[Announce-DAN] Chiapas Solidarity Action: Dec. 1st at 12 noon

["david martin" <p_hayze@hotmail.com>]

Dear Compañeros:

On Dec. 1st, Vicente Fox will be inaugurated as the new President of Mexico. 
He has made campaign promises to fulfill the San Andres Accords---a first 
step toward resolving the conflict in Chiapas peacefully. But will he? His 
overall political agenda of pushing free trade and privatization directly 
conflicts with the spirit of the San Andres Accords (see below for more 
analysis).

We must make it clear that US citizens at the grassroots level are watching 
closely as to whether Fox fulfills his campaign promises (especially since 
Wall Street and Washington are pressuring him to do otherwise).

Come to the Chiapas Solidarity Protest!!!
Friday, December 1st at 12 noon
in front of the Mexican Consulate in Denver
48 Steele St. (East of the Safeway at Cherry Creek mall)

What to bring:

a letter expressing our demands to be delivered at the protest to the Consul 
General, Carlos Barros:

To ensure a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Chiapas, we call upon
President Fox to: Implement the San Andres Accords on Indigenous Rights;
Immediately withdraw the more than 70,000 Mexican soldiers from indigenous 
communities in Chiapas; Immediately dismantle paramilitary groups and 
prosecute those responsible for human rights violations; Release all 
political prisoners; Provide a safe return for the more than 20,000 
displaced indigenous people in Chiapas

Also bring drums, puppets, signs, leaflets and "rebel dignity"

In Solidarity,
David Martin
Executive Director
Denver Justice and Peace Committee
901 West 14th St, Suite 7
Denver, CO 80204
tel. 303-623-1463
e-mail: p_hayze@hotmail.com

PS. Please respond to any media coverage of the inauguration with letters to 
the editor pointing out the importance of fulfilling the San Andres Accords 
and resolving the conflict in Chiapas peacefully.

Recommended Actions

1. Congratulate President-elect Vicente Fox on his election and on his 
announced intention to introduce to the Mexican Congress the COCOPA proposal 
for implementing the San Andres Accords and to renew peace talks with the 
EZLN.

2. Noting the lack of consensus in Congress on the COCOPA proposal, 
encourage him to make the effort necessary to ensure approval of 
implementing legislation that is consistent with both the letter and the 
spirit of the San Andres Accords.

3. In view of the massive presence of the Mexican Army in Chiapas and the 
explosive tension that often results in indigenous communities, urge 
President-elect Fox, when he assumes power, to order an immediate withdrawal 
of a significant number of military camps in areas where their presence is 
provoking particular tension. Note that such action would not only reduce 
tensions but would also serve as a confidence building measure that would 
improve the conditions for renewed peace talks.

Please write:

(before December 1)
Lic. Vicente Fox
Reforma 525, Colonia Lomas de Chapultepec
11000 México, D.F. - México
Fax: (int-52) (5) 520 7125

(after December 1)
Lic. Vicente Fox
Presidente de la República
Palacio Nacional
06067 México, DF - México
Fax: (int-52) (5) 515 4783

CHIAPAS REPORT SUMMARY
SIPAZ Report Vol. 5, No. 4
November, 2000

San Andres Accords

President-elect Vicente Fox declared several times that he would withdraw 
the Army from Chiapas, but only upon the re-establishment of the dialogue 
with the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). In one of his 
speeches, he declared that the problem of Chiapas is regional (and not 
national), but it needed to be resolved. According to Fox, this is a 
propitious time to resume talks and to find a peaceful solution to the 
problems facing the state. He stated that one of his first priorities when 
he assumes power on December 1 will be to send to Congress the legislation 
proposed by the congressional Commission for Agreement and Pacification 
(COCOPA). Drafted in order to implement the San Andres Accords, the proposal 
requires congressional approval. Some PRI deputies have said that they will 
support the proposal. However it is likely to face competing proposals, and 
its future is uncertain.

In this context, the ex-commissioner for peace in Chiapas, Marco Antonio 
Bernal, stated that the conditions for dialogue do not currently exist, and 
that in order for it to happen, it is first necessary to work on 
implementing the San Andres Accords.

Congress is currently in the process of determining the new makeup of 
COCOPA, the congressional commission created to assist with the peace 
process in Chiapas. It remains to be seen what posture it will adopt vis a 
vis the conflict.

On August 11, the President of the United Nations Working Group on 
Indigenous Populations, Erica Irene Daes, presented a report to the UN 
Sub-commission for Human Rights, based on her visit to Mexico last April at 
the invitation of President Zedillo. The report recommends that the federal 
government implement the San Andres Accords, and that the government and the 
EZLN reinitiate dialogue. It points out that the militarization in 
indigenous communities and the increasing use of the Army for police 
functions create situations of violence, an atmosphere of fear, and 
violation of human rights, including the right to life, to physical 
integrity and to freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention.


MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK
WEEKLY NEWS SUMMARY
NOVEMBER 1-7, 2000

FOX CONFIRMS HIS FIRST ACT OF GOVERNMENT WILL BE
IMPLEMENTATION OF SAN ANDRES ACCORDS

President-elect Vicente Fox Quesada announced this week that
following his inauguration on December 1, his first act of
government will be to formally send the COCOPA proposal on
indigenous rights and culture to Congress for its approval.

The proposal is a legal initiative of constitutional reforms
originally drafted in late 1996 by the congressional Commission
on Concordance and Pacification (COCOPA), for the partial
implementation of the San Andrés Accords on Indigenous Rights
and Culture.

