Revised 7 Questions EZLN Communique SEVEN QUESTIONS FOR WHOM IT MAY CONCERN (Images of neoliberalism in the Mexico of 1997) To Don Fernando Benitez, and his 85 embraces. To Adelfo Regino, and the tender pain which embraces him. "Now tell me, who is this man they call Don Sancho Panza?", asked Sancho. "Your lordship," answered the steward, "for we know of no other Panza in this island but the one seated on this throne." "Well, take note, brother," said Sancho, "that the don does not belong to me, nor did it ever belong to any of my family. I'm called plain Sancho, and so was my grandfather, and all of us have been Panzas, without any dons or don~as added to our names. I'll bet there are more dons than stones in this island. But I'll say no more, God understands me, and perhaps, if my government lasts four days, I'll weed out those swarms of dons that for sure must be plaguesome as mosquitoes. Come on with your questions, Master Steward, I'll answer as best I can, whether the town be sorry or not." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra The Ingenious Noble Don quijote de La Mancha. Mexico is still a nation. This should not surprise you although it will those who govern, because they have done everything possible to destroy it. No, this is not about an apocalyptic zeal or an irrefutable destiny. This country is governed according to a new social model known as 'neoliberalism'. You can read books and articles where this is analyzed I detail. Here we only want you to see a few images and answer a few questions. Of course the most important of these questions is not presented here, but the ones we propose will serve to put together the jigsaw puzzle which is life and death in Mexico at the end of the 20th century. 'Death?' Very dramatic. Maybe, but here there are children who live in the drains of a militarized city, an electoral process which could be advertized in a newspaper section of 'seasonal bargains', street cleaners who strip their bodies and their stomachs naked , an irate president who reads and is a follower of Og Mandino, , a region of Mexico where questions are answered in prison or in the grave, a skull which questions a political system, and a small rebel army which refuses to surrender. If you see all this and do not ask what? why? when? how much? Where? How? And Who?, then come with us and learn to look up and down as well. That way we can learn to ask questions, and even answer questions. For example, respond to this one FIRST QUESTION FIRST: HOW FAR MUST BE TRAVELLED DOWNWARD IN ORDER TO ARRIVE UPWARD? "Who are you below there? Who is it that cries for help?" "Who should be here shouting for help but miserable Sancho Panza, governor for his sins and for his accursed misfortune of the island of Barataria, formerly squire to the famous knight Don Quixote of La Mancha?" Part II, Chapter LV. Soldiers and policemen above, children and young people below City of Mexico. End of the 20th Century. The monstrous synthesis of urban neoliberalism, the Federal District, presents itself as a symbol of the nightmare of the future. Almost 20 million human beings live and die the violence and the exclusion which are the reasons of the State. Two images are outstanding in every sense: Under the earth, in the sewage systems which attempt in vain to remove the waste of that metropolis, live children and young people. A gang, the one called the "Ponis", lives badly in the drains near the Northern Bus Station. The "brave" judicial police of the area persecute the "Ponis" in order to commit extortion, they beat them and demand payment in order to "leave them alone" (see article by Karina Aviles, La Jornada, December 96 and January 97). In addition to the jail, the sewage drains are the only place that this city allots for poor children and young people to live. Above, on the streets, the army and the police govern by the law of the gunmen; the fasts draw lives and is right; the slowest loses the right to respons. Reason and justice are in the calibre of the weapons, in the bulletproof vests, in the massive and rapid use of police contingents. Police? The police in Mexico City are commanded by the Army. The military logic tries to understand the most illogical city in the final years of the 20th century. The military pretends to fix a situation which the system itself maintains and fortifies. In charge of duties outside the constitution, the officials and soldiers expose themselves to the corruption which invades the police grups I Mexico. It transofmrs the city into a giant barracks, no easy task. Despotism and an iron hand are necessary. Militarism adds humiliation to the "skills" of the new police of the capital. In this same city, in Military Camp #1, General Jose Francisco Gallardo has been imprisoned for three years now for recommending the creation of a military ombudsman. Those who cry against indigenous aspirations for a standard of law which acknowledges their difference, "forget" that the Military in Mexico have their own laws. National television has no time for the "children of the drains" but it dedicates hour after hour and commentary to the activities of the militarized police in the persecution and execution of "delinquents". Yellow is the color of the programs who have the largest audiences. The resident of Mexico City confirms on the screen what he lives through day and night. The advantage is that the screen offers commercials and you can always turn it off. The virtual reality of the television monopolies promises what reality confirms; to the rise in delinquency there can be no response with social programs. Weapon against weapon, the best, the fastest and the best-paid are the ones which win. There is no more social, legal, or ethical sanction, anything goes, and in the midst of the real war, the citizen rehearses survival and hopes he will not be the protagonist of the next police program. What better synthesis of what this city represents than the instant replay of a military tank rolling over a drain? Below it, below that tank and that drain, children and young people drug themselves and dream of someday living above=85 But no. Above everything is bought and sold. He who buys and sells nothing, is nothing. Through fist and money, a place is secured on the street. The struggle for survival is just that, a struggle. To make sure that the struggle is a fitht to the death the police and the Army have become a singular force and they synthesize and overcome their disadvantages. The police contribute corruption and criminal complicity, the Army adds intolerance and arrogance. The "enemies" of this repressive machine are perfectly identifiable: streets children, unemployed youth, traveling salesmen, small businessmen, poor squatters, defenseless women, homosexuals and lesbians, dissident teachers, expelled students, indians, in sum, all the non-productive ones. Its not enought anymore to be identified with a photograph I order to escape their talons, now you need at least a credit card. Women, children and urban youth share nightmares which used to be exclusive to indigenous Mexicans. The exclusion and intolerance which they confront are a bridge with the indian communities of Mexico. Its rebellin and its hope will also