Indigenous Autonomy of the Chiapas

The Women are Missing

By: Rosa Rojas

The Missing

In the 1970s under the historical leadership of the Independent Council of Agricultural Workers and Peasants (CIOAC), with the uprising of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) as a catalyst, they began to take the Indians of the northern regions of Chiapas

The Northern region of the Chiapas

Tzotzil, Zoque, Chol, and Tojolabal

Struggle in the Chiapas

The people of the Chiapas region want autonomy

Mexico is worried that because the Chiapas is near the border that they will break freeLeading to succession

Quotes about the struggle

"we are certain that we have to govern ourselves. If that means autonomy, then we want autonomy.”

"we are not equal, we are different;" "we are tired of the government treating us like garbage.“

the rebellion and the anger generated by the racism and exploitation to which the indigenous people have been subjected by the mestizo society of Chiapas for all these centuries: "we aren't worth anything to that bunch of cacique bastards,"

Challenges faced by indigenous Maya

Social exclusion Land struggles Poor health conditions Natural disasters Restricted political activity through civil rights abuses

and military presence in Mayan regions Language discrimination (as recently as 2002 courts

used Spanish and did not supply interpreters for non-Spanish speakers)

Actions Taken

seizing town halls in Sayaló, Simojovel and Huitiupán

blockading highways closing schools, stores,

and public offices with the demand that the

municipal authorities be disavowed and that multiethnic councils be created- as well as by new land occupations, in several regions of the entity

Actions near the border

In Margaritas and Comitán- during the month of August villages started making