EZLN

El 1 de enero de 1996, en su IV Declaracin de la Selva Lacandona, el Ejrcito Zapatista de Liberacin Nacional convoc a la organizacin del Frente Zapatista de Liberacin Nacional. Finalizando la segunda parte de las tres que conformaban dicha declaracin, despus de nombrar las caractersticas polticas que tendra la nueva organizacin a que estaban convocando, ustedes escribieron lo siguiente: Con la unidad organizada de los zapatistas civiles y los combatientes zapatistas en el Frente Zapatista de Liberacin Nacional, la lucha iniciada el 1 de enero de 1994 entrar en una nueva etapa. El EZLN no desaparece, pero su esfuerzo ms importante ir por la lucha poltica. En su tiempo y condiciones, el EZLN participar directamente en la formacin del Frente Zapatista de Liberacin Nacional. The Zapatistas went public in 1994 with the initial goal of overthrowing the Mexican government. Short armed clashes in Chiapas ended two weeks after the uprising and there have been no full-scale confrontations ever since. The Mexican government instead pursued a policy of low-intensity warfare with para-military groups in an attempt to control the rebellion, while the Zapatistas developed a media campaign through numerous newspaper comunicados and over time a set of six "Declarations of the Lacandonian Jungle", with no further military or terrorist actions on their part. A strong international Internet presence has prompted the adherence to the movement of numerous leftist international groups.Government talks with the EZLN culminated in the San Andrs Accords (1996) that granted autonomy and special rights to the indigenous population. President Zedillo and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) however, ignored the agreements and instead increased military presence in the region. With the new government of President Fox the Zapatistas marched in 2001 towards Mexico City to present their case to the Mexican Congress. Watered-down agreements were rejected by the rebels who proceeded to create 32 autonomous municipalities in Chiapas, thus partially implementing the agreements without government support but with some funding from international organizations.In July 2005 the Zapatistas presented the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandonian Jungle. In this new Declaration, the EZLN called for an alternative national campaign in opposition to the current presidential campaign. In preparation for this alternative campaign, the Zapatistas invited to their territory over 600 national leftist organizations, indigenous groups and non-governmental organizations in order to listen to their claims for human rights in a series of biweekly meetings that culminated in a plenary meeting in September 16, the day Mexico celebrates its independence from Spain. In this meeting, Subcomandante Marcos requested official adherence of the organizations to the Sixth Declaration, and detailed a 6 month tour of the Zapatistas through all 31 Mexican states that is taking place concurrently with the electoral campaign starting January 2006.Political initiatives Since December 1994, the Zapatistas had been gradually forming several autonomous municipalities, independent of the Mexican government. By August 2003 these municipalities had evolved into local government "juntas", implementing communitarian food-producing programs, health and school systems, supported in part by NGOs. Then several "Juntas of Good Government" formed by representatives of the autonomous municipalities and overseen by the EZLN were created as an upper level of government under the motto mandar obedeciendo (to command obeying). These renegade municipalities had been tolerated by the government despite being a state within the state. Although they do not tax the inhabitants, the zapatistas decide, through assemblies, to work in communitarian projects; when someone does not participate in these communitarian efforts it is discussed and sometimes it is decided to not consider the person a Zapatista. This for example implies that the person has to pay for medicine in zapatista pharmacies (although not for medical care). Membership in the Juntas rotates continuously, so that all members of the community have an opportunity to serve the community and also to prevent people in power to become addicted to it or become corrupted.