Zapatistas march into Mexico City

View of Mexico City's main square during a rally of the commanders of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) on March 11, 2001.

By Diego Cevallos

Mexico City, Mexico, Mar. 12 (IPS)— More than 100,000 people were waiting in the Mexican capital’s central plaza Sunday to welcome the 24 commanders of the Zapatista guerrilla movement, who amid cheers proclaimed that indigenous peoples in this country would never again put up with injustices and that the moment has come to recognize native rights.

“Mexico City, here we stand, the rebel, the color of the earth who shouts democracy, liberty, justice and dignity,’’ declared subcomandante Marcos, leader of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), to his enthusiastic followers late Sunday afternoon.

“Mexico, we have not come to tell you what to do, or to lead you. We came to ask, humbly, respectfully, that you help us. Don’t let there be another dawn without the (Mexican) flag including a color for us, the color of the earth,’’ Marcos stated.

On a raised stage in the central plaza, known as the Zócalo, surrounded by the flags of Mexico and the EZLN, the guerrilla chief, who hides his true identity by wearing a ski mask, declared that the time has come for President Vicente “Fox and those he serves to listen to us.’’

“Only one thing responds to our word, only one thing returns our gaze: the constitutional recognition of indigenous rights and culture,’’ added the leader, the only ‘mestizo’ (mixed race) among the Zapatista leadership, during his speech abundant with poetic turns of phrase.

The EZLN commanders, all wearing ski masks, arrived for the ceremony in the central plaza, which in 1914 was taken over by the revolutionary armies of Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa. The event marked the culmination of a 3,000-km, 16-day tour that began in Chiapas state, where the EZLN declared war on the Mexican government on Jan 1, 1994.

One objective of the motorized “march’’ and the visit to the capital has been to build public support for the guerrillas, who engaged in just 12 days of combat with government troops in 1994, with tensions simmering ever since.

The other goal is to mobilize pressure on the national Congress to pass a law on indigenous rights.

“It is time for this country to stop being an embarrassment, dressed only in the color of money. It is the moment of the Indian peoples,’’ stated Marcos.

In a festive environment, and after waiting more than five hours under a hot sun, the rebels’ supporters remained in place through the entire ceremony, enthusiastically shouting slogans like “Long live the Zapatistas!’’

The insurgent force’s leaders affirm that they will only renew peace talks with the government -- a dialogue suspended in 1996 -- when the three federal military detachments remaining in their zone of influence in Chiapas are withdrawn, the indigenous rights law is passed, and all Zapatistas are released from prison.

Since Fox took office last December, his government has withdrawn four of the seven military battalions active in Chiapas, supported the release of 86 of some 100 Zapatista prisoners -- according to his own count -- and is lobbying Congress to approve the indigenous rights law.

Fox has stated repeatedly that he will do everything necessary to renew the peace negotiations, and acknowledged the value of the EZLN struggle, saying he shares the rebels’ goal of justice for indigenous peoples.

Mexico has a population of 100 million, of which some 10 million are native peoples, and the vast majority of the rest are considered ‘mestizo.’

“We are not a passing trend, we are not a feigned peace that desires eternal war. We are and will be one more on the march, one of indigenous dignity, one that unveiled and kept watch over the many Mexicos that within Mexico are hidden and in pain,’’ Marcos stated.

Among the listeners there were families with young children and babies, individuals with pets, young people dressed as Zapatistas and dozens of vendors offering t-shirts, photos, posters and all sorts of merchandise related to the march and to subcomandante Marcos.

Numerous foreigners were in the crowd as well, including such notables as Nobel Prize-winning Portuguese author José Saramago, Danielle Mitterrand, widow of French president François Mitterrand and president of the France-Libertés Foundation, French peasant leader Jose Bove, and dozens of members of the Italian protest group ‘Ya Basta!.’

“I came with my three-month-old granddaughter and we support the EZLN because we want to give her a life of justice and dignity,’’ read a placard a man was carrying in one arm, with a baby in the other.

The 24 guerrilla chiefs headed toward the capital’s Zócalo around noon, leaving the southern neighborhoods where they had arrived Thursday. As they entered Mexico City’s center they rode in an uncovered truck and were followed by dozens of vehicles.

