CLASS WAR IN MEXICO:
Armed Struggle Erupts in Chiapas

By Gustavo Rodr!guez

"Our Indians are dying of hunger, and we therefore have started
this armed revolution.  We have tired of the government not
listening to our demands for better health, education, justice and
the right to work."  -- Tzetzal, an indigenous resident of Chiapas,
Information commissioner for the EZLN (translated from Tzetzal)

No matter how you look at it and from any point of view, Mexico
will never be the same.  That Mexico of the "Institutionalized"
Revolution (the party in power in Mexico is the Party of the
Institutionalized Revolution [PRI]), the Mexico of presidential
succession by decree, that Mexico of the party-government, has
died.  This act of killing Mexico began during the early hours of
the morning of the first day of this year. The indigenous-peasant
uprising in Chiapas has given us faith of the death of this Mexico
and in its place has begun to raise up a new Mexico.

They may smash this insurrection militarily, they may send
thousands of provisions to calm the hunger, the priests may control
things momentarily but,  but the causes of the rebellion are there
to see and they extend throughout the whole mexican territory,
especially sharply in indigenous communities; the possibility,
therefore, of other insurrections will continue to exist.

With the new year in Mexico we begin to hear about uprisings and
armed insurrection, of Social Revolution, of rebellions.  There is
"official" talk about another army:  The Zapatista Army of National
Liberation.  The country was shaken up on the second day of the
year with headlines such as: "Violent takeover of five city halls
by armed group in chiapas," "Municipal palaces destroyed and sacked
in San Cristobal de las Casas, Ocozingo, Altamirano, Chanal and Las
Margaritas," "EZLN declares war."  That was exactly what happened
in the first minutes of 1994 as NAFTA came into effect, signed and
ratified by the dominant classes of the US, Canada and Mexico.

What are the Causes?

Class war has started in Mexico, that is not doubted even by the
PRI (the ruling party). It's causes are well known secrets. In the
October/November edition of Amor y Rabia (see vol 0, no. 7, Amor y
Rabia Mexican Edition) in the article titled "Mexico: the
Persistent Repression", Ana Laura and I clearly stated the causes
of this armed revolt that now has taken so many by "surprise."  We
explained the situation of the Mexican state in "this six-year
term, characterized by liberal politics and the abuse of
demagoguery (which continues to repeat that Mexico is on the road
of progress), the country has become still more poor.  Unemployment
in the countryside and in the city has increased suddenly, in
accordance with the desperate situation for the majority of the
population."  We continued to state that "this situation has
sharpened the class contradictions, ending finally with the
proliferation of conflicts, multiplying labor and popular movements
with the demand of social justice, which brings them into constant
confrontations with repressive governmental forces..."  Because of
all of the preceding, the dominant classes  and the electoral
parties should not be surprised by what is happening in this
country.

We were still more concrete when we wrote, under the subtitle
"Campesin@s and Repression", about the rural reality in the Mexican
state where "agrarian conflicts, the utter exploitation of the
natural resources and systematic repression...date from colonial
times" and we documented that "30% of the native indigenous
population of America lives in Mexico and of this percentage 45%
suffer from hunger and malnutrition, among other violations of
their human rights." So then, why are there so many who are taken
by surprise by armed uprising?

And as though misery, hunger, and hopelessness were not enough, we
also documented the presence of troops in the area, their armed
incursions, the detentions, the tortures, the registrations, the
seizures and the evictions.  In October we talked about the
situation in Chiapas, especially about the presence of the army in
Ocozingo and Altamirano and of the bombarding of the communities of
Patat el Viejo y San Miguel.

Our analysis of this grave and desperate economic situation and of
the constant violations of the most basic human rights was of a
general character, putting forth an analysis of the sad reality
that faces the whole of the population of the Mexican state.  Now,
if we give a detailed analysis of the situation in the state of
Chiapas we will see that it is second only to Oaxaca and Guerrero
in poverty.  According to the conservative figures of the Conapo
(the National Council on Population), in Chiapas 94 of the 111
municipalities that make up the state find themselves within the
definition of "very high" and "high" marginality; only 153
municipalities of the 2,403 in the whole country fit into this
"category."  In the whole of the state of Chiapas, there is not a
single municipality that qualifies for the category of "very low"
marginality, which describes characteristics of life similar to the
working class of states such as Jalisco, Puebla, Nuevo Le"n and
Mexico City (D.F.).

In Chiapas 34.92% of the population is without electric power
versus 13% at the national level; the level of illiteracy is three
times higher than the national rate for population over 15 years
old (30.12% versus 12.44%) and double the national level of adults
who did not finish primary school (62.08% versus 29.31%); of the
22% of people living in homes without plumbing in all of the
country, 42.66% live in Chiapas.  The municipalities of Ocozingo,
Las Margaritas, and Altamirano (occupied by the Zapatista Army of
National Liberation (EZLN)) hold 225,000 people, of whom 80% of the
families spend less than the equivalent of US$260 per month, 48% of
those older than 15 years are illiterate and 75.5% of the
communities that make up these municipalities lack electric energy.
According to the report about municipal marginalization made by
Conapo in 1990, which is in accord with the latest facts from the
INEGI (National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Computers)
of the year 1993, little has changed for the 111 municipalities in
Chiapas.  Five have "low" marginality, 12 have "medium"
marginality, 56 have "high" and 38 have "very high" marginality;
none presented "very low" marginality.

In the municipality of Ocozingo, more than 121,000 people live
completely marginalized:  60.24% of the houses have no plumbing or
latrines;  67.95% don't have electric energy; 49.17% of the
inhabitants have no running water; 74.68% live in houses with dirt
floors; overcrowding affects 80.80% of the population; 46.71% of
the inhabitants 15 years or older are illiterate and  78.29% did
not finish primary school.  (This municipality is the most densely
populated by the EZLN).

En Altamirano, there are more than 17,000 people.  Of those, 43.67%
live without plumbing and latrines; 75.01% lack electricity; 48.75%
have no running water; 79.56% live in houses with dirt floors;
51.76% of those over 15 years old are illiterate and 83.31% of that
age group did not finish primary school.

In Las Margaritas, 86,000 inhabitants, marginality was "very high";
48.37% of the population 15 years and older are illiterates; 83.27%
of those did not finish primary education; 38.54% live in houses
without plumbing or latrines; 66.4% don't have electric energy;
72.72% of the houses don't have drinkable water; 83.36% of the
houses are in conditions of overcrowding and 77.9% have dirt
floors.

In San Cristobal de las Casas, 89,000 inhabitants experience the
"best standard of living" of the region (the first municipality
abandoned by the Zapatistas).  The poverty indexes in San Cristobal
are all much lower, even though they are alarming compared to the
national averages.  25% of the population over 15 are illiterate;
44.79% of that age group did not finish primary education; 21.72%
live in houses without plumbing or latrines; 27.47% have no running
water; 16.95% have no electricity; 60.06% live in conditions of
overcrowding and 33.99% have dirt floors.

After reviewing these statistics, I ask myself again, how could the
armed uprising take so many by surprise?

ZAPATISMO AND THE INDIGENOUS MOVEMENT

It is still premature to talk about a serious analysis of the
Zapatista National Liberation Army.  It cannot be known at this
early stage who, exactly, are the members of the EZLN.  The Maoists
(in capitalist press coverage) shouted that Chiapas began the
"Popular War" and that this uprising obeyed the advanced Maoist
International in the last minute of the centenary year since the
birth of Mao (they did not specify if the orders were from
Presidente Gonzalo or from Presidente Ismaelito); for their part,
the Stalinist-Trotskyists and the Stalinist-Castroists baptized the
Zapatistas as the "vanguard" of the mexican revolution and
predicted the start of a "socialist" state in Mexico.  Information
from the government tells us that we are witnessing an invasion of
"foreign terrorists" and by provocateur priests and liberation
theologists; the documents that have been made public that are
credited to the Zapatistas have a confusing language that is
difficult to understand and goes from nationalist positions,
constitutionalist positions, electoral, autonomist and even
liberatory positions (according to an article published in the
magazine Proceso).  The only thing that can be clearly taken from
the communiques is what they have openly said from the first minute
of this year:  the disgust with having to wait more than 500 years
for justice, equality, well being and freedom.  We cannot talk
about the indigenous rebellions and insurrections in Mexico without
referring to the history of Chiapas.  Even to mention only two of
the most important indigenous uprisings in the state, we
immediately come to the insurrection of the Tzeltal people in 1712
and that of the Tzotzil people in 1868 (which lasted until 1872),
both in search of respect for their culture and their dignity.

Chiapas did not play a very important part within the ranks of the
Ejrcito Libertador (Liberation Army) during the mexican
revolution, 1910-17 (precisely during the height of zapatismo in
the south and center of Mexico).  To the contrary, the local rebels
rose up in arms against the revolutionary laws of the government of
Alvaro Obreg"n.  The caudillos who fought against the
redistribution of land to peasants and indians were then put in
charge of the Agrarian Reform by decision of the central
government.  It was not until 1935 with the government of L zaro
C rdenas, in the full swing of populism that the doling out of land
for commonly held lang and for communities in Chiapas:  "En a
celebrated conference today with the Lic. Gabino V zquez, chief of
the Agriculture Department, instructions were received to intensify
the work of giving out land throughout the country.  The government
should abolish the plantations, and instead construct common lands;
this is both in order to be true to the agrarian laws and to avoid
the violence that occurs between the plantation owners and the
peasants asking for land."*

Even in times of "liberty and democracy" military uprisings have
been reported in this southern state:  In 1974 there were
insurrections in the municipalities of San Andrs Larr inzar y
Venustiano Carranza (this last brutally repressed by the mexican
army); In 1975 the evictions in the army and the municipality of
Simojovel; in 1976, the invasions of Frailesca, near Carranza and
the violence in May; in 1977 the military repression against Choles
and the workers of PEMEX (Mexican Petroleum). in the north of the
state and the july revolt in Simojovel with a total of 16 ejidos
(collectives which own common land) torched by the army, 10 dead
including two peasants thrown from helicopters and ambushed; in
1978 the army assaulted Monte L!bano, in the middle of the jungle
and carried out "actions of punishment against rebelling indians";
in 1979 evictions and total state repression increased; in 1980
repression increased still more, and in July another massacre
occurred in Woloch n, where the army attacked a town by surprise
with rockets and machine guns, and 12 tzeltales (indigenous
inhabitants of the region) were assassinated and incinerated.  This
"operation" was carried out under the orders of the then maximum
chief of the 31st Military Zone who would later become the governor
of the state:  General Absal"n Castellanos Dom!nguez (currently a
prisoner of the Zapatista Army).  The repression, the evictions,
the detentions, the tortures, the assassinations all continue in an
interminable list that goes right up to our times, up to this
January of 1994 when the world found out about these bombing, these
summary executions, these evictions, and when these "law breakers",
these "professional terrorists", these "foreigners" filled the
pages of the western press with the cry:  -Zapata vive!

* L zaro C rdenaz. Obras, Apuntes 1913/1940. Tomo 1. P gs 311-312.
Enero 2 1935. Nueva Biblioteca Mexicana, 1972.


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