be. With all the problems of the Nation on top, the City of Mexico adminsters itself as does the rest of the country; through repression and improvisation. There are no medium or long-term strategies for resolving its problems. There are patches and make-up for pleasing the television viewer. After all, the Federal District is also a commodity...it can' be sold without enough make-up. Neoliberal politics finds here its most definite paradigm: destroy in order to survive. This disorderly and chaotic urban space is the best book about neoliberalism. Walk its streets in order to understand that a crime against humanity is being committed. The city lives a dizzy present, there is no respite to reflect on the past, there is no breath to imagine the future. All is repeated and in larger dimension, calamity is a daily thing. The only surprise is to find each morning, that the city is still there, offering itself to whomever will buy. This is the Mexican capital. A mega market. Everything on sale. Even the political proposals. If you want to buy one you must answer THE SECOND QUESTION SECOND; "Who asked you to meddle in this, Sancho?" asked Don Quixote. "Who, sir?" answered Sancho. "I meddle, and I've a perfect right to meddle, as a squire who has learned the laws of courtesy in your worship's school. For you're the most courteous and well- bred knight there is in all courtiership, and in these matters, as I've heard your worship say, you may lose as much by a card more as by a card less, and good ears need few words." Part II. Chapter XXXVII. Politics as commodities: all are expensive It has occured to someone to do a survey mixig the names of well-known politicians of the right, center and the left. Among the names of the possible candidates to the governorship of the City of Mexico, appears the name of a non-existent: Juan Perez. The citizens who have been consulted do not doubt, the improbable "Juan Perez" has the highest rate of preference to be governor, none of the others who are known are a hope for change or improvement. Nevertheless, the democracy of the survey consoles the registered political parties and those who aspire to be registered. The percentage of preferences are price ranges of sales and the markets can be conquered. Like expanding companies which use promotion and door sales to advertise their products for "public preference", the political parties do the same and their members dedicate themselves to going to door to door, not an alternative for the nation, but one more vote which can be sold for money from the Power in the highest. The leadership does not seem to notice the exhaustion of the party system. One and the other bet that their product will be accepted I the shrinking electoral market. The citizens are not seen as political people but as potential clients or insurance policies. The Mexican political system creates, periodically a purchasing power. In accordance with the neoliberal model, the citizen exists as he maintains his "political" purchasing power. The vote, individual or corporate, is the furtive currency which the party merchants fight over. But the bargains last only a day. Before this day, the publicity campaigns, large, medium and small are dispatched to find that vote, in order to make it a number and capital in the pockets of the political parties. Few novelties in profund changes have attracted recent provincial bargains; abstentionism is still the product with the highest number of clients. But the crisis in the demand does not counteract the supply, the market gets re-adjusted so that the Power can mediate the fight and distribution among the professional politicians. The citizenry has been explicitly excluded from poltics. After all, commerce is for professionals, not for amateurs. Now there are two great seasonal sales: One of them is federal and will re-compose the Congress. The laws which are passed, modified, or eliminated matter little or nothing. All the salesmen have agreed that this is only an appetizer for the major sale, the big one, the year 2000 as the dream market. The ideal merchandise for competition has yet to be made. The other is local and acknowledges the right of the capital city to elect a governor. The candidates are the merchandise here, their government programs, their proposals for a solution to the problems of a city which grows by destroying and being destroyed, matter little or nothing. In the political market the offers are repeated and banalized. The ideological and political projects, the programs of struggle, the electoral platforms, the candidates, all the principles are subordinated to the laws of the electoral market. This is a strange political economy where the electoral demand is cheap and there are few clientes, while the supply shoot past the limits of a garage sale. While the right affirms its identity, the vocation of indefinition and the least risk gorge a political center which erases intentions and vocations. A left places as its maximum goal the number of votes, and to obtain them, it argues about embracing the tepidity of the center or a brotherhood with the right. These "businessmen" of politics forget that electoral democracy is in its worse crisis in recent years. The crisis of the party system in Mexico invades the entire political system in its totality. Resigned to conquering a majority increasingly skeptical about modern politics, the parties fight for the lean booty of a vote which, reasoning, resists speculation and demands truth from a world, from the Mexican political system, which has made the lie its only substenance. But this market "lives" and grows. The mexican political system receives blows from all directions and feeds on them. It dutifully swallows even some of its institutional opponents. Ex-critics and ex-rebels repent and accommodate themselves in order to prevail. Convictions and principles are muted like old-fashioned gaskets. The colors change and the Power, once it detects this, becomes the goal and the obsession. "The most healthy stomach in the continent" defines the majority about this marvelous digestive capacity of the Mexican political system. What is not digested is vomited, and from crisis to crisis, the State-Party system survives its own excesses and the apocalyptic prophesies which promised its death. But now, the Mexican political system presents a novelty. This is not the internal purge of the groups of Powr or the struggle among interests which, finally, adjust. What's new is that the only way to "modernize" politicis according to the demand of neoliberalism is to destory the political class which made it possible in Mexcio. The political-politicians are not only no longer necessary, now they are an obstacle and they must be removed. The political-technocrats, this elegant form of calling the professionals of markettechnology who hold government posts, should destroy the system which brought them to Power. There is no other way of surviving, "modernizing" is to destroy in order to prevail. Sure this process of "modernization" of the Mexican political class finds strong resistance. Sometimes it leads to magnicide. The images of Luis Donaldo Colosio and Francisco Ruiz Massieu, assassinated, are testimony to the method and