Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 15:23:07 -0500 (EST) From: Gerald Levy <glevy-AT-pratt.edu> Subject: M-TH: EZLN appeal ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 11:12:55 -0800 (PST) From: D Shniad <shniad-AT-sfu.ca> URGENT ACTION ALERT December 9, 1996 Last December in the days of Christmas, armored tanks rolled into the community of Oventic, Chiapas and the tense moments were at the brink of renewed combat. 1996 find the peace process in Chiapas in a similar yet more defining crisis. These days the Mexican federal government, aided by the legislators in the Commission for Concordance and Pacification (Cocopa), has the opportunity to take its first concrete steps to finalizing some constitutional measures which will forever alter the conditions of its indigenous people. All appearances however, indicate that unless there is renewed public pressure, the Mexican government is ill-prepared to do so. Here are some of the facts; --The peace talks have been suspended when the EZLN refused to return unless five minimal conditions were complied with. One of these was to secure positive steps towards the implementation of the first agreements signed in February of 1996 around Indigenous Rights and Culture. --The diagnosis of the Cocopa was that the talks had come to a standstill because "The EZLN had gone to the ceiling, and the government to the floor". The Cocopa's notion of finding a middle ground was to offer to present a document in favor of the constitutional reforms around Indigenous Rights and Culture. --The Secretary of the Interior, meanwhile, which has served as the "good cop" in the peace process protests against the document and finally acknowledges that they had never "read" its contents, but that they now find it has various Constitutional problems. --When asked why the problems had not been perceived in ten months, the Secretary of the Interior admits that they "never believed it would be necessary to carry them out". --Meanwhile, when the Cocopa discusses their own document with President Zedillo, they discover he has vehement objections apparently to a completely different document than the one under consideration. Zedillo calls it a "misunderstanding" and acknowledges that he does not have complete information and asks for fifteen days to take the matter under advisement The EZLN has agreed to abide by those fifteen days. Clearly, the evidence above points out that no one in the government demonstrates any serious approach to the peace process, and that the Cocopa has stepped into this vacuum in an attempt to rescue the process. This is the reasoning behind this action alert. It is extremely difficult to ask you to act upon this matter during these days---but the possibility of peace in Mexico is in great danger, again. Each time matters have reached this breaking point, it is the concerted action of people such as yourselves which has provided some assistance to these indigenous communities under siege. We ask you to do the following; --Call or fax President Zedillo's office or take delegations to the nearest consulates with the following message "We are very concerned about the peace process in Chiapas. We urge you in the remaining fifteen days to evaluate the situation with great attention and to take action which will favor a political solution. We have information that you are ill-informed and want you to know that we are very worried about any action you may take based on ignorance. Please inform us as to the progress of the negotiations." --Begin to organize a delegation to travel to Chiapas for the New Year. Announce it to the press, and advise Zedillo's office so that he is aware of the international presence to the matter. --Write a letter or make a phone call to the offices of the following individuals; Financier George Soros Arthur Schlesinger Henry Kissinger Paul Volcker Sidney Weintraub David Rockefeller Susan Kaufman Purcell, Latin American specialist, UCLA Douglas Warner III of JP Morgan John Reed of Citibank Winthrop Smith of Merril Lynch Deryck C. Maughan of Salomon Brothers Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin All these individual met with Zedillo in New York City yesterday, in addition to executives from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNN, Harper's Magazine, Business Week, and CBS News. Clearly, these economists, intellectuals and media want reassurance that Mexico will stay the course defined by U.S. economic policies. It would be important for them to receive a group of letters from some of you issuing a warning about the potential of a war in Chiapas. Even if each were to receive ten letters with copies to Zedillo, it is a clear statement about U.S. citizens' concern for peace in Mexico. Please do whatever you can to help and believe that every small action is amplified when it is added to many other small actions. There can be no better way to commemorate this season than to take action for peace in Mexico. Thank you for your attention. Cecilia Rodriguez United States Representative EZLN CONTACTS: Financier George Soros phone: 212-262-6300, fax: 212-245-5154 Arthur Schlesinger Home: 455 E. 51st St., NY, NY 10011-6474 Office: CUNY 22 W. 42nd St., NY,NY 10036-8003 Paul Volcker phone: 212-909-8188, fax: 212-446-1303 Sidney Wintraub LBJ School of Public Affairs Drawer Y, University Station, Austin, Texas 78712 David Rockefeller phone: 212-649-5600, fax: 212-765-6817 Douglas Warner III, JP Morgan phone: 212-648-6600, fax: 212-648-5210 John Reed, Citibank 399 Park Ave., NY, NY 10022-4614 fax: 212-559-5138/1000 Winthrop Smith, Merrill Lynch N Tower World Financial Center, NY, NY 10281 phone: 212-449-6394/1000, fax: 212-449-6397 Deryck C. Maughan Salomon Brothers phone: 212-783-7395, fax: 212-783-3839 Robert Rubin U.S. Secretary of the Treasury fax: 202-622-0071 Wall Street Journal Dow Jones & Co. 200 Liberty St., NY, NY 10281 news dept./general: 212-416-3111/2000 New York Times 229 W. 43rd St., NY, NY 10036; editorial/news - 212-964-5703 Harper's Bazaar Hearst Magazines 1700 Broadway, NY, NY 10019-5970 Harper's editorial: 212-903-5301/5000, fax: 212-262- 7101 Business Week McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1221 Ave. of the Americas NY, NY 10020 212-512-2511/2000 --- from list marxism-thaxis-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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