Communique from the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee—General Command of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation
Mexico

August 17, 2019

To the People of Mexico:
To the Peoples of the World:
To the National Indigenous Congress—Indigenous Governing Council:
To the National and International Sixth:
To the Networks of Support and Resistance and Rebellion:

Hermanos, Hermanas, Hermanoas:

Compañeras, Compañeros, Compañeroas:

We bring you our word. The same word as yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It is the word of resistance and rebellion.

In October of 2016, almost three years ago, during the 20^th anniversary of the National Indigenous Congress [CNI], the sister organizations of the National Indigenous Congress and the EZLN made a commitment to go on the offensive in our defense of our Territory and Mother Earth. Persecuted by the bad government, by caciques, by foreign corporations, by criminals, and by the law, and as we accumulated insults, derision, and dead, we the originary peoples (the guardians of the earth), decided to go on the offensive and circulate the words and actions of resistance and rebellion.

With the founding of the Indigenous Governing Council [CIG] and the selection of its spokesperson, Marichuy, the National Indigenous Congress gave itself the job of taking words of warning and organization to the brothers and sisters of the city and countryside. Meanwhile, the EZLN also went on the offensive in its struggle with its words, ideas, and organization.

The time has come to hold ourselves accountable to the CNI-CIG and its spokesperson so that their peoples can decide if we have lived up to what we promised. But it is not only the CNI-CIG that we are accountable to; we also have a pending debt with the organizations, groups, collectives, and individuals (especially those in the Sixth and the Networks [of Rebellion and Resistance], but not only them) that throughout Mexico and the world concern themselves with our Zapatista peoples. These are people who, whatever their calendars, geographies, and habits may be, disregard the walls, borders, and sieges that are erected to divide us so that their hearts can continue to beat close to our own.

(Continuar leyendo…)

Adagio-Allegro Molto in E minor: A Possible Reality
(from the Notebook of the Cat-Dog)

“As you know, madness is like gravity…all it takes is a little push.”
The Joker in the role of Heath Ledger (or was it the reverse?)

Nobody knows for sure how it all started. Not even the Tercios Compas [Zapatista media], who took up the task of reconstructing the sequence of events, could pinpoint the exact moment and event in which the story I’m about to tell you began.

According to one version, SubGaleano is responsible for everything. Others say SubGaleano only started it and it was Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés who took it to completion.

See, what happened was that in one of his texts, SubGaleano mentioned a February 2011 program in which the journalist Carmen Aristegui asked if then-president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa was an alcoholic, and added that the nation should be informed about the health of the president. She was fired in retaliation. Up to that point in the story there is no disagreement—and you can confirm that’s what happened by referring to news articles from that time.

The problem really begins when SubGaleano added something like, “Madness, as pointed out by a misunderstood sage of the human soul, is like gravity: all it takes is a little push. To hold Power unlawfully is just that irresistible push that all those above long for, and it begins with three simple words, “I rule here.” If you think anyone in the media is going to question whether the current president is lacking in any of his mental faculties (let’s be clear, he didn’t say “crazy”), don’t hold your breath, because nobody will dare to do so.”

(Continuar leyendo…)

Español | Português | Deutsch

PLANET EARTH, June 24, 2019

To the Zapatista Army of National Liberation
To the National Indigenous Congress
To the Indigenous Governing Council
To the Women of the CNI-CIG
To the Women who Struggle
To the CIG Support Networks
To the Networks of Resistance and Rebellion
To the National and International Sixth
To the Media

We who subscribe this letter – workers in the social sciences, the arts and the humanities, activists and feminists – we come together to express our genuine concern for what is happening in Mexico and specifically for what is happening in Chiapas and in the indigenous regions where the Zapatistas, members of the original people, tribes and nations that are part of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) live.

The incarnate struggle of resistance against capitalism, machismo and patriarchy of the Zapatistas and the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) have inspired and continues to inspire us. Their struggle is like a mirror where we can reflect, that encourages us to walk in an incarnated way, in our own places, times and ways, in our own struggles for autonomy and against all those dominations, violences, dispossessions, discriminations and exploitations that manifest in a thousand forms in indigenous and not indigenous territories.

We are actively awaiting and walking in many places and sharing what we have (un)learned looking at your 25 and 500 years of collective resistances.

We add our voice to those who affirm that the current Mexican government’s strategy is one strategy of war more than for security and we agree with the criticisms against ongoing Mexican nationalist development projects for the Mayan region and the Tehuantepec Isthmus (Istmo de Tehuantepec). We are outraged by the murder of women, young people; and indigenous and black communities’ leaders in México and all over Abya Yala.

