Hit Mexican oppressors where it hurts most!

Hit Mexican oppressors where it hurts most!

The Zapatista Action Project and the Mexico Support Group are calling for urgent support for the following Early Day motion as part of the campaign of International solidarity with the Zapatistas.

Trade with the European Union is increasingly important to the Mexican state and the pressure to demilitarisation of Chiapas needs to be raised within this context.

MEXICO Early Day motion no.1610 (in Hansard 28 July 1998)

Sponsored by MPs Jeremy Corbyn, Ken Livingstone. Kevin McNamara, Norman Godman, Michael Clapharn

This House is deeply concerned about the terror campaign being waged by both paramilitary groups and the Mexican Federal Army against the indigenous Zapatista communities of Chiapas, while human rights observers whose presence had deterred state attacks are being expelled; notes the findings of the recent delegation of MEPs which reported widespread evidence that paramilitary groups in league with security forces are responsible for forced expulsions, death threats, rape, kidnapping and murder (note 1); deplores the Mexican governments abandonment of the 1996 San Andres Accords on Indigenous Rights and Culture, which had guaranteed autonomous self-government and land rights (note 2); and notes that respect for democratic principles and fundamental human rights form an integral part of the EU-Mexico Trade & Co-operation Agreement (note 3); therefore calls upon Her Majesty’s Government to demand that the Mexican government fully implements the San Andres Accords, disbands and disarms its paramilitary groups, withdraws the Federal Mexican Army to its pre-1995 presence in Chiapas, and allows foreign visitors to remain as human rights observers; and further advocates that the EU-Mexico Free Trade Agreement be suspended until all these conditions are fulfilled by the Mexican government, and that all arms sales to Mexico cease.

Notes

1. The state terror has been well documented by journalists, foreign residents who serve as human rights observers, and visitors such as the independent UK delegation, which included MEP Richard Howitt. In June their findings were published as a booklet, Chiapas: before its too late available from Greenleaf Bookshop, Box 19, 82 Colston St, Bristol BSI SBB, tel. 0117-942 277L.Since the delegation visited in March, the Mexican Federal Army has attacked several communities, assassinated people, destroyed village amenities, houses and crops, thus turning villagers into refugees.

2. After the Zapatista uprising of January 1994, the Mexican government began negotiations which led to the San Andres Accords, signed by its own representative in February 1996. However, the government never implemented the Accords and has since substituted its own legislative proposal, which ignores the demands of indigenous people

3. In June 1996 the EU Council of Ministers approved an EU-Mexico Trade & Co-operation Agreement, which required ‘respect for democratic principles and fundamental human rights’ The interim agreement came into effect on 1st July 1998, and further negotiations began in mid-July. According to the Mexican Trade Minister, the human rights issue has had no repercussions on the agreement, and Mexico needs no ‘foreign intervention’ (3 July 1998, Reuters).

On the contrary, the tenor campaign is already linked to foreign intervention. The Mexican government seeks to demonstrate that NAFTA can be used by foreign investors to exploit the human and natural resources of Chiapas, e.g. by privatising the land for Agribusiness and mining

This is partly why the government attacks villagers who defend indigenous land rights and who reject dependence upon state aid.

The government obtains military assistance from the USA and arms from Britain. Therefore a different kind of foreign intervention will be needed to stop state terror in Chiapas.

For background information about the conflict in Chiapas, see the Zapatista Challenge website:

http://www.acephale.org/encuentro

For any queries about promoting the motion itself, you may contact Steve Hogan in the office of Jeremy Corbyn MP. tel. 0171- 219 3545. Email: mailto://[email protected]