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(Español) Hacerles regresar a casa: 4ta.Brigada Nacional de Búsqueda de Personas Desaparecidas

Sorry, this entry is only available in Español. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

Dientes, tibias, botones, falanges, cuerda, tierra seca, tenis, un hoyo en el temporal… Una llamada anónima, coordenadas, luz. «Sí, yo preparé la olla para el caldo, esa era mi chamba. Hace tres años ahí llevaron al vato. Le metieron un balazo en la cabeza, se fue de boca y ya nomás le eché la tierra.»

Primer día, primer positivo.

Acá hay de todo. Tita, Mari y Gladivir, locales, viejos y muy fuertes. Hace casi cincuenta años una guerra pretendió exterminarlos, arrasó poblaciones enteras y dejó huérfanos a cientos de sobrevivientes. El profesor Alberto no sabe de su hijo hace un mes, desde entonces renta un cuarto cerca del centro de Huitzuco, es nuevo en esto. Los que llevan más van con él a la papelería para que imprima y enmique la foto de Daniel. La confesión de un sicario del Macho Prieto, un croquis mal hecho. Diez meses y 16 días después, Don Jorge encontró el cuerpo de su hijo en una fosa a las afueras de Navolato, Sinaloa.

Ángel Gabriel, hermano de Lidia, fue a la tienda por desodorante y ya no volvió. Una sección completa de presos en un cerezo de Morelia, aseguró verlo en ese mismo grupo meses atrás.

Miguel Ángel, marido de Cecila, desapareció hace siete años en Nogales, Veracruz. Hace un año, la empleada de una tienda de autoservicio en Río Bravo, Tamaulipas, creyó reconocerlo en un vagabundo cerca de su trabajo. Fabián y Azucena se divorciaron hace cinco años y desde hace dos buscan a Dafne, su hija de 21.

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The Yes Mwen

The Yes Men launch false campaign, satirizing Mexico’s xenophobia against Central American migrants: “We are the Wall”

The Yes Men, known for their activism through irony and humor, launched a false campaign called “Somos el Muro” (“We are the Wall”), which satirizes the xenophobia of many Mexicans against Central American migrants.

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Mario Caporali

Words by mapuche activist Moira Millán, judicialized for defending her people’s rights

On February 21, 2019, weichafe Moira Ivana Millán will be tried in Argentina. She is charged with “aggravated coercion” for organizing a peaceful demonstration in 2017 in protest of the violations to the rights of Mapuche communities committed by the Argentinian gendarmerie during the raids in September of that year. The raids were authorized by the federal judge Guido Otranto, and were part of the investigations for the disappearance of the activist Santiago Maldonado in August 2017, and who was found ded in October that year. During the raids, the gendarmerie beat and humilliated the Mapuche people.

Moira Millán was acquitted of all charges in September 2018 by judge Gustavo Lleral, but the prosecution appealed the decision. If she is declared guilty this February 21, she could face from two to four years in prison.

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CNI

(Español) Foro en defensa de la Madre Tierra: No al tren maya y el corredor transístmico, no a la guardia nacional

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EN DEFENSA DE LA MADRE TIERRA
NO AL TREN MAYA Y EL CORREDOR TRANSISMICO, NO A LA GUARDIA NACIONAL.
SÁBADO 16 DE FEBRERO 2019, 11:30 HORAS
ESCUELA NACIONAL DE ANTROPOLOGÍA E HISTORIA

Periférico sur y Zapote S/N, Colonia Isidro Ganela, Ciudad de México.

PARTICIPAN:
Carlos González García (Abogado CNI-CIG)
Bettina Cruz Velázquez ( Concejal del de pueblos indigenas del Itsmo)
Yamili Chan Dzul y José Ángel Koyoc Kú (Concejales de la Asamblea Regional de la Península de Yucatán)
Magadalena Gómez Rivera (Maestra de la UPN y columnista en La Jornada)
Adrián Flores (Geocomunes)

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CNI-CIG

(Español) CNI y CIG se manifiestan en contra del Proyecto Integral Morelos y la simulada consulta anticipada por AMLO

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Instalación del gasoducto Morelos, como parte del Proyecto Integral Morelos, en 2014. Foto: Cuartoscuro

COMUNICADO DEL CONGRESO NACIONAL INDÍGENA – CONCEJO INDÍGENA DE GOBIERNO EN CONTRA DEL PROYECTO INTEGRAL MORELOS Y LA SIMULADA CONSULTA ANUNCIADA POR EL PRESIDENTE DE LA REPÚBLICA

El Congreso Nacional Indígena–Concejo Indígena de Gobierno exigimos la cancelación del Proyecto Integral Morelos, que destruye y despoja a pueblos originarios, ejidos y comunidades en los estados de Morelos, Puebla y Tlaxcala; y configura el territorio para el funcionamiento del gran capital, que suficiente daño ha hecho y sigue haciendo a la madre tierra.

