In 1993 indigenous revolutionaries calling themselvesEmiliano Zapata Liberacion Nacional (EZLN) launched a brief offensive on the Chiapas capital of San Cristobal de las Casas. The Zapatistas held the town for a short while, then retreated into the Lacondon jungle where their mysterious leader Subcommandante Marcos launched a sophisticated internet campaign blasting globalization and revealing the history of genocide which Indians throughout Mexico have suffered at the hands of the Mexican government, hacienda oligarchs and multinational corporations. The Zapatistas took their name from Emiliano Zapata, who in the early 20th century launched guerrilla attacks against Four Horsemen oil facilities in Veracruz. Zapata’s small band of revolutionaries gained massive public support, leading to the nationalization of the Mexican oil industry by President Lazaro Cardenas. TheZapatistas resurrected the ghost of Emiliano Zapata and stood squarely in the path of Big Oil plans to seize Chiapas’ extensive oil and gas reserves. Chase Manhattan Bank’s Mexico policy expert Riordan Roett penned a report advocating martial law in Mexico to attract foreign investors. Roett singled out both theZapatistas and democracy as obstacles, arguing that the Mexican government must, “eliminate the opposition in Chiapas and should consider carefully whether or not to allow opposition victories (even) if won fairly at the ballot box”. [4] President Ernesto Zedillo heeded the Chase Manhattan call, sending 70,000 Mexican Army troops – one-third ofall Mexican forces – into Chiapas, establishing de factomartial law in the region.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 22:48:29 +0000
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