Mexico’s Zapatista rebels, 24 years on and defiant in mountain strongholds

Members of the Zapatista national liberation army (EZLN) in La Garrucha, Chiapas, stand in front of a mural showing the revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata. Photograph: Eduardo Verdugo/AP

The peasant rebels took up arms in 1994, and now number 300,000 in centres with their own doctors, teachers and currency, but rarely answer questions – until now

by John Vidal, The Guardian, Feb 17, 2018

Diners in the Tierradentro cafe in the southern Mexican town of San Cristóbal de las Casas can choose between a variety of omelettes. The “Liberty” has the most ingredients, the “Democracy” looks the best, but the “Justice” costs the most – possibly because it comes with cheese.

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Counter-power and self-defense in Latin America

Children form a line during a march of Indigenous Guards in Colombia.

Against the backdrop of state and gang violence, some of the continent’s most affected communities have taken radical measures to defend themselves and build new social counter-powers from below.

by Raúl Zibechi, ROAR Magazine, January 29, 2018

In much of Latin America, the state does not protect its citizens. This is particularly true for the popular sectors, indigenous peoples, people of color and mestizos, who are exposed to the onslaught of drugs trafficking, criminal gangs, the private security guards of multinational corporations and, paradoxically, from state security forces such as the police and the army.

Rebellion Spreads in Mexico After a Police Massacre

“We will not pardon or forget.”

By James North, The Nation, June 30, 2016

Nochixtlán—Before the federal police opened fire, the church bells in this town high in the mountains of southern Mexico rang out a warning. Mariana Sosa, a 51-year-old primary school teacher, was already out that morning with other demonstrators, blocking the nearby national highway, part of a wave of protests against a government effort to impose a new education policy partly designed to weaken the teachers union.

Mexican police brutally attack Oaxaca’s striking teachers

Ten years after the Oaxaca Commune of 2006, teachers in the Mexican state are back on the barricades — and once again the state responds with brute force.

by Scott Campbell, ROAR Magazine, June 21, 2016

in a statement released on Friday, June 17, the Zapatistas posed the following questions regarding the ongoing national teachers’ strike in Mexico:
“They have beaten them, gassed them, imprisoned them, threatened them, fired them unjustly, slandered them, and declared a de facto state-of-siege in Mexico City. What’s next? Will they disappear them? Will they murder them? Seriously? The ‘education’ reform will be born upon the blood and cadavers of the teachers?”

Mexican Army Attacks Against Indigenous Communities of Ostula

Photo: Semeí Verdía via Quadratin archives

by Revolution News, July 20, 2015

The indigenous communities of Santa Maria Ostula have denounced 3 separate attacks by the Mexican army that occurred yesterday in the municipality of Aquila, Michoacán state. The attacks resulted in the death of one child, 3 others injured (2 minors) along with arrests of several members of the indigenous community and the leader of the Aquila autodefensas group, Semeí Verdía, who was the target of the Army operation.

The events began Sunday [July 19, 2015] morning around 10 AM when the Mexican Army conducted an operation to arrest the leader of local autodefensas group, Semeí Verdía, in the village of La Placita. The Army appeared at the same time at El Duin and Xayakalan, sites where the community police forces maintain checkpoints.

Ayotzinapa to Ottawa delegation aims to draw attention to student disappearances in Mexico

Hilda Legideño Vargas (left) holds a photo of her son, Jorge Antonio Tizapa Legideño, who was one of 43 student teachers who disappeared in Iguala, Mexico in September. She and student organizer Jorge Luis Clemente Balbuena (right) are travelling from Vancouver to Ottawa. Photo: Yolanda Cole.

by Yolande Cole, The Georgia Straight, April 15th, 2015

Ever since September 26 [2014], Hilda Legideño Vargas has been looking for her son.

Twenty-year-old Jorge Antonio Tizapa Legideño was one of 43 students from the Escuela Normal Rural de Ayotzinapa teachers’ college who disappeared on that date in the Mexican state of Guerrero.

At first, the parents of the students looked in the local hospitals and jails—in any location they thought their children might be. They soon widened their search, and began to organize protests, calling on the Mexican government to look for the students. Now, they have taken their quest international, urging Canadian politicians, organizations, and citizens for support.

Mexico: Violent Confrontation in Guerrero Between Normalistas and Police

A police car burns after normalista students attack police station in Tixtla, March 28, 2015.

By Erin Gallagher, Revolution News, March 28, 2015

Normalistas from the Ayotzinapa normal school were violently confronted by riot police Saturday afternoon in a village near the city of Chilpancingo. Earlier reports indicated there were various injuries and three young detainees, all of whom we are told have since been released. After the confrontation, several riots took place in Tixtla where apparently four or five members of the Municipal Police were detained by comunitarios (community police).

Guerrero, Mexico: Villagers Oppose Arrests of Community Police by Military

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Militares arremeten contra pobladores de Petaquillas Guerrero

Youtube video Posted by Agencia de Noticias Guerrero on Feb 6, 2015

“Habitantes de la comunidad de Petaquillas bloquean la carretera federal en el tramo carretero Petaquillas-Mazatlán en exigencia de la libertad de tres comunitarios detenidos y trasladados a la PGR en Chilpancingo.”

Report: The First Worldwide Festival of Resistance in Mexico

By Mackenzie McDonald Wilkins, Popular Resistance, January 8, 2015

Celebrating the Global Fight Against Capitalism in Mexico: Where There is Destruction From Above We Will Rebuild From Below

From December 21, 2014 through January 3, 2015 some 2,600 people from 48 countries (2,050 from Mexico and 550 from other countries) gathered for the first Worldwide Festival of Resistances Against Capitalism.

The festival took place all over Mexico and the majority of participants travelled together in a mass caravan of buses (not without mechanical problems and police interference) to the different regions to share and listen stories and strategies of resistance, to strengthen their cultures of resistance, and to build lasting networks locally, regionally, nationally, and globally. Thanks to the excellent organizing by EZLN and CNI the impacts of the festival will reverberate amongst the participants and their resistance communities for years to come.

Mexico: Joint Declaration from National Indigenous Congress and EZLN on Ayotzinapa and for Liberation of Yaqui leaders

Zapatistas rally in San Cristobal, Chiapas, for the students disappeared in Ayotzinapa, October 2014.

by National Indigenous Congress and EZLN, Oct 29, 2014

Joint Declaration from the National Indigenous Congress and the EZLN on the crime in Ayotzinapa and for the liberation of the Yaqui leaders

(Note: this text was read by CNI members in one of the mobilizations held in Mexico on October 22, 2014, and not by EZLN representatives, as some of the paid press reported.)

Mexico, October 22, 2014

To the students of the Normal Rural[i] Isidro Burgos, in Ayotiznapa, Guerrero

To the Yaqui Tribe

To the National and International Sixth

To the peoples of the world

“Because those of us below hurt with rage and rebellion, not with resignation and conformity.” —EZLN, October 19, 2014

From our peoples in struggle, from within our resistance and rebellion, we send our words as a reflection of this part of the country that we have constitute and call the National Indigenous Congress. We are gathered by the pain and the rage that call to us because it is a pain and rage that we share.