CONIC International Solidarity Delegation Chiapas Report January 1994

Indigenous Peoples Alliance

January 28, 1994

Preliminary Report
CONTINENTAL COORDINATING COMMISSION OF INDIGENOUS NATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS
CONIC
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY DELEGATION
CHIAPAS, MEXICO
JANUARY 22- 26, 1994

TONATIERRA
Coordinating Office of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance (IPA)
P.O. Box 24009
Phoenix, AZ 85074

DOWNLOAD PDF

Background

The Continental Coordinating Commission of Indigenous Nations and Organizations (CONIC) was formed in Panama in the territories of the Kuna Nation in December of 1991. With 35 organizations from throughout the Continent, CONIC's principal objective is to consolidate the unity of the Indigenous Peoples at a continental level. In the process of forging an international alliance for the purpose of promoting concrete solutions to the problems that beset the indigenous Nations and Pueblos of Abya Yala, (North and South America), CONIC is guided by the spirit of completion of an ancient prophecy, that of the Eagle and the Condor.

Originally described graphically in a Maya Codice showing an Eagle and Condor with necks entwined, the oral tradition of the aboriginal nations relates that the Eagle is the symbol of the native nations of North America and the Condor represents those of the South. The Maya codice description is traditionally said to have been a representation of the encounter and relationship of the two major civilizations of the continent in the times before European invasion and colonization. At the First ContinentalEncounter of Indigenous Peoples which took place in Quito, Ecuador in 1990 the prophecy of the return of the spirit of the Eagle and the Condor was shared with the delegates of over 200 indigenous nations which attended from throughout the hemisphere, and the rebirth of the continental unity movement was initiated. This is the commission of CONIC.

In October of 1993, in spite of major obstacles and limitations, CONIC reconvened at the Second Continental Encounter of Indigenous Nations, Pueblos and Organizations which took place in Temoaya, Mexico at the Centro Ceremonial of the Otomi. Throughout the six-day event, a sacred fire was maintained in the presence of the Sacred Staffs of the Peace and Dignity Journeys continental run of 1992, which represent the traditional sovereignty of the original nations of the continent. One of the hosting organizations of the Encuentro Continental in Mexico was FIPI, Frente Independiente de Pueblos Indios. Attending in Temoaya, and also a member of CONIC within FIPI was our sister organization from San Cristobal, Chiapas - COLPUMALI (Coordinadora de Organizaciones en Lucha del Pueblo Maya para su Liberacion). COLPUMALI in turn is comprised of 11 Maya organizations from the three regions of Chiapas which have seen the most violent confrontations between the Mexican federal troops and the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional EZLN since January 1 of this year (1994).

Recent Developments

Responding to a call by FIPI for the presence of international indigenous observers in Chiapas, the Indigenous Peoples Alliance has participated in two CONIC delegations which have traveled to the area of conflict in solidarity with the indigenous peoples, principally being the Maya Pueblos of the Tojolabales, Tzotziles, Tzeltales, Lacandones, and Choles. From January 22-24, the CONIC delegation which represented indigenous nations, pueblos and organizations from throughout the continent participated as observers to the installation of the Consejo Estatal de Organizaciones Indígenas y Campesinas, which is comprised of 280 indigenous and campesino organizations from throughout the state of Chiapas. It is this body which is now at the fulcrum of negotiations between the Mexican government and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.

On January 25, Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari met with 42 representatives of this Consejo (council) in Tuxtla Gutierrez, capitol of the state of Chiapas. The basic demands of the Consejo revolve around peaceful resolution of the issues which are the source of the armed conflict, via the full recognition of the authority and legal status of the Consejo to represent the indigenous pueblos and campesino communities of Chiapas. The strategy of the government has been to attempt to co-opt the direction and unity of the Consejo by the presence of government controlled organizations which are vehicles of corruption and control of the official political party (PRI). In this staging ground of the political battlefield, it is the CONIC member organizations which are holding the high ground of independence, indigenous direction and control against the onslaught of the PRI.

Nevertheless, it was a consensus of solidarity among the Consejo Estatal de Oranizaciones Indigenas y Campesinas with most of basic principles if not the methods of the Zapatista movement. At one point the Zapatistas were referred to as "our army" in contrast to the federal Mexican troops and at the closure of the three-day session, a profound ceremonial moment of silence was offered to those Zapatistas who had offered their lives since the conflict began.

