A

ABEJAS, Las (Chiapas)

Pacifist organization, mostly Catholic, located in Chenalhó municipality in the Chiapas Highlands. It has the same goals as the Zapatistas but does not support armed struggle. The 45 victims of the Acteal Massacre in December 1997 belonged to this organization.

ACTEAL (Chiapas)

Indigenous community located in Chenalhó municipality, and the place where 45 people, mostly women and children, were massacred on 22 December 1997.

AGUASCALIENTES (Chiapas)

Civil resistance centers built by Zapatista communities within the conflict area. They were used as meeting spaces between the Zapatistas and national and international civil society. There were five Aguascalientes: La Garrucha, Morelia, Oventic, La Realidad, and Roberto Barrios. In August 2003, the EZLN replaced the Aguascalientes with Caracoles, the locations of the work of the Good Government Councils.

AI
Amnesty International

International NGO which denominates itself a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights for all

ALIANZA CÍVICA (Civilian Alliance)

A citizens' association, pluralist and independent, dedicated to the promotion of civic participation with the view of contributing to an integral democratization of society.

Alianza por México (Alliance for Mexico)

Political alliance between the Mexican Green Ecologist Party (PVEM) and the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI). The Alliance’s candidate for the presidency in 2006 was Roberto Madrazo Pintado of the PRI.

ALTERMUNDIALISTA (Movement)

Movement “for another world,” from the World Social Forum motto that “Another world is possible,” it searches for political, social and economic alternatives to the prevailing neoliberal model. This name has been used in Mexico since the Cancún protests againstthe World Trade Organization in September 2003. Also known as the Antiglobalization Movement or the Antineoliberalism Movement.

AMLO
Andrés Manuel López Obrador

Former head of Government of the Federal District of Mexico (DF) and candidate for the presidency with the Coalition for the Good of All in the 2006 presidential elections. Following the disputed results of the elections, AMLO was declared “Legitimate President” by broad sectors of the Mexican left.

ANIPA
National Indigenous Multiethnic Assembly for Autonomy (Asamblea Nacional Indígena Pluriétnica por la Autonomía)

A national network of indigenous organizations formed in 1995 to seek respect for the constitutional guarantees for indigenous cultures and the right to autonomy.

APPG (Guerrero)
Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Guerrero (Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Guerrero)

A movement formed by human rights and indigenous rights organizations against the policies of Guerrero State Governor Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo.

APPO (Oaxaca)
Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca)

The Assembly was created as a response to the repression of a picket organized by Section 22 of the National Education Workers’ Union, conducted by security forces on June 14, 2006. It is formed by hundreds of civil society organizations and individuals who are united in their demand for the resignation of Oaxaca State Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (PRI).

ARIC (Chiapas)
Rural Association of Collective Interest (Asociación Rural de Interés Colectivo)

Indigenous and campesino organization of the Lacandon Jungle valleys, divided into “Official ARIC,” “ARIC Union of Unions” and “ARIC Independent and Democratic.”

ATENCO (San Salvador Atenco, State of Mexico)

A community known for its successful battle (begun in 2001) against the construction of an international airport in its ejido, and for being victims of the most publicized violent episode of 2006. A May 2006 conflict between eight flower salespeople and police in the city of Texcoco (in the State of Mexico), due to the PRD mayor prohibiting the entry of salespeople onto land slated for the construction of a Walmart, became a violent confrontation. The results of the two police operatives which followed included two deaths, several wounded, 211 detained and five foreigners deported. More than 20 women have denounced that they were sexually assaulted, and seven of them raped, by State security agents as they were transported to jail. Currently, 23 members of the movement are still detained.

AUTENTICOS COLETOS (Genuine Residents of San Cristóbal) (Chiapas)

Residents of San Cristóbal de las Casas who consider themselves to be direct descendants of the Spanish crown. “Coleto,” literally “braid” or “pig-tail,” refers to the braided hairstyle favored by their Spanish ancestors. Shortly after the Zapatista uprising, these residents formed the “Civic Front of San Cristóbal,” organizing protests against indigenous people, international Zapatista supporters, and Bishop Samuel Ruíz.

