| Statement from the Chiapas
Network for Peace
Regarding President Fox’s recent declarations on the Conflict in Chiapas
14th of January 2005
As the Peace Network of Chiapas, we declare
that in Chiapas we are undergoing a situation of war and
general conflict, and at present we are experiencing an
acceleration and heightening of conflict.
The conflict in Chiapas will not be resolved
by the construction of factories of fried produce or through
programs for development aimed solely at the supporters
of the present Government. Neither will it be resolved through
plans that exclusively benefit foreign investors and that
fail to consider the damage to the environment, culture,
society and human rights that this brings towards the indigenous
communities and the poorest citizens of our society.
The recent speech by President Vicente
Fox Quezada on the EZLN states it as “practically
a thing of the past with everyone looking towards the future”.
This radically affects any civil and political initiative
for resolving the conflict. It also clearly expresses the
posture from above that denies the existence of armed conflict
in Chiapas.
The far off possibility of returning to
the negotiation table and of dialog between the federal
government and the EZLN becomes impossible, at least during
the present six-year period, because the holder of the executive
denies validity of its speaker. Until when will the politicians
who claim to work for the benefit of both parties maintain
this irresponsible attitude?
The declaration by the President of the
Republic, who refrains from referring to the reasons for
the heightening of military bases and headquarters since
1994, doesn’t explain, or consider, not to mention
question the presence, threat, permanent hassling and guard
of the military towards the EZLN and the civil population.
Therefore, it denies the possibility of demilitarisation
and lessening of tensions in Chiapas. Peace isn’t
built through military threat.
The declarations by the President and
the Governor Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía clearly demonstrate
that the policies towards the State of Chiapas fail to include
any intention of transforming the conflict and war into
proposals that can surpass the ancestral marginalisation
of the indigenous communities, but maintain the military
strategy of exhausting the EZLN and their support bases.
We are sorry that the Federal Government,
instead of generating conditions leading to a resolution
of the conflict in Chiapas and reestablishment of the mechanisms
of dialog destroyed by the six-year period under Zedillo,
sustains a strategy of exhaustion. They are maintaining
the inefficiency of the instances first created to aid the
search for peace and reduce the ancestral conflict between
the Nation and the Indigenous Communities, at present limited
to a series of Economical Development Programs.
This strategy not only affects those who
wish to put an end to all this, but it affects the entire
society: it accelerates the contradictions and conflicts
between the different economical, political, religious and
identity groups. For the year 2005 we can’t expect
the confrontations and divisions to lessen, on the contrary,
they will continue.
The Mexican Government manifests, once
more, an inability to transform civil and political conflicts
in a creative and encompassing manner, this is a sign of
the accelerated crisis in which the Nation is submerged.
On the other hand, we trust that the availability
and conscience displayed in the Good Government Committees
(JBG) of the “Caracoles” will be maintained
in order to peacefully and positively resolve the conflicts
arising between it’s members and those of other organizations.
We also trust that the other indigenous,
farming, social and civil organisations in Chiapas may work
for unity and reconciliation and advance towards the creation
of alliances and economical, political and social alternatives
for the benefit of all Mexicans.
Chiapas Peace Network
Alianza Cívica Chiapas, Caritas
de San Cristóbal, Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray
Bartolomé de Las Casas, Comité de Derechos
Humanos Fray Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada, Centro de Investigaciones
Económicas y Políticas de Acción Comunitaria
(CIEPAC), Colectivo de Educación para la paz (CEPAZ),
Desarrollo Económico y Social de los Mexicanos Indígenas
(DESMI), Comisión de Apoyo a la Unidad y Reconciliación
Comunitaria (CORECO), Educación para la Paz (EDUPAZ),
Enlace Comunicación y Capacitación, Servicio
para la Paz (SERAPAZ) Servicio Internacional para la Paz
(SIPAZ), PROPAZ.
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