Rechazamos tajantemente la consulta que el mal gobierno federal anunció para los días 23 y 24 de febrero, en la que dicen que preguntarán a 24 municipios de Tlaxcala y Puebla, así como a 33 municipios de Morelos, si están de acuerdo o nó en el funcionamiento de la termoeléctrica de Huexca, municipio de Yecapixtla, en el estado de Morelos; lo anterior en tanto el Presidente de la República, aprovechando ventajosamente el tener a los medios y a una numerosa pobación desinformada a su favor, ya hizo pública su postura a favor del proyecto de despojo, pretendiendo que, una vez más, como ocurrió con la consulta para trasladar el Aeropuerto de Texcoco a Santa Lucía, o con la del Tren Maya, la decisión ya tomada por él reciba la “aprobación del pueblo”.

En juego está el territorio de los ejidos y comunidades afectadas no solo por la termoeléctrica ya construida y otra más que está proyectada, sino por el acueducto, el desvío de agua del río Cuautla, el gasoducto y demás obras complementarias para la operación de ese megaproyecto, que el mal gobierno así de fácil pretende legitimar, sin siquiera informar de la destrucción, del riesgo y del despojo que implicará. Así de fácil desaparecer años de lucha de las comunidades y pueblos originarios de Puebla, Morelos y Tlaxcala para detener la destrucción planteada por el Proyecto Integral Morelos.

Decimos con contundencia que esas consultas están hechas a modo para concretar el despojo y llevar la muerte a nuestros territorios, porque:

(Continuar leyendo…)

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Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra y Agua

(Español) Sobre el Proyecto Integral Morelos: Antes de cualquier consulta se debe garantizar la seguridad de las comunidades

Sorry, this entry is only available in Español. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

Con motivo que el día de ayer el Presidente de la República anunció que someterá a consulta el Proyecto Integral Morelos (termoeléctrica, gasoducto y acueducto) para el próximo 23 y 24 de febrero con una sola pregunta que dice: “¿Está usted de acuerdo que inicie la operación de la termoeléctrica la Huesca de la CFE?” Manifestamos que esta pregunta está mal elaborada, es tendenciosa y no incluye preguntar sobre el funcionamiento del gasoducto y el acueducto.

Nos preocupa que el derecho a la consulta y autodeterminación que durante 9 años se nos ha negado por gobiernos anteriores, hoy se pretenda resolver en 13 días, y sin siquiera tomarnos en cuenta en la consulta, de manera especial, a todos los pueblos afectados, uno por uno. Pues se pretende preguntar en lo general a todo el Estado de Morelos y 24 municipios de Puebla y Tlaxcala, si se está de acuerdo en echar andar una planta eléctrica. Pero la pregunta también implica decidir “¿Si se está de acuerdo en que Huexca viva entre una termoeléctrica a 300 metros de su kínder y franqueada por dos gasoductos?”. Muchos al contestar esta pregunta dirían “yo no vivo en Huexca, no puedo decidir por ellos”, pero López Obrador dice: “decidan por los demás y ahí les va lo que yo quiero hacer para que lo consideren en su voto, yo no decido, ustedes deciden, yo no soy el malo, soy el amlo”

Decidir por el otro y disfrazarlo de consulta, es una burla para cualquier persona y una violación a su derecho de autodeterminación. Por eso no estamos de acuerdo que otros decidan por nuestro territorio, solo Huexca puede decidir por Huexca, Ayala por Ayala, Puebla por Puebla y Tlaxcala por Tlaxcala. Una consulta diferente a esta no se le puede llamar consulta, sino juego de dados cargados.

Exigimos que la consulta solo sea con las comunidades afectadas y sea vinculante su decisión en su territorio y que la misma se posponga hasta que se llegue a un acuerdo conjunto con las comunidades de cómo organizarla, los tiempos y modos de informarse adecuadamente y sobre todo, se garantice que el proyecto es seguro para las comunidades, antes no se puede consultar nada.