AUTONOMOUS MUNICIPALITY (Municipio Autónomo) (Chiapas)

Self-governing entities which cover indigenous communities and individuals. They are located in rural areas, with boundaries defined to cover zones of strong Zapatista influence. They exist parallel to the constitutionally recognized municipalities, which ‑ unlike the autonomous ones ‑ receive government funding.

B

BARCA (Oaxaca)

Regional Human Rights Center “Bartolomé Carrasco Briseño” (Centro Regional de Derechos Humanos “Bartolomé Carrasco Briseño”)
An organization for the promotion and defense of human rights. They seek to create a culture of respect for human rights by supporting grassroots organizational processes.

BOM
Mixed Operation Bases (Bases de Operación Mixtas)

Special interagency security initiatives, legalized in 1987, involving the Mexican Army, both federal and state police forces, and on occasion the State Human Rights Commission (CEDH) and notaries.

C

CACIQUE

Traditional leader in indigenous communities.

CAÑADAS, Las (Chiapas)

The canyons that run through the Lacandon Jungle in eastern Chiapas. The Zapatista movement emerged from this area, and it continues to be a key Zapatista support base and entry point into the Lacandon Jungle.

CAPISE (Chiapas)
Center for Political Analysis and Social and Economic Research (Centro de Análisis Político e Investigaciones Sociales y Económicas)

Organization dedicated to research, case follow-up and denunciation of violations to fundamental freedoms as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is focused on the study of the phenomenon of militarization, the impact of neoliberal economic policies and on the violation of the collective rights of indigenous peoples.

CARACOLES (Chiapas)
(Lit: snails)

Centers of the Good Government Councils. which function as meeting places with national and international civil society. They aim to ensure that relationships between autonomous counties and civil society are direct and horizontal. There is a “Caracol” in each of the five regions where autonomous counties have been formed.

CARDENISTAS

Sympathizers of the Cardenista Front for National Reconstruction Party (PFCRN), a political party usually aligned with the PRI party.

CAXLANES

Term used by indigenous people to refer to whites or mestizos. The word caxlan is also used to refer to the Spanish language.

CCIODH
International Civil Commission for Human Rights Observation (Comisión Civil Internacional de Observación por los Derechos Humanos)

Group which has been conducting human rights observation missions in Mexico since February 1998.

CCP
Civilian Peace Camps (Campamentos Civiles por la Paz)

Designed to observe human rights violations and military movement in indigenous communities. They are staffed by national and international observers.

CCRI-CG (Chiapas)
Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee‑General Command (Comité Clandestino Revolucionario Indígena‑Comandancia General)

Leadership committee of the EZLN.

CDHDF (Mexico City)
Federal District Commission of Human Rights (Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Distrito Federal)

State institution responsible to receive complaints and denunciations for human rights violations allegedly committed by official representatives of the Federal District.

CDI
National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas)

Federal government institution that, since 2003, defines and implements official policy toward indigenous peoples. Replaces the National Indigenist Institute.

CECOP (Guerrero)
Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to La Parota Dam (Consejo de Ejidos y Comunidades Opositores a la presa La Parota)

A council of ejido residents and campesinos in the municipalites of Acapulco, Juan R. Escudero, San Marcos, Chilpancingo and Tecuanapan. It was formed in June 2004 to oppose the construction of the hydroelectric dam La Parota. Beginning in 1976, the Federal Electricity Commission has been promoting the project which aims to utilize the waters of the Papagayo and Omitlán Rivers. Since that time, several courts have handed down sentences against the construction, which is currently on hold.

CEDECH
Chiapas Center for Evangelical Defense (Comité de Defensa Evangélica de Chiapas)

Legal entity that promotes human rights. It formed to provide assistance and support to the thousands of evangelicals displaced for political, economic and religious reasons in the Chiapas Highlands.

CEDHO (Oaxaca)
State Human Rights Commission of Oaxaca (Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos de Oaxaca)

Organization responsible for investigation, monitoring and providing recommendations regarding human rights violations by State agents in Oaxaca.

