Letter to Don Fermín Hernández
Originally published in
Spanish by the EZLN
*************************************
Translated by irlandesa
Zapatista Army of National
Liberation
To: Don Fermín
Hernández
From: SupMarcos
Don Fermín:
Greetings
from all of us. We have read with
interest and respect your letter which, along with others, El Correo Ilustrado
of La Jornada
published today. We would ask for your patience and nobility in reading these
lines we're writing you, and, hopefully, which La Jornada, generous as always, will
publish so that you and others, who, like you, are feeling disconcerted by what
we're saying and doing, might be able to learn more about why we're doing what
we're doing. Please note that I'm not trying to convince you to support us or
to abandon your convictions (which I sense are deep and consistent), we are
only asking you, you and others, to try to understand, to understand us.
There are, in effect, many compas who, like
you, have supported the Zapatista struggle for indigenous rights and culture.
Without being on the stage or having their pictures on the front pages, people
like you made possible, first, for the war to be stopped; later, that we were
listened to; later on you helped us in all the peaceful initiatives which we
undertook over these last almost 12 years with the goal of recovering for the
indigenous their place in this Nation. Not all, but many of those persons, like
you, are in the PRD or sympathize with that political organization. In
addition, they are now hopeful and determined that López
Obrador and the PRD will win the Presidency of the Republic,
and, with that, things will change in our country with a government of the
left. There are some people like you (believe me, because of what I'm going to
say further along, there are very few) who feel identified with the acronym of
the PRD and, at the same time, with the EZLN's
struggle, and they feel that both struggles should walk together or, at least,
to agree on the basics. And they feel not only that it's not contradictory to
be PRD and to support Zapatismo, but it's also
logical. And not just to support Zapatismo, but to support
any of those struggles, large or small, which are raised in our country for democracy,
liberty and justice. Then they become angry, irritated or, in the best of cases
(which I believe is your case, Don Fermín), they
become disconcerted, and they ask what is going on. Well, Don Fermín, what happened, happened. Let me tell you:
In 1994 some leaders of the
PRD, invited by us, came here. Don Pablo Gómez, for
example, came. Today, Señor Gómez
is coordinator of the federal PRD Deputies, and he has stated that the PRD
could not have betrayed the EZLN because "we've never signed anything with
Marcos, because he's never wanted any agreement" (similarly, AMLO's replacement in DF, Alejandro Encinas
- while nervously awaiting the showing of the video in which he has the
starring role - has said that there's no betrayal because we've never been
allied - the PRD and the EZLN). Well, Don
Pablo Gómez came then, and he spoke with us. He told
us he supported the struggle of the Zapatistas, clarifying pointedly that he
did not agree with the armed struggle. That our cause was just, and he would do
whatever possible to see that our demands found a just and peaceful solution.
Given what Señor Gómez is
now saying, instead of believing in his word, we should have asked him to sign
a paper with that commitment, because then he could argue, in effect, that he
never committed himself to the fight for indigenous rights and culture (note:
with that struggle, and not with the armed struggle), and, given that he never
signed any document, you can't talk about betrayal.
And it was not only Don Pablo
Gómez. Other individuals also came here. For example,
Señor Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano (at that time PRD
candidate for the Presidency of Mexico, and, for a long time, the natural and
unquestioned leader of the PRD, in addition to being, then, a referent for the
peaceful struggle for democracy, liberty and justice for all Mexicans). We
spoke with Señor Cárdenas, and he committed himself
the same as Señor Gómez had
done. We did not, of course, sign any paper with that commitment.
Many more came, almost the
entire top brass of the PRD (the majority without having been invited, but as
"gatecrashers" when Cárdenas Solórzano, whom we did invite, came),
and they always said, stressing that they weren't in agreement with the armed
struggle, that they would support the struggle of the Zapatista indigenous. In
1996, I don't remember what we were doing in
Then, in this regard, it
could be said that all those who are now saying that the EZLN cannot talk about
betrayal by the PRD because nothing was ever signed, are right. In any event,
the error is ours, because we should not have believed in their spoken word. You
see that one always learns. Now we have learned this: nothing matters to the
PRD that hasn't been filmed...excuse me, signed.
