The Chiapas conflict, which was set off by the eruption of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), from 1994 until the present time, awoke the consciences of millions of Mexicans. At that time no one denied the very just demands of the indigenous who had risen up: peace, justice, democracy, housing, food, land, education, health, independence, liberty and work. The very poorest were able to be heard thanks, among other things, to the way they handled the media. Radio, television, the internet, newspapers and the other written press have all played a key role, as well having been one of the arenas of confrontation. It has been a fight between the two main protagonists in the conflict - the federal government and the EZLN - for credibility, for the generating of more support among national and international society, for the appraisals of the dialogue and negotiation - on the past present and future of the nation.

The conflict has come to be characterized as a "paper war." Someone said that the issue of zapatismo and the conflict in Chiapas have created more printed material than anything else has during the modern era. The strategies of communication and publicity have thus become key factors in the war. Communication has, in addition, been organized in another powerful arena: the internet. John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt feel that we can now speak of a "war of social networks" or "cyberwar."

Information is power, and whoever is able to possess it and to analyze it, is able to make better decisions. Low Intensity Warfare and its manuals place great importance on disinformation, on the blocking of information, on the news siege, on the distortion of events, on the repeated lie that becomes the truth to numbed consciences. Similarly, government budgets grant great importance to the purchase of editorials, of reporters and of that entire apparatus that allows them to influence and to generate consensus, credibility, hegemony, "moral authority," and the apparent support by citizens of government decisions which are unjust and which violate human rights.

The role of information in the media is of such great importance that, when authoritarianism and the intolerance of the powers have not tolerated reporters criticisms - and their revelations of the lie and the crude reality - some reporters have had to flee, to emigrate, to tolerate repression, jail, exile, threats, or even to see their widows lamenting the libertarian cry for truth and the denunciation.

During interim governor Roberto Albores Guillén's administration, all the editions of one day's La Jornada newspaper were bought up in August of 1999 in the capital city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, as the newspaper itself denounced. Other governors have been accused of exiling reporters, of assassinating them, of closing down editorial offices, and of even managing to purchase the critical conscience of reporters. Many of those reporters today make monthly trips to government offices for their monthly payments.

On this occasion we will just be analyzing newspapers produced in Chiapas, although national newspapers also circulate here, such as La Jornada, Excelsior, Reforma, Crónica, etc. Their distribution is limited, although they do supply news to active sectors, to important political actors and to compilers of information.

THE WRITTEN PRESS OF YESTERDAY

During the time of Porfirio Díaz, between 1876 and 1910, at least 70 publications were in circulation in Chiapas, including magazines, newspapers, gazettes, news organs, and so forth. If we add them to those that came later, about 90 different publications have disappeared: El Militante, La Academia, Adelante, La Agricultura, El Artesano, La Aurora Boreal, El Caudillo, El Centinela, El Cinco de Mayo, Las Clases Productoras, El Clavel Rojo, El Club Popular, El Criterio Público, Chiapas y México, El Dardo, La Defensa, El Demócrata, El Día, El Dos de Abril, El Duende, El Eco, El Eco de Comitán, El Eco de la Frontera, El Eco del Porvenir, El Eco del Progreso, El Ensayo, El Esfuerzo, La Evolución, El Fénix, El Ferrocarril, El Figarito, Gaceta Municipal, El Heraldo de Chiapas, El Hijo del Pueblo, Los Hijos del Pueblo, La Idea, La Juventud Chiapaneca, La Juventud Estudiosa, La Luz, La Luz del Alba, Más Allá, El Monitor Chiapaneco, La Mosca, El Obrero, El Observador, El Pensamiento, El Periódico Official, El Periódico Oficial del Estado de Chiapas, El Porvenir de Chiapas, El Progreso, El Pueblo Libre, La Reconciliación, El Regenerador, El Renacimiento, La Revista Chiapaneca, La Revista de Soconusco, El Semanario Judicial, El Semanario de Soconusco, El Sentimiento Nacional, El Soconusense, El Sur de México, El Trabajo, El Trueno, La Unión, La Verdad, La Violeta, El Voto de Chiapas, La Convención Liberal, El Voto Público, La Voz del Pueblo, La Voz del Sur, El Zurriago, Tiempo, El Despertador, Baluarte, El Demócrata, Alborada, Mirador, El Coleto, El Campeón, Claridades, Avante, Orientación, etc.

Many of these publications were weekly or biweekly. Among the municipalities where these editions were published were: Tuxtla Gutiérrez, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Tapachula, Comitán, Pichucalco and Chiapas de Corzo. Because of the difficulties in transportation, those printed materials were more locally based.