On the route through the city to the Zócalo, thousands of people applauded and cheered the rebels as they passed.

Before the Zapatista commanders gave their speeches, a group of Indians performed an ancient ritual of welcoming in which they used smoke from the ‘copal’ (resin from a tree native to Mexico) and sounded their conch shells.

The group then presented the rebel chiefs with floral necklaces and spread petals at their feet.

Mexico’s two leading television networks, TV Azteca and Televisa, which jointly sponsored a concert here for peace in Chiapas, did not broadcast the entrance of the guerrillas into the Zócalo or their speeches.

However, while Marcos and his commanders were arriving at the central plaza, the TV stations broadcast President Fox’s welcome message.

“We did not come to get down on our knees or to beg, we came to ask that you recognize our rights,’’ affirmed Commander Esther, one of the four women in the EZLN’s leadership.

The group of Zapatista leaders announced that they will remain in the city until the law protecting indigenous rights is approved.

Peace delegation arrives in Colombia

Colombian paramilitaries of the AUC brandish thier automatic assault weapons during a training session in the Colombian jungle, May 2000.

By Brendan Conley

Bogota, Colombia, Mar. 13— One hundred US citizens arrived in Colombia today as part of a human rights delegation led by the organization Witness for Peace.

The delegates came to learn more about, and express their opposition to, US policy in Colombia, including the $1.3 billion US contribution to Plan Colombia, the government’s anti-drug and counterinsurgency war. The delegates will meet with representatives of a broad range of Colombian society, from human rights groups to business and labor leaders. The group will hear from representatives of the US and Colombian governments, and from people affected by the policies of those governments. The group will be active here in Bogota, and will travel to communities in the heart of the conflict zones of Colombia’s ongoing civil war.

“We believe that Plan Colombia undermines the peace process,” said Gail Phares of Raleigh, North Carolina, a leader of the delegation. “We are going to learn from these people -- not to teach them anything -- and to come back and change US policy.”

The delegation includes students, religious leaders, journalists, and representatives of human rights organizations. Ted Lewis, human rights coordinator for Global Exchange, said his organization opposes US military aid to Colombia. “US intervention in this country can only have disastrous consequences,” he said.

The US is funding the aerial fumigation of illegal coca farms in the Colombian countryside, in an attempt to stem the flow of cocaine. The US action is an acceleration of the Colombian government’s ten-year-long program of coca fumigation. Farmers and peasants in the countryside have complained that the fumigation -- carried out with Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide -- destroys food crops and poisons the air and water.

Military aid makes up the largest US contribution to Plan Colombia, deepening US involvement in the decades-long civil war. Guerrilla armies such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- known by its Spanish acronym FARC -- derive much of their funding from a tax they levy on coca production.

“Military aid to Colombia is like throwing gasoline on a fire,” said Phares. Colombia has one of the worst human rights records in the western hemisphere, and the military has ties to right-wing paramilitary groups that have committed numerous massacres of civilians and other human rights violations. The Clinton administration waived human rights restrictions on its billion-dollar aid package.

The delegates also questioned the motives of the US “war on drugs.” Sanho Tree, of the Institute for Policy Studies, said that the US focus on eradicating cocaine at the source, and blocking the flow of drugs militarily, is failing. Tree said that treatment of addicts in the US is a more effective policy. But, he said, politicians do not want to appear “soft” on the issue of drugs. “Eradication and interdiction are policies that look good to politicians,” he said.

Witness for Peace, which led the US movement against the Contra war in Nicaragua in the 1980s, has taken more than 10,000 US citizens to Latin America and the Caribbean since its founding in 1983. Witness for Peace is a grassroots, faith-based organization that operates on a principle of nonviolence. “Nonviolence is a struggle against injustice,” said Phares, “and it is a rejection of violence to achieve ends.”

The members of the delegation say that when they return to the US, they intend to work to expose US policy toward Colombia, and organize to change it. “This policy is vulnerable to public pressure, because it doesn’t bear up under public scrutiny,” said Lewis. “But it hasn’t gotten any scrutiny yet.”