Fine, but it so happened, as
you will remember, there was a dialogue with the federal government, and
accords were reached, the San Andrés Accords. At that time, those political
parties with deputies and senators formed a commission that was called the
"Commission of Concordance and Peace," the Cocopa.
Fine, then, the Accords were signed, but they were not carried out. The Cocopa's work was to help secure an agreement between the
EZLN and the federal government, and so it offered to prepare a legislative
proposal that would fulfill those accords regarding constitutional reforms. In
the Cocopa at the time were, among others, the
current distributor in
I mention them in particular
because they were the legislators with whom we had the most direct contacts and
because, except in the case of Don Heberto Castillo,
they can refute or confirm what I'm now going to tell you.
Well, the Cocopa
members met, and then they did indeed hit a wall, because Zedillo didn't want
to fulfill the accords, and the EZLN didn't want to return to negotiate what
had already been agreed. They then thought a new proposal had to be made, one
that was neither Zedillo's, nor the EZLN's. They met
with us and presented us what would then become known as the "Cocopa Indigenous Law Proposal." They told us it was
all they could do, and that if the EZLN and Zedillo
didn't accept it, they just wouldn't be coming back anymore and, consequently,
they would resign from the Cocopa. We accepted.
Zedillo first said yes, and then no. What happened afterwards is already known,
and I'm not going to repeat it, but it so happens that I found the original of
that proposal here, and that document does indeed have the signatures of the
PRD legislators. Perhaps Don Pablo Gómez, Alejandro Encinas and the bunch of yobs
from the PRD hierarchy (at the time I'm sending this, I'm reading the
statements from the pathetic Cota), who have been
making statements left and right now disclaiming those signatures.
Look, Don Fermín,
the PAN then backed out, and their legislators voted against the proposal -
which they had already approved, you understand. After everything, that Right
has increasingly betrayed the democratic principles which brought them into
being as an electoral force. Their contempt for the indigenous (and all humble
people in general) is so deep-rooted that it could be in their declaration of
principles without contradicting any of them. As for the PAN and for the Right
which finds within it a space for striking the history of Mexico over an anvil
- one can only expect stupidity dressed in name-brand suits...and crimes
concealed behind them. You'll see when the PAN candidate begins his campaign:
Fox will look illustrious compared with that silly, babbling little man.
The fact that the PRI would
go back on what it had agreed was nothing but a confirmation its history: the
prostitution of politics; having created the sentence that "politics is
crime perpetrated by other methods" and confirming it with the blood of
their opponents...and their cohorts; Herod's law as a statement of principles;
racism elevated to a constitutional level. Whether the PRI candidate is Montíel or Madrazo, nothing will
change of that party's "uses and customs": it will continue to be the
political arm of organized crime...and those who graduate from the PRI then
move on to the PRD, depending on how the polls go during the election campaigns
and on who wins the election.
But for the PRD to betray its
word was something we didn't understand then. We could have understood that
they would have had no interest in keeping their word WHICH THEY SIGNED with
the EZLN (they already clarified the fact that they didn't fulfill what they
said they spoke), after all, we're just some "damn" uppity
indigenous. But we didn't understand why they ignored the entire mobilization
which took place concerning the Cocopa proposal, why
they looked down on the Indian peoples and indigenous organizations (some of
them close to the PRD) who had embraced the demand for the constitutional
recognition of indigenous rights and culture.
We didn't understand, Don Fermín, but we hoped. Perhaps someone was going to go to
the trouble of explaining to us and giving us some reason, even if they were
absurd (something like that currently fashionable: "if we had recognized
indigenous demands, we would have played into the Right and to Salinas, in addition
to opening the door to the return of Madrazo and the
PRI, that's why we didn't keep our promise"), but no.
Even so, we thought, as they
then said that the PRD bases - those who say they are also Zapatistas - were
going to protest and to mobilize and demand, at the very least, the removal of
those PRD legislators who had committed that larceny. But nothing happened, Don
Fermín. It was said there was a tactical error, but
the PRD continued legislating against the Cocopa Law.
Still nothing happened. We thought no way, the "Zapatista" PRD bases
certainly have their reasons for not doing anything.
We were left wounded then,
with that sensation of having been mocked once again (that sensation which is
known quite well below), frustrated, because we had concentrated all our energy
into that effort...and we had asked many people, people like you Don Fermín, but you're not PRD, to do the same thing along with
us. Then we thought we had committed an error, and never again were we going to
count on anything from any State institution or from the political parties who
fight to run them. As you know, we withdrew in order to strengthen our indigenous
autonomy, and the Caracoles and Good Government Juntas were created.
And then what happened,
happened: the PRD government of Zinacantán cut off the
water to some support base compañeros in that municipality. The compañeros went to the Good
Government Junta, and the Junta sought agreement through dialogue. The PRDs refused, and the Junta found a way to send them water.
Look, Don Fermín: it wasn't decided to send a Zapatista
military unit to defend them from the PRD government,
it was decided to send them water. The PRDs mocked
the compañeros,
telling them they were alone, that no one paid them any attention, that for the
PRD government what the Zapatistas were doing in making autonomy meant nothing
to them. And so time passed.
Then the compañeros thought they would
have a march to carry water and in order to demonstrate that the Zapatista
support bases of Zinacantán were not alone and that
they walked with the support of the entire EZLN. They consulted me, and I
recommended strict vigilance so that none of the compas, who were now, as we say,
"caliente,"
would get into a fight with the others. Just carrying water and saying they
weren't alone. The march arrived, they delivered the water and made their speech
(read about it, Don Fermín, you can find it in La Jornada on
the days following the march, April 10, 2004, and say whether or not it was an
invitation to reach agreements). As the compañeros were withdrawing, they found the road blocked
with logs, and, as they were taking them away, the shootout began. The compañeros' order and discipline permitted a withdrawal,
and prevented it from turning into a massacre, but several compañeros received gunshot
wounds. None of the wounded, Don Fermín, were from Zinacantán, but from other Zapatista municipalities, and
they were there in order to carry water to their brothers in struggle, not to
attack PRDs. One
of the wounded has a bullet in his head. Yes, he still has it there. One
millimeter more to one side or the other, and he would have died. And that's
not all. The doctors left the bullet, because even attempting to remove it could
cause his death. The compa
walks around like that, with a bullet in his head. But, do you know what? Don Fermín: that bullet wasn't fired by paramilitaries from the
PRI or by the clandestine commandoes of the YUNQUE (or PAN), but by persons
from the PRD, from the PRD government. Many things were said at that time (the
We waited to see if the Zapatista
PRD bases were going to go and protest, but nothing happened. There was just
one letter (it can be found in El Correo Ilustrado in La Jornada
during those days), Don Fermín, from a PRD brother
who condemned the incident, in addition to a lukewarm statement from the state
PRD, and that was it. Nothing. The PRDs
continued in the government in Zinacantán, they were
candidates for the PRD in the last election, they continue in Power and they
were the first to form one of the "citizens
nets" in support of AMLO.
And do you know how that
whole matter started in Zinacantán, why the PRD government
cut the compañeros' water off? Well, because the Zapatista
support bases didn't want to take the jobs the PRDs
offered them, because, the compañeros said, explaining the rejection, "Zapatistas
don't fight to become the government." It was in order to pressure them to
take the jobs that they cut off the water. Yes, Don Fermín,
the PRDs attacked us with gunfire because we didn't want
government jobs.