The establishment of the Consejo has been described as a political vehicle of what would be a "parallel indigenous government" to that of the established state legislature. At the moment, the Consejo has the advantage of being in a powerful negotiating position as a result of the armed struggle being waged by the Ejercito Zapatista and the predicament of the government political party - PRI which is facing a national election in August. The magnitude and extent of negative international exposure has checked the Mexican government, and the risk of full-blown rebellion domestically should the PRI repeat the fraud of the last national election is very real.

With some 200 persons considered to have been violently eliminated during the last presidential campaigns, Chiapas could be the fuse of a much larger social explosion if the PRI regime entrenches itself to retain power throug manipulation of the vote. In a sense, both the Zapatistas and PRI are now in a life and death struggle, with the PRI now marshalling all of its resources to manage the conflict in such a manner so as not to fall from power at election time. The danger is in the comparative risk that the PRI regime faces as it decides when to implement a definitive military strike against the Zapatistas.

The logistical and social base for such a strike is now being set, during the supposed truce. Time and again, the PRI has proven itself adept at corrupting, maneuvering, and manipulating the politics of the grass roots social justice movements of the peoples of Mexico. The challenge before the indigenous movement in Chiapas is critical, yet as the Zapatistas have shown the world, continued subjugation under the extreme conditions of poverty and exploitation cannot continue. Where will this lead us? Will the voice of the indigenous peoples finally be heard after 500 years of genocide? Is there a hope for regional autonomy for indigenous nations within the framework of the nation-states that are the relics of the colonial period? Or will full international recognition of sovereignty and independence be the destiny and security for the future generations of the Indigenous Peoples of the continent Abya Yala [Americas]?

These are not new questions, but it is a new historical context not only for Mexico and the continent, but also the world. And in this sense, for the first time in the history of all of the indigenous uprisings, rebellions and resistance movements that have transpired in the hemisphere since the beginning of the violent colonization and genocide perpetrated by the Euro-American elites, there exists a continental indigenous context and alliance based on our common histories and commitments to self-determination and sovereignty. This is to say that the local, regional, and national strategies of indigenous movements (such as in Chiapas) now have the advantage of complementing each other towards a common continental goal: liberation of the indigenous peoples of Abya Yala, the Great Turtle Island.

It is not necessary to theoretically justify our movement in terms of foreign cultural, political, or religious paradigms. To further this end, CONIC has invited participation of the Consejo Estatal de Organizaciones Indigenas y Campesinas de Chiapas to attend the Continental Congress of CONIC to take place in Guatemala later this year.

Actions

Members of the CONIC organization in Chiapas, COLPUMALI will be traveling on a tour in North America from February 16-March 6, which will include stops in the cities of New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Albuquerque, and Phoenix.

Accompanying the Pueblo Maya delegation will be other CONIC members from Ecuador, representing the Organization of Indigenous People of Pastaza (OPIP). This organization is fighting the illegal expropriation of their territories by the petrochemical giant ARCO in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Coincidentally, the site of the one of the principal confrontations between the Zapatistas and the Mexican military took place in the area of Ocosingo where the national Mexican oil company PEMEX has drilled petroleum wells that have confirmed a major underground reservoir. The wells are not being developed but being held in strategic reserve supposedly to be exploited by foreign contracted companies.

According to information from the respected Mexican weekly PROCESO, the information regarding the petroleum field was extracted from a U.S. Government Accounting Office report, and documents exchanged by Allan Mendelowitz and Sam Gejdenson, negotiators for the U.S. in the North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA.

There now exists three linkages of support for human rights organizations from around the world to connect with counterparts in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas.

1) Center for Human Rights Fray Bartolome de las Casas, part of the Catholic Diocese headed by Bishop Miguel Ruiz.

2) CONPAZ - coalition of Non-governmental Organizations and human rights organizations.

Telephone and Fax 967-80697.

3) COLPUMALI- International Indigenous Delegations.

The Indigenous Peoples Alliance-IPA will continue to lend international presence in Chiapas as long as necessary to insure the human rights of our affiliate organizations in Mexico. Representatives of Indigenous Nations and Organizations who would be interested can contact the IPA via:

TONATIERRA

P.O. Box 24009
Phoenix, AZ 85074
www.tonatierra.org

- In support of the indigenous peoples of Chiapas, mobilizations of support in the U.S. calling for removal of the Mexican military from Chiapas.

- Continuous letters, faxes, calls to the Mexican government expressing concerns. Mexican Mission in Washington, D.C.:

Fax: (202) 728-1698 Tel: (202) 728-1600

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.

DOWNLOAD PDF

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