CEDIAC (Chiapas)
Center for Indigenous Rights (Centro de Derechos Indígenas, Asociación Civil)

Group for human rights promotion and defense, supported by the Jesuit Mission of Bachajón.

CENCOS
National Center for Social Communication (Centro Nacional de Comunicación Social)

Formed in 1967, this public organization promotes the right to access to information and communication in Mexico.

CENTRO DE DERECHOS HUMANOS FRAY BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS (Chiapas)
(Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center, also Frayba)

Civil organization for human rights promotion and defense, giving preference to the support of victims who are marginalized by poverty. It was founded by the former Bishop of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Samuel Ruíz.

CERESO
Center for Social Readaptation (Centro de Readaptacción Social)

Name given to prisons in Mexico.

CFE
Federal Electricity Commission (Comisión Federal de Electricidad)

Mexican public electricity company. It is the subject of a grassroots campaign “Civilian Resistance Against the High Electricity Charges,” principally coordinated in Chiapas.

CG500ARI (Guerrero)
Guerrero Council of 500 Years of Indigenous, Black and Popular Resistence (Consejo Guerrerense 500 Años de Resistencia Indígena, Negra y Popular)

A council formed in September 1991 by social and human rights organizations in order to coordinate a campaign against the celebration of the European Conquest of the Americas in 1492.

CHENALHÓ (Chiapas)

Municipality in the Highlands of Chiapas; location of the indigenous community of Acteal.

CIEPAC (Chiapas)
Center for Economic and Political Research for Community Action (Centro de Investigaciones Económicas y Políticas de Acción Comunitaria)

Civil organization from Chiapas whose work includes: analysis, research, training and the accompaniment of social processes. It is focused on neoliberal economic projects implemented at a local, regional and continental level (PPP, NAFTA).

CIESAS (Chiapas)
Center for Research and Higher Education in Social Anthropology (Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social)

Public institution located in San Cristóbal de las Casas, dedicated to the study of national problems through research and training of specialists in social anthropology, history, ethno history and other social sciences.

CIOAC
Independent Coordination of Indigenous and Campesino Organizations (Central Independiente de Organizaciones Indígenas y Campesinas)

The CIOAC is product of the rupture of an earlier organization, Independent Campesino Coordination (CIC, Central Independiente Campesina), which had been founded in 1963 with the participation of members from the Mexican Communist Party.

CIVIL SOCIETY

Refers broadly to citizens’ groups which organize around specific needs or interests and function outside of governmental structures.

CMDPDH
Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos)

A commission formed in 1990 for the defense of victims of human rights violations and the promotion of human rights culture in order to strengthen the rule of law.

CND
National Democratic Convention (Convención Nacional Democrática)

As a result of what they viewed as the confirmation of the electoral fraud that allowed Felipe Calderón to win the 2006 presidential elections, the former presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his followers called a National Democratic Convention. The convention, which took place in the main square of Mexico City on September 16, 2006, was attended by hundreds of thousands of people who nominated López Obrador as the “Legitimate President” of Mexico.

CNDH
National Human Rights Commission (Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos)

Government organization created in 1990, responsible for researching, monitoring and issuing recommendations to the authorities involved in human rights violations.

CNI
National Indigenous Congress (Congreso Nacional Indígena)

Coordinating body of various Mexican indigenous organizations, created as a result of the EZLN armed uprising in 1994.

CNPI
National Coordination of Indigenous Peoples (Coordinadora Nacional de Pueblos Indígenas)

Founded in 1972 to defend indigenous rights, particularly the rights to land and self-determination. Approximately 500 communities, ejidos, and peoples participate, a total of over half a million indigenous Mexicans. Since 1983, the CNPI has organized a march for the dignity of indigenous peoples every October 12.

CNTE
National Coordination of Education Workers (Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación)

A dissident organization of the National Education Workers’ Union (SNTE). The members are part of the SNTE, but are guided by “their own principles” and refuse to attend union congresses.

Coalition for the Good of All (Coalición por el Bien de Todos)

Political alliance between the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), the Labor Party (PT), and Convergence, formed specifically for the 2006 presidential elections. The Coalition’s candidate was Andrés Manuel López Obrador (PRD). Juan Sabines Guerrero, current governor of Chiapas, was elected as a member of this coalition, despite having been a PRI representative until the beginning of the 2007 electoral period, which saw him elected Governor.

COCOPA (Chiapas)
Commission for Agreement and Pacification (Comisión de Concordia y Pacificación)

Responsible for assisting with the dialogue between the government and the EZLN. Created by law in 1995 and composed of representatives of the political parties represented in the Mexican Congress. After the suspension of the San Andrés Dialogues in 1996, the COCOPA presented a bill to implement the main consensus of San Andrés through constitutional reform, known asthe “COCOPA Law,” aimingto resume the negotiations. The approval of the COCOPA Law is still one of the conditions established by the EZLN in order to resume dialogue with the federal government.

COFADAPPO (Oaxaca)
Committee of the Relatives and Friends of the Disappeared, Assassinated and Political Prisoners of Oaxaca (Comité de Familiares de Asesinados, Desaparecidos, y Presos Políticos de Oaxaca)

COFADAPPO was created following the mass detentions of November 25, 2006 in Oaxaca, to defend the rights of those detained and their relatives. Its objectives are the liberation of all political prisoners and justice against those who committed rape, torture and illegal detention that day.

Comisiones de Información (Information Commissions) (Chiapas)

Formed by the Zapatistas following the Red Alert in June 2005, the Information Commissions exist in each Caracol to “attend to people who arrive asking for information and an explanation of the Zapatista movement, history and struggle.” (Communiqué by the EZLN,07/11/05)

Comisión Sexta (Chiapas)
(Commission for the Sixth Declaration)

In a communiqué from the CCRI-CG on 13 July 2005, the EZLN announced the creation of this Commission “to take responsibility for everything having to do with the work of carrying forward the Sixth Declaration of the Lancandon Jungle,” which will aim to work “jointly and respectfully with those organizations, groups, collectives and individuals who join with us in this new civil and peaceful initiative in Mexico.” In the first phase of The Other Campaign (first half of 2006), Delegate Zero headed this Commission. The journey through the states of Mexico continued between March and June 2007; it began again towards the south and center of the country in September, but was suspended due to what the Zapatistas denounced as a new governmental offensive against their communities. The Zapatistas also called the three Gatherings between the Zapatistas and the Peoples of the World in 2007.

COMITÉ (DE LIBERACIÓN) 25 DE NOVIEMBRE (Oaxaca)
(The November 25 (Liberation) Committee)

This Committee was formed in Oaxaca in December 2006, following a police operative in which 141 people were detained in Oaxaca City.

COMITÉ CEREZO (Cerezo Committee) (Mexico City)

A committee located in Mexico City, focused on the struggle to protect the human rights of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.

CONAI (Chiapas)
National Mediation Commission (Comisión Nacional de Intermediación)

Formed in 1995 to mediate between the EZLN and the federal government, this commission was presided over by the then Bishop of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Samuel Ruiz. It was dissolved in June 1998 because of the lack of advances in the peace process.

CONPAZ (Chiapas)
Coordinating Agency of Nongovernmental Organizations for Peace (Coordinadora de Organismos No Gubernamentales por la Paz)

Platform of NGO’s created in 1994, at the time of Zapatista uprising, to support the peace process. It was dissolved at the end of 1997.

Convention 169 of the INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION (ILO)

A legally binding “Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries,” approved by the ILO in 1989 (and ratified by Mexico in 1990). It establishes norms, rights and guarantees for the recognition and respect of indigenous and tribal peoples. It is a particularly useful legal instrument as it establishes the rights of indigenous peoples to be consulted on the use of the natural resources which are found in their territories. It substitutes the previous Convention 107, considered to be more paternalistic, with a tendency to encourage the assimilation of indigenous peoples.

CONVERGENCIA (Convergence)

Left-wing Mexican political party.

CORECO (Chiapas)