Fine, but it wasn't just the
PRD vote against the recognition of indigenous rights and culture, nor just the
attack in Zinacantán. It so happened that, months
before, in another region, one we call the "Border Selva,"
and where La Realidad is located, an indigenous, who was not Zapatista,
presented a denuncia
for theft against someone else, who was also not Zapatista. The autonomous authority
investigated and determined that the theft had occurred. The criminal, who
admitted his guilt, was detained, and it was determined that he would remain
imprisoned until he repaid the victim the amount that had been stolen. You can
see, Don Fermín, in La Jornada of that time period, how it
was: non-governmental human rights organizations went to La Realidad, and they
confirmed that the detainee had not been tortured, he was found to be in good
health and none of his rights had been violated. Well, it so happened that the
PRD CIOAC of that region decided that what the Junta had done was bad. No, Don Fermín, they didn't go talk with the Junta. What they did
was to kidnap several compañeros
(some of whom were not Zapatistas but belonged to another organization), and they
held them in a truck that belonged to the Junta. They tortured the kidnap
victims, and they kept moving one of them, a Zapatista compañero,
from one place to another ("so the EZLN wouldn't rescue him"), under
humiliating conditions. No, it wasn't the police. No, neither was it the army.
Yes, they were PRDs. They left them all beat up. Then
the state government intervened and paid the amount that had been stolen. The
detainee was freed, and the accuser's demand for justice was met. You know what
Zapatista humor is like, and the compañeros changed the name of the truck (it's a custom to
give names to vehicles), and now it's called "Kidnapped." What I'm
telling you, Don Fermín, wasn't a matter of hours,
but days. I could tell you of similar attacks and harassment by the PRD ORCAO
in the municipalities of Ocosingo and Altamirano. Was there any statement from the PRD? Any
protest by the PRD bases over what their party compañeros had done against us?
No.
Let's add them up, Don Fermín.
Let's add up and face the
consequences of everything that happened: the injustices; the silence in the
face of arguments of "not playing into the Right"; looking the other
way because, at the end of the day, "they're just damn Indians"; the
tactical and strategic calculations of "everything goes" in order to
reach Power, even though they do the same thing they say they're fighting. Ask
yourself, Don Fermín, ask if the PRDs
living inside Zapatista territories have been attacked with firearms, ask if
they have been kidnapped and tortured. You will see they have not. You will see
that we did not respond to those attacks with violence. We responded with patience.
We waited.
You see now, Don Fermín, that to us you are not "a poor idiot,"
but a sincere, noble and constant person, who feels that there's something bad
in all this that's going on. And, yes, something is bad, but it's not what's
happening now. Perhaps now you'll see why we're mad, indignant, furious.
As for the rest, Don Fermín, you shall see that, if we're wrong, we shall apologize
to you and to everyone we'll need to apologize to. You, and everyone, know that
that is how we are, that when we're wrong, we say so quite clearly. Because
perhaps we are wrong, and we should indeed be betting everything on one person,
and even on a political party that has done everything to us that it has done
to us. Perhaps we should keep waiting for what we now think we have to build
from below to come from above. Perhaps we were wrong to denounce that we have
been deceived, attacked, mocked. If all this happens, you will see us state
publicly that we committed an error, and we will apologize to all those we hurt
with our word (and never with bullets, kidnappings and torture). But,
meanwhile, we shall continue expressing the feelings of our peoples, the rage
and indignation in the face of the PRD's cynicism and
lack of memory. And so, excuse us, Don Fermín, we're going to continue being a nuisance.
Another
thing, Don Fermín. We understand that some media, whenever we say anything,
place more emphasis on what we say against the PRD and AMLO. And you know what?
They want to rein in López Obrador.
They don't like that he goes about so freely, rocking in his hammock while his
accomplices cover for him. And, on the other side of the coin, ALMO wants to
rein in the media, make them over in his own fashion. They both use what they
have at hand: the media looking for the PRD's weak
points (which, incidentally, are many), and López Obrador finding all criticisms to be a plot by Salinas de
Gortari, the PRI and the Right. That's how it is. But you'll see that they'll
end up getting it sorted, they always end up getting it sorted. Then you'll see
that everything about the "other campaign" is no longer important
news. It will end up on the "inside" pages, it will turn into a
"little lost note" there, and then it will disappear completely, far
from what someone called the "public." Then the "other
campaign," and with it the Sexta, will continue
in its determination to construct another way of doing politics, to build a
national program of anti-capitalist struggle and to fight for a new
constitution.