the means of the new political dclass in Power. There are those who read only a mortal crisis for the state- party system in these crimes, but almost three years later, the cadaver is still healthy. There are a few things lacking to take it to the grave. Nevertheless, constructing an alternative to this rotund cader is not only a large task, it is something that is glaringly omitted in public polls. In Mexico a national program of struggle does not exist, one of consensus, one which goes beyond the criticism of the apparent; the State- party system stinks. The political, social, economic, and cultural alternative must be made. But the urgent does not leave time for the important, and here come the elections. And here is where the plitical proposals are diluted into electoral options. The difference among political parties is not marked in their principles and programs but in the amount of Power they hold. Where is the difference between the PRI, The PAN, the PRD and the PT? The logic of the electoral sale answers; in the number of mayoralties, governorships, parlamiant seats, and cabinet posts. Political and civic organizations add, subtract, multiply and divide. In seasonal politics numbers command and the ideological conceptions are differentiated by the quantity they hold, not by the quality they uphold. But even then, the pretense that something different is being offered is at least there. Then the political spectrum responds to itself. The right dreams of a good administration and an austere morality to allow it to keep the course. This is what they call this painful and continuious falls and agonizing tumbles. The right does not offer a political alternative, just a change in the political management. Its dream of returning to the past of order and progress implies a heavy hand in politcs, in economy, and in consciousness. The right believes it has possibilities, it believes it has in its favor a defined project and the lack of prestige of a party in Power which slowly loses the little intelligence it has and mires itself in mediocrities. "The clients of competition hage come over to this side" they say and tell one another, and they refine their merchandise, they decorate it while they hide the terrible conscience-guard of a morality which, though the consumer does not know it, is included with that product which is "your pleasure". The center bets that its non-existence can be denied by the fear of the extremes. It moves nowhere, but at least without pain or abrupt changes. The center knows that its possibilities are as brief as the electoral season. It doesn't bet on becoming a reference from one or the other extreme, it bets it will get with the chemistry of its being and its placement in the middle, a place no matter where. Tepidity does not last. It either heats up or becomes cold. The left, surprise, surprise, is divided. A part of it suffers a subtle amnesia and adjusts itself. But not to construct an alternative. The logic of its adjustment is the logic of the market. It must ally itself with whomever will guarantee the best sales, with whomever offers the best markets. What do ideals matter? What matters is winning first place in the sales. That's right, sell. Even though the product becomes very similar to that of the competitors. One moment. What is this? Another criticism to the official left? To the electoral struggle? To both? No, not just that. The official left has obtained not few nor small gains in the electoral struggle. Its political chores, both electoral and otherwise, have opened up new spaces and bridges of solidarity between struggles which otherwise would have been disperse and solitary. The history of the official left is filled with heroism, jails and graves, but legitimate victories as well, authenticity of banners and lives of consequence. Big people, really big people can be found struggle within all the spectrum into which the Mexican left is divided. In any part, those men and women are part of that other left which struggle always, with and without elections, within them and in spite of them. That other part of the left adjusts its memory and adjusts accounts. It knows that, if there is a better alternative to this nightmare, it will come from its steps. It recognizes that the attempt to impose hegemony is also part of the mercantile logicl. The recognition of differences, the wealth of different struggles does not occur in order to compete or to appropriate them, but to multiply by adding on. To break away from the mercantile logic in the electoral process does not mean breaking away from a method of struggle. It means to search and propose another direction to that opportune encounter between politicians and citizens, betwee proposls and problems, between dreams and nightmares. Is it possible to convert the grotesque commercial exchange between candidate and potential voter, into a challenge which unites them before the system which deforms them both, which transforms itself into an option and alternative, ionto a path and new steps for all? For EVERYONE? Yes, this challenge will be the product of this left. It can re-think itself in every sense and turn its face below. For example towards that. THIRD QUESTION THIRD: --Why do those naked people take off their clothes? "Stop," relied the physician, "as long as I am alive my Lord Governor shall not eat them." "Why so?" said Sancho. "Because," answered the doctor, "our great master Hippocrates, the North Star and luminary of medicine, says in one of his aphorisms: Omnis saturatio mala, perdicis autem pessima, which means, 'All surfeit is bad, but that of partridges is worst of all.'" "If that is so," said Sancho, "please, doctor, give an eye to the dishes here on the table and see which of them will do me the most good or the least harm, and let me eat of that without whisking it away with your wand, for by the life God grants me as governor, I'm perishing with hunger, and to deny me belly fodder--say what you will, doctor--is the way to shorten, not to lengthen, my life." Part II, Chapter XLVII IN A SYSTEM WHICH IS FILTHY, THE CLEANERS ARE UNEMPLOYED In the Mexican southeast which is always filled with pain, in Tabasco a delinquent governs through the force of crimes and money; Roberto Madrazo Pintado. Once and again his guilt has been exhibited and demonstrated. The Mexican judicial system wastes time and shortens horizons in order not to touch the untouchables. Not only will the delinquent be judged and sentenced but the political system in its entirety. There are two images of Tabasco in the Federal District which show the world what "modern" Mexico is about. One is the image of the nakedness of the street cleaners of Tabasco in front of federal legislators. with their backs turned and facing forward, these men discard all their clothes to affirm the only thing left to them. They have nothing, except dignity. Tossing off their clothes, they strip the lie of a nation naked, one which sells itself as prosperous and in peace. By showing themselves, they show that local authoritarianism sustains and is sustained by the federal power. the traffickers of deceptions are scandalized by these naked men and they yawn with boredom at the proof which exhibits a