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MEXICO'S ARISTIDE

In our FOCUS ON... MEXICO towards the end of last year we told 
of the attempted assassination of Amado Avendano just prior to 
the Mexican elections. Below we reproduce an extract from an 
interview with him which was broadcast by the French anarchist 
radio station Radio Libertaire on the 1st November 94. We do so
 in the interests of furthering the flow of information rather
 than as an endorsement of his politics...

I am Amado Avendano, a lawyer by training, journalist by
 profession and chance politico. I live in a state to the south
 of Mexico - Chiapas - on the border with Guatemala. 900,000 in
digenous people live in the state of Chiapas out of a total
 population of some 3,000,000. It is an area of high population
 density because, whilst one of the richest areas of Mexico,
 it is also the area where the poorest Mexicans live. More than
 50% of the countries electricity is produced here. In order to
 build the three dams in the area 300,000 hectares of top
 quality land were flooded. Thus the peasants of Chiapas have
 no lands to cultivate. Chiapas is also an oil producing area
 and a pipe connects the area directly to the USA. Of the
 production in Chiapas only the pollution is left behind. The
 population of Chiapas derive no benefit from all of this and
 a large section of the population don't speak the language of 
officialdom - Spanish. Such was the situation on 1st Jan 94
 when the Zapatistas emerged in the country. The very simple
 demands of these people for health, housing, means of 
communication... immediately drew the support of the wider 
population. This sympathy was indeed so great - demonstrations,
 marches - that the Mexican government was forced to suspend
 military operations. The government declared a unilateral
 amnesty for all those involved. They gathered together in 
the cathedral of San Cristobal. Here the archbishop served as
 an intermediary between the government and the Zapatistas. A
 number of propositions were put forward which the Zapatistas 
took back to their supporters in the mountains for consultation
. Two months later the Zapatistas rejected the government's 
propositions. A new delegate was sent out to try and rebuild
 the dialogue but this proved a non-starter. A month ago the
 Zapatistas announced that the dialogue was definitively over.
 Meanwhile the electoral dialogue was taking place. The local
 people were trying to find a candidate to stand against the
 official candidate. They chose me. But I couldn't stand as 
I had not the mandate of any party. The Revolutionary
 Democratic Party (PRD) agreed to endorse me. The local people
 thought that in this instance the government would accept 
the ballot box decision. When the government saw the popular
 mobilisation which greeted my candidature I was the victim
 of an assassination attempt disguised as a road accident.



RL: Tell us about the circumstances surrounding this 'accident'?

 The government organised a meal for all the electoral candidates
 and were most insistent that I should attend. In the end I accepted
 the invitation. The was only one road to the venue for the meal
 and on this road a lorry smashed into the tiny car we were travelling
 in. Three of my supporters were killed in the crash and I was 
hospitalised for two months which physically prevented me from 

participating in the election process.
 With a sense of solidarity and courage the people continued the
 campaign. In my absence with videos, posters, cassettes... the 
campaign continued to develop. Fellow journalists gave me their 
full support and played an important role in the campaign. On the 
21st many people went to vote for me but on the 22nd the government
 claimed their own candidate had won and that very few had voted for
 Amado Avendano.
 Following the electoral farce there was a real mobilisation of the
population who did not fully understand the situation. This civil
 resistance takes the form of large scale occupations of large
 properties, the blocking off of roads, non payment of taxes and general
 bills (particularly electricity), and the prevention of bureaucrats
 gaining access to the region. Successive mobilisations were planned 
- one in October, two in November and another for December when the 
new government are due to take office when the people will attempt to 
stop them taking up their positions. Moreover, the Zapatistas announced
 that if the government were intent on putting their candidate in office
 there would be war in Chiapas and elsewhere. Things have been further
 complicated because the Mexican central government intervenes a lot 
in Chiapas but is itself split by internal strife. In effect there is a
 power vacuum in Mexico because since the outgoing presidents team has 
no mandate nobody obeys it and since the incoming bunch is still not
 installed a dangerous situation has arisen. Luckily, the Zapatista 
army has called on civil society to play a role, the role which had 
been usurped by the institutional parties. This group is organising
 to take over the decision making process which up until now had been
denied to it. Today it is very hard for it to rebuild the country since
 the government and the party controlled everything. The people lack 
experience. Currently a democratic national convention is being set up.
 We hope to set up a veritable assembly to help organise the country.
 Faced with the people trying to organise themselves the powers that be
 are hardly queuing up to hand over power and a very real possibility of
 confrontation is now on the cards. The situation is so serious that I
 fear the incoming government will have no chance at all of governing
 the region if only because of the tensions within their own ranks.

 Currently, I go around the world calling on NGOs, the universities,
 political parties... to pay attention to what is happening in Mexico
 and calling on them to be prepared to pressurise the Mexican government
 in order to avoid the possibility of war. The Mexican state cares greatly
 about its international reputation whilst ignoring the situation at home.
 This is why we call for actions to be taken against diplomatic missions...

RL: Can you tell us a little more about what civil society is doing with
 regard to the electoral fraud?

In order to denounce the fraud the civil society which has no
 political party has set up a kind of electoral tribunal - quite
 unofficial - which has shed light on governmental manipulations.
 Although all these developments are taking place outside of the
 legal process there will come a point when the government will be 
forced to recognise that there was manipulation. At the moment all
 Mexicans are waiting to see what the outgoing president will say. 
The outcome is undecided. If the government goes ahead with its decision
 to install the new regime there will probably be renewed violence. The 
risk is heightened by the fact that recruitment into the Mexican army has
 gone on apace with much more military equipment being installed in the
 Zapatista zone. The army has also taken possession of the free zone of
 Altamirano and is increasing aerial surveillance of territories where 
the Zapatistas are. This gives rise to a fear of escalation.....



