Zapatistas March to San Cristóbal
Proposal for a New Global Campaign
The Zapatista army (EZLN) is marching to San Cristobal de las Casas today to announce the next phase of their campaign against the Mexican government.
San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico- The Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN, are marching out of the jungle and into the city San Cristobal de las Casas today to announce the second phase of their "Other Campaign".
Subcomandante Marcos, along with 15 Zapatista commanders, is expected to arrive in the city to make the announcement at Café Tierradentro near the city center.
The Zapatistas have a history of using new digital technologies, such as email and the Internet, to reach broad audiences throughout Mexico and around the world. Many of the techniques used by the Zapatistas were studied by the US government during the creation of the Information Operations Roadmap to wage information warfare today.
Today's event continues with the Zapatista communications tradition by live webcasting the event from www.tierradentro.org.mx and featuring teleconference speakers from Brazil and Honduras.
The Zapatistas' First Declaration, in 1994, was a declaration of war against the Mexican government. The Zapatistas then proceeded to take over the city of San Cristóbal, along with local military bases and a few smaller cities.
"We are a product of 500 years of struggle", said the First Declaration in a call to Mexican brothers and sisters. "They [the government] don't care that we have nothing, absolutely nothing, not even a roof over our heads, no land, no work, no health care, no food nor education"
Many EZLN members are indigenous people of Southern Mexico of Maya decent, but recently, the Zapatistas have attempted to increase the popularity of the movement with their Sixth Declaration during the Mexican presidential election of 2006.
"What we want in the world is to tell all of those who are resisting and fighting in their own ways and in their own countries, that you are not alone, that we, the Zapatistas, even though we are very small, are supporting you, and we are going to look at how to help you in your struggles and to speak to you in order to learn, because what we have, in fact, learned is to learn."
The actions following the Sixth Declaration attempted to affect the Mexican presidential election of 2006 by encouraging people to not vote and to not support a corrupt governmental system that is leaving 80% of the Mexican people living in poverty.
While President Calderon has not yet made a formal statement about today's event, tension is high. One of Mr. Calderon's first actions as president in December was to send federal troops to the city of Oaxaca to quell protests and violence. While the groups responsible for the violence and protest were separate from the EZLN, federal government tolerance is low.
Since Thursday, the military and police presence in the city center has tripled. Yesterday, the national army held a recruitment parade featuring armed troops and bands marching through the streets.
