Zapatistas speak out about the drug wars

May 3, 2011
Human Rights News
Zapatistas Join Drug War Protest

As momentum builds for the May 8 protest against violence and impunity in
Mexico, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) announced its
support for the movement started by poet Javier Sicilia.

In a communiqué dated April 28, the EZLN leadership declared it would
wholeheartedly support the struggle by conducting a silent march of
Zapatista base communities in the Chiapas highland city of San Cristobal
de las Casas on May 7.

In a pronouncement signed by the Zapatistas' legendary Sub-comandante
Marcos, the EZLN said it would terminate the march with readings of
statements in Spanish and indigenous languages.

The Zapatistas sharply condemned the Mexican government's anti-organized
crime strategy as a "psychotic military campaign by Felipe Calderon
Hinojosa" that has turned into a "totalitarian argument" for spreading
fear across the nation.

In response to Sicilia's earlier call to place name plaques of victims of
violence in public plazas, the Zapatista statement mentioned the names of
15 people killed in the Ciudad Juarez neighborhood of Villas de Salvarcar
in 2010 and the 40 children who perished in the notorious ABC day care
center fire in Hermosillo, Sonora, in 2009.

The EZLN also urged its supporters in Mexico and throughout the world to
support the movement launched by Sicilia and supporters last month, which
arose after the poet's son and companions were murdered in Cuernavaca,
Morelos, by an apparent organized crime group.

Until this year, the Zapatistas had been largely silent on the so-called
drug war that's ravaged Mexico during the past few years.

Backed by prominent public figures like Eduardo Gallo, former president of
Mexico United against Delinquency, and Malu Garcia, persecuted activist
with the anti-femicide group Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa of Ciudad
Juarez, Sicilia and friends plan to begin a silent march from Cuernavaca
on May 5 and then arrive in Mexico City for a massive rally the following
Sunday.

In the heart of the Mexican capital, the activists are expected to call
for the signing of a national reconstruction pact at an undetermined time
in Ciudad Juarez.

In addition to the main protest in Mexico City, similar events are
expected to take place May 8 in more than 40 Mexican cities and at least
20 foreign ones.

Father Alejandro Solalinde, well-known Oaxaca migrant advocate, called the
May 8 mobilization the best chance Mexico has had to "remake a country
that's going to the pits and put an end to violence, corruption and
impunity."


Additional source: Proceso, April 30, 2011. Article by Jose Gil Olmos.


Frontera NorteSur: on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico