File spoon-archives/aut-op-sy.archive/aut-op-sy_1997/aut-op-sy.9710, message 4


Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 13:24:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Chris <red-AT-iww.org>
Subject: AUT: Chiapas Rebels Declare Autonomous Rebel County (fwd)


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From: riwaasa-AT-indiana.edu
To: sovernet-l-AT-speakeasy.org
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Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 11:58:53 -0700
From: Arm The Spirit <ats-AT-locust.etext.org>
To: Multiple recipients of list <ats-l-AT-burn.ucsd.edu>
Subject: Chiapas Rebels Declare Autonomous Rebel County

Chiapas Rebels Declare Autonomous Rebel County

Moises Gandhi, Mexico (AP - September 28, 1997) Unwilling to
await the outcome of negotiations with the government, Zapatista
rebels on Sunday declared an autonomous county in southern
Chiapas.
     The Zedillo government is unlikely to recognize the new
jurisdiction, named in honor of the legendary Cuban rebel,
Ernesto "Che" Guevara. It opposes the traditional Indian
community rule that the rebels hope to establish there and
elsewhere in the region.
     In a traditional blessing ceremony in this Chiapas village,
an elderly Tzeltal Indian woman in an embroidered blouse blew
incense over four newly-appointed county officials wearing the
ski masks popular among rebels.
     Men in woven cotton trousers played a harp and guitars as an
elderly man lit candles and shook rattles during a swearing-in
ceremony witnessed by more than 200 representatives from
communities throughout Chiapas, which borders Guatemala.
     "We are the true heirs of the ancient Maya, inheritors of
their struggle, their liberty and their dignity", said a masked
man who led the ceremony.
     "Che Guevara" is just one of several autonomous counties
throughout Chiapas being planned by Zapatista rebels as part of
the future Tzotz-choj Autonomous Zone, named after a former Mayan
ruler.
     Some areas are already operating with their own councils and
small budgets for education, development and public works.
     Since the Zapatista rebellion in 1994, autonomy for the
region's Indians has become a key rebel demand and is currently
the biggest stumbling block to the renewal of stalled peace
talks.
     A partial peace agreement signed by the Mexico City
government and rebel negotiators in February 1996 calls for
constitutional amendments that would authorize Indian autonomy.
     Supporters argue autonomy would provide a political basis
for improving the lives of Mexico's poorest citizens. But
President Ernesto Zedillo has said the autonomy agreement as
presently worded is unconstitutional.
     He has called for renegotiating the accords, arguing they
would endanger national unity and hurt Indians by creating
impoverished reservations like those in the United States.



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