Chiapas rebels declare autonomous county

Chiapas rebels declare autonomous county

Unwilling to await the outcome of negotiations with the Mexican government, Zapatista rebels on September 28 declared an autonomous county in southern Chiapas.

The government opposes the traditional Indian community rule that the rebels hope to establish there and elsewhere in the region and is unlikely to recognise the new jurisdiction, named in honour of the legendary Cuban rebel, Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

"Che Guevara" is one of several autonomous counties throughout Chiapas being planned by Zapatista rebels as part of the future Tzotz-choj Autonomous Zone, named after a former Mayan ruler. Some areas are already operating with their own councils and small budgets for education, development and public works.

Since the Zapatista rebellion in 1994, autonomy for the region's Indians has become a key rebel demand and is currently the biggest stumbling block to the renewal of stalled peace talks. A partial peace agreement signed by the government and rebel negotiators in February 1996 calls for constitutional amendments that would authorise Indian autonomy.

Supporters argue autonomy would provide a political basis for improving the lives of Mexico's poorest citizens. But President Ernesto Zedillo has said the autonomy agreement as presently worded is unconstitutional. He has called for renegotiating the accords, arguing they would endanger national unity and hurt Indians by creating impoverished reservations like those in the US.

[From Arm The Spirit, e-mail .]

From GLW issue 293