Narco News 2001
presents...
The
Zapatista Delegation
...on
to Mexico City
Comandante Abraham
Tzeltal Delegate
"We're going to the march and to Mexico City representing
all the militant compañeros and bases of support, in other
words, our communities, to speak with other peoples and so that
all of us together who are indigenous, and those who are not
indigenous, can mobilize ourselves so that there will be no more
disregard for us and there can be respect. To be indigenous,
for me, is my flag, because we are descendants of those who first
inhabited this México, that is to say, the first peoples.
Later the rich and powerful came, and they kicked us off our
lands and they even wanted to meddle in our customs. They succeeded
at leaving us without land, but they could not take away our
customs, and because of that we still have our language and we
have our communities with our customs. That is what the congressmen
and senators must make into law: respect for the fact that we
are indigenous."
-- Comandante
Abraham
Comandanta Yolanda
Tzotzil Delegate
"Our trip to Mexico City
is very important and
very grand for the nation and for the world, because we are going
to give our word as Zapatistas and we are going to defend our
rights as women and as indigenous people. We are going to present
ourselves personally to the Congress of the Union, and we are
going to propose exactly what we did when we signed the San Andrés
Accords for indigenous rights and culture on February 16, 1996.
In our path we will be speaking with thousands of honest men
and women of México. And as an indigenous person I feel
important as a Mexican, because we count with the history of
our first parents, the fact that they were indigenous and they
also fought, as we fight, to not disappear. It's just that their
fight was different than ours, but we continue with the same
idea of fighting and living. As indigenous women we are not going
to give up the fight until we are recognized in the Constitution
and we are no longer treated as animals."
- Comandanta
Yolanda
Comandante
Bulmaro
Chol
Delegate
"We are going to Mexico
City because we are
obligated as delegates to comply with a mission that our people
have charged us to do. We are going to defend the indigenous
legislation elaborated by the Cocopa, so that it will be approved
by the señores who are deputies and senators. We are also
going to speak along the route of the march with national and
international civil society and we are going to invite them to
support us with their mobilizations. We are going to fight together
with other indigenous peoples so that once and for all our rights
are recognized. It is very important that they respect us as
indigenous, because by its very nature this means that we are
the first inhabitants of this great Mexican nation, and as such
we are formed by people who have our own forms of organization,
our culture, and our own language."
- Comandante
Bulmaro
Comandante
Daniel
Tojolabal
Delegate
"We are going to march
through the states
of México and we are going to arrive at the City to represent
our people, to make our demands of recognition as indigenous
Mexicans and not as beings who are not human. We are going to
speak with the people so that they tell us their word and we
tell them our word because already we see that civil society
understands us. For me, being indigenous can mean not being valued,
not being taken into account, because we don't have knowledge
and we don't have schools where we can study. But already it's
no longer a pain being indigenous because this means that we
are Mexicans and this makes us very proud. It makes us proud
to be Indians and to be Mexicans, to be both."
- Comandante
Daniel
Comandanta
Fidelia
Tzeltal
Delegate
"We are going to Mexico
City to demand our
rights together with other brothers and sisters. Together will
all the indigenous women of Mexico we will demand our rights,
because as women it's a given that we have more troubles, but
just the same, we are brave. I, as a woman, feel very proud to
be as I am. The law on indigenous rights that the Cocopa wrote
clearly recognizes us as women and makes it clear that our integrity
must be respected. Because of that, we support this law and because
of that we fight together with our compañeros in the struggle.
I hope that I am going to meet with other women who share my
thinking and with others, still, who think differently. We think
that that would be fine because that is how an even bigger and
better idea will be formed and it will make us stronger to continue
fighting for our rights as indigenous and as women."
- Comandanta
Fidelia
Comandante
Eduardo
Tzeltal
Delegate
"We have to convince the
legislators to approve
the law of indigenous rights and culture, and also so that they
see the peasant brothers, the workers, the indigenous, the students
and others, that we are with them and we are like them. I am
very proud to be indigenous because he have found this struggle
and I am fighting against poverty and the oblivion of our people.
I am very content, I am a fighter, and I am hopeful that everything
is going to go well."
- Comandante
Eduardo
Comandante
Javier
Tzotzil
Delegate
"As a member of the Clandestine Revolutionary
Indigenous Commitee I'm going to Mexico City to speak with the
legislators and tell them to respect the San Andrés Accords
on indigenous rights and culture. We are also going as delegates
to take new steps so that our struggle advances, because we have
to move forward in the recognition of our peoples. We also going
to speak and explain to other brothers from other states who
support us to demand the compliance with the three signals so
the dialogue can begin. For me, being indigenous is to make it
known that we are part of México, that is, we are some
of the peoples of this nation, but we still don't have the right
to live as human beings. To be indigenous means that I am not
recognized in the laws of the federal and state governments."
- Comandante
Javier
Comandante
Omar
Tzeltal
Delegate
"Being indigenous, I feel that it is something very
important because I have my own way of speaking, my culture and
my traditions. That is to say, I am different and I should have
my right to be different. But in all of this, I feel that they
don't let us be because we are not recognized. To the contrary,
we are humilliated in many ways, because the systems have tried
to destroy my culture, my language and my difference, but I have
resisted. I am content because I am fighting to achieve this
right to be different and I am hopeful that it will be respected
because it will also include all the indigenous of the country.
That's why I'm going to the city. That's why I'm going to the
states: to speak my word and to see them."
- Comandante
Omar
Comandante
Maxo
Tzeltal
Delegate
"We're going to leave the
jungle and here we
go to Mexico, that is, the City, to promote the law on indigenous
rights and culture that the Cocopa peace commission wrote to
the legislators. We are going to speak with the people about
the three signals that we ask before sitting down to dialogue
with the government. We are going to speak our word and listen
to the word of other peoples. To be indigenous is to be a poor
being that doesn't have anything more than his culture and his
dignity. Because we are so poor is why we fight. It saddens us
sometimes because the governments want to eliminate us as indigenous.
We feel sad because the government is taking away everything
that is ours. That is why we fight."
- Comandante
Maxo
Comandante
Mister
Tojolabal
Delegate
"We're going to Mexico
City to speak with
the congressmen and senators to demand compliance with indigenous
rights and culture, that the San Andrés Accords are complied
with. We think and we believe that by speaking with civil society
and other indigenous in this route, we will be able to convince
more people to make our demands their own, and together we will
demand peace, so that a war of bullets will not be necessary
and that we achieve our demands through peaceful means. We're
also going to understand other ways of thinking, other hearts,
other customs, other poor brothers. For us, being indigenous
has meant being disregarded by the powerful. But being indigenous
means that we have the blood of the first that came to these
lands many years ago. This means that we are not over yet, that
we exist, and that we deserve to be part of this nation."
- Comandante
Mister
Comandante
Ismael
Tzeltal
Delegate
"I'm going to Mexico City to obligate the congressmen and
senators that the San Andrés Accords that were signed
on February 16, 1996, are complied with. We are going to explain
to other organizations why this is important for our peoples
and our nation. As an indigenous I feel very much at peace because
I am seeing that by fighting we can participate and get them
to listen to us. I'm content because every day we are more united
as indigenous to seek what we don't have, that is, our rights.
Already I have seen that having money is not necessary to unite
ourselves as a people. What's more important is the unity we
are making as indigenous together with our brothers who are not
indigenous."
- Comandante
Ismael
Comandanta
Esther
Tzeltal
Delegate
"I am going with my compañeros
and compañeras
to speak with the Congress of the Union. I go as a woman and
as an indigenous, because this mobilization is necessary so that
the legislators listen to us and because the recuperation of
dignity is necessary. We are, as Mexican women, speaking our
language, we have our way of dress, our medicine, our forms of
praying and of dancing. We, as indigenous men and women, have
our own way of working and of respecting our elders, just as
our grandparents taught us to do. Since the times of our ancestors
they taught us to resist and to organize ourselves. They don't
need to undervalue us because we are indigenous or have our own
language or because we are dark-skinned, or for any reason. Being
indigenous is a very great pride."
- Comandanta
Esther
Comandante
Alejandro
Tzeltal
Delegate
"We're going to Mexico
City to achieve that
they recognize our existence as indigenous and as Mexicans. We
are going to tell the Congress that now is the time because many
years have already passed since they took away our rights. We
are going to speak with indigenous brothers and with civil society.