governor placed in power through the route of crime. An electoral campaign for a state government which is more costly than the electoral campaign for the presidency of the most powerful country on earth, left judicial officials mute. Not only because they are his accomplices, but because corruption is so common among those who govern that their exhibition is no scandal or novelty. Instead of justice the legislators of the 4 parties preach indignity and shock at the affront suffered by the "sacrosanct" legislative room. There are few who give support and understand. The means of communication entertain themselves with the spectacle, and humorously point out that this is more proof that we do live in a "democracy". The other image is the one of the workers, from Tabasco as well, in a hunger strike and tenaciously clinging to life and hope through its sharpest side; that of resistance with dignity. Jorge Luis Magana Alamilla and Venancio Jimenez Martinez are street cleaners of Tabasco. They approach 100 days without food. Their simple demands for justice drape themselves in drama due to their decision. Near the state of coma, all they can manage to babble is "we do not surrender". They say "this is who we are, this is how we secure the future offered to us by the Powerful for our families and children." And in their image is repeated that of many Mexicans. "Nothing to eat, no clothes for our back" says their struggle and it repeats the images which, according to Mister Zedillo, are "stereotypes of those who speak ill of Mexico. Look again at the photo of the naked men in the "highest tribune of the Republic", now look at the body of Jorge Luis and Venancio, and remember that this is best and most truthful State of the Union address that has been given throughout many administrations. "This is the state of the nation; naked workers and corrupt governments, workers dying in agony and delinquents protected by impunity" says the State of the nation reported by the people to the government. During the dawn of January 19th of 1997, the government removes the street cleaners of Tabasco by police force. Taken prisoners, 3 of the hunger strikers, are kidnapped and "medicated" by force in a hospital. the bulletin of the Interior Ministry brims with arrogance and cynicism; the eviction served to respond to "society's demands" and "humanitarian" reasons. The government once again closes a peaceful path of civil resistance. If these means of struggle give no results, what will Mexicans do when they see that their just demands are ignored? In the Interior Ministry, the stylish eraser and neo-policeman, Emilio Chuayffet, smiles and forgets that intolerance and omnipotence have a high price. An ex-president should serve to remind him, but memory is not a virtue of Zedillo's team. The treatment given to the workers from Tabasco is the same received by the rebel indigenous Zapatistas. But this is not the only bond, hunger and nakedness build bridges between workers and indigenous people, and dignity makes them one. Without cloth es and hunger, hope paints tomorrow. And the federal government? SSShh. Don't interrupt. It is trying to respond to the following question; FOURTH QUESTION FOURTH; HOW MUCH DOES A COUNTRY WITH EVERYTHING INCLUDED COST? "Tell me, Sancho," asked the duke, "did you see by any chance a buck [cabron, literally male goat, but used as an insult to denote pig-headed stupidity] among those she-goats?" "No, sir," answered Sancho, "but I've heard tell that not one buck has passed the horns of the moon." PART II. CHAPTER XLI. THE GREATEST SALESMEN OF THE WORLD Og Mandino, author of celebrated books (for their sales) has died. But, in Mexico one of his most loyal readers, lives and governs: Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon. He who everyone hesitates to call "the president", does not doubt his mission of market technology. A good salesman and better client, Zedillo is applauded in financial circles in North America. He just liquidated a loan from the North American government. $5 billion dollars ($3.5 billion to the U.S. Treasury Department and $1.5 billion for the International Monetary Fund), "free up" the invoice of Mexican oil exportations and converts them into a microeconomic nightmare fleeing from a macroeconomic triumph. The remains of the North American loan are misery and unemployment for millions of Mexicans. In addition to having been used to guarantee 80% of oil income, it was secured by a high interest rate. But that's not all, the true payment of the loan came from the application of severe economic policies of recessive adjustments, agreed to by the IMF. The results: a million unemployed workers in 1995, millions of impoverished families, and thousands of insolvent businesses. This is the future of the macroeconomics which today is the banner of victory for Zedillo's government: in 1996, the GDP will be 4.9 per cent less than 1994, minimum wage will be 21.5% less, the domestic economy which touches 90% of all Mexicans (agriculture, industry and national services) will be referred per capita, 19.6% less than that of three years ago.(Jose Luis Calva, El Universal, January 17, 1997). The business pinnacle applaud the payment, but the "liberation" of the oil invoices is just that, a liberation which puts them back into the market in order to re-negotiate them. National sovereignty of oil has not been recovered, now a new client and better price is sought. In the neoliberal market, the prostitution of wealth has some advantages when it is completely sold. For example, it will allow the federal government to get to the next elections with the support of those who really rule, in other words the U.S. financiers. Meanwhile Bill Clinton announces that he will come to Mexico in march of this year, the American government warns it will take severe anti-immigrant measures, and more military helicopters, confirmed in June of 1996 by the General Accounting Office of the US Congress are used against the Zapatista rebels and not against drug traffickers. No one says that the government has indebted the country even more in order to pay the US Treasury Department. Some murmur that it had to be paid because it was not a loan, but a bounty for the ahead of the Zapatistas. Since the EZLN still has its head on its shoulders, oh well, the bounty must be returned. The misery which sits at the table of millions of Mexicans doesn't matter to Zedillo. The criticisms of his authoritarianism is for him, a lack of popular understanding for his great vision as a statesman. Any reference to the economic crisis which is suffered by the ordinary Mexican is seen by the follower of Og Mandino as a sample of self-degradation. Any reference about the lack of democracy in the political life of Mexico is a reiteration of a pessimist vocation. During the first week of January of 1997, Zedillo scolded "some Mexicans who have taken up as a modus vivendi the reproduction, the generation, the feeding of a negative image of Mexico in the exterior". And he continues to argue against some "minority voices who do not recognize the popular effort which is taking Mexico forward. These are pessimist voices who want to make us believe that we are sunk in an abyss; who seek