MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK WEEKLY NEWS SUMMARY FEBRUARY 1-7, 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK WEEKLY NEWS SUMMARY FEBRUARY 1-7, 2001 Contents: 1. Fox claims peace to be signed in Chiapas "in a few weeks" 2. Fox calls for new constitution 3. Guerrero environmentalists receive new award, hope for release 4. Briefs 1. FOX CLAIMS CHIAPAS PEACE ACCORD WILL BE SIGNED "IN A FEW WEEKS" On February 7, President Vicente Fox abruptly declared that "we are just a few weeks away from arriving at a peace accord in Chiapas, and without a doubt it is important for our country to reach such an agreement, but what is perhaps even more important is to integrate our indigenous brothers and sisters into the development process." The declaration came as a surprise to everyone, in part because there is no indication whatsoever that there has even been official contact between the Chiapas-based Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) and the Fox government -- the EZLN insists such contact will not be made until three "minimum" conditions, as yet unfulfilled by the government, have been met -- and partly because the statement had nothing to do with the rest of Fox's speech, which was an address to the National Academy of Medicine. The statement unleashed a series of rumors which suggested that contact had in fact been made between the government peace commissioner, Luis H. Alvarez, and the EZLN, and that the sides were preparing to engage in full, final peace negotiations after the Zapatistas' arrival in Mexico City on March 8. Such rumors were subsequently denied by Alvarez and the Commission on Concordance and Pacification (COCOPA), who explained that the peace commissioner had sent a letter to the EZLN requesting a "discrete" and "private" meeting in order to work out the details for the upcoming trip of 23 Zapatista commanders plus Marcos to Mexico City, as well as to discuss the remaining points of the Zapatista preconditions for negotiations, including the military withdrawal from Guadalupe Tepeyac, La Garrucha, and Río Euseba. Alvarez insisted the government is willing to comply with the Zapatista terms, but only after contact is made between the two parts. However, both Alvarez and the COCOPA conceded that no response has been forthcoming to the letter, and no official contact has in fact been made. Meanwhile, even as Interior Minister Santiago Creel guaranteed the right of the Zapatistas to travel freely throughout the country, the National Action Party (PAN) and its federal deputies announced that the PAN would only support the Zapatista mobilization if all details about the rebel journey are agreed upon beforehand through discussions by the EZLN with the COCOPA and the office of peace commissioner Alvarez. 2. FOX CALLS FOR NEW CONSTITUTION On the 84th anniversary of the Mexican Constitution, President Vicente Fox suggested maybe it was time for a new one. Speaking during the official ceremonies commemorating the anniversary of the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution, Fox said that after more than 400 constitutional amendments and reforms over the past eight decades a new "constitutional architecture" was needed. The president added that there was no better way to honor the 1917 Constitution than by changing it into a "21st Century social, humanist, and democratic constitution." Sounding a bit like U.S. President George W. Bush, Fox added that "we must change our roots without tearing out our roots." Fox justified his idea by suggesting that throughout the history of independent Mexico, each new historical cycle has been initiated or represented by a new Constitution (1824, 1857, 1917). Therefore, he said, since "this past July 2 [the date of Fox's election] our country entered a new stage which represents the culmination of a long history of hopes and sacrifices," it was time to draft yet another Constitution. Fox assured his listeners that certain fundamental elements of the Constitution would remain inviolate. For Fox, these "non-negotiable" principles are: "the no-reelection of the Executive, the representative system, the division of powers, the federal regime, municipal liberty, our sovereignty, the lay character of the State, the commitment to social justice, lay and free education, the respect for cultural diversity, and the defense of individual and social rights." Fox did not specifically mention whether articles 27 and 123 of the existing Constitution, which protect agrarian and labor rights, would also remain inviolate under the new constitution, or if they would be subject to change. Later, Interior Minister Santiago Creel said work would begin "immediately" to establish consultations and forums among the populace, so as to express the opinions of various sectors of society regarding which elements of the Constitution should be changed. Response to the president's idea was generally positive among governors and most legislators. The opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) expressed caution, saying it concurred with the idea of reforming the Constitution, but worried that the articles the PRD would change are precisely those likely to be strengthened by Fox, and vice-versa. The formerly-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), meanwhile, warned that the process of setting up a new Constitution could very well divide the country and would put "fundamental principles of the nation" in jeopardy. 3. FOX ORDERS REVISION OF GUERRERO ENVIRONMENTALISTS' CASES President Vicente Fox this week ordered Interior Minister Santiago Creel Miranda to "intervene" in the case of the two Guerrero environmentalists, Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera García, who have been imprisoned for nearly two years on what most human rights and environmental organizations agree are trumped-up weapons charges and accusations of belonging to a guerrilla group. It is not clear what such "intervention" on the part of the Interior Ministry entails, but it is expected that there will be action taken on the case in the coming two weeks. Fox's move appears to be an attempt to comply with a July 2000 ruling of the official National Human Rights Commission, which found that Montiel and Cabrera had been tortured upon their detention, and that the "evidence" used against them had been planted by elements of the Mexican Army. In the meantime, the environmentalists received yet another international award. Montiel had previously been awarded the prestigious environmental prize of the Goldman foundation. This week, both imprisoned activists were the recipients of the Sierra Club's Chico Mendes award for their work toward conservation of the Petatlán and Coyuca forests in Guerrero state. 4. BRIEFS - February 6 marked the one year anniversary of the Federal Police takeover of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), ending a ten-month student strike at the university. Nearly one thousand students of the General Strike Council (CGH) were arrested and imprisoned, though all have since been released and only a handful continue to face the threat of criminal charges. This year, a march was held in commemoration of the strike's abrupt end, though with scant student participation. On the night following the march, a group of so-called "ultras" of the CGH, led by Alejandro Echevarría and Jorge Martínez Valero, entered the Political Science department of the UNAM and broke into the administrative offices. 32 faculty professors and administrative workers who were inside the offices at the time were violently forced out into the central plaza where, facing below-freezing temperatures, they were obliged to remove their clothes and sit on the frozen ground for over two hours. Meanwhile, the CGH members responsible for the aggression openly debated whether to beat them, burn their clothes, or actually burn the professors to death. The event was met the following day with universal repudiation among the rest of the student body, activists, and of course university faculty. - Non-governmental and human rights organizations in Chiapas this week announced the discovery of a clandestine grave in the northern municipality of Tila, with the bodies of three Zapatista civilians who had been tortured and murdered four years ago, presumably by a paramilitary organization. The report was confirmed by the federal Attorney General's office, which said it had opened an investigation into the deaths. - Three more Zapatista political prisoners were released this week from the Cerro Hueco state penitentiary in Chiapas. A total of twenty-four Zapatista prisoners have now been released since the state government earlier this year expressed its interest in granting "provisional liberty" with suspended sentences to the Zapatistas in Cerro Hueco. Nearly eighty Zapatistas remain imprisoned, however. ______________________________________________________________ SOURCES: La Jornada, Milenio, El Universal, Proceso, Milenio Semanal. This report is a product of the Mexico Solidarity Network. Redistribution is authorized and encouraged provided that the source is cited. Comments: msn@mexicosolidarity.org This and previous news updates are archived at: http://www.mexicosolidarity.org ================================================================= 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-02.14.01-05:20:28-6656