We are going to ask them to mobilize to demand our existence.
Being indigenous, for me, means not being outside of my country,
but to feel proud of being indigenous. Being indigenous means
for me a treasure that I must not lose. To the contrary, I should
continue conserving and strengthening it so as to not lose it."
- Comandante
Alejandro
Comandante
Filemón
Tzeltal
Delegate
"We're going to the big
city to dialogue with
the deputies and senators in charge of making the laws. We're
going to tell them to respect the agreement signed on Indigenous
Rights and Culture by the Zedillo government. We are going to
explain to them well what the law made by the Cocopa says. We
are going to speak, for this we are going. As indigenous peoples,
being indigenous represents being forgotten, as if we don't exist,
but the truth is that here we are and we live daily under much
exploitation. Being indigenous means poverty, hunger and illness.
But it also means that we are part of this land of Mexico. We
are millions of indigenous in all of Mexico and now it is going
to be seen tht we all want the same thing, that is, respect."
- Comandante
Filemón
Comandante
Gustavo
Tzeltal
Delegate
"We are going to Mexico
City to enliven our
indigenous and non-indigenous brothers, to tell them that what
we deserve is a Mexico for everyone. To say to them that we should
demand our rights as indigenous and to ask that they support
us by approving the law made by the Cocopa. We are going to march
and dialogue so that we are included in the Constitution. For
me, being indigenous is to be very proud and content, because
there are many of us and because we fight and our struggle is
an example for others. Being indigenous is to be proud but it
is also to be poor, it's the same."
- Comandante
Gustavo
Comandante
Sergio
Tzeltal
Delegate
"I'm going to speak with the deputies and senators
who are in charge of the Nation, so that they approve the law
that the Cocopa wrote four years ago. The previous federal government
didn't want to comply with it and now we are going to defend
it directly. I go as an indigenous to demand our recognition
under law, so that the Constitution establishes all of my rights
as an indigenous person. Thise is why I go as a delegate of the
Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee. I am indigenous
but I still don't have my rights. I have my customs and my language
and it is not respected. I also have traditions and culture.
But I don't have the right to be recognized in the Constitution.
I am indigenous and I am also Mexican."
- Comandante
Sergio
Comandante
Zebedeo
Tzeltal
Delegate
"We're going to the city to speak with the people and dialogue
with the representatives of the political parties in the Congress
of the Union, to personally propose to them the importance of
recognizing the San Andrés Accords on indigenous culture
and rights. We know that these San Andrés Agreements are
not just the proposal of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation,
but also on the dialogue table that includes all the indigenous
brothers and sisters of our country. Thus, we are going to convince
the deputies and senators that they legislate, that is to say,
that they convert these agreements into law under the Constitution,
to guarantee now the rights of the indian peoples of the entire
country. We want to achieve a consensus respecting the original
proposal of the Cocopa. This mobilization is very important,
because being indigenous before 1994 meant being ashamed of the
discrimination against our language, our customs and our being.
We are treated like animals and not taken into account as persons,
not to mention as Mexicans. But now, since the Zapatista struggle,
we the indigenous are demonstrating the good news of hope for
plain respect of indigenous rights."
- Comandante
Zebedeo
Comandante
Abel
Chol
Delegate
"We go to Mexico to the Congress of the Uniont
to defend the legislation that the Cocopa wrote in 1996. This
proposal is about indigenous culture and rights and if it is
approved the Indian peoples will change their history. That's
why we go to speak with civil society, with the people that support
this demand, and with all the indigenous peoples who want to
accompany is in such an important march. For me, being indigenous
means that we are different than other peoples because we have
our own way of thinking and customs. We have our way of communal
work and we have our language. But it also means that we are
Mexicans."
- Comandante
Abel
Comandante
Isaías
Tzotzil
Delegate
"We are going to march and visit the states in representation
of our Zapatista towns. We are going to reclaim the rights that
belong to us and are not recognized. We are going to tell them
that we, the indigenous peoples, want the Cocopa law approved,
because it would recognize us. The indigenous sentiment, for
me, is what represents my Mayan ancestors, who were the authentic
and first owners of these lands of the Mexican South. Being indigenous
means a lot of pride and a lot of struggle."
- Comandante
Isaías
Comandanta
Susana
Tzotzil
Delegate
"We are going to represent
the Zapatista women
and we are going to speak in the Congress of the Union to ask
them to place indigenous rights and culture in the Constitution.
That's why we are going to march and why we go to Mexico City.
Being indigenous women represents that we have our way of thinking,
that we have dignity and that we need rights. Being an indigenous
woman is a pride but it is also difficult, very difficult, because
there is suffering and discrimination, and there is poverty.
That's why, as indigenous women, we want to be recognized in
the laws of the Constitution and for them to respect our dignity,
as the Cocopa law says."
- Comandanta
Susana
Comandante
David
Tzotzil
Delegate
"I go to Mexico with the
goal of meeting with
the indigenous and non-indigenous peoples of the entire country
during the march. I am going to demand, together with the other
23 compañeros of the Zapatista delegation, the recognition
of indigenous culure and rights. We are going to discuss the
legislation that the Cocopa made about indigenous culture and
rights. We are going to explain directly to the indigenous and
non-indigenous brothers of the country that indigenous rights
are for the good of all the peoples and for the peaceful co-existence
of all Mexicans. For me, being indigenous means the nature of
mankind. It means that we indigenous were the first on these
lands but we were chased off and abandoned. We were marginalized
and the object of every kind ot trick and manipulation to satisfy
foreign interests. That's why we fight, so that there will be
no more abandonment and no more pain."
- Comandante
David
Comandante
Moisés
Tzeltal
Delegate
"We are going to converse with other brothers and sisters
from many states and Mexico City, and make them understand our
fight. We are going to invite them to join our peaceful fight
to demand strict compliance with the San Andrés Accords.
We want it written in the Constitution that we, the indigenous,
are Mexicans but we have differences in culture and traditions.
Before 1994, being indigenous was not valued, was being mistreated
and humilliation. But now with our fight being indigenous walks
with its head held high an with pride. The Great Mexico that
we have today is thanks to our ancestors. We, the indigenous,
have our way of understanding the world that surrounds us, and
that's why we have resisted for almost 509 years. That's why
today we still have our musical instruments, our language and
our customs, because they have not been able to destroy us with
all their might."
- Comandante
Moisés
Comandante
Tacho
Tojolabal
Delegate
"We go to Mexico City to go to the Congress of the Union
to propose compliance with the San Andrés Accords. We
want to ask the legislative branch that it makes the legislation
of the Cocopa into law. We are going on the move because of the
importance that this law means for we indigenous of all of Mexico.
If this law of Cocopa is approved, the path of peace will be
opened for us. In this trip to Mexico City we will speak with
our indigenous brothers and sisters of Mexico. We will meet them
and speak with them. For us, being indigenous today s a pride
because before we were obligated to deny ourselves. I have and
speak the tojolabal language. We live with community customs
and we have our ways of respecting others. Being indigenous is
having our culture, our belief that on earth one dies and lives.
We don't sell our land as merchandise because the earth is the
mother that maintains us."
- Comandante
Tacho
Subcomandante
Insurgente Marcos
Mestizo
Delegate
"We go to Mexico City through
12 states of the Republic
because our objective is to speak with the Congress of the Union.
But it is also to sepak with civil society and with the indian
peoples of other parts of Mexico. We think that the struggle
for indigenous rights is not just our own, it is of all the indigenous
peoples of Mexico. We we also think that it is not only for the
indigenous, but also for all Mexican men and women. This country
has to recognize its original peoples, to accept them as they
are and respect them. We are going to speak with the Congress
of the Union because it's their turn to make law, and this law
by the Cocopa means a great advance for the indian peoples of
the entire country. Being indigenous today in Mexico means fighting
for the respect and dignity of everyone who is excluded and under-valued.
It means fighting for the indigenous, but also for women, youth,
children, for homosexuals and lesbians, for the handicapped,
for the elders, in the end, for everyone who is different."
On
to Mexico City!
to read these
statements in the original Spanish...
or translated
from Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Chol or Tojolabal...
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