All of this not only worries us, but also encourages us to carry out different actions in different spaces as our incarnate support to the Jornadas por la Vida contra la Guerra (Campaign for Life and against the War).

That is why we shout with a strong collective voice: !The war against the Zapatistas, the CNI members and the indigenous and black peoples of all over Abya Yala, must stop now!

(Continuar leyendo…)

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.

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.

CONVOCATORIA A CONTINUAR LAS JORNADAS POR LA VIDA Y CONTRA LA GUERRA

#JornadasPorLaVidaEZLNyCNI
#EmergenciaGuerrero

Reunidos con fecha 5 de junio para hacer un balance del primer conjunto de actividades que se realizaron en distintas ciudades de México y el mundo para visibilizar y denunciar la guerra que se recrudece contra los territorios en resistencia y  lucha por la vida, contra los pueblos originarios organizados en el C N I – C I G así como contra el E Z L N

I N F O R M A M O S:

Que durante todo el mes de mayo se realizaron más de 50 actividades (presentaciones de libros, foros, proyección de películas, concentraciones, mesas informativas, pega de carteles, entrega de documentos y acciones fuera de embajadas y consulados) en más de 35 ciudades en México y el mundo. Aunque estamos conscientes de que todavía hay mucho trabajo por hacer, el balance fue positivo en razón del número de actividades que lograron concretarse, la cobertura en medios que se alcanzó, y porque nos permitió visualizar una forma de trabajo  en conjunto que respete los modos y tiempos de cada colectivx y red de resistencia y rebeldía.

(Continuar leyendo…)

Communique from the CNI-CIG and the EZLN in Response to the Recent Violence Against Originary Peoples

To the peoples of the world:
To the CIG support networks:
To the national and international Sixth:
To the media:

Neoliberal capitalism is marking its steps with the blood of our peoples as war is intensified against us wherever we refuse to cede our land, our culture, our peace and our collective organization, and because we refuse to give up our resistance or resign ourselves to dying off.

We denounce the cowardly attack on May 31 against the indigenous Nahua community of Zacualpan, which is part of the CNI, in the municipality of Comala, Colima, where narco-paramilitaries fired high-caliber weapons at a group of young people, killing one and critically injuring three more.

We hold all three levels of bad government responsible for this event, in particular the head of public security, Javier Montes García, as it is the bad government that allows these narco-paramilitary groups to operate in the region. We demand full respect for the traditions and customs of the Nahua indigenous community of Zacualpan.

We condemn the aggression and destruction carried out in the early morning hours of May 31 against the Rebollero and Río Minas communities, part of the Binizza community of San Pablo Cuatro Venados in the municipality of Zachila, Oaxaca. There, a group armed with high-caliber weapons and heavy equipment came in firing on the community, destroying dozens of homes and forcing the population, including children, to flee. In all, 24 homes were demolished in the attack and the communities’ corn and other food supplies set on fire, including seeds saved for planting. The group also burned the families’ personal items such as clothing and shoes and stole their livestock, power generators, and water pumps.

We condemn the repression and displacement of our compañeros and compañeras of the Otomí indigenous community who have maintained a temporary encampment at #7 Londres Street in the Juárez neighborhood in Mexico City since the September 19, 2017 earthquake. At 11 am on May 30, they were violently evicted by shock troops sent by the bad government and real estate companies, working alongside hundreds of riot police at the service of Néstor Núñez, mayor of the Cuauhtémoc district.
We condemn the narco-paramilitary siege sustained by criminal groups—supported and protected by the bad government and all of the political parties—against the communities of the Emiliano Zapata Popular Indigenous Council of Guerrero (CIPOG-EZ) in the municipalities of Chilapa and José Joaquín de Herrera, who struggle peacefully to build their autonomy.

We call on all the peoples of Mexico and the world to be attentive to and in solidarity with the struggle of the Guerrero communities and to break the violent siege against them which limits their access to food and medicine and is waged in the interests of the capitalist appropriation of indigenous territory. We urge support for the collection of provisions to be sent to the affected communities, including corn, rice, beans, canned chili peppers, sugar, sardines, tuna, toilet paper, diapers, and medicine, to be collected at the UNIOS headquarters in Mexico City, #32 Carmona y Valle Street, Colonia Doctores.

We reiterate that our Mother Earth is not for sale to big capital or to anybody, that our existence is not up for negotiation and thus neither is the resistance of our peoples.

Attentively,
June 2019
For the Full Reconstitution of our Peoples
Never Again a Mexico Without Us
National Indigenous Congress
Indigenous Governing Council
Zapatista Army for National Liberation

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.

Em português aqui.

CARTA DE SOLIDARIDAD DEL SIGA/FOB A LAS/LOS COMPAS DEL EZLN Y DEL CNI-CIG

Nosotros del Sindicato General Autónomo (SIGA-DF), afiliado a la Federación de las Organizaciones Sindicalistas Revolucionarias de Brasil (FOB), escribimos esa nota en apoyo a los camaradas luchadores del EZLN y del CNI – CIG, México.

El capital internacional ha avanzado em toda la America Latina y el resultado de ello es la expulsión, desapropiación de nuestras tierras y territorios y la destrucción de los recursos naturales. Los pueblos originarios, los campesinos, la población marginada del campo y de la ciudad , están, cada vez más, sufriendo con los ataques de ese modo de producción que transforma todo en lucro y pasa por encima de aquellos que intentan resistir y existir. En Brasil, vemos el avance de la minería y del agronegocio bajo las tierras indígenas, campesinas y quilombolas, en México los megaproyectos fueron planeados pasando por encima de los territorios indígenas y campesinos.

Para garantizar los beneficios del capital nacional e internacional, los gobiernos sean ellos de derecha o izquierda, intensifican la represión como forma de callar la voz de aquellos que se opone a esos nefastos proyectos. En México, bajo un gobierno entitulado “de izquierda” los ataques no paran y el recrudecimiento de la represión es la más cruel realidad. Los camaradas del EZNL y del CNI ya vienen denunciando las prácticas de ese mal gobierno que, alineado con militares, paramilitares y con el narcotráfico impone su política represiva que resultó en el reciente asesinato de los compañeros indígenas Samir Flores Soberanes, Modesto Verales Sebastián, José Lucio Bartolo Faustino, Bartolo Hilario Morales, Isaías Xanteco Ahuejote. Estos compañeros fueron asesinados por luchar contra esa política de genocidio y expropiación del gobierno de López Obrador (MORENA) y demás esferas estatales (municipales o estatales), fueron asesinados por no aceptar las imposiciones del Capital, de los narco paramilitares, por no callarse frente a esas injusticias.

“Nosotros del SIGA/FOB nos unimos en la campaña de solidaridad junto al EZNL y CNI-CIG contra los megaproyectos,” Tren Maya “,” Corredor Transistémico “,” Proyecto Integral Morelos “, la” Guardia Nacional “y las” Zonas Económicas Especiales “. ¡Exigimos la verdad y la justicia para los compañeros asesinados! No nos olvidemos de lo que Honestino Guimarães nos enseñó: “Pueden prendernos, pueden matarnos, pero un día volveremos, y seremos millones”

Samir Flores Soberanes, PRESENTE!
Modesto Verales Sebastián, PRESENTE!
José Lucio Bartolo Faustino, PRESENTE!
Bartolo Hilario Morales, PRESENTE!
Isaías Xanteco Ahuejote, PRESENTE!

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.

En México, se realizan acciones en más de 10 estados.

En tan sólo tres meses, cinco defensores del territorio que se organizaban en torno al Congreso Nacional Indígena (CNI) han sido asesinados. Se trata de Samir Flores Soberanesde Amilcingo, en el estado de Morelos y de Bartolo Hilario Morales, Isaías Xanteco Ahuejote, Bartolo Faustino y Modesto Verales Sebastián; estos últimos pertenecientes al Consejo Indígena y Popular de Guerrero – Emiliano Zapata.

En el mismo lapso de tiempo, el Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas publicó un informe en el que da cuenta de la intensificación de la estrategia contrainsurgente  contra Pueblos Originarios Bases de Apoyo del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional en lo que va del gobierno de Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Ahí se informa que “desde fines del 2018, se duplicó el número de incursiones del Ejército mexicano a la sede de la Junta de Buen Gobierno (JBG) Hacia la Esperanza, en el Caracol de La Realidad (Municipio oficial de Las Margaritas). Las BriCo observaron 19 patrullajes terrestres, (con soldados armados con metralletas) y 5 sobrevuelos desde helicópteros, de enero a abril de 2019. Preocupante es la regularización de los sobrevuelos a las comunidades y el aumento de los movimientos militares en el último mes”.

Ante esta grave situación, organizaciones, redes, colectivos e invidualidades se han dado a la tarea de organizar una serie de movilizaciones en diferentes partes de México y del mundo para mostrar su solidaridad con el EZLN, y reivindicar la lucha por la Vida y contra la Guerra en todo el mundo.

