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TITLE: Weekly News Summary |
AUTHOR: |
PUB: Mexico Solidarity Network |
DATE: January 5, 2001 |
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Mexico Solidarity Network December 22 - 31, 2000 Contents: Army Withdraws from Amador Hernández, Chiapas 16 Zapatista Prisoners Released; Cerro Hueco to be Shut Down San Andrés Accords "In the Hands of Congress," Says Fox Tabasco Elections Annulled; PRI-Controlled Legislature Will Select Interim Governor
Army Withdraws From Amador Hernandez, Chiapas
On December 22 the federal army withdrew from its base in the jungle village of Amador Hernández, Chiapas, handing the 3.5-hectare occupied zone into the care of Governor Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía. Salazar then returned the land to the Zapatista villagers who had maintained a permanent protest and sit-in against the occupation for 515 consecutive days. Amador Hernández was first occupied by the federal army in August 1999, and just three months ago the occupied zone was officially expropriated by then-president Ernesto Zedillo in order to be used as a permanent training facility for counterinsurgency troops. The expropriation decree was annulled through joint agreement between the army and President Fox shortly before the community was demilitarized. The full withdrawal of federal forces from Amador Hernández is the first measure of government compliance with the conditions set by the rebel Zapatista Army (EZLN) for restarting negotiations with the government. The remaining conditions are the definitive demilitarization of army positions in or near the communities of Guadalupe Tepeyac, Oventic, La Realidad, Roberto Barrios, La Garrucha, and Moisés Gandhi; the liberation of all Zapatista political prisoners; and congressional approval of the COCOPA proposal for implementation of the San Andrés Accords. The withdrawal "ceremony" on December 22 was attended not only by Governor Salazar, but also by members of the congressional Commission on Concordance and Pacification (COCOPA) and by representatives of President Fox, including peace commissioner Luis H. Alvarez, all of whom hailed the removal of federal troops from the village as a "step toward peace" and as the "correction of an injury" committed against the local inhabitants by the previous government. The EZLN, for its part, also saluted the full military withdrawal from Amador Hernández. In a communiqué published on December 24 and signed by Subcomandante Marcos, the rebels suggested that "this withdrawal from one of the seven positions demanded by the EZLN is a positive signal and a first and important step on the path towards reinitiating the dialogue process." "What remains," continued Marcos, "are the six other positions, the liberation of the prisoners, and the constitutional recognition of indigenous rights and culture." The EZLN further called on "civil society" to mobilize itself in support of the remaining demands so as to be able to begin negotiations with the new government as soon as possible. END
Sixteen Zapatista Prisoners Released; Cerro Hueco Slated For Closure
On December 30, Chiapas governor Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía freed the first sixteen of 103 Zapatista prisoners in Chiapas, "as another gesture towards peace." Salazar also announced that the Cerro Hueco state prison, where most jailed Zapatistas are held, is "a symbol of disgrace" and will soon be closed permanently, "remaining only as part of a past we do not wish to remember." "Today," said Salazar as the first sixteen Zapatistas walked free with suspended sentences, "we make a significant step towards peace and we comply with the second or third demand of the EZLN. We celebrate the participation of civil society in this effort." At the same event, Salazar also lashed out at the state legislators of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), who hold a majority in the state legislature, for their attempts to block the liberation of the Zapatista prisoners. According to state Attorney General Mariano Herrán Salvatti, six other Zapatista prisoners will be released in the first week of January, followed by another 24 shortly thereafter. The cases of the remaining fifty-seven Zapatista prisoners in Chiapas, meanwhile, are still under review, though the state government is expected to eventually free them all under the statutory provision of suspended sentences. Two other Zapatista prisoners remained jailed in the states of Tabasco and Querétaro, meanwhile, and so far no move has been taken by the state or federal governments to free them. END
San Andres Accords "In the Hands Of Congress" Says Fox
