Zapata

He did not die riddled with bullets at the door of the Hacienda that day in April when the soldiers twice emptied their rifles at the bugle's last note

those who saw him say he withstood the bullets men and time and on a white horse at full gallop rode into death unharmed

--Homero Aridjis

Jan. 1, 1994, as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation captured four towns in Chiapas State in southern Mexico. The army immediately launched a counter-offensive. After 10 days of fighting, 140 people lay dead. The Zapatistas, never strong enough to launch a full scale military campaign against the government, retreated into the Lacandon jungle. Led by the enigmatic poet Subcommandante Marcos, the Zapatista army remains in the jungles of Chiapas, surrounded by the Mexican army.

Conventional wisdom seems to favor the authorities. The rebels are isolated. The fierce letters of love and war pouring from the pipe of Marcos no longer make world headlines. Every day, the genocidal policies of NAFTA integrate themselves further into the inertia of business as usual. Every day, the Mexican army, aided by US "intelligence," maps a little more of the Zapatistas' stronghold. Every day, they grow closer to death.

The people of Chiapas see a future much like their past. A future of struggle against persistent oppression. Citing the results of their own poll, the Mexico City daily Reforma said "According to the inhabitants, the main lines of the conflict in Chiapas will continue in 1999, as they did before 1994: the misery, the racial discrimination."

The reasons for pessimism are not without continuous examples. Dec. 21 marked the one year anniversary of a massacre in the village of Acteal. Pro-government paramilitaries, aided by the indifference or complicity of the army, slaughtered 45 men, women and children for their perceived support of the Zapatistas. Over 100 people have been arrested in connection with the massacre, including police, an army general, and other officials barred from holding public office. Yet paramilitaries continue to terrorize the people of Chiapas. Residents of El Bosque fled the town of Union Progreso on Dec. 15 after paramilitaries approached at night and detonated a grenade.

A report by the Fray Bartolome Human Rights Centre said "The existence of paramilitary groups and the impunity with which they act is an important part of the government's counter-insurgency strategy." The government has been accused of carrying out a "war of attrition" against villagers perceived as Zapatista supporters. Over 10,000 people have fled their villages in the face of paramilitary violence. Recently, the government has resumed expelling human rights observers from Chiapas.

But these are unconventional times and conventional wisdom proves itself time and again to be wrong. Despite odds, it seems the clock hasn't finished counting for the Zapatistas.

On Jan. 1 of this year, five years since going public, the Zapatistas released a statement penned by Marcos. "In 1998 the Mexican government offered nothing other than war and destruction to Mexican indigenous people." Reminding the world that they endure, the EZLN vows to continue the struggle against the policies of "ethnocide." While they have not taken Mexico City nor achieved any notable military objectives since the first days after declaring war, the rebels have shaken the foundations of Mexican society. Virtually unacknowledged by the world's press, the tiny army of Indians and mestizos has achieved many of its objectives, and it continues to lead.

Five years ago, Marcos offered as one reason for the uprising that "In the Declaration of War we called upon the powers of the union to make use of the constitutional right to depose the illegitimate government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari and to install a transitional government made up of people and political parties..." Today, Salinas is long gone, and the Mexican government is, by all accounts, in "transition." Not the orderly, constitutional change envisioned by the Zapatistas, but it is happening.

Even the army is not immune. About 50 soldiers, led by lieutenant Hildegardo Bacilio Gomez, marched in Mexico city Dec. 18, calling for the Minister of Defense to resign. After issuing a series of reformist communiqus and expressing admiration for Marcos and the Zapatistas, Lieutenant Gomez went into hiding. Incensed generals charged him with insubordination and vowed to deal with him harshly. Five army officers were arrested on Jan. 7, after trying, unsuccessfully, to deliver a letter to President Zedillo complaining of human rights abuses within the military. The Mexican press has expressed support for the army dissidents. One opinion column said the soldiers "cannot be accused of being coup-mongers, because they are not out to destroy institutions but to improve them." Others have said their arrests are illegal because soldiers are constitutionally allowed to take their grievances to the President (as commander in chief) if necessary.

The Zapatistas remain. They are fighting for themselves. They are also fighting for us, comfortable Norteamericanos that we are. They are fighting for the victory of the heart, fighting for humanity in the face of the corporate machine. We must not forget them. We should join them. It's time we figured out how to bring their struggle here, our country which has so much influence over theirs. No less than brothers and sisters, our future is in each others' hands.

What do we do now?