Hasta el miércoles 29 de mayo, había registradas más de 20 acciones en México, Argentina, EUA, Grecia, Francia y Austria. La información sobre dichas actividades pueden consultarse en la página Porque Acordamos Viviry registrarse al porqueacordamosvivir@gmail.com

Para sumarse a la acción desde redes sociales, también se convoca a utilizar los #NosotrxsConElEZLN #NosotrxsConElCNI y #JornadasPorLaVidaEZLNyCNI

En la Ciudad de México, la cita fue a las 07:00am en la entrada de Palacio Nacional, por la tarde también se llevaron a cabo otras actividades.

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.

A dos años de la Asamblea Constituyente del Concejo Indígena de Gobierno, del Congreso Nacional Indígena (CNI), que se conformó los días 26, 27 y 28 de mayo del 2017, las agresiones a los pueblos, comunidades y organizaciones se intensifican como parte de una estrategia para contener las resistencias civiles y pacíficas en defensa del territorio. En el epicentro de los hostigamientos y de la criminalización se encuentran las defensoras quienes son cuidadoras de sus milenarias culturas y de la Madre Tierra.

Una mirada a las resistencias en México nos ejemplifica las constantes violaciones a derechos humanos a pueblos que se oponen al despojo y defienden su derecho a la autonomía. Dos geografías: en Chiapas, integrantes del Congreso Nacional Indígena del pueblo Chol de San José El Bascán, en el municipio de Salto de Agua, se encuentran en riesgo de ataque armado y desplazamiento forzado.(1) En Oaxaca, el Comité en Defensa de los Pueblos Indígenas (CODEDI) es constantemente perseguido: cuatro de sus integrantes fueron detenidos arbitrariamente este año y el 19 de abril, un ataque armado en contra de CODEDI dejó 5 personas heridas en Huatulco. Front Line Defender en su campaña por proteger a personas defensoras explica que «CODEDI ha trabajado por más de 20 años en la promoción y protección de los derechos humanos de 50 comunidades indígenas en diferentes regiones en el estado de Oaxaca.» (2)

Desde diciembre del 2018, el CNI ha denunciado despojos, desplazamientos forzados, detenciones arbitrarias, desapariciones forzadas, amenazas, hostigamientos, criminalización e intentos de ejecuciones; destacan además los ataques a medios comunitarios que ejercen el derecho a la libre expresión en el marco del Convenio 169 de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo.

(Continuar leyendo…)

STOP THE NARCO-PARAMILITARY WAR AGAINST THE CIPOG-EZ
Urgent Communique from the CNI-CIG and the EZLN

Today with pain and rage we denounce a new and insidious crime against our compañeros of the Popular Indigenous Council of Guerrero-Emiliano Zapata (CIPOG-EZ).

At approximately 1:30 pm on May 23, near Chilapa, Guerrero, our compañeros Bartolo Hilario Morales and Isaías Xanteco Ahuejote were taken captive. Both were members of the CIPOG-EZ, the National Indigenous Congress, and the Community Police of the Nahua communities of Tula and Xicotlán, with the former serving as Community Police Captain. They were found dead and quartered on May 24.

This crime follows the recent murder of our compañeros Lucio Bartolo Faustino and Modesto Verales Sebastián, council member and delegate respectively of the CNI-CIG. We denounce the politics of terror applied by narco-paramilitary groups, with the shameless support of all three levels of bad government, against our brothers and sisters of the CIPOG-EZ and against all of the indigenous territories of Mexico. In this case, the terrible crime was perpetrated by the “Grupo Paz y Justicia”, who are connected to “Los Ardillos”, who in turn rely on the complicity of the Federal Army.

We as indigenous peoples, nations, tribes, and barrios resist not only the megaprojects used by the owners of power to appropriate land and nature, but also the death, fear, and desolation imposed by their armed groups throughout the country. Whether they wear the uniform of “Los Rojos,” “Los Ardillos,” or the repressive forces of the bad government, the power of money and ambition to profit off the suffering of our peoples make them one and the same. Our brothers were murdered by neoliberal capitalism in their struggle to create peace and autonomy for the peoples of Chilapa and the broader region.

This is why our compañeros continue to resist, because that seed of struggle comes from the determination of our peoples who, along with our mother earth, will not give up, give in, or sell out in the battle to not disappear from history in the midst of this total destruction. We will make their struggle, their word, and their determination grow in the collective conscience of those of us who dream of and struggle for a new world.

We demand an immediate halt to the repression against the CIPOG-EZ, justice for our brothers Bartolo Hilario Morales, Isaías Xanteco Ahuejote, Bartolo Faustino, and Modesto Verales Sebastián, and justice for the dignified peoples of Guerrero.

Attentively
May 2019
For the Full Reconstitution of Our Peoples
Never Again a Mexico Without Us
National Indigenous Congress
Indigenous Governing Council
Zapatista Army for National Liberation