Mexico's Fox on Zapatista Marcos: "I Await His Orders"

[Say_What]

Desperado....

<clips>

Well, here's a novel way to boost sagging popularity in the polls for Vicente Fox: When the guerrilla organization that your government has persecuted for your entire term announces - as the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN, in its Spanish initials) said in a new communiqué this weekend - that it has just decided to expand its cause nationwide, Fox's first instinct is to grope for a photo op with the rebels!

The Mexican president, today in the neighboring country of Belize, alongside that country's President Said Musa, responded to reporters' questions about the possible entrance by the Zapatistas into more above-ground political action (not necessarily electoral, please, nobody jump to conclusions). Fox said specifically about Zapatista Subcomandante Marcos:

“I await his orders to work toward that integration."

The Zapatistas announced that, with their bases ("100 percent indigenous" and "100 percent Mexican") having voted in assemblies throughout their territory and approved the new course of action with 98 percent support:

"...the EZLN shall undertake a new political initiative that is national and international in nature."

And they added:

"In order to report on what was analyzed and discussed in the internal consulta - in addition to explaining and calling for joining in with the new initiative which has been approved - the CCRI-CG of the EZLN will, over the next few days, make public a series of texts which are part of the 'Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona.'"

Fox, seeming to jump to the conclusion that "Mr. Marcos" now wants a political party or some such thing that probably is not very likely, added:

"Not only do I welcome them! I invite Mr. Marcos that, together, we arm a stage of integration into political life and the integration of agreements that benefit the (indigenous) communities."


http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/6/28/12224/4021

[bemildred]

1. There is no "Sub-commander Marcos".

He is the al-Zarqawi of Mexican politics.
You cannot "decapitate" a movement with no leaders.

[Karmadillo]

2. What's up with this thinking and acting locally and internationally?

I thought only multinational capitalists were allowed to do that.

[cloudythescribbler]

3. there most certainly is a marcos

His "real" identity was unmasked by the Mexican government in 1995 in an effort to pop the bubble of his charismatic appeal. Since that does not seem to have succeeded, we don't see him referred to by his "real" name.

He is Rafael Sebastian Guillen, formerly a professor in the Department of Theory and Analysis (many analogize it to a Sociology Dept) at the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitiana (or something like that) well who gives a flying f&*() anyway. But he has interesting things.

Marcos/Guillen has introduced, as a political term, something that should become as well known in the US as the word "chutzpah:
TRAMOYA meaning roughly "the jury rigging of appearances". There certainly is plenty of that, like everyone lining up behind Kerry to create the appearance that there wasn't an anti-war party running against a pro-war party, but that Americans preferred the prowar party (I don't remember any comparable gifts from the right to AUTHENTIC left!). Then the press, the Democrats and the 527s all remained silent while the flipflop spin hardened for months into a national cliche.
TRAMOYA, the word. Someone fluent in spanish please give a better explanation on this thread!!!!!!!

[bemildred]

4. Opinions will vary.

In announcing the initiative, Zedillo identified
Subcommander Marcos as Rafael Sebastian Guillen Vicente, a
former university professor and son of a well-to-do
businessman from Tamaulipas state. During public appearances
since the uprising of the EZLN on Jan. 1, 1994, Marcos has
worn a ski mask to hide his true identity.
Despite Zedillo's claim, there appears to be strong
public skepticism that Guillen is indeed Marcos. The daily
newspaper Reforma, which conducted an informal survey of 400
residents of Mexico City, found that roughly 50% of the
respondents doubted that Guillen is Marcos. Additionally,
almost 59% of those responding to the poll said they
considered Marcos a "leader" and not an "outlaw," as claimed
by President Zedillo when he ordered the arrest.

http://retanet.unm.edu/plans/attachments/arrest_zapatista_leaders.html

A blast from the past:

Zapatista Rebel Leader Refuses to Meet Mexican President

By James Blears, Voice of America March 17, 2001

The masked leader of Mexico's Zapatista rebels, who calls himself Subcommander Marcos has rejected an invitation to meet with Mexican President Vicente Fox, saying such an event would only serve as a publicity stunt. President Fox is unperturbed by the rebel leader's attitude and is pressing for peaceful dialogue.

Following the 3,000 kilometer Zapatista march to Mexico City, President Vicente Fox promptly invited the guerilla leader for exploratory talks at the Presidential Palace. But Marcos has curtly declined, saying he will not participate in what he calls a photo opportunity that would serve no purpose.

Critics of the rebel leader point to this as a sign of intransigence. But in an english language interview, he denied the accusation, saying his group wants peace. "This encounter between Fox and Marcos does not have peace as a goal," he said. "So it is useless to make this appointment. He wants a photo as a decoration, newspaper headlines.

"Forget it. I'll go back to the jungle. We don't want that. We want peace, but with justice and dignity.

http://truthnews.net/world/2001_03_zapatista_fox.html

A Chat With the Subcommander of Spin

In the July issue of Vanity Fair, Subcommander Marcos, the masked leader of Mexico's Zapatista Army of National Liberation, describes himself as a "brilliant myth." Despite the volume of ink that has been spilled about him, that's exactly what he remains. No journalist has figured out who Marcos is, really, and until someone does, he will continue to invent and re-invent the image of himself that he disseminates to visiting journalists. The mystery of Marcos helps continue to make him a good story, despite a lot of exposure; his secret identity allows him to be both elusive and accessible at the same time.

By the time I set out to interview Marcos this past March, three to five carloads of journalists were arriving every day at the Zapatista checkpoint heading into the Lacandon jungle. In San Cristobal de las Casas, I had teamed up with Susan Ferriss of the San Francisco Examiner and photographer Ricardo Sandoval. At the Zapatista checkpoint, Bill Weinberg of High Times magazine and WBAI radio in New York joined our group. After two days of waiting, a Zapatista militiaman came to tell us that we would be permitted through the checkpoint.