The delegates will travel to conflict zones in the countryside, risking their personal safety. Angelyn Rudd, a graduate student in Louisville, Kentucky, admitted that she was afraid of violence. But, she said, “what we may endure for a few days is what millions of people must endure their entire lives.” Rudd said that when she began to learn about the effects of US policy in Colombia, she felt she must work to change it, even if it meant taking risks. “It’s my responsibility as an American,” she said.

The delegates were welcomed today at a celebration organized by The Menonite Church of Bogota. Colombian religious and civil society leaders joined the US citizens in song, prayer and conversation.

“We want peace for Colombia,” said Victor Viafara, an organizer with the Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians. “Not just peace — but peace with dignity.”

An unidentified fighter is aided by a paramedic in
Colombia on Feb. 21, 2001 after clashes between
leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary
groups left 30 dead.

Viafara and his fellow Afro-Colombians said they were driven from their homes, north of Colombia by paramilitary attacks. “ We are being displaced because they want to take our land,” said an Afro-Colombian man who gave the name “Ramon”. “Our land is valuable for oil (and) to build a new canal. It is very productive land.”

The Afro-Colombians said they have been attacked by rebel armies as well as paramilitaries but they place the blame for the violence on the governments of Colombia and the US.

“The government uses drugs as an excuse to fight the guerrillas but the guerrillas exist because of injustice,” said Viafara.

Alfredo, a young Afro-Colombian man asked a question of United States citizens: “Why is your country sending guns and bombs to Colombia?”

Pakistan, CIA collaborated to create the Taliban

London, England, Mar. 9— The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) worked in tandem with Pakistan to create the “monster” that is today Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, according to a leading US expert on South Asia.

“I warned them that we were creating a monster,” Selig Harrison from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars said at a conference in London last week on “Terrorism and Regional Security: Managing the Challenges in Asia.”

Harrison said: “The CIA made a historic mistake in encouraging Islamic groups from all over the world to come to Afghanistan.” According to Harrison, the US provided $3 billion for building up these Islamic groups, and it accepted Pakistan’s demand that they should decide how this money should be spent.

Harrison, who spoke before the Taliban assault on Buddha statues was launched, told the gathering of security experts that he had meetings with CIA leaders at the time when Islamic forces were being strengthened in Afghanistan. “They told me these people were fanatical, and the more fierce they were the more fiercely they would fight the Soviets,” he said. “I warned them that we were creating a monster.”

Harrison, who has written five books on Asian affairs and US relations with Asia, has had extensive contact with the CIA and political leaders in South Asia. Harrison was a senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace between 1974 and 1996.

Harrison who is now senior fellow with The Century Foundation recalled a conversation he had with the late Gen Zia-ul Haq of Pakistan. “Gen Zia spoke to me about expanding Pakistan’s sphere of influence to control Afghanistan, then Uzbekistan and Tajikstan and then Iran and Turkey,” Harrison said. That design continues, he said. Gen.Mohammed Aziz who was involved in that Zia plan has been elevated now to a key position by Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Harrison said.

The old associations between the intelligence agencies continue, Harrison said. “The CIA still has close links with the ISI (Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence).”

Today that money and those weapons have helped build up the Taliban, Harrison said. “The Taliban are not just recruits from ‘madrassas’ (Muslim theological schools) but are on the payroll of the ISI.” The Taliban are now “making a living out of terrorism.”

Harrison said the UN Security Council resolution number 1333 calls for an embargo on arms to the Taliban. “But it is a resolution without teeth because it does not provide sanctions for non-compliance,” he said. “The US is not backing the Russians who want to give more teeth to the resolution.”

According to Harrison, the creation of the Taliban was central to Pakistan’s “pan-Islamic vision,” and Pakistan “holds the key to the future of Afghanistan.”

Harrison said the creation of the Taliban had been “actively encouraged by the ISI and the CIA,” and came about after “the CIA made the historic mistake of encouraging Islamic groups from all over the world to come to Afghanistan.” He added that, “Pakistan has been building up Afghan collaborators who will sustain Pakistan.”

Source: Times of India: http://www. timesofindia.com