- In brief, what is the EZLN?
The EZLN is the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional (Zapatista National
Liberation Army). It principally operates in the state of Chiapas, although its
demands and influence are national.
- Who are the Zapatistas?
The members of the EZLN are primarily indigenous people from the Lancandon
region of Chiapas, Mexico. Current estimates are that the EZLN has around 12,000
troops, 2-3,000 of whom are well armed.
- What are the EZLN's demands?
There are 11 general demands of the EZLN as outlined in the 1st declaration from
the Lancandon jungle; they are: work, land, shelter, food, health, education,
independence, freedom, democracy, justice, and peace. They also want a new land
distribution program and a favorable macroeconomic enviroment. Mayan communities
must be given communal ejido holdings in fertile lowland areas, with guarantees
of secure tenure. This is not so far-fetched as it seems, as previous Mexican
land reforms have given some villages limited access to quality lowland farmland
which they work on a seasonal basis. Fair credit must be made available too and
crop prices should be supported sufficiently to allow for a sustainable
livelihood, much as is done in Japan, Taiwan and elsewhere. This is best
achieved through barriers to cheap imports rather than subsidies, thereby
avoiding deficit spending.
Finally, corrupt local authorities linked to the PRI must be thrown out, as has
been demanded in the many peasant takeovers of towns that have taken place since
the start of the Zapatista uprising. Of course these changes would require
democratization, some rollback of NAFTA and the restoration of Article 27 of the
constitution, but these are just the sort of issues that the Zapatistas have
thrust into the national debate in Mexico.
- Who is the EZLN named after?
The EZLN took its name from the Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata,
who led the armies of the south in the Mexican Revolution, developed the plan de
Ayalo, and was eventually betrayed and killed by Caranza's forces.
- What is the Ideology of the EZLN? Are the Zapatistas Marxists?
The Zapatistas have been considered by many to be a "postmodern" army because
they defy any totalizing theories or ideologies. There are elements of Marx,
Gromsci, and others in the writings of subcomandante Marcos, but they do not
comprise any overriding ideology of the EZLN. They identify merely as
indigenous, and as Zapatistas.
- Who leads the EZLN?
Most of the decisions of the EZLN are made by the Clandestine Indigenous
Revolutionary Committee-General Command (CCRI-CG). The highest military
authority is Subcomandante Marcos.
- Who is Subcomandante Marcos?
Subcomandante Marcos is the enigmatic spokesman and army commander of the EZLN.
He is not indigenous, and thus does not sit on the CCRI-CG. Marcos is known for
his often long and extremely well-written press releases, filled with wit,
sarcasm, and frequent references to himself in the third person. He is always
masked in public, and often smokes a pipe. The government claims to have
"identified" Marcos as Rafael Sebastian Guillen Vicente; Marcos and the EZLN
have denied this. But what has been made clear, both in an indigenous ceremony
for Marcos last November and in a recent interview with Major Ana Maria, is that
the issue is irrelevant. The previous identity of who he is now, Marcos, no
longer exists for him nor for the EZLN nor for the country. To paraphrase Ana
Maria, Marcos was born just over 10 years ago in the Lancandon jungle; since
then he has lived, eaten, drunk, and fought at the side of the indigenous people
of Chiapas.
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