In his weekly radio address on December 23, President Vicente. Fox suggested that he had "done his part" with respect to the Chiapas conflict by partially demilitarizing parts of Chiapas and by presenting the COCOPA proposal (for implementation of the San Andrés Accords on Indigenous Rights and Culture) to Congress two weeks ago. With respect to the latter, Fox added that the issue "is now in the hands of the deputies and senators" who will decide whether or not to approve the proposal. Fox backtracked on this statement a few days later, insisting he has not washed his hands of the COCOPA proposal and in fact planned to "defend it and argue in favor of it." Nevertheless, it appears that the road to approval of the COCOPA initiative may be a long and torturous one. Fox's own National Action Party (PAN) this week, through the voice of its national chairman, Luis Felipe Bravo Mena, insisted that the only possible way to achieve a definitive peace in Chiapas is to "fuse" the COCOPA proposal with a separate indigenous rights proposal drafted by the PAN (and which has been rejected by virtually everyone except the PAN deputies and senators themselves). The COCOPA proposal was drafted by a congressional commission in 1996, through contact with both the federal government and the EZLN, as a compromise proposal for constitutional implementation of the San Andrés Accords on Indigenous Rights and Culture (signed in February 1996 but never implemented). The Zapatista demand for implementation of the San Andrés Accords specifically means congressional approval of the COCOPA proposal in its original, unmodified form. Without PAN support of the proposal, however, this is unlikely to happen. The COCOPA proposal also needs support from the PRI party, which also has been lukewarm, at best, to the idea. PRI senator Manuel Bartlett suggested this week that there is no way the Senate will approve the COCOPA initiative without serious modifications. He also said the legislators "do not have all the necessary information" about the proposal with which to make educated voting decisions, and said a "national consultation" or plebiscite may be necessary before a vote is taken on the proposal. When reminded that the San Andrés Accords were themselves the results of several months of negotiations and consultations, that the COCOPA proposal itself was the result of negotiations between the two sides with respect to how to implement the Accords, and that a national plebiscite on the COCOPA proposal was already held in 1999, Bartlett responded by saying it was "interesting." END
Tabasco Elections Annulled; Pri-Controlled Legislature Will Name Interim Governor
In a surprise move, the supreme Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF) on December 29 overturned the results of the October 15 gubernatorial elections in Tabasco. By a four-to-two vote, the judges declared that "the government of the state of Tabasco was not neutral in the election of the governor, which implies that the exercise of free suffrage was possibly impaired." The judges concurred with claims that state-sponsored fraud was evident at all levels of the electoral process, "affecting the principles of legality, certainty, impartiality, and independence." The ruling was immediately hailed by the opposition PRI and PAN parties, but rejected as "illegal" by outgoing Tabasco governor Roberto Madrazo, and "unacceptable" by national PRI president Dulce María Sauri. The official results of the election had granted victory to PRI candidate Manuel Andrade Díaz with a difference of just 8,000 votes over rival Raúl Ojeda Zubieta, of the PRD. Both the PRD and the PAN (which finished a distant third) challenged the results, insisting that the state government of Roberto Madrazo had intervened illegally in the electoral process, not only using state resources to support Andrade but actually altering the final vote count from hundreds of polling stations. The ruling of the TEPJF marks the first time that the tribunal has actually thrown out an entire statewide election. The court declared that "there is no governor-elect" in Tabasco, and left the decision to the state congress - controlled by the PRI - to name an interim governor until such time as new elections can be held. Under normal circumstances, the new elections would have to be held within a six-month period. However, the Tabasco legislature rebelled on December 30 and in a fifteen-minute session approved reforms to the state constitution allowing interim governors to rule for up to eighteen months - thus permitting the PRI legislators to name a PRI interim governor to rule for more than a year before new elections would be called. The sudden constitutional reform was classified as a "constitutional coup d'état" by the PRD as well as by anti-Madrazo dissidents from within the PRI. The PRI legislators, meanwhile, are expected to select an interim governor from among the party ranks on January 1, 2001. Sources: Milenio Semanal, La Jornada, Milenio, Proceso.This report is a product of the Mexico Solidarity Network. edistribution is authorized and encouraged provided that the ource is cited. omments: "mailto:msn@mexicosolidarity.org" END |