After years of silence, the ski-masked Zapatista rebels suddenly have a lot to say as they try to break out of isolation, build a political movement and reshape the campaign season ahead of next summer's presidential elections.
But whether the rebels can recapture the attention of the world -- and sway Mexican voters -- remains unclear. Unlike the 1994 armed uprising in Chiapas state that startled Mexico and gave the Zapatistas a romantic aura, their latest effort seems oddly timed.
Rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos has grown pudgy and quarrelsome, while Mexico's left seems to have moved on, gathering around former Mexico City mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who leads polls on next year's presidential race.
PHOTO: AP
Marcos on Saturday renewed bitter recriminations against Mexico's political establishment.
"Only tricks, lies, mockery and disdain were what we received from the political parties that now are competing for the presidency," said Marcos, smoking a pipe from behind his trademark balaclava.
Flanked by rifle-bearing guards, Marcos said the upcoming nationwide tour by the Zapatistas will last months, if not years -- unlike the Zapatistas' weekslong march to Mexico City in 2001.
"All these discussions are going to help decide what we are," Marcos said. "But now that the `we' is bigger, and not just the Zapatista National Liberation Army, this is so that other people outside who are not in these meetings can say if they want to enter the `we.'"
The comments underlined the rebels' intent to reach out. But where they are headed ideologically remains to be seen.
Will the journey mean giving up guns and masks? Marcos has suggested the movement will no longer rely on weapons, but has stopped short of saying it will disarm.
"For Marcos, not being clear and leaving everyone with doubts and questions has worked well," said Janet Ovando, a federal lawmaker from San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas' second-largest city. "Mexico and even more so, the outside world, have remained fascinated by what he says and the mystery, that just makes for more curiosity."
Marcos, whom Mexican officials identified in 1995 as former university instructor Rafael Sebastian Guillen, is making public appearances for the first time in four years, overseeing on Saturday a meeting with Indian groups in Carmen Patate, a sun-scorched, corn- and coffee-growing corner of the Lancandon jungle.
Indian groups were asked to allow Zapatistas to stay with them in different parts of the country during the upcoming national tour.
Marcos recently has used the new forums to poke fun at Lopez Obrador, who leads public opinion polls ahead of the July 2006 race.
Lopez Obrador is a former Indian activist, but became popular in Mexico City through heavy spending on public works projects, pensions, and other handouts for key voting blocs. The leftist candidate respectfully disagrees with Marcos, but will not argue with him.
In Zapatistas strongholds, where an estimated 250,000 rebel supporters live mostly in wooden shacks -- without electricity, government schools or hospitals -- there is excitement about the movement's new direction, but few answers about what it will mean.
"I think the time has come for a new phase, where we are watching everything and discussing," said Gabriel, a member of the Zapatista "information committee" for a region that includes Carmen Patate. Like all rebel supporters, he said community rules barred him from disclosing his full name.
What does he expect? "Answers on all topics will be given in their time," Gabriel said. He would not elaborate.
Juan Antonio Gordillo, a federal congressman from Chiapas and critic of the Zapatistas, said the group will never disarm.
"They have found a way to pressure the government as guerrillas," Gordillo said. "As a political party like any other, they will be easy to ignore."
Gordillo dismissed the rebels as doing little to improve the plight of those who support them.
Though it's been 11 years since the rebels burst from the jungles and occupied several cities and towns in Chiapas in the name of socialism and Indian rights on Jan. 1, 1994, Congresswoman Ovando said the group could still influence voters next summer.
"They already are, and will continue to influence what the candidates are saying, talking about Indian rights," she said. "That will affect the people who are going to vote."
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese