January 4, 1994 Letter to Mexican President Salinas de Gortari

TONATIERRA

Community Development Institute

PO Box 24009 Phoenix, AZ 85074

tonal@tonatierra.org

www.tonatierra.org

Arizona Republic January 30, 1993

January 4, 1994

Presidente Salinas de Gortari
Republica de México
Ciudad de México, D.F.

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Sr. Presidente,

The recent developments in the state of Chiapas have given the world community an abrupt and dramatic notice that the inequities and injustices perpetrated against the indigenous peoples of Mexico and the rest of the continent for the last 500 years will not be allowed to continue.

The deaths which have been occurring in Chiapas are mourned for the tragic loss of human life that they represent to Mexico, yet the reality is that other peaceful and diplomatic avenues to negotiate resolution to the inherent conflict of the region has been systematically cut off for the native Maya peoples. Los Indios de Mexico are treated as foreigners in their own lands, without voice or representation in the decisions that will define their future. The NAFTA model of economic development, as a focus of the armed actions in Chiapas, never took into consideration the aspirations of the indigenous peoples of Mexico nor promoted the community-based economics upon which the future of the Indigenous Pueblos depends.

On the contrary, the modernization plans of the economic elite of the country which controls the political machinery of government through the PRI, has not represented the vision of the future of Mexico's Indigenous Pueblos, but instead represents the continuation of the economic, cultural, and political domination of the European colonial systems which Emiliano Zapata confronted at the beginnings of this century.

The results of the amendments of the Article 27 of the Mexican constitution, which promotes the fragmentation of the Indigenous Pueblos by privatization of communal lands, is yet another example of the direct criminal assault by the government against the future of the Original Peoples of Mexico. It is criminal, a form of institutionalized violence, not only because it cynically violates the Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization and the 4th Article of the Mexican constitution, but also, because it is a premeditated act of economic and cultural genocide in violation of international Human Rights standards regarding the right to sustainable development.

It must be mentioned as well that the proposals for a NAFTA trade corridor which would traverse the territories of the Tohono O’Odham Nation in the region of Sonora/Arizona were never submitted for consideration by the Tohono O’Odham peoples who would be most affected.

Sr. Presidente, we also take this opportunity to express our concern regarding the unilateral action which you have taken regarding the recognition of Indigenous Codices as valid documentation for the protection of aboriginal land titles in Mexico. It is our understanding that under the Law of Agrarian Reform, these indigenous documents were admitted as valid and enforceable until your office issued a presidential decree in 1992 unilaterally abrogating this indigenous right to primordial titles. This development cannot but be seen as another deliberate effort to undermine the land base of the aboriginal sovereignties of Mexico, and an element of the instability in Chiapas.

In light of the critical nature of the current situation, we therefore pronounce the following:

1) We shall establish a permanent monitoring of the situation in Chiapas, with utmost attention to the protection of the Aboriginal Rights and Human Rights of the Pueblos Tojolabales, Tzotziles, Tzetzales, and Choles.

2) Having convened in Temoaya, Mexico at the II Encuentro Continental de Pueblos Indigenas in October of 1993, we recognize that the situation in Chiapas and throughout Mexico reflects the many times expressed concern of the Pueblos Originales of Mexico that the government of Mexico was not allowing the legitimate representation of the Indigenous Peoples in the economic development plans for the country, with NAFTA and the Article 27 being the most blatant examples of this policy.

3) As a member of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance (IPA) of North America, and of the Continental Commission of Indigenous Nations and Organizations (CONIC) we express our full commitment to the defense of the principles of self-determination and sovereignty of the indigenous peoples of Mexico and the continent.

4) We call for the United Nations Human Rights Commission to address the situation in Chiapas in this year’s session in March 1994 as a threat to world peace, and a continuing violation of the human rights of indigenous peoples which should be protected by the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

5) We call on the government of the United States to hold congressional hearings in the Human Rights Commission of the U.S. Congress on the issue of culpability the U.S. would have as accomplice to violation of the Right to Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico and Canada under NAFTA.

6) We call on the office of President Salinas de Gortari to rescind any presidential orders which may negatively affect the recognition of Títulos Primordiales (Aboriginal Title) of the Pueblos Originales de Mexico.

7) We call on all Indigenous Nations, Human Rights Organizations and to the world community to actively promote the peaceful resolution of the situation in Chiapas by maintaining a vigilance of Human Rights and supporting the attempts at peaceful negotiation in justice and full recognition and respect of the rights of the Indigenous Peoples.

Tupac Enrique Acosta
TONATIERRA

xc:

Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional EZLN
United Nations Human Rights Commission
US President W. Clinton
Madam Daes, U.N, Working Group on Indigenous Peoples
Frente Independiente de Pueblos Indios - México
International Indian Treaty Council
Amnesty International
Indigenous Environmental Network
Indigenous Peoples Alliance