(Continuar leyendo…)

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Avispa Mídia

(Español) Mujeres Munduruku de Brasil anuncian que no negociaran su territorio con Bolsonaro

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Por Ñaní Pinto | Avispa Mídia

Desde el 1er día de gobierno de Jair Bolsonaro, actual presidente de Brasil, los pueblos originarios de este país se mantiene en alerta máxima, ya que uno de los primeros actos oficiales fue la edición de la Medida Provisional (MP) 870/2019, a través de la cual se extinguen algunos ministerios y re-direcciona otras atribuciones. Tal es el caso de la responsabilidad que tenía en sus manos la Fundación Nacional del Indio (FUNAI) quien se encargaba de la demarcación de tierras indígenas, ahora es un poder que pasó a manos del Ministerio de Agricultura, donde se encuentran representadas las empresas transnacionales de la agricultura industrial.

Diversos pueblos se preparan para resistir a las políticas económicas de desarrollo que despojaran a cientos de indígenas en este país sudamericano. Un caso especial es, en la Amazonia Brasileña, el pueblo Munduruku, desde el año 2014, viene resistiendo a la instalación de 23 mega-presas hidroeléctricas proyectadas en El Plan Decenal de Expansión de Energía 2014-2023 del gobierno. En el III Encuentro de Mujeres Munduruku, realizado en la aldea Sawre Muybu (Territorio Daje Kapap Eipi), durante el 30 de enero al 02 de febrero de este año 2019, las mujeres decidieron continuar resistiendo y defendiendo a sus hijos, enseñándoles el camino sin avaricia.

“No intercambiaremos la vida de nuestros hijos por las hidroeléctricas, minería, puertos, concesión forestal, ferrocarriles e hidrovías. El gobierno y las empresas siguen asesinando a nuestra madre tierra. Ya asesinaron a la madre de nuestros peces como Karobixexe y Dekoka’a. Ahora, el nuevo gobierno no es distinto, es el mismo pariwat (no indígena) enemigo de los pueblos indígenas”, expresan las mujeres en su resolución de este encuentro.

No solo repudian la medida MP 870, sino que declaran abiertamente que lo que el gobierno actual esta haciendo contra ellos es una guerra abierta y, por tanto, “no intercambiamos, ni negociamos la vida de nuestro pueblo”, afirman.

La Demarcación de Tierra Indígena es un recurso jurídico que les permite a los pueblos de Brasil ser usuarios de su territorio ancestral y esto, ha sido un obstáculo para la expansión de la frontera productiva de soja, caña, eucalipto, minería y para los complejos de generación de energía limpia. Pero los pueblos originarios han apelado a su historia y ha decidido auto-demarcar sus territorios ancestrales. “El Gobierno está rasgando el Convenio 169 de la OIT, nuestro Protocolo de Consulta y está declarando guerra en contra de los pueblos indígenas. Además de todo esto, los políticos y empresarios son sordos a los reclames de nuestra Awaydip (selva). Pero nosotras la escuchamos y sabemos que a cada represa construida un dedo de armadillo que sostiene el planeta es cortado. Es por esa razón todo este desequilibrio, estas muertes, estas tragedias. Son ocasionadas por el pariwat y todos y todas sufrimos. Nosotras nos solidarizamos con nuestros parientes Pataxó Hãe Hãe Hãe e Krenak, que han sufrido por la muerte de sus ríos y con todos aquellos que fueron victimas de estos crímenes cometidos por las mineras”, denuncian en el III encuentro.

“Nosotras también estamos amenazadas por empresas de minería como la Rio Vermelho, que ya está destruyendo nuestros lugares sagrados y por muchas otras que tienen solicitudes en la ANM (Agencia Nacional de Minería) para explotar nuestras tierras. Y sabemos que el Gobierno quiere permitir este tipo de proyectos de muerte adentro de las tierras indígenas .¡Pero nosotras NO LO VAMOS ACEPTAR! ¡Por esto, como nuestros ancestros, queremos la cabeza de estos gobernantes! Vamos continuar haciendo la auto-demarcación de nuestro territorio, nuestros encuentros de mujeres, fortaleciendo nuestra lucha y nuestra autonomía junto con los chamanes, guerreros y jefes de aldea. Vamos continuar defendiendo la casa de nuestro ancestros, de nuestro pueblo Munduruku para que las generaciones futuras, nuestros hijos y nietos, tengan garantizado su territorio, puedan continuar existiendo de nuestra forma propia y cultivando nuestro buen vivir”, expresan las mujeres en sus acuerdos del III encuentro de Mujeres Munduruku.

Ver los resolutivos completos emitidos por las mujeres durante el encuentro ⇒

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Frayba

(Español) Diego López Méndez, víctima de tortura, acusado de un homicidio que no cometió

Sorry, this entry is only available in Español. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

El 18 de julio de 2012, Diego López Méndez estaba trabajando cuando llegaron 4 judiciales vestidos de civil a su lugar de trabajo. Lo detuvieron y se lo llevaron en una camioneta blanca para ser torturado, acusándolo de un homicidio que no cometió. Ante el horror de la tortura, y pensando que lo matarían, finalmente se autoinculpó para salvar su vida. Eso fue hace seis años y medio. Desde entonces, ha estado preso.

Diego López es un indígena tseltal, padre de un niño de 6 años. La condición de madre, que está muy enferma, se ha agravado con el sufrimiento por la injusta prisión.

La única evidencia en su contra es su propia confesión, firmada bajo tortura. Quien lo inculpó también fue torturado para que lo hiciera.

Este martes, 12 de febrero, Diego comparecerá en audiencia de derecho frente al Juez Penal de San Cristóbal de Las Casas, César Rodríguez Robles, quien a partir de entonces tendrá 15 días para dictar su sentencia. Ese mismo día 12 de febrero, a las 5 p.m., se llevará a cabo una concentración en la plaza de la Catedral de esa ciudad, en solidaridad con Diego López Méndez. Invitamos a quienes estén en la ciudad a comparecer para exigir su libertad.

Video: Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas

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Mujeres que luchan en México y el mundo

Letter to the zapatista women from the women who struggle in Mexico and the world

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LETTER TO THE ZAPATISTA WOMEN
FROM THE WOMEN WHO STRUGGLE IN MEXICO AND THE WORLD
(signed by 891, Organizations, Collectives, Networks, and Individuals)

To our compañeras Zapatistas
To the women of the world who struggle
To the grandmothers, mothers, sisters, youth and girls
To those who have the heart of a woman

We the undersigned are women of Mexico and the world, convened by the Zapatista women on March 8th, 2018 in the First International Political, Artistic, Cultural and Sports Encounter of Women Who Struggle.

We reaffirm that every one of us committed ourselves to struggle, each one from our own place of origin or new home places, from our distinct cultures and occupations, so that “not one more woman in the world, regardless of color, size, or place of origin, should feel alone or afraid anymore”. We committed ourselves to the light that all of you shared with us in our gathering, and to the light that all of you represent to all of us. We keep that light alive in order to be, to walk and to struggle together.

Today we proclaim that we will not allow the bad governments to destroy your worlds and displace you from the territories that provide the roots, heartbeat and direction to your lives and dreams. We will denounce, through multiple venues and modes, the misuse of practices of cultural resistance, staging ancestral people’s rituals to justify megaprojects of death and sickness imposed by the patriarchal capitalist system.

Given the conditions of war that we continue to face every day as women, we reaffirm our agreement to “stay alive, and for us to live is to struggle, each one according to her means, her time and her place.”

Now is the time to tell the bad governments, past and present, in every corner and place in the world, that we repudiate, from our multiple locations and territories, the practices of concessions, extraction, and the misuse and abuse of our Mother Earth. “Fracking,” gas and oil pipelines, massive hydroelectric dams, extensive agro-industrial monocultures of crops and trees, and infrastructure for corporate tourism in indigenous territories, all benefit major commercial projects, at the cost of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples’ lives and territories. In the face of profit-seeking interests, we will struggle for Life, for the lives and territories of people and other living beings.

As women, we know the value of life and for this reason we work to build conditions that support life. We declare that yes, we can do this, we women with our collective hearts. You are not alone compañeras zapatistas, friends, and sisters, and neither are your children, families and peoples!

Quotations excerpted from Zapatista Women (2018) Zapatista Women’s Opening Address at the First International Gathering of Politics, Art, Sport, and Culture for Women in Struggle. March 8, 2018. Caracol in the Tzots Choj zone. March 26, 2018, Enlace Zapatista:
http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2018/03/26/zapatista-womens-opening-address-at-the-first-international-gathering-of-politics-art-sport-and-culture-for-women-in-struggle/

(Continuar leyendo…)

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Las Mujeres Zapatistas

Letter from the Zapatista Women to Women in Struggle Around the World

(See also: Letter to the Zapatista women from the women who struggle in Mexico and the world)

ZAPATISTA ARMY FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION
MEXICO

February 2019

To: Women in struggle everywhere in the world
From: The Zapatista Women

Sister, compañera:

We as Zapatista women send you our greetings as the women in struggle that we all are.

We have sad news for you today, which is that we are not going to be able to hold the Second International Encounter of Women in Struggle here in Zapatista territory in March of 2019.

Maybe you already know the reasons why, but if not, we’re going to tell you a little about them here.

The new bad governments have said clearly that they are going to carry forward the megaprojects of the big capitalists, including their Mayan Train, their plan for the Tehuantepec Isthmus, and their massive commercial tree farms. They have also said that they’ll allow the mining companies to come in, as well as agribusiness. On top of that, their agrarian plan is wholly oriented toward destroying us as originary peoples by converting our lands into commodities and thus picking up what Carlos Salinas de Gortari started but couldn’t finish because we stopped him with our uprising.

All of these are projects of destruction, no matter how they try to disguise them with lies, no matter how many times they multiply their 30 million votes. The truth is that they are coming for everything now, coming full force against the originary peoples, their communities, lands, mountains, rivers, animals, plants, even their rocks. And they are not just going to try to destroy us Zapatista women, but all indigenous women—and all men for that matter, but here we’re talking as and about women.

In their plans our lands will no longer be for us but for the tourists and their big hotels and fancy restaurants and all of the businesses that make it possible for the tourists to have these luxuries. They want to turn our lands into plantations for the production of lumber, fruit, and water, and into mines to extract gold, silver, uranium, and all of the minerals the capitalists are after. They want to turn us into their peons, into servants who sell our dignity for a few coins every month.

Those capitalists and the new bad governments who obey them think that what we want is money. They don’t understand that what we want is freedom, that even the little that we have achieved has been through our struggle, without any attention, without photos and interviews, without books or referendum or polls, and without votes, museums, or lies. They don’t understand that what they call “progress” is a lie, that they can’t even provide safety for all of the women who continue to be beaten, raped, and murdered in their worlds, be they progressive or reactionary worlds.

How many women have been murdered in those progressive or reactionary worlds while you have been reading these words, compañera, sister? Maybe you already know this but we’ll tell you clearly here that in Zapatista territory, not a single woman has been murdered for many years. Imagine, and they call us backward, ignorant, and insignificant.

Maybe we don’t know which feminism is the best one, maybe we don’t say “cuerpa” [a feminization of “cuerpo,” or body] or however it is you change words around, maybe we don’t know what “gender equity” is or any of those other things with too many letters to count. In any case that concept of “gender equity” isn’t even well-formulated because it only refers to women and men, and even we, supposedly ignorant and backward, know that there are those who are neither men nor women and who we call “others” [otroas] but who call themselves whatever they feel like. It hasn’t been easy for them to earn the right to be what they are without having to hide because they are mocked, persecuted, abused, and murdered. Why should they be obligated to be men or women, to choose one side or the other? If they don’t want to choose then they shouldn’t be disrespected in that choice. How are we going to complain that we aren’t respected as women if we don’t respect these people? Maybe we think this way because we are just talking about what we have seen in other worlds and we don’t know a lot about these things. What we do know is that we fought for our freedom and now we have to fight to defend it so that the painful history that our grandmothers suffered is not relived by our daughters and granddaughters.

We have to struggle so that we don’t repeat history and return to a world where we only cook food and bear children, only to see them grow up into humiliation, disrespect, and death.

We didn’t rise up in arms to return to the same thing.

We haven’t been resisting for 25 years in order to end up serving tourists, bosses, and overseers.

We will not stop training ourselves to work in the fields of education, health, culture, and media; we will not stop being autonomous authorities in order to become hotel and restaurant employees, serving strangers for a few pesos. It doesn’t even matter if it’s a few pesos or a lot of pesos, what matters is that our dignity has no price.

Because that’s what they want, compañera, sister, that we become slaves in our own lands, accepting a few handouts in exchange for letting them destroy the community.

Compañera, sister:

When you came to these mountains for the 2018 gathering, we saw that you looked at us with respect, maybe even admiration. Not everyone showed that respect—we know that some only came to criticize us and look down on us. But that doesn’t matter—the world is big and full of different kinds of thinking and there are those who understand that not all of us can do the same thing and those who don’t. We can respect that difference, compañera, sister, because that’s not what the gathering was for, to see who would give us good reviews or bad reviews. It was to meet and understand each other as women who struggle.

Likewise, we do not want you to look at us now with pity or shame, as if we were servants taking orders delivered more or less politely or harshly, or as if we were vendors with whom to haggle over the price of artisanship or fruit and vegetables or whatever. Haggling is what capitalist women do, though of course when they go to the mall they don’t haggle over the price; they pay whatever the capitalist asks in full and what’s more, they do so happily.

No compañera, sister. We’re going to fight with all our strength and everything we’ve got against these mega-projects. If these lands are conquered, it will be upon the blood of Zapatista women. That is what we have decided and that is what we intend to do.

It seems that these new bad governments think that since we’re women, we’re going to promptly lower our gaze and obey the boss and his new overseers. They think what we’re looking for is a good boss and a good wage. That’s not what we’re looking for. What we want is freedom, a freedom nobody can give us because we have to win it ourselves through struggle, with our own blood.

Do you think that when the new bad government’s forces—its paramilitaries, its national guard—come for us we are going to receive them with respect, gratitude, and happiness? Hell no. We will meet them with our struggle and then we’ll see if they learn that Zapatista women don’t give in, give up, or sell out.

Last year during the women’s gathering we made a great effort to assure that you, compañera and sister, were happy and safe and joyful. We have, nevertheless, a sizable pile of complaints that you left with us: that the boards [that you slept on] were hard, that you didn’t like the food, that meals were expensive, that this or that should or shouldn’t have been this way or that way. But later we’ll tell you more about our work in preparing the gathering and about the criticisms we received.

What we want to tell you now is that even with all the complaints and criticisms, you were safe here: there were no bad men or even good men looking at you or judging you. It was all women here, you can attest to that.

Well now it’s not safe anymore, because capitalism is coming for us, for everything, and at any price. This assault is now possible because those in power feel that many people support them and will applaud them no matter what barbarities they carry out. What they’re going to do is attack us and then check the polls to see if their ratings are still up, again and again until we have been annihilated.

Even as we write this letter, the paramilitary attacks have begun. They are the same groups as always—first they were associated with the PRI, then the PAN, then the PRD, then the PVEM, and now with MORENA.

So we are writing to tell you, compañera, sister, that we are not going to hold a women’s gathering here, but you should do so in your lands, according to your times and ways. And although we won’t attend, we will be thinking about you.

Compañera, sister:

Don’t stop struggling. Even if the bad capitalists and their new bad governments get their way and annihilate us, you must keep struggling in your world. That’s what we agreed in the gathering: that we would all struggle so that no woman in any corner of the world would be scared to be a woman.

Compañera, sister: your corner of the world is your corner in which to struggle, just like our struggle is here in Zapatista territory.

The new bad governments think that they will defeat us easily, that there are very few of us and that nobody from any other world supports us. But that’s not the case, compañera, sister, because even if there is only one of us left, she’s going to fight to defend our freedom.

We aren’t scared, compañera, sister.

If we weren’t scared 25 years ago when nobody even knew we existed, we certainly aren’t going to be scared now that you have seen us—however you saw us, good or bad, but you saw us.

 

Compañera, hermana:

Take care of that little light that we gave you. Don’t let it go out.

Even if our light here is extinguished by our blood, even if other lights go out in other places, take care of yours because even when times are difficult, we have to keep being what we are, and what we are is women who struggle.

That’s all we wanted to say, compañera, sister. In summary, we’re not going to hold a women’s gathering here; we’re not going to participate. If you hold a gathering in your world and anyone asks you where the Zapatistas are, and why didn’t they come, tell them the truth: tell them that the Zapatista women are fighting in their corner of the world for their freedom.

That’s all, compañeras, sisters, take care of yourselves. Maybe we won’t see each other again.

Maybe they’ll tell you not to bother thinking about the Zapatistas anymore because they no longer exist. Maybe they’ll tell you that there aren’t any more Zapatistas.

But just when you think that they’re right, that we’ve been defeated, you’ll see that we still see you and that one of us, without you even realizing it, has come close to you and whispered in your ear, only for you to hear: “Where is that little light that we gave you?

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast,

The Zapatista Women
February 2019