Aztlan Joins Zapatistas on March into Tenochtitlan
The Chicano/Mexicano Delegation's March with Subcomandante Marcos into "El Zocalo" had "Great Symbolic Power and Meaning"
by Hector Carreon
La Voz de Aztlan
Mexico D.F. (March 8, 2001) - (ACN) History of great significance to Aztlan was made on Sunday as Dr. Armando Navarro led a U.S. National Delegation of Chicanos and Mexicanos into the "Heart of Mexico." The immense emotional feeling of re-connecting, along with hundreds of thousands of our brothers and sisters, with the ancient ancestral center of our world, “El Templo Mayor”, was simply overwhelming.
The entrance of the Chicano/Mexicano Delegation into "El Zocalo", along with Subcomandante Marcos and 23 of his Comandantes of the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional (EZLN), was the culmination of a process that was begun back on January 1, 1994. That was when the Zapatistas rose up in arms in the southern state of Chiapas to demand equal justice for the approximately 12 million pure indigenous people that comprise about 12 percent of Mexico's 98 million population. A large proportion of the remaining population is "La Raza" or Mestizos (mixed Indigenous/European blood) and only a small portion have pure European (mostly Spanish) ancestry. The uprising left an estimated 150 people dead.
Over the years, and since the bloody conquest of the Aztecs (or Mexicas) of Tenochtitlan by Hernan Cortez and the Spaniards, Mexico's indigenous people have been victimized by centuries of oppression and exploitation. The various indigenous groups, which are comprised of over 60 different ethnic groups, have been increasingly marginalized and losing ground in relation to language, culture and ownership of precious land. In the resource rich state of Chiapas, the onslaught against native peoples has been particularly decimating. The "Caciques" in the region have over the course of years been able to expropriate the land through questionable policies that have included the "Alcoholization" of indigenous men. World economic forces, hungry for natural resources and energy fuels, have been particularly brutal to Mexico's indigenous people and specially those in Chiapas. The rich oil fields and uranium/plutonium mines in the region has meant the destruction of large portions of the eco-system. This has had grave consequences on the ability of indigenous people to survive. More and more of the indigenous groups have been pushed into unfertile and mountainous areas of Chiapas.
The deteriorating conditions that threaten the very existence of Mexico's indigenous populations resulted in Subcomandante Marcos and the Zapatistas yelling loudly, "Ya Basta!" On January 1, 1994 the EZLN launched an armed attack on the Mexican Army taking control over large areas of the Locandon jungle in Chiapas. Subcomandante Marcos, a mysterious and charismatic "Poet Leader", is a Mestizo, but he has won the "hearts and minds" of the large majority of Mexico's ethnic indigenous groups as well as of other large sectors of Mexican society. He wears a distinct uniform that includes a "ski mask" and a worn and ragged cap with three stars. Although no one knows who he really is, the Mexican government says he is Rafael Sebastian Guillen, a former professor with a literature degree from the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), an allegation Marcos denies. He is a humble person that "speaks from the heart". His speeches touch all people of good conscience by articulating the suffering that indigenous people have had to endure because of neglect,
hunger and widespread discrimination by the majority, as well as the wealthier segments of Mexican society.
He is a calm person in the midst of occasional chaos. In addition, he possesses a subtle and great sense of humor. He often smokes a pipe during his discourses or during interviews with the captivated national and international media. He calls himself Subcomandante even though he leads twenty three Comandantes including four women. All his Comandantes wear either "ski masks" or handkerchiefs on their faces to conceal their identities.
Since the EZLN's January 1, 1994 attack on the Mexican Army, which was under the command of President Carlos Salinas, the president at the time, there have been many skirmishes, cease-fires and attempts to negotiate a settlement and achieve peace. The various skirmishes resulted in many Zapatistas being taken prisoners as well as a mobilization of large Mexican Army contingents into the Chiapas region. On April 22, 1995 the Mexican Congress created a special commission called Comision de Concordia y Pacificacion (COCOPA) to renew talks for a settlement and for peace. This San Andres Dialogue resulted in the "San Andres Agreement" reached on February 16, 1996 under then President Ernesto Zedillo. However, the agreement was neither ratified nor implemented by the Mexican Congress.
Everything changed when President Vicente Fox of the Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) toppled the
Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) on July 2, 2000, ending the 71 year rule of the PRI.
