On the 2^nd of December, 2000, the EZLN put as a third condition, for acknowledging Luís H Alvarez as the official interlocutor representing the federal government and resume the dialogue with the government of Vicente Fox, the release of all its political prisoners. The nearest and immediate reference we have when we talk about political prisoners is the “ Voz de Cerro Hueco”  ( The Cerro Hueco Voice) an organisation which began in 1996 as a means of expression for imprisoned EZLN  base supporters in various prisons in Chiapas and the state of Tabasco.

First we have to say that the imprisoned EZLN base supporters are the product of a war strategy implemented by Ernesto Zedillo’s government, along with Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro and Roberto Albores Guillèn. As the talks between the EZLN and the Federal Government started, in April 1995,  so did the low intensity war of the paramilitary groups in the north of the state, extending afterwards to the whole of the state, developing techniques of: ambushes, confrontations, displacement of those sectors of the population which opposed the PRI regime, destruction of catholic temples, murders, imprisonment of zapatistas with the connivance of the police and the army etc. In the middle of the development of this war strategy there is the imprisonment of supporters and sympathisers of the EZLN, particularly in the northern areas, Alto and Selva of Chiapas. In this second period of zapatistas imprisonment “La Voz de Cerro Hueco” had some 120 imprisoned, which increased and decreased depending on the situation, but  its more glacial period was during the displacements and dismantling of the Autonomous Municipalities in 1998, during Roberto Albores governorship.

On the 29^th of August 1996, the EZLN took the issue of the imprisoned as one of the conditions to resume  the dialogue with Ernesto Zedillo, at the time 11 prisoners in the northern area of the state which rose to 111 last year. They have to be distinguished by the sentences handed out for the crimes they are accused of ,  some by federal order and some by common statute. These prisoners sought their freedom by putting pressure on the government with hunger strikes in prisons and by having their families stationing in front of the Government Palace.

This year the imprisoned zapatistas recognised by “ La Voz de Cierro Hueco” are 102, of which 38 have been freed since the government of Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía. All the prisoners have already been sentenced to 6 to 40 years in jail, for different crimes such as: murders, theft, cattle-rustling, plunder, damage, violation of the General Population Law, posses of military arms etc. Nevertheless those that gained their freedom owe it to the process of ‘waiving penal action’ granted by the state government for those sentenced by common statute; the federal government in this sense has not freed anyone.

These are the current prisoners in the following sites:

In Tuxla Gutierrez, in Prison 1 of Cerro Hueco are: Cristóbal Gómez López, Jorge Luis Mèndes Mena, Manuel López Mèndez, Manuel Gutierrez Pèrez, Juan Carlos Gutièrrez Sánchez, Lorenzo Hernandez Gómez, Sebastián Gómez Hernandez, all of them with federal statute and which Vicente Fox has to release as a good-will for peace in Chipas. Amongst others in this prison are: Jorge Luis Mèndez Mena, Juan Guillermo López Pèrez, Placido Martínez Torres, Miguel López Pèrez, Fernando Alvarez, Armando Morelos Cabrera, Arturo Pèrez Velázquez, Josè hernandez Díaz, Gustavo Estrada Gómez, Noeberto López Rincón, Alejandro Mèndez Díaz, Cristóbal Sánchez López, Rafael López Sántiz, y Marcelino Sánchez Alvaro.

In the Prison 2 of Cerro Hueco are: Jorge Guzmán Cruz, Rogelio Cruz Vazquez, Ramón Guardas Cruz, Pascual Guzmán Díaz, Diego Cruz Díaz y Armando López Vázquez.

In San Cristóbal de Las Casas, in the Centre for Social Readjustment No 5 are: Mariano Nuñez Girón, Manuel Sántiz Perez, Rosendo Gómez Ruiz, Jose Luis Ruiz Ruiz, Ernesto Cameras Ruiz, Diego Pèrez López, Manuel Peñate López, Manuel Ruiz Ruiz, Josè Luis Ruiz Ruiz, Vicente Ruiz Ruiz, Margarito Gonzalez Espinosa, Gerardo Landa Sanchèz, Bonifacio López Gómez, Isidro Entzin Pèrez, Carlos Nájera González, Martín López Sántiz, Ambrosio Pèrez Ramírez, Salvador López Gonzáles and Ernesto Jimenèz Pèrez; again, all of them on the federal statute list.

In the Prison of Yacalón: Manuel Ramirez Torres and Jacobo Landa Sánchez.

Prison of Comitán: Juan Jimènez Ramírez.

Prison of Playas de Catazajá: Josè Zenteno and Roque López Montejo.

Prison of Ocosingo: Francisco de Meza Aguilar.

Prison of Berriozábal, in the Tutoring Counsel for Minors in Villa Crisol (Rochester): Naatlino Entzin Pèrez.

Prison of Tacotalpa, Tabasco: Francisco Pèrez Vázquez, Angel Concepción Pèrez Gutierrez and Carrillo Vázquez López. This prisoners are originally from the Chol area in north Chiapas.

Social Readjustment Centre (CERESO) of San Josè el Alto, in the state of Queretaro are: Sergio Gerónimo Sánchez and Anselmo Robles Sánchez, members of the Independent Zapatista Organisation (FIOZ). (List taken from the newspaper La Jornada, Masiosare section, 11^th of February 2001).

The juridical trials of the prisoners have been plagued by a series of irregularities, invented crimes, false witnesses, word of mouth witnesses etc., making the former appear like criminals without taking into account that the  underlying cause for their imprisonment has a political origin, because they are members of an armed military political organisation  that claims their necessity for access to land, work, alimentation, education, health, independence, democracy, freedom, justice, peace etc; and as opponents of the PRI system they have been imprisoned to silence their unconformity. They are political prisoners because they oppose the imposed political system and are in turn excluded from it. On the subject Subcomandant Marcos, on the 27^th of January, said: “ does the government recognise that the zapatistas are social fighters and not criminals? They keep using them as hostages, and keeping them imprisoned means that the government is still thinking of using the police-military option”.