to foment self-degradation and hopelessness. These are voices whose only echo is distrust." This salesman confuses the lack of affection and respect from those he says he governs, with the deceitful caresses of the blonde jockey who will mount him...or toss him aside when he is no longer necessary. The summits of Mexican business praise him, but more so for his blindness and amnesia than for his understanding and conviction. But the applause received in financial centers become for Zedillo, sample of reproach and indignation in the indigenous communities of Mexico. The greatest salesman in the world has decided to obey those who are liquidating the nation, and disobey those who founded it. Hours before he paid millions of dollars to the government of the United States, Zedillo formalized the denial of the agreements which his government signed, in San Andres Sacamch'en of the Poor, with the indigenous communities of Mexico. While the clapping of the foreign financiers rings in his ears, and the stupid applause of Mexican businessmen and the virtual "scoldings" of Mister Zedillo, the echo of a "NO" arises form the mountains of the Mexican Southeast and disturbs the triumph of the manager of sales of Mexico Incorporated of Very Variable Capital. As Variable as the "tranquillity" lived in the states of Southern Mexico. There you can answer the; FIFTH QUESTION FIFTH: HOW DO THESE LIVES DIE? "Why did you run away, man?" asked Sancho. "Sir, to avoid answering all the questions the constables ask," answered the youth. "What is your trade?" "A weaver." "What do you weave?" "Iron heads for lances, by your worship's leave." "So, you're joking, eh? Fancy yourself as a comic? Right you are! Where were you going just now?" "To take the air, sir." "Where do you take the air in this island?" "Where it blows." PART II., CHAPTER XLIX LIFE AS A CRIME Guerrero and Oaxaca have several things in common. Some of them are: both are southern states of the Mexican federation; both have an extremely high percentage of indigenous population; both are a part of the poorest region of Mexico; in both tourism enriches the powerful and impoverishes the farmers; in both political bosses and pseudo-Kings rule; in both there are guerrillas; in both the federal Army governs; in both life is a crime...for the poor; in both states there are many "poorly-born". In Zapoteca lands in Oaxaca, Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, the he swift and dutiful debtor of the blonde North American government, sentenced the dark and indigenous people: "there is no well-born Mexican who believes that problems can be resolved through violence". Thousands of soldiers and policemen, war tanks, artillery helicopters, and mortars are there in order to give Zedillo the argument that history denies him and to make sure he eliminates the poorly-born. Through institutional violence, through the Army and the police, is how the Mexican government will resolve the extreme misery which, recurrent paradox of Latin America, nurture guerrillas. This is the Southern Range of Oaxaca, from this region come thousands of indigenous people who immigrate to the US in search of work and a destiny. With them go their two principal forces; their labor force and their history. They cannot take the land with them, but they carry with them their blood which, all who know , is another form of land. In this zone, considered by the government as a major area of influence of the Popular Revolutionary Army, the EPR combatant Rafael was detained and disappeared. The armed group has denounced the dirty war it confronts, in addition to the recurring repression to teachers and popular leaders. Al which is dark and short is suspicious and subject to investigation. And since everyone here is dark and short, then everyone is under police investigation. Here the crime is life. In the neighboring state of Guerrero history repeats itself, in the last days the military incursions abound in the communities of La Montana and Costa Chica. There are military checkpoints, arbitrary detentions and searches inn the municipalities of Alcozauca, Cuautepec, Tlacoachistlahuaca, Ahuacuotzingo, Copanatoyac and Olinala, all in Guerrero. And while the interim governor and the Secretary of Tourism pride themselves on the fact that, in spite of atmospheric, land, and social disturbances, the tourists still come, with their dollars in their hands, to lands of Guerrero. The peaceful and civil means of struggle continue to grow less for the indigenous, for the farmers, teachers, students, squatters, workers. Here the government and private initiative are appreciated as the principal promoters of the "industry without chimneys": tourist. They are as well, and the people of Guerrero knows and suffers it, the principal promoters of violence. Oaxaca and Guerrero. Indian blood nourishes the lands of these two southern states of Mexico. In these mountains, the members of the best indigenous or organizations of the country have given brilliant examples of peaceful civic struggle, their resistance and heroism is legendary, their wisdom in governance and self-governance is a book in history which does not appear in the general index of prices on the stock market. Without more weapons than their words and the lessons of their own history, the Indian people who lived in these lands long before it was called "Guerrero" and "Oaxaca", resist the violent night offered and imposed on them by the powerful and the violent who call themselves "well-born" and "leaders". The real well-born are those given life by the land so that it may be cared for and who make of the land a way of life so that all who live and speak what they think may fit" say the wisemen who live in those mountains. "In these lands--says Adolph looking inside--more than life, a bigger crime is intelligence". Without it, the government reproduces military barracks and tanks of war. But at moments, among so many military and police, among the profession of spy for "internal security", among so many declaration of simulated governance, pending still is the... SIXTH QUESTION SIXTH: WHO LIVED THAT DEATH? "Jesus! What do I see?" With the sudden shock, the candle fell from her hands, and finding herself in the dark, she turned around to take to her heels, and in her alarm she tripped over her skirt and came down with a mighty thud. Then the frightened Don Quixote began to say: "I conjure you, phantom, or whatever you are, to tell me your name and to say what you want of me. If you are a soul in torment, tell me, for I will do everything in my power for you. I am a Catholic Christian and love to do good to all the world. It was with that purpose I took up the order of knight-errantry that I profess, whose offices extend even to doing good to souls in purgatory." PART II, CHAPTER XLVIII. POLITICAL CHORES AS CRIMES OF THE STATE In October of 1996, a great woman of small stature, sick and dignified, left the Lacandon jungle in order to take the voice of the indigenous rebels of the EZLN to the heart of the City of Mexico. The Supreme Government tried everything to stop it. It threatened, it patrolled, it kicked, it promised, it cried, it said and contradicted itself. It piled up tanks, military planes and artillery helicopters in front of her. It was useless, Comandante Ramona, of the CCRI-CG of the EZLN, with paper flowers in one hand and a national flag in the other,, left the Chiapanecan reality to direct herself towards the reality of the Federal District. In despair, the Powerful reverted to black magic and found hidden within its criminal history, a skull: The same day that the Zapatista Comandante headed towards the capital, the mass media tripped over themselves to deliver news to the country: in one of the ranches of Raul Salinas de Gortari a skull was found. The PGR said it belonged to Munoz Rocha, alleged intellectual author of the assassination of Francisco Ruiz Masseiu. The "finding" revealed the "scientific" methods used by the special prosecutor: a "witness" pointed out the place where the cadaver of Munoz Rocha was found. It is said he was killed by a single blow from the baseball bat of Raul Salinas de Gortari. The scandal caused by the finding of the cadaver reduced to second or third place the challenge of the small Ramona. But this skill brought something more than respite to a government defeated by a tiny indigenous woman, a Comandante of the EZLN. Quickly, the mute grave made current the theme which marked the end of the administration of Carlos Salinas de Gortari and brought Ernesto Zedillo to the presidency. During the entire administration of Salinas de Gortari (which stretches out to these days), crime was a constant political practice. The cases of Cardinal Posadas, Luis Donaldo Colosio and Francisco Ruiz Massieu were the most famous but not the only ones. These assassinations, together with those of hundreds of social activists have more in common than the "sole assassin", the Mexican State. They are united as well by the fact that all remain unresolved and those responsible go unpunished. Sounds logical, the same Power which had them liquidated is the one which investigates. It is a general conviction that the author or authors of these crimes are among the group in power. The absence of conclusive evidence does not presuppose the innocence of those under suspicion (the Salinas and Cordoba Montoya families), but does imply the complicity of the judicial apparatus. Those who were capable of betraying an entire nation, could do the same with those closest to them. Useless for distracting public opinion and dangerous in its accusatory silence, the alleged skull of Munoz Rocha returned to anonymity. recently and under a new Attorney general it is discovered that the skull does not belong to Munoz Rocha. the press loses interest in answering the questions the skeleton makes before being disposed of: Who was I? What was I doing in El Encanto? Who killed me? Why? Where? How was I killed? How much did my death cost? The great questions, who lived that death? is buried in the archives of the judicial power in Mexico> The Salinist tendency of constructing virtual realities repeats itself now with the help of one of its beneficiaries: the businessman Salinas Pliego. The self-named "Aztec Television" develops a great campaign to mobilize public opinion around the "horrible situation of Mister Raul Salinas de Gortari the prisoner. The owner of TV Azteca not only defends an accomplice and partner, but he makes praise a form of politics, that which is sustained b crime and in brotherhood with its modern promoter: drug trafficking. Drug trafficking and the Mexican State find each other more and more interlocked. The institutional violence in the hands of the government does not confront the violence of the drug dealers, it allies itself and complements itself. Mexican justice is surprisingly quick and effective when it comes to judging and freeing drug traffickers (such as the case of Hector Luis Palma Salazar, the Guero Palma). The police not only pursues the power of drugs, it protect and helps it. Fervently "religious", the Mexican police hides the Lord of the heavens, better known as Amado Carrillo. From drug trafficking the political system not only receives income. It also, and above everything acquires forms of making politics, methods of "eliminating the adversary or the nuisance". This way, crime and corruption is converted into a vital link between government and the drug trade. The administration of justice passes from being a cartoon to a protective net. Not only does it hide those who inhabit that criminal MARIDAJE, it also protects the fall of those who slip. Before the skull, now anonymous the Mexican system reflects the durability of the Power and the stability of those who sustain it. In this way, the response to the question which is repeated for all and for themselves, the... SEVENTH QUESTION SEVENTH: WHEN DOES IT END "Arm this instant, my lord," cried one of them, "otherwise you'll be destroyed and this whole island with you." "What's the good of my arming?" replied Sancho. "Do I know a thing about arms or relief tactics? Why don't you send for Don Quixote, my master? He'll deal with them in the twinkling of an eye and retrieve our fortunes. Alas, as I'm a sinner, I know nothing about these sudden attacks!" "How so, my lord," said another, "what's the meaning of this faintheartedness? See, here we bring you defensive and offensive arms; arm yourself and come with us to the marketplace. Be our leader and our captain, for that is your duty, since you are our governor." "Well, then, arm me and wish me good luck," said Sancho. Part II. Chapter LIII. History is very simple, and unfortunately, recurrent in Mexican history: the Federal government saw itself obliged to negotiate a political solution with the indigenous rebels of the EZLN. Because the police-military operation of February 1995 failed, the government bet upon a long negotiation which would allow it to put itself together. It waited for an opportune moment and constructed credible arguments for a rapid and definitive military strike, because this was remained its objective. From among the burgeoning ranks of its mediocres, the government selected a group to represent it at the dialogues for peace. Like all mediocres, these thought themselves veeery intelligent and they designed a strategy to "shrink" the problem which consists of, grosso modo, demonstrating that the guerrilla has strength in only four municipalities of the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas. Once it achieved this, it would demand unconditional surrender from the guerrilla. The "success" of that strategy can be felt barely three months since its beginning: the rebels call for a national and international consultation. Surrounded, persecuted and "shrunk" they manage to get the opinion of more than a million Mexicans and 200,000 foreigners. The "Achievements" of the government are overshadowed; the rebels manage to impose a model of negotiation which is open and inclusive, and in the first theme about Indigenous Rights and culture, they win the participation of the best and most representative of the independent national indigenous movement. The majority of the indigenous leadership and the best of the specialists in the subject sit at the table which the Zapatistas serve to the Nation. The government delegates get a few unprepared people, and they repeat the ridiculous, now at a national level. Indigenous leaders, specialists, social organizations, NGOs and the Zapatistas manage to construct (in spite of the federal government and its advisors) an inclusive and respectful proposal to re-define the relation between the indigenous and the Nation. the agreement is signed by the representatives of the federal government and the EZLN on February 16, 1996. The true interests of the government delegates is revealed the day it is signed: the picture so longed for by the Power and rejected by the rebels. The signature as a spectacle and not a commitment. Eleven months later, the agreement not only is set aside, but now the federal government wants to pretend it does not exist. In December of 1996, the Commission on concordance and Pacification elaborates a proposal of constitutional reforms which complies with the agreements of San Andres made 10 months before. "What has been agreed upon will not be re-negotiated" say the legislators, and Cocopa warns the federal government and the EZLN that they will only accept a "no" or a "yes" in response to their document. The EZLN responds "yes". Hours later, the Interior Ministry does the same, then takes it back later. Mister Zedillo asks for time to give his response and on the 19th day of the last month of 1996 he sends a document which not only says "no" to the Cocopa initiative, but also proposes to go back on what was signed by its delegates at the dialogue of San Andres. The Zapatista rebels do what is logical for people with dignity, they keep their word and their commitment: on January 11 of 1997, the EZLN answers "NO" to the government negation and ratify their decision to accept the initiative from the legislators of the Cocopa. The job of Ernesto Zedillo is not governance, but sales. And in order to sell, in this modern era, the electronic mass media is very useful as is the press. Heir to the slogan of his predecessor ("Pretend to govern"), Zedillo uses the media to shape the alchemy he needs: present his inability to keep his word as the "intransigence of the Zapatistas". Nothing new... Some years ago in 1509 Fernando V set the bases for what would be the conquest of the Indian lands of America: "After the pacification is carried out and the natives are reduced to obedience, the pioneer, governor or peace-maker will distribute the Indians among the colonists so they can own them and enjoy their tributes." In 1546, one January 16th, Felipe, heir of the Spanish colony made a decree which changed he New Laws, sent by Carlos V on November 20, 1542 thanks to the tenacity of Fray Bartolome de Las Casas. The New Laws prevented the enslavement of Indians; it established that they could not be made to work against their will and without retribution; it impeded their belonging to an royal land grant (including Indians); it asked that the lands of the villages and communities of Indians be returned; and that with it the government of the Indians be respects and conserved. But the royal land grant (including Indians) was reconstituted on January 16, 1546. Like the beginning of the XVI century, at the end of the XX century the Power reiterates its vocation of intolerance and exclusion. But today it also has the mass media and with "speakers who give it what it needs, arguments. Among the apologists of the government refusal there are jurists and intellectuals. Their common denominator, in addition to the bluff of ignorance on the theme and the argued lie, is to have enjoyed the favor of Carlos Salinas de Gortari. The ex-singer of tangos in honor of Salinas, Burgoa Orihuala, and the additions which accompany him, see phantoms and catastrophes if the federal government keeps its word and recognizes in the Constitution indigenous rights and culture. They know history: in 1523 Hernan Cortes argued that the Spanish would not remain in Mexico if the Indians were left to be free, and then he added a long list of economic and political consequences and warned like his twins at the end of the XX Century, that they would be overcome if the Indians were not subjected. (The references to historic events of the XVI century are taken from Edmundo Jargon Arzate, EL UNIVERSAL, January 17, 1997). The ignorance about what was at stake is not exclusive patrimony of these men. Political scientists like Federico Reyes Heroles recommends that the possibility of military extermination of the Zapatista rebels be re-considered. Mister Reyes Heroles asks and proposes his answer: "Who's to say that peace, given certain bases, should be put in doubt? 36 months ago anyone would have bet that the establishment of peace was a national priority, and therefore the negotiations with the EZLN. Nevertheless, during these 36 months we have seen that the nucleus of the Zapatista proposal is, in good measure, irreconcilable with a minimal acceptance of Republican proposals" (REFORMA, January 18, 1997). Weeks later, the same politologist writes demanding that the Zapatistas be annihilated because they will always be "violent" ones> Offended by the "Ha!" that the Zapatistas responded to the military threats, Don Federico demands they be killed, oh, but of course, with full respect for human rights. Three fundamental issues are at play in the actual crisis of the dialogue between the EZLN and the federal government. One is that, unless agreements are fulfilled, dialogue and negotiation lose rationality and purpose. An essential aspect is the reinsertion of the rebels in peaceful and civic life, a minimal respect for their lives, liberty and goods and this has become a lie with mortal consequences. The second is that the Nation should recognize that it is made up of different people and that it can survive and grow recognizing those differences. The indigenous question is a national one. Not only because there are indigenous people in all the Mexican territory or because they form an essential part of the history of this country. But also because their difference aspires to a unity with the others who make up the Mexico of today. To recognize this difference in the maximum law of the Republic and include it in a project of a free Nation, sovereign and independent, is to do justice and make possible the defense of the Nation from liquidation in a commercial sale. The third is that in the resolution of this new crisis the ability of citizens to resolve their demands through the alternative of dialogue and negotiation which is valid and effective, is at play. The aspiration for peaceful and civil changes becomes a mute blindness if only time is lost in the solution of the fundamental problems of the Nation. It is not just, then peace or war which is at stake at these moments. The one, peace, will be weak and deceitful if it is not constructed on firm bases of the certainty of the commitments and their implementation, of the inclusive recognition of differences, of the viability and efficiency of the use of reason and understanding. The other, the war, will not only unleash uncontrollable forces, it will also postpone, without disarming a time bomb which will return at any moment and in any part. In Latin America there are didactic examples: in Peru, Mister Fujimori responds with a war to the social and political demands of armed