Members of the EZLN in the town of La Garrucha in Chiapas, in a file photo.Eduardo Verdugo (AP)
Zapatista is retreating to Chiapas in southern Mexico as it searches for its new form, a structure that responds to the crisis situation in the region. In a statement released this Sunday, Subcommander Moisés, spokesman for the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), announced “the disappearance of the Autonomous Zapatista Rebel Communities and the Good Government Juntas”, known as Caracoles, the movement’s civilian bases. “We will explain to you what the new structure of Zapatista autonomy looks like and how it has developed,” said the leader of the movement, successor to Subcommander Marcos.
Moisés’ statement is part of a series of writings that Zapatista has published in recent months (four so far) in which it recognizes and denounces the crisis in southeastern Mexico. “There is complete chaos in the capitals of Chiapas,” says the sub-commander. “The municipal presidencies are occupied by people we call ‘legal killers’ or ‘disorganized crime.'” There are blockades, attacks, kidnappings, rent collection, forced recruitment and shootings. This is a result of the state government’s patronage and the ongoing dispute over the charges. These are not political proposals, but criminal societies,” he added, referring to the 2024 electoral process.
Zapatista, which celebrates the 30th anniversary of its uprising against the government between December and January, has tirelessly denounced the situation in Chiapas. Already in September 2021, the EZLN denounced that the state was on the brink of a “civil war” after two members of the Good Government Board of the city of Patria Nueva were kidnapped. The movement blamed the state authorities for the situation, especially the governor of Morena, Rutilio Escandón, and the Ocosingo regional organization of coffee growers for the kidnapping. Eventually the two Zapatista authorities were released.
Violence is unleashed in Chiapas no matter where you look at it. Mexico’s poorest state is suffering from the confrontation between criminal organizations on the border with Guatemala, in the Lacandona jungle, in the Los Altos region and in the Palenque area. There are disputes between factions in municipalities in different regions. Self-defense and paramilitary groups appear and disappear, defending different causes, all in the face of the incompetence or complicity of the authorities. Last week, border residents reported the appearance of bagged bodies in the waters of the Suchiate River on their way to the sea.
The tone of the four messages published by the EZLN in recent months confirms the desperation of the population. In the third part, Marcos, who recently demoted himself to “captain of the insurgents,” collected the contents of a conversation between Zapatistas, mainly him and Moisés, in which they reflected on the future of their girls and boys in 120 years. “The storm is already upon us. The same thing we warned about almost 10 years ago. The first thing we see is that the destruction is happening faster. “What we thought would happen in 10 years is already here,” Moisés said.
“The monster, the hydra, capitalism, is crazy, steals and destroys. Now he wants to steal what he didn’t care about before and continues to destroy what little is left. “Capitalism is now producing misery and those who are fleeing it: migrants,” the sub-commander said. “Many calamities are coming, wars, floods, droughts, diseases, and in the midst of collapse we must look far away. If the number of migrants is now in the thousands, it will soon be tens of thousands and then hundreds of thousands. Fights and death come between brothers, between parents and children, between neighbors, between races, between religions, between nationalities. The great buildings will burn and no one will be able to say why, who or for what. Although it doesn’t seem to be the case anymore, but yes, it will get worse,” he added.
In the fourth scripture the tone is similar. “Federal, state and local military and police forces are not in Chiapas to protect civilians. Their only goal is to stop migration. This is the order of the North American government. As is their wont, they have made migration a business. Human smuggling and human trafficking are a business of the authorities, who shamelessly enrich themselves through extortion, kidnapping and the buying and selling of migrants,” denounces Moisés.
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