On the day after Vicente Fox assumed office on December 1, 2000, Subcomandante Marcos announced his Zapatista March to Mexico City. President Fox's first major act as president was to send the San Andres Agreement, on December 5, 2000, to the Mexican Congress for ratification and implemantation. President Fox has been very conciliatory towards the Zapatista's demands to free all EZLN political prisoners and to withdraw Mexican troops from the Chiapas region. On December 22, 2000 President Fox ordered the closure of a large military base in Chiapas and later the closure of three more army bases and on December 30, 2000 President Fox started freeing captured soldiers of the EZLN.
The Zapatista March to Tenochtitlan began on February 25, 2001 from San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas and covered 12 states and stay-overs in 25 municipalities. It was a gruelling affair with multiple incidents and one, as of yet, unexplained accident that took the life of a federal police officer that was providing security for the Zapatista Delegation. The accident took place in the state of Queretaro where the governor had made repeated threats to Subcomandante Marcos. A bus supposedly lost its brakes and headed straight towards the bus carrying Subcomandante Marcos and the 23 Comandantes. A security vehicle interposed itself between the renegade bus and took the impact but one federal police officer lost his life and another was injured.
The Chicano/Mexicano Delegation joined the Zapatistas in San Pablo Oztetepec in Milpa Alta on March 8, 2001 and on Sunday March 11, 2001 the delegation from Aztlan joined the Zapatistas for the final leg of the march from Xochimilco to El Zocalo in Tenochtitlan. La Voz de Aztlan is proud to have covered this momentous event for the benefit of La Raza de Aztlan. This reporter can not recall any event charged with such high emotion. The level of intensity rivaled that of the National Chicano Moratorium Committee March in East Los Angeles where journalist Ruben Salazar lost his life at the hands of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs, or the Latino march on Washington where tens of thousands marched around the White House.
This particular march had great historical significance for La Raza de Aztlan for a variety of reasons. Most notably because it signified a re-return from Aztlan to the "Heart of Mexico" where around 1325 AD the Mexicas founded Tenochtitlan. To have made this entrance into El Zocalo in the company of the Zapatistas and hundreds of thousands indigenous brothers and sisters made the event particularly dramatic. It was as if we were recapturing Tenochtitlan after "La Conquista." The last leg of the Zapatista March also followed the route that was taken by both General Emiliano Zapata and General Francisco Villa during their entrance into Mexico City after the defeat of "Los Federales."
President Vicente Fox Quesada compared this march to those made by the Reverend Martin Luther King and Afro-Americans in Alabama during their struggle against racial discrimination. To some extent, the comparison was correct in that the Zapatistas are also struggling against the widespread ethnic discrimination of indigenous people of Mexico. This discrimination has spilled into the United States where Chicanos are also marginalized and remain under extreme poverty in the barrios of the inner cities. After "la conquista" of the U.S. southwest or
"Aztlan" in 1848, Chicanos have been increasingly driven downward by dominant hordes of Anglos
and other European based ethnic and national groups. Native languages have all but disappeared
and now the Spanish language is also under extreme attack by "English Only" xenophobic groups. People who were once free to migrate back and forth across "la frontera" are now facing murderous Anglo vigilantes and brutal U.S. Border Patrol agents.
The Chicano condition in the United States is sad and deplorable. A large majority of Chicano youths are presently in prison and representation in institutions of higher learning is extremely minimal. The few programs in universities that were instituted to address self-determination for Chicanos are now in jeopardy and under constant siege. This is partly due to the fact that Chicanos have now become simple tools for other dominant groups, institutions and political organizations such as the corrupt Democratic Party, a party that has utilized Chicano elected political representatives simply as "occupation administrators."
One great hope that came out of the Zapatista March was that generated by the "alliance" that was forged by some of us in the Chicano/Mexicano Delegation and our brothers and sisters in Mexico. The delegation met with officials of the Partido Revolucionario Democratico (PRD) in Mexico City and discussed strategies that will increase our influence in the United States and further our collective efforts of "acercamiento." A report on these talks will be forthcoming and will be published in La Voz de Aztlan. Subcomandante Marcos and the EZLN have publicly stated that if an agreement to establish peace and true reform is achieved with the Mexican Congress, they will give up their arms and move in the direction of turning the Zapatista armed struggle into a political movement. This may mean establishing a new political party in Mexico, something we desperately need to do in the United States. With our population rapidly approaching 40 million in the U.S., we are now ready to take our rightful place in national, as well as international, political debate.