No doubt governor Pablo Salazar has freed 38 of them, but the retrograde sectors, and those that oppose the dialogue for peace in Chiapas, have qualified the releases as “ criminals, violators and assassins”; at the same time the Local Congress, the majority PRI supporters, including its president, agreed with these statements. Vicente Fox on the other hand has not freed anyone on the federal list, and has not said anything about the declaration of the Queretato governor which stated that he would not free the two persons for which the EZLN  is demanding freedom; the same has happened with the Tabasco government.

Whilst president Vicente Fox refuses to carry out the EZLN demands, amongst them freedom for those incarcerated, civil society in different states is in the meantime organising and preparing to welcome the zapatista delegation, and a caravan of more than 600 foreigner supporters, from 7 countries, that confirmed their willingness to contribute to the security of the march, will leave from the communities of La Realidad, Oventic, Cuxuljá , and La Garrucha. They will stay overnight, on the 24^th, in San Cristóbal and then will go towards Oaxaca and other states ( see map of the trip in www.ciepac.org), reaching the Federal District on the 11^th of March ( before it was thought it would be the 6^th,  but the route changed to touch other states).

As Vicente Fox can not stop this mobilisation, and taking into account the amount of support that it has already achieved, he had no other option than to change the tone of his speeches in order to capitalise on the march. Nowadays he does not try to sabotage the march anymore, instead, in his travels through the states, tells people to support “the EZLN” through their travels around the states, but “ demand for me and the EZLN” to sign peace and “ to incorporate our indigenous brothers and sisters in the development, because there are 10million indigenous Mexicans that are waiting for us to sign peace ”. The two major television channels, Televisión Azteca and Televisa, have not only allied amongst themselves, but also around Fox’s position, whilst the National Migration Institute (INM), contrary to previous times, instead of obstructing the entrance of international solidarity supporters opted for “ open doors” policy towards foreigners stating that “ they have the freedom to observe the zapatour”; the only condition being that of registering at least 5 days before the mobilisation. At the same time they informed that up to the 14^th of February only 80 people had registered; the problem is that the INM does not trust foreigners due to the part they played during the development of the armed conflict in Chiapas; for sure the many foreigners that will arrive will take no notice of this immigration policy.

Another action, planned or not, but closely following Fox’s line, is the position adopted by the Bishops of the Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM), they say it is important that the EZLN has thought the arms unnecessary, and advocate that they  “…stop being a military option to become a political force” calling for the Federal Congress to listen to the EZLN because the opportunity to consolidate the path for peace can not be lost. At the same time they warn “…the EZLN has to understand that the country is conformed of very different groups , in thoughts and trends”, “ we can not impose to the whole of the nation the criteria of one group, even if this is very respectable and presents elements worthy of consideration”.  But what the Bishops of the CEM and Vicente Fox do not take into consideration is that the San Andrès Agreements were an initiative and proposition not only of the EZLN,  but they were the product of the diagnosis, debate, discussion and contribution of more than 47 indigenous villages that participated in the San Andrès dialogue, including Pri militants and intellectuals sent by the government, such as the governmental delegation headed by Marco Antonio Bernal;  Ernesto Zedillo under the advice of Burgoa Oriuela ( intellectual racist towards the indigenas ) refused to comply.

The EZLN on the other hand has stated, in their 12^th of February communiqué, that they would not talk with Vicente Fox, Luis H. Alvarez and even less with the Cocopa, and that they have not established any contact with any of this instances or persons, until the federal government implements the minimum  3 signals. Simultaneously the EZLN gives the itinerary of their travel towards the Federal District.

This historic caravan is an opportunity to recognise the rights of the indigenous people, and integrate these rights in the Constitution, along with the justice and dignity that has been denied them for more than 70 years of Pri’s government. There is a big risk with this mobilisation as Fox is quite ambiguous regarding the conflict in Chiapas, and other problems in the country; this has generates big vacant political spaces which are being filled up by retrograde sectors of the PRI ( nominally Roberto Madrazo in Tabasco; Victor Cervera Pacheco in Yucatán; Carlos Culebro, cattlemen and Autènticos Coletos in Chiapas), they are the real danger not only for the march, but of the actions that paramilitary and attack groups can carry out against the zapatista communities in Chiapas during the march.

The questions we are asking ourselves, and which will, in time find an answer are: What will follow after the march?. What will happen to the EZLN, will they return to the Lacandon Jungle?. What is going to happen if the government refuses to talk to the EZLN and the San Andrès Agreements are not carried out?. We will keep giving information and opinions regarding these questions in future bulletins.

Note: If you wish to be placed on a list to receive this English version of the Bulletin, or the Spanish, or both, please direct a request to: ciepac@laneta.apc.org and indicate whether you wish to receive the bulletin in plain text or as a Word 7 for Windows 95 attachment.

Note: If you use this information, cite the source and our email address. We are grateful to the persons and institutions who have given us their comments on these Bulletins. CIEPAC, A.C. is a non-government and non-profit organization, and your support is necessary for us to be able to continue offering you this news and analysis service. If you would like to contribute, in any amount, we would infinitely appreciate your remittance to the bank account in the name of:

CIEPAC, A.C.
Bank: Banamex
Account number: 7049672 Sucursal 386
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, México.
You will also need to use an ABA number:
BNMXMXMM

Thank you! CIEPAC

Telephone:
in México: 01 967 674 5168
from outside Mexico:: +52 967 674 5168