August 8 and 9 in Oventic, Chiapas marked a turning point in the ten-year insurgency of the Zapatistas with the death of the "Aguascalientes," the famous gathering points for visitors from national and international civil society and the birth of the "Caracoles" (snails), intended to be somewhat different (but equally legendary) gathering points in the future.

Along with the Caracoles, the Zapatistas unveiled their "Committees of Good Government." These five committees represent each of the five regions that the Zapatistas have demarcated within their "territories in rebellion," representing 30 autonomous municipalities.

At the entrance to the mountain village of Oventic, in the municipality of San Andres Larrainzar, visitors arriving for the event were greeted with a sign announcing, "You are in the autonomous territory in rebellion of the Zapatistas. Here the people command and the government obeys."

While the Zapatista communities have long governed themselves completely, according to Subcomandante Marcos, this has been mainly on the local level. The Committees of Good Government are designed to provide uniformity among the municipalities. Another of the benefits of the Committees is to remove the unhealthy influence of the EZLN's military command structure from the civil government of the autonomous territories.

While some legal authorities have said that the Committees are outside the constitution and therefore illegal, both the governor of Chiapas and the government of President Vicente Fox have, for now, publicly accepted their existence. The Secretary of Government, Santiago Creel, who oversees national security and federal law enforcement said that the Committees are "not necessarily incompatible with the constitution," and that Mexico "is able to have distinct forms of organization" among its indigenous groups. The government of Fox, who campaigned in 2000 saying he would "solve the Chiapas problem in five minutes," appears eager to reinstate dialogue with the EZLN, with whom the Mexican army remains in a tense and politically uncomfortable stalemate.

This "self government" for indigenous regions was part of the San Andres Accords signed by the EZLN and the Federal Government in 1996. Immediately after taking office in December of 2000 Fox sent the long delayed accords to the legislature for ratification, but the intended law was changed by members of the PRI and Fox's own PAN, stripping away many of the indigenous rights reforms included in the original agreement. With the formation of the Committees of Good Government, the Zapatistas have announced that they are going ahead with the letter and spirit of the Indigenous Rights Law, without waiting for permission from what they call the "Bad Government."

Recriminations were not high on the agenda at the Oventic gathering. Amidst afestival atmosphere, the declarations and communications from the EZLN and the introductions of the Committees were bookended between a basketball tournament in the mornings and dancing late into the night. From time to time the call and response of "Zapata vive! La lucha Sigue!" (Zapata lives! The struggle continues!) echoed across the valley. The stalls, shops and ambulant vendors along the main avenue kept up a brisk business in tamales, vegetables and handmade textiles.

With the creation of the Caracoles the EZLN has announced their intention to wield tighter control over what kind of outside support they will accept. In his series of letters in July announcing the death of the Aguascalientes, and the formation of the Committees of Good Government, Marcos wrote that in the past, some outside organizations have decided for themselves what the Zapatista communities need. To illustrate the problem he described a pink, high-heeled shoe that arrived, without its pair, as part of an "aid package," and said the Zapatistas didn't wish to continue to be a dumping ground for broken computers and expired medicines. He wrote of communities that need clean water and get a library instead. Another problem with aid, he said was that the best known Zapatista centers got the most visitors and the most support. With the creation of the Caracoles as the doorways, and overseen by the Committees of Good Government, the Zapatistas hope to manage a more equitable distribution of outside support, and to decide which projects best serve in the various localities.

While the international idol Marcos was absent, ten other comandantes of the EZLN unveiled the word of the Zapatistas. By the end of the day it was clear that there is plenty of authority and charisma in the EZLN even when "el sup" calls in sick.

On Sunday, as the visitors were packing up and leaving and the Zapatistas were picking up the random litter left behind an announcement over the loudspeaker said that if anyone had shoes, or cooking utensils or other items they wanted to donate, to take them to the headquarters of the Committee of Good Government. In short order a line had formed outside the wooden building. And so the Caracol of Oventic was born.