groups, he assumes they have been annihilated and now they reappear where he least expected them. In Mexico, the federal government should let us know whether it can keep its word or not, whether it will recognize the reality which sustains the Nation, whether reason has more value than force. Its answers are apparent already in the explicit and implicit threats it propagates towards the Mexican southeast. Without honor, the word of the government is only another merchandise on sale, but now much more perishable. The plural and heterogeneous reality disguises itself at will with the brusque make-up of military tanks. For the government there is no alternative between reason or force, the first they lack completely, and because of that the second is defined by the shifting balance towards violence. The supreme government prepares itself to make use of the only majority which it still has: that of armed force. The Commission of Concordance and Pacification, the legislative branch and the political parties should confront and resolve the questions which, in its own time, history promises them. All Mexicans, that "civil society" which is such a nuisance for all the poster people of the political spectrum should also respond: How long can a government rule which has no word? What direction does it have if it does not recognize the reality it lives? Where will it go if the only reason which enables it is reason of force? Why believe in it, if it never complies with what it agrees to? When will history arrive to demand an accounting? How to argue that reason and not force is the path which should be ? The best of the indigenous national and independent movement, that one which finds itself and weaves in the Permanent National Indigenous congress, advances the responses that its blood of dignity counsels and demands. In view of the confused and harried government campaign in the media, which, because it lacks reasons and arguments, are propagated lies and phantoms, indigenous organization of all part of Mexico speak and make theirs what belongs to them: the right to an inclusive place. Far from the eight columns and the prime time on radio and television, the Indian communities speak to and find one another, beyond the military sieges imposed by the governments. A phrase sums up this brown uneasiness. "Never again a Mexico without us". the question of "who speaks those words?" has a response but who hears them and understands. The oldest of the oldest Indian wisemen say that there are people who have a very small heart and so true words do not fit there. the great wisemen also say that the earth punishes those with a small heart by leaving them deaf and blind. Deaf and blind are the supreme governments, that is why they yell so much and so many lies fill their empty chests. that is why the one with a small heart beats and kills. deaf and dumb, the government prepares itself to beat and kill those it does not see or hear. The pre-military campaign of the government has begun. the Mexican federal army is saturating its barracks with troops and armaments; the military patrols have doubled in size; planes and helicopters are practicing time and again the surgical strike; the Public Ministers are preparing to count the captured and dead. The Division leaders of "Operation Rainbow" have their orders sitting on their desk. They were accompanied by a presidential promise that "there would be no turning back". In the mass media the snipers of ink of all the tendencies fight over the checks which fly about in disorder from the Interior Ministry. Even though the bullets are few, many lies will be necessary in order for the world to digest the lead and the impotence it contains. the melancholy banquet approaches and the rats of the pen sharpen their teeth and their bank accounts. In the mountains of the Mexican southeast the Zapatista rebels, the vast majority of whom are indigenous people, resist and wait for answers. They have on their side reason, history and legitimacy. The armed forces of the government cast their shadow of death over the dignity that animates all of those who live and die for the "Everything for everyone, nothing for Us", but their plans do not include surrendering. They know, as was told to them by the first gods who birthed the world, that to surrender is to die of shame, and to struggle to be is joy which sharpens the edge of hope. But this time the Zapatistas do not respond, they only ask. And this time, as in others, the Zapatistas including those "bothersome" and stubborn different ones, know they are not alone. This is, they say to one another, the hour of all those who are different... because... This is not a question, but it is also not an answer: The last to ask was Sancho, and his question was: "Shall I ever get another governorship? Shall I quit this hungry squire's life? Shall I see my wife and children again?" To which the answer came: "You will govern in your own house, and if you go home, you will see your wife and children, and by giving up service you will cease to be a squire." "By God, that's rich," cried Sancho Panza. "I could have told myself all that; the prophet Perogrullo couldn't do better." "Beast!" cried Don Quixote. "What answer do you expect? Is it not enough that the replies this head gives correspond to the questions asked it?" "Yes, it's enough," replied Sancho, "but I wish it would be plainer and tell me more." PART II, CH. LXII However, more questions remain without answers, still. Until when can a system be sustained based upon intolerance and disdain? How far will the Power go? How many guerrillas, how many protests, how many hunger strikes, how many scandals, deaths and more are necessary so that the Power which rules by excluding and imposing learn that it destroys and so destroys itself? What to do to confront so many deaf and mute grays? Why not try to join colors? Why not try to walk that dream? Other winds arrive and blow answers...and hopes. Vale. health and why does that moon look alive because it is so full? It is January (It is cold and rains and the dawn clothes itself with gray clouds). It is 1997 (Don Fernando is 85 years old, Adelfo heals himself by struggling and both watch the indigenous Mexicans who write their own story. This is Mexico and though you may not believe it someone smiles. >From the mountains of the Mexican southeast, Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos Mexico, January 1997. P.S. Which repeats its foolishness. Sancho heard their shouts, and pressing closer to his master, with his arms around him, he asked: "Sir, how can they say we're flying so high when their voices reach us here? They seem to be speaking just beside us." "Pay no attention to that, Sancho, for as these flights are out of the ordinary course of things, you will see and hear what you please a thousand miles away. And do not hug me so tight or you will upset me. For the life of me I cannot make out what is so worrying and frightening you, for I swear to you that never in all the days of my life have I ridden an easier-paced mount. We seem not to be moving from one spot. Banish all fear, my friend, for this business is really going as it should, and we have the wind astern." PART II, Chapter XLI