Anyway, that's what we're
going to be up to, Don Fermín. The election campaigns
are going to take place, and that's where we'll be. Perhaps López
Obrador is going to campaign where you live. If you
can, ask him if he's going to privatize the electricity industry, oil, water,
social security, education. López Obrador
is going to tell you he's not going to privatize. Of course, you're going to be
happy, and you're going to think "Damn, Comanche, you're wrong." But
don't stop there, Don Fermín, and keep on asking. Ask
him what he's going to do then, and AMLO is going to respond that he's going to
"promote investment." You're going to keep thinking, and you're going
to be turning that little word over. Then you're going to investigate what
"co-investment" means, and you're going to
find out that that's what it's called when the State puts one part of the money
into an industry, and private capital puts in the other part. But keep on,
you'll also see that also means that one part of that industry is the property
of the State, and the other part is private property. Then you're going to
understand that it's not going to be privatized all at once, but piece by
piece. In other words, one piece of the Patria is going to be sold, then
another, and another, and another, until nothing is left.
Listen, Don Fermín, if you're able to approach AMLO, also ask him, if
he says that all criticisms are coming from Salinas de Gortari, the PRI and the
Right, why, then, is he surrounded by salinistas, ex-PRIs and Rightists.
And ask the PRD leaders why they've turned the party into a recycling machine
for the worst of the PRI, one more circus ring for those who jump to the beat
of the budget. Ask AMLO why, if many people assume his program is leftist, his "Alternative
Project for the Nation" is not. Ask him why he supports Marcelo Ebrard for the DF government if he's not leftist. Ask him
why he's offering the gringos and the businessmen a centrist government,
"facilitating private investment" (favoring the rich), and to the
rest he's telling them that he's leftist (favoring the poor). Ask him, perhaps
he might indeed respond to you - why, when we pointed all that out (and many
other things), he responded that he was happy,
sleeping in a hammock so he wouldn't be embarrassed.
Afterwards, the elections are
going to be over, Don Fermín, and we'll be there.
Perhaps the majority of the Mexican people will support López
Obrador and the PRD with their votes. If they don't
recognize the victory, you and many like you will mobilize, and, believe me, we
will be by your side, shoulder to shoulder, fighting against that injustice and
denouncing it, just like we did with the desafuero. But perhaps they'll
win, and the victory will be recognized. Perhaps they'll make it to the
Presidency of Mexico. Perhaps it will happen that López
Obrador lied to the gringos and to the businessmen,
and he's not going to carry out what was promised. Perhaps then a great transformation
of the country will indeed be initiated, a transformation of the left. Then what
can I tell you, Don Fermín, then
there's going to be a lot of commotion, joy, fiesta. Perhaps then you might see
there, in your town, a little poster with an invitation to a meeting for the
"other campaign." And you're going to hear that there are men and
women going about, asking the people what their struggle is like, how they
organize, what they think of the world, of our country, of their place. Perhaps
you'll go see what it's about. Perhaps you'll see me there and stand in front
of me and say to me "Comanche, I am Don Fermín
of that letter." I'm going to look at you, and I'm going to smile. You're
going to smile as well, and you're going to tell me: "Damn Comanche, you
were wrong." And I'm going to tell you: "Damn Don Fermín,
I was wrong." And neither you nor I are going to be offended by the
"damn" stuff. And we're going to give each other a big hug, and we're
going to smile, the both of us, together, and we're both going to be happy:
you, because we were wrong, and we, also because we were wrong.
But listen, Don Fermín, is it true that if we are not wrong, you and those who
are like you, are not going to remain silent if indigenous rights aren't recognized,
if they attack us, if they kidnap us, if they torture us, if the PRD officials
don't fulfill what they promised, if they continue selling our Patria,
completely, or in pieces, if corruption and betrayals continue? Is it true, Don
Fermín, that you're not going to just do nothing,
arguing that you can't play into
Vale. Salud and I'm not sending you an embrace because I know you're angry, and
so it remains on hold.
From the mountains of the
Mexican Southeast
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos