Information on Zapatista Caravan to Mexico City and other News Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Ted Lewis EZLN communique describing the Zapatista caravan to Mexico City February 24 through March 11, 2001 Information on the Mexico Solidarity Network's delegation to accompany the Zapatista delegation (including contact information) New York Times interview with Subcomandante Marcos ---------------------------------------------- Communique from the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee - General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. Mexico. January 24, 2001. To the People of Mexico: To the Peoples and Governments of the World: Brothers and sisters: The CCRI-CG of the EZLN is releasing the details of the route it will be following to Mexico City during the months of February and March, 2001. As you will see, the route will take in the territory of 2 more states of the federation: Guanajuato and Guerrero. This is at the express request of organizations and groups from those states. For the same reason, the arrival dates in the Federal District have been changed. These are the dates and points of the Zapatista delegation's travels during their trip for the constitutional recognition of indigenous rights and culture: Saturday, February 24, 2001. - Gathering of Zapatista delegates in the city of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas. Sunday, February 25, 2001. - The Zapatista delegation leaves San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, heading towards the city of Juchitan, Oaxaca. It will pass through Tuxtla Gutierrez, Tapanatepec and La Ventosa. Central event in Juchitan, Oaxaca. The delegates will spend the night in this city. Monday, February 26, 2001. - The Zapatista leave Juchitan, Oaxaca, heading towards the state capital. They will pass through Tehuantepec and Villa de Mitla (crossroads). Central event in Oaxaca, Oaxaca. They will spend the night in this city. Tuesday, February 27, 2001. - The Zapatista delegation leaves Oaxaca, Oaxaca, heading towards the city of Puebla, Puebla. They will pass through Tehuacan (Puebla) and Orizaba (Veracruz). Central event in Puebla, Puebla. They will spend the night in some, as yet unconfirmed, community, close to this city. Wednesday, February 28, 2001. - The Zapatista delegation leaves Puebla, Puebla, heading towards the municipality of Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo. They will pass through Tlaxcala (Tlaxcala), Emiliano Zapata (Hidalgo), Ciudad Sahagun (Hidalgo), Pachuca (Hidalgo), Actopan (Hidalgo), Francisco I. Madero (Hidalgo), Tepatepec (Hidalgo). Central event in Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo. The delegates will spend the night in the community of Tephe, municipality of Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo. Thursday, March 1, 2001. - The delegates leave Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, heading towards the Purepecha community of Nurio, Michoacan. They will pass through Queretaro (Queretaro), Acambaro (Guanajuato), Zinapecuaro (Michoacan), Morelia (Michoacan), Patzcuaro (Michoacan) and Uruapan (Michoacan). Central event in Nurio (Michoacan). The delegates will spend the night in this community. Friday, March 2, 2001. - The EZLN delegation will participate in the work of the 3rd National Indigenous Congress in Nurio, Michoacan. Saturday, March 3, 2001. - The EZLN delegation will participate in the work of the 3rd National Indigenous Congress in Nurio, Michoacan. Sunday, March 4, 2001. - The EZLN delegation will participate in the work of the 3rd National Indigenous Congress in Nurio, Michoacan. Monday, March 5, 2001. - The delegates leave Nurio, Michoacan, heading towards the city of Toluca, in the State of Mexico. They will pass through Morelia (Michoacan) and Zitacuaro (Michoacan). They will spend the night in an as yet unconfirmed community in the Toluca Valley. Tuesday, March 6, 2001. - The Zapatista delegation will leave Toluca, heading towards Tepoztlan, Morelos. They will pass through Cuernavaca (Morelos). The delegation will spend the night in Tepoztlan, Morelos. Wednesday, March 7, 2001. - The EZLN delegation leaves Cuautla, Morelos, heading towards the city of Iguala, Guerrero. Central event in Iguala, Guerrero. The delegates will return to spend the night in Cuautla, Morelos. Thursday, March 8, 2001. - The EZLN delegation leaves Cuautla, Morelos, following the route of Emiliano Zapata, heading towards Milpa Alta, in the Federal District. Central event in Milpa Alta, DF. The delegation will spend the night in Milpa Alta, DF. Friday, March 9, 2001. - The Zapatista delegates will remain in Milpa Alta, DF. Saturday, March 10, 2001. - The Zapatista delegation will travel to Xochimilco, DF. Sunday, March 11, 2001. - The EZLN delegation will make their entrance into Mexico City. Details of the route will be made available later. Central event in the Zocalo of Mexico City. THE ZAPATISTA DELEGATION'S SCHEDULE IN MEXICO CITY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE LATER. Democracy! Liberty! Justice! From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast. By the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee - General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos. Mexico, January of 2001. ---------------------------------------------- Join the Zapatistas in Mexico City! Take part in this historic delegation coordinated by the Mexico Solidarity Network. For information, please call 773-583-7728 or email the MSN at msn@mexicosolidarity.org. On December 2, Subcomandante Marcos surprised the world by announcing that the central command of the Zapatista National Liberation Army will travel to Mexico City in February, 2001, to lobby for passage of the San Andres Accords. For Marcos and the Zapatista leadership, this will be their first public appearance outside of Chiapas since their uprising began in 1994. In announcing their historic trip to Mexico City, Marcos invited the accompaniment of national and international civil society. In response, the Mexico Solidarity Network will sponsor a two-week delegation in February-March, 2001. The delegation will accompany the Zapatistas on their trip to Mexico City starting in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas on February 24th and ending in Mexico City on March 9th. Exact itinerary for the delegation is still being planned. (For a map of the route that the Zapatistas will follow to Mexico City please see attachment). Cost of $500 includes ground transportation, hotels, program, and translation. Delegates are responsible for their own flight reservations to Chiapas and returning from Mexico City. We encourage delegates to use our travel agent, Scott, at 800-328-1332. For more information, contact the Mexico Solidarity Network at msn@mexicosolidarity.org or call 773-583-7728. To reserve a space on the delegation, please return the application below with a deposit of $100. A limited number of scholarships are available to youth of color under the age of 30. The deadline for scholarship applications is January 31, 2001. To apply for a scholarship, please return the delegation and scholarship applications attached below. --------------------------------------------- Mexico Rebel Chief Says the Fight Is Now for Peace The New York Times - January 30, 2001 By Ginger Thompson SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico, Jan. 28 - There was a different kind of fight in the rebel leader's voice. The urgency was unchanged from the day seven years ago when he first declared war against the Mexican government on behalf of a ragtag mob of Indians called the Zapatista National Liberation Army. Their cause, the pursuit of equal rights for all of Mexico's 10 million indigenous people, remained their primary goal. But in an interview in the jungles of Chiapas, his first with an American newspaper in four years, the elusive Subcommander Marcos made it clear that the masked rebels want peace. "We want to stop being what we are," he said, his dark eyes so intense that the ski mask covering the rest of his face could not conceal his expression.. "We are people without faces, armed and fighting for what we believe." "We would like to show our faces," he continued. "We would like to put down our weapons, but to keep fighting for our beliefs like people in every other part of the world." Although his words at times shifted from caution to outrage, the message that rang like a church bell was that peace could soon come to Chiapas. In seven years, there have been only a dozen days of combat between the Zapatistas and government troops, leaving 145 people dead. But hundreds have been killed in clashes between rebel supporters and pro- government paramilitary groups. Thousands of others have been forced to flee their homes. "I'm optimistic," the guerrilla leader said. "I think we will have a successful dialogue with the government, that the war will be ended and that we will be able to move on to new work." For a man and a movement that have been shrouded in mystery, it was a rare moment of candor. It comes one month before he and a 23- member commission of Zapatista leaders are planning to march on Mexico City in a caravan snaking across at least six states and more than a dozen cities, and culminating in an address before Congress. The rebels will campaign for the passage of a series of new Indian rights - known as the San Andre's accords - which, if passed, would mark the most significant achievement of the movement. It would also mark the Zapatistas' first step toward becoming a legitimate political organization. During the interview, Subcommander Marcos, who has become an idol to leftist groups around the world, shunned his signature theatrics and sharp sarcasm to talk forthrightly about the lingering obstacles to peace, about the achievements of the Zapatista movement, and about his own postwar plans. He and another rebel commander known as Tacho had sneaked on horseback into the tiny village of La Realidad. They came with no body guards, and they did not orchestrate any gimmicky displays of force. Perhaps because of the larger- than-life image of the subcommander that has been perpetuated by leftists around the world, he seemed surprisingly small, perhaps 5 feet, 8 inches, with narrow shoulders and hands that looked ill-suited for combat. His eyes were watery, and he sniffled from a cold. The automatic rifle slung across his back seemed the only threatening thing about him. When asked about it, he said it was not loaded. Seated in a tumbledown mess hall, dimly lit with candles, he acknowledged during the 90-minute interview that a brewing political storm in the Mexican Congress could wreck the prospect for peace. But what worried him most was whether Mexico's new president, Vicente Fox, would respond fully to a list of rebel demands and keep the stalemated Zapatista conflict moving toward a resolution. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-02.01.01-01:52:16-25557