is poor and opposes the plans devised by multinational corporations and capitalist politicians.

Lastly, brothers and sisters of The Other Campaign and the Zezta Internacional, we received with great sadness and pain the news of the criminal, vengeful, arbitrary, and repressive sentences against the political prisoners being held captive in Altiplano Prison and in the Molino de las Flores Prison. These prisoners are victims of the massacre that took place in Atenco due to resistance against attempts to create luxurious airports throughout Mexico as part of policies promoting neoliberal urban displacement. Our heart is with the brothers being held captive, our struggles are the same and we will not rest until all of those who struggled for justice in Atenco and were unjustly arrested have been released. At the moment we are developing a plan to build awareness and spread the word on a local level, which will include public workshops exposing what has happened to our brothers and sisters in Atenco.

In sister and brotherhood,

Movement for Justice in El Barrio
From the Other New York
October, 2008
El Barrio, NY

Here and There, in El Barrio, in Chiapas and in Atenco, the struggle will go on!
Here and there, The Other Campaign goes on!