The decision about who gets through is made by Marcos himself and those denied access are never explicitly told they will not be let in. Mexican journalists grumble that the foreign press gets preferential treatment. I'm not sure how Marcos decides whom to let in and whom to exclude, but he certainly has a remarkable knowledge of the U.S. press. He asked Ferriss of the Hearstowned Examiner what had ever become of Patty Hearst and when he met Weinberg he blurted out the correct frequency for WBAI -- 99.5.

Inside the Zapatista camps, Marcos likes to make everyone wait for an interview, and in fact he seems to show up only after a journalist throws a tantrum or starts packing up to get ready to leave. In our case that was after almost a week. Through a courier, we sent a letter to Marcos letting him know that we had a flight the next morning and couldn't wait any longer. Late that night, he pushed open the door of the shack where we were sleeping, climbed into an empty bed, and lay there smoking a pipe until we noticed him. When he inhaled, the glowing tobacco illuminated a prominent nose, which was barely contained by his ski mask; a pair of tired-looking, greenish eyes; and a weather-beaten, gray military cap adorned with three plastic stars. He spoke mostly in Spanish, occasionally lapsing into fluent, accented English.

It took me a while to make the transition from sleep and unfortunately our colleague Bill Weinberg was unable to do it. He woke up briefly when Marcos came in, and then went back to sleep convinced that the wise-cracking guy joking about his sex life couldn't possibly be a guerrilla commander, even if he did have a bandolier of red shotgun cartridges strung across his chest. But Marcos has a conscience; he gave Weinberg an exclusive interview the next morning.

http://archives.cjr.org/year/94/5/marcos.asp

[Say_What]

8. Photos...

http://aztlan.net/zapafotos.htm

http://aztlan.net/zocalo.htm

[Robeson]

5. Marcos has some fascinating writings on globalization...

...some of the best and most insightful material I've read on it, in fact.

[NashVegas]

10. "Our Word is Our Weapon"

Is a beautifully written book.

[Say_What]

11. Excerpts....

From a Guardian review.

<clips>

Opening remarks at the First Intercontinental Encuentro For Humanity and Against Neoliberalism, July 27, 1996

Chiapas, Mexico

Brothers and sisters of Asia, Africa,

Oceania, Europe and America,

Welcome to the mountains of the

Mexican Southeast.

Let us introduce ourselves.

We are the Zapatista National Liberation Army.

For 10 years, we lived in these mountains, preparing to fight a war.

In these mountains, we built an army.

Below, in the cities and plantations, we did not exist.

Our lives were worth less than those of machines or animals.

We were like stones, like weeds in the road.

We were silenced.

We were faceless.

We were nameless

We had no future.

We did not exist.

For the powers that be, known internationally by the term "neoliberalism",

we did not count,

we did not produce,

we did not buy,

we did not sell.

We were a cipher in the accounts of big capital.

Then we went to the mountains to find ourselves and see if we could ease the pain of being forgotten like stones and weeds.

Here, in the mountains of the Mexican Southeast, our dead live on.

Our dead, who live in the mountains, know many things.

They speak to us of their death, and we hear them.

Coffins speak and tell us another story, that comes from yesterday and points to tomorrow.

The mountains spoke to us, the Macehualob, we common and ordinary people.

We are simple people, as Power tells us.

The kaz-dzul , the false man, rules our lands and has giant war machines,

like the boob, half-puma and half-horse,

that spread pain and death among us.

The trickster government sends us the aluxob ,

the liars who fool our people and make them forgetful.

This is why we became soldiers.

This is why we remain soldiers.

Because we want no more death and trickery for our people,

because we want no more forgetting.

The mountain told us to take up arms so we would have a voice.

It told us to cover our faces so we would have a face.

It told us to forget our names so we could be named.

It told us to protect our past so we would have a future.

Brothers and sisters:

We have invited you to this meeting to seek for and find yourselves and us.

You have all touched our hearts, and you can see we are not special.

You can see we are simple and ordinary men and women.

You can see we are the rebellious mirror that wants to be a pane of glass and break.

You can see we are who we are so we can stop being who we are to become the you, who we are.

We are the Zapatistas.

[gratuitous]

6. Very interesting . . .

The Zapatistas have been a relentless presence in southern Mexico. I was in San Cristobal with a Christian Peacemaking Teams delegation at the end of February 2001 when the Zapatistas began their march to the capitol to petition the new government for their rights. Marcos was there, and symbolically laid down his sidearm at a rally in the plaza square. Quite thrilling.

Hopefully this signals a new day in Mexico. Fox may or may not be sincere about giving the Zapatistas a role in governing Mexico, but the people there are more than ready to order their own affairs.

[Say_What]

7. Oligarchs Daily: Rebels may ditch weapons for votes

<clips>

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's Zapatista rebels have announced a ''new political initiative'' -- a decision the government interpreted Tuesday as a move toward joining mainstream politics and away from the armed struggle they launched more than a decade ago.

Mexican President Vicente Fox said he welcomed the sign that the ski-masked Zapatistas could be ready to put down their guns, and he called on the rebels' military leader to join him in building ``the phase of integration into political life.''

''I am at your service to work toward this integration,'' said Fox, who was in Belize on Tuesday.

In a statement issued Monday from their strongholds in the mountains of Chiapas state, the group said its members had overwhelmingly approved a ''new step'' in its resistance to Mexico's government.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/americas/12009544.htm

[htuttle]

9. Subcommandante Marcos doesn't GIVE orders -- he makes suggestions

It's a very unusual 'army' from what I've read.