BY PETER GELLERT
MEXICO CITY â The Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) is marching on Mexico City to publicise the plight of Mexico's indigenous peoples and to press its demand for adoption of the San Andres peace accords to put an end to the conflict in Chiapas.
The accords â initially approved by past-president Ernesto Zedillo's administration and then indefinitely postponed â involve constitutional reforms to codify indigenous peoples' rights in terms of limited autonomy by the Indian communities and regions' over their political, judicial and cultural life, agricultural organisation, and environmental protection. The Zapatistas plan to meet with congressional deputies and the Legislative Peace Commission to push adoption of the bill.
On February 24, 25 Zapatista leaders headed by "Subcomandante Marcos" left Chiapas, accompanied by local supporters and foreign observers. They are masked, but not armed.
Even before their departure, the Zapatista march had succeeded in putting Chiapas on the front burner in terms of Mexican public opinion, and as the main headline in the national press. Furthermore, it has forced all political forces in the country to relate to the protest.
The EZLN's protest breaks a five-month silence and has proven once again that the rebels are capable of galvanising mass support when the need arises and becoming an obligatory reference point for the country's social protest movements.
With the march major news, public awareness is running quite high on the plight of Mexico's indigenous communities.
Indeed, Mexico's Indians are the poorest of the nation's 44 million poor. Illiteracy among the indigenous peoples is a huge 44%, compared to 11% in the population as a whole. Ninety percent of Indians live in poverty, compared to 40% of all Mexicans. Their infant mortality rate is 48 per 1000 births, almost double the national average.
Since Vicente Fox took office on December 1 as the country's first opposition president, the federal government and the rebels have been sparring over the conditions to reinitiate the dialogue. This was a key plank in Fox's campaign, in which he pledged to put an end to the Chiapas conflict "in 15 minutes".
Fox has taken the bold step of publicly welcoming the march, although he has at the same time attempted to shift responsibility for following through with the dialogue to the rebels. In applauding the Zapatista march, Fox has been at odds with leaders of his own party â the National Action Party â and business leaders who are demanding a tougher stance. The PAN governor of Queretaro province has even attacked the Zapatistas as traitors and called for them to be sentenced to death.
Fox, on the other hand, has publicly acknowledged that he is wagering his political future on the outcome of the march and dialogue. Fox said his priority is "for the march to turn out well. I'm putting my presidency at stake, all my political capital".
What Fox is up to has been a source of speculation. Some, like Nobel Literature Prize winner Jose Saramago take the president's commitment to peace at face value. Given the new president's popularity, many Mexicans share this view. However, the Zapatistas have been more wary, given Fox's neo-liberal economic agenda, decrying what they term "the peace of lies", or as Marcos put it in his typically poetic style: "There is currently a fierce battle and dispute underway over the dove of peace. The Fox government wants to make it into an advertising logo... You can choose the type of peace that there should be in the country. This is the alternative, a dove for public relations purposes or a dove that flies and leaves no one beneath anyone else."
In the week in which the Zapatista march has been underway, the rebels have succeeded in galvanising public support, with huge mobilizations accompanying the protest en route. In cities such as San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas; Juchit n and Oaxaca, Oaxaca; Orizaba, Veracruz; and Puebla, Puebla, tens of thousands of the indigenous poor and their supporters have turned out for unprecedentedly large and militant rallies.
In its bold action, the EZLN has acted as a magnet for Mexico's 56 major indigenous groups, who view the rebels as upholding the dignity of the country's Indian population as a whole, and has also managed to crystallise the hopes of the country's poor and downtrodden.
Regardless of the danger of cooption, with virtually everyone â especially the two major television chains and large corporations â calling for peace in the abstract, the welcome extended by Fox, the Catholic Church, and local city governments to the EZLN march has legitimised the Zapatistas' initiative in broad sectors of public opinion and has allowed the rebels to speak unchallenged on behalf of all of Mexico's more than 10 million Indians. Public opinion polls show more than 75% support for the Zapatistas.
The Zapatistas will pass through 12 states and countless cities and villages on their way to the Mexican capital, including a stop over to participate in the 10,000 strong National Indigenous Congress in the state of Michoacan. The rebels are scheduled to arrive in Mexico City on March 11, where they will be welcomed by what promises to be a truly mammoth demonstration â the first large protest since Fox took office.
Then the really difficult task begins â approval of indigenous rights legislation that would truly offer radical change and its practical and real implementation.