The COCOPA was asked to write the initiative at the request of
both the federal government and the rebel Zapatista Army (EZLN)
as a way of breaking the deadlock in the peace process.  The
EZLN accepted the COCOPA's proposal, but it was rejected by the
federal government.

Since that time, the Zapatistas and their supporters have
insisted on congressional approval of the COCOPA's proposal
before any further peace talks can begin, a demand which was
rejected out of hand by the Zedillo administration.

In reiterating his support for the COCOPA proposal, Fox insisted
that it is the only initiative on the table (there are two
others, one written by the Zedillo administration and one by
Fox's National Action Party) which fully reflects the agreements
signed in February 1996 between the EZLN and the federal
government in the Chiapas town of San Andrés Larráinzar.

"This action," said Fox, "will demonstrate my administration's
will to establish the conditions for a peace with justice and
dignity in Chiapas, and to begin a great national dialogue."

Meanwhile, Rodolfo Elizondo Torres, the coordinator of political
issues in Fox's transition team, said that the implementation of
the COCOPA proposal on indigenous rights and culture will not be
the only element of Fox's pacification strategy in Chiapas.
Rather, he said, the president-elect has prepared a
comprehensive "strategic plan" for peace which will seek to
eradicate the root causes of the conflict while simultaneously
engaging in dialogue with the belligerent parties.

While Elizondo hinted that the details of the "strategic plan"
would not be made public until after December 1, Fox gave a
general outline to the press:

"First," he said, "we must return to a dialogue, that has to be
the starting point.  Without dialogue there will be no solution
to the conflict.  I am confident that we will soon be sitting at
that dialogue.  I have hope that the EZLN is reflecting on this,
engaging in analysis, and is now predisposed to have chats and
conversations toward returning to a dialogue."

"All the actors must be there," he continued, "all of those who
have had something to do with the problem, and all of those who
have had something to do with the solution, must be there.  That
is the first step."

Then, he added, "we must work decidedly to eliminate the 'white
guards' [guardias blancas] and all forms of violence which exist
in the state of Chiapas, and once this scenario of peace and
tranquility is in the foreseeable future, we must make a serious
and unprecedented push for economic and human development.  We
are going to generate many jobs in Chiapas."

"Only by bringing education, health care, roads, and other forms
of human development to every one of the communities," Fox
concluded, "will we be truly advancing."

Mexico’s Presidential Elections: A Change in Party? Yes.
A Change in Policies? No.
By David Martin

In the July 2nd presidential elections, Vicente Fox of the Partido Accion 
Nacional (PAN) defeated Francisco Labastida of the Partido Revolucionario 
Institutcional (PRI).  The PRI has held the Mexican Presidency since the 
party was formed in 1929 out of a coalition of regional “strong men”, labor 
unions, and peasant organizations. But after the 1982 financial crisis, this 
coalition began to fray as the PRI implemented IMF programs and imposed 
neo-liberalism on Mexico. The shift in the leadership of the PRI from Third 
World populists to neo-liberal technocrats reflected these policy changes.

The neo-liberal policies of the technocrat-led PRI dramatically reduced real 
wages of workers and cut subsidies and protective tariffs for peasants.  
Cuts in public spending also undermined PRI’s “strong man” politicians who 
maintained power through the distribution of government resources.

In contrast, the neo-liberal privatization of industry in Mexico created a 
powerful new class of wealthy businessmen tied to US investors and markets. 
This new social base played a key role in the rise of the PAN as the most 
viable political opposition to the PRI.  These businessmen saw the PRI’s 
ties to populists, unions, and peasant organizations as an obstacle to 
continuing the “neo-liberalization” of Mexico. They also considered the 
declining legitimacy and internal strife within the PRI as a threat to the 
consolidation of neo-liberalism in Mexico.

The PAN’s presidential candidate, Fox, exploited the popular rage against 
the PRI for 70 years of authoritarian rule combined with 20 years of a 
series of economic crises and declining living standards. Fox tapped into 
this anger with verbal attacks against the PRI and a well-funded/managed 
media blitz.  Through this strategy, Fox’s campaign succeeded in stealing 
the thunder from the leftist PRD’s candidate, Cardenas, as the lightning rod 
of opposition to the PRI. Large segments of the electorate were persuaded to 
make a “practical vote” for Fox to dislodge the PRI rather than vote for 
Cardenas (the Mexican version of lesser than two evils). The Mexican 
electorate was so angry with their declining living standards under the 
neoliberal technocrats of the PRI that they voted for the neoliberal 
technocrats in the PAN to punish the PRI.

This change in the presidency does make the Mexican political system more 
fluid. The PRI will disintegrate as support from the wealthy business class 
shifts to the PAN and the glue of patronage to workers and peasants 
disappears.  This will turn lose PRI unions and peasant organizations in 
search of new allies on the left.  An anti-neoliberal coalition may form 
from the PRD and ex-PRI popular sectors. But the vicious circle of 
increasing concentration of political and economic power into the neoliberal 
business class, while the popular sectors suffer a continuing social 
disaster, could undermine the capacity of the anti-neoliberal opposition to 
organize and win the presidency.  But things could change rapidly if, for 
example, an economic crisis in the US brings Mexico down with it.  Six years 
is a long time in politics. Six months ago few of us believed that the PRI 
would give up the Presidency peacefully.



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