THE NEWSPAPERS OF TODAY

There are about 45 newspapers being published in Chiapas today: Ciudad Real Hoy, Cuarto Poder, Diario de Chiapas, El Fronterizo, Diario del Sur, Diario Las Casas, Diario Popular Es!, Dimensión y Novedades de Chiapas, Número Uno, Ecos del Valle, El Dictamen Coleto, El Informador, El Mundo de Chiapas, El Observador de la Frontera Sur, El Orbe, El Planeta, El Sol de Chiapas, El Sol del Soconusco, Diario el Día, El Heraldo, Expreso, Foro, La Foja Coleta, La Información, La Noticia, La República en Chiapas, La Tribuna de Chiapas, La Verdad, La Voz del Sureste, Lunes Gráfico, Noticias de Chiapas, El Sureste, Noticias de Huixtla, Nuevo Péndulo de Chiapas, Pensamientos del Sur, Récord, Récord Coleto, Semanario Imagen, Semanario Popular, Siglo XXI, Sin Línea, Sol del Soconusco, Sur de México, Vanguardia del Sureste y Zona Libre.

These are published in 7 municipalities: The majority of them are from Tuxtla Gutiérrez (the state capital), San Cristóbal de Las Casas (in Los Altos region) and Tapachula (in the Coast and Guatemalan border area). Others are published in Comitán, Huixtla, Cintalapa and Tonalá. Those newspapers that also circulate state-wide are published in Tuxtla Gutiérrez. They are published in Tapachula for the Coastal, Sierra and Soconusco regions. Those in San Cristóbal tend to be numerous, small and local. Many are geared for the "authentic Coletos" and contain information against particular political, intellectual and academic actors, NGOs and the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas, among others, since many of them are headquartered in this city.

In the municipalities of Los Altos, the North, the Selva and the Sierra regions - with a strong indigenous presence - newspapers are unknown. In this region, radio is the main source of information. We will discuss that in a later Bulletin however. Even in those municipalities where newspapers are published, the population which buys and reads them is very small. Because of that, in San Cristóbal, for example, many of them are given away.

The prices vary from $1.50 pesos, the cheapest, to $5 pesos for the most expensive. Their number of pages range from 2, to 80 in the largest newspaper. The oldest newspaper still in circulation was founded in 1947, Diario del Sur. Circulation varies from 80 editions, up to 30,000, as reported by some of the papers themselves. Many newspapers, however, are subsidized by the government through discretionary payments to the papers, such as to their reporters, or through official propaganda, among other mechanisms. Only in this way can one understand the large quantity of paper circulating in the state, despite its high levels of illiteracy, and which are given away for free in government offices, airports, and so on. One example of this is the number of newspapers that arrive at the Diocese Curia of San Cristóbal de Las Casas for free, in which they, the Diocese, are systematically attacked and vilified. One of them, "La Noticia," has been announcing every day, and on the front page, the number of days that remain for Bishop Samuel Ruiz García to be head of the Diocese. He will be turning 75 on November 3, 1999, and he will have to leave the bishopric.

Most of the newspapers were born in the decade of the nineties, followed by the 80's and the 70's respectively. Not more than 10 newspapers in Chiapas have survived since the period from the 40's to the 60's. Of the 45 newspapers, more than 25% of them were started after the 1994 armed conflict. The majority of those are local, distributed primarily in the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas, the political seat of the conflict.

It is difficult to evaluate the newspapers' independence in economic terms, since some reporters maintain that all, or almost all of them, receive "support" from the government, 5, 10, 15 thousand pesos, or more, per month. Judging from their content, however, very few of them have been noted for being critical of federal and state government policies. According to some journalists, the press business is - for some owners - an opportunity for money laundering, for illicit enrichment, or for fiscal fraud, in exchange for their support of the current government. It is difficult to envision the political independence of many of the newspapers, if we examine their distribution, circulation, reach, selling of private and government publicity, among other issues. Nonetheless - although it would be another issue for study - we can confirm that there are some magazines in circulation, state as well as national, which maintain various levels and degrees of criticism, such as the magazines Proceso, Tiempo and Debate, among others.

The radio, television and press have many subtle restraints in place for free expression, with very few exceptions. But there is another very powerful medium which - if society does not defend its right to free expression, communication and information - could also be controlled within a few years: the internet. It is characterized by the following: anyone informs anyone they want about anything they want; you receive what you want from whomever you want; and you look for what you want from whomever you want. Everyone offers their product here. The government, the military and the EZLN have their own web pages, as do businesses, institutions, universities, NGOs, political parties, churches, social organizations, individuals, etcetera, etcetera. We were able to find more than 150 pages from and about Chiapas on the internet. Of the newspapers in Chiapas, Cuarto Poder, El Orbe, La República in Chiapas and Sol del Soconusco all have their own pages.

Much of the press in Chiapas is characterized by a lot of money and paper, poor distribution mechanisms, too much propaganda, manipulation of information and of images, purchased words and consciences and corruption. Within the paper war of the government strategy, substantial resources are being invested for a population that does not read, much less read newspapers.

In the middle of the year, for example, a newspaper reported that the government of Chiapas had spent more than 20 million pesos in 6 months on publicity in order to create a positive image for interim governor Roberto Albores Guillén. This was revealed through the audit carried out by the state government Social Communication Coordination, following denunciations concerning the manipulation of public monies in support of the official candidate's campaign for the presidency of the Republic. The budget that was approved by the state Congress for the Chiapas government Social Communication Coordination for 1999 was 20,741,846 pesos, independent of the expenses for official publications and a petty cash fund for ongoing expenditures. However, as some editors of state newspapers have denounced, this budget had been exhausted in June, causing them to have to rely on ongoing funds in order to pay their bills to the media.

These bills are for the daily publication of official bulletins, in addition to the publication of entire pages, sometimes almost 10 per week, where they try to present some aspect of state government policies - such as economic or social programs. Or they were sometimes part of the vilification campaigns against government opponents. There were others in their own support. The bills charged by some media to the government fluctuated around 250,000 pesos (about $26,000), and almost 15 news organs have agreements with the Social Communication Coordination. According to figures provided by press personnel themselves, one must add to this figure what was paid, for the same items, to national newspapers and to the two main television channels. This amounted, according to the same source, to a monthly bill of 500,000 pesos.

The government's primary publicity campaigns, over the last few months alone, have been directed against the denunciations by PAN legislators regarding the distribution of expired food in the state. The state government paid for full-page display ads in which the distributors denied the incidents, and the communities that received them stated that they were in good condition. Another incident was the case of Senator Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía, formerly of the PRI and the opposition candidate for governor of the state. The government unleashed a fierce campaign against him in the media in order to discredit him. After that, there was the staged turning in of weapons by purported zapatistas to the interim governor. Then there was the situation of the confrontation with zapatistas, when the Mexican army tried to enter in to the community of Amador Hernández under the pretext of building a road, and the attempts to discredit the indigenous as being against development, etcetera, etcetera. The budget was used up quite quickly in this way.

Starting in 1997, however, and then again in 1998, Roberto Albores Guillén's government launched a disgraceful campaign of slander and of continuous attacks against the Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, against human rights centers, NGOs and foreigners, among other political actors. Now, when voices are being raised once again against the interim governor over his actions and policies, monies continue being spent in order to create a good image. But now it is the voices of the official party, PRI Deputies, who are denouncing alleged pressures and threats from the interim governor against other members of his party for not supporting the campaign of the official candidate for the presidency of the Republic. The matter has reached such a state that members of his own party have called for his dismissal and for a political judgment against the governor. And it is on November 7 that the PRIs of the country will for the first time be electing, by democratic vote, one of their four candidates for the presidency. It would appear that the official candidate (that of the current acting President and the one who will guarantee the continuation of the economic policies of structural adjustment) is neither leading nor the choice, despite his having distributed bottles of milk with his picture on them to flood victims, as denounced by some media (El País, October 14, 1999).

In a special report in September, by the Nueva Colombia News Agency, it was stated that "The Army created five departments, under one single board, which operate within Divisions and Brigades for counterinsurgency psychological warfare. Staff journalists prepare public reports, which are reproduced by the 'great press.' It is another way of manipulating public opinion and of stirring up the armed conflict." In the report on Colombia, it adds: "Counterinsurgency psychological activities take several tacks, among them: demoralizing the guerrillas, denigrating those who have taken up arms and denying the altruism of their political and social objectives, manipulating public opinion and distorting, not just their political objectives, but also the reality of their actions, as well as the results of the counterinsurgency operations." It also notes that, with the evolution of communications, "psychological warfare takes on the most varied manifestations, until it turns into a true "virtual war," which runs counter to dialogue and any peace process by the State and the guerrillas." We can observe this very same strategy in Chiapas in the media.

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