The Sup breaks EZLN Silence

by Andrew Thu Sep 12, 2002 14:46

Zapatistas have not broken silence: EZLN website,Sep 12
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 08:27:09 +0200

Zapatistas have not broken silence: EZLN website

Zoltan Simon, TheNewsMexico.com - 9/12/2002

The Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) website has issued a statement
denying that Subcommander Marcos had officially responded to last Friday's
Supreme Court ruling on the indigenous rights law.

Mexican and international media, including TheNewsMexico.com, interpreted a
statement that appeared on the EZLN site Tuesday as a reaction to the court
decision, but in fact it was taken from an editorial first published 18
months ago.

The statement blasted the federal government, Congress, and the Supreme
Court for "turning (its) back on Zapatista efforts to search for a peaceful
and negotiated end to war."

Last Friday, the Supreme Court ruled it had no jurisdiction to overturn the
Indian Rights Law, which was originally negotiated between the EZLN and the
government to grant greater autonomy to indigenous communities.

But critics charge the law passed by Congress is a watered-down version of
that agreement and actually weakens Indian communities' control over natural
resources located on their land. Indigenous groups arguing they were not
adequately consulted about the final legislation filed 330 constitutional
challenges to have the law annulled.

Soon after Congress approved the law in April 2001, the EZLN broke off all
contact with the government in protest.

The Zapatistas have maintained a tense truce with the government since
staging a brief armed uprising in 1994 in the name of Indians rights and to
call attention to the plight of Mexico's 12 million indigenous, most of whom
live in marginalized conditions.

On Tuesday, hundreds of Zapatista supporters in the Chiapas city of San
Cristobal de las Casas marched to protest the court ruling.

The march became violent after protesters overturned a vehicle belonging to
the National Security Agency (CISEN) and threw rocks at the office of the
government's peace negotiator.

Social organizations warned the Supreme Court's ruling could lead to
increased violence in Chiapas, a state ravaged by political, religious, land
and ethnic disputes.

Blanca Martinez, director of the Fray Bartolome de las Casas Human Rights
Center in San Cristobal, told TheNewsMexico.com Indians feel state and
federal government officials, as well as Congress and the courts have
ignored their demands.

"Whenever you feel excluded in this way, violence can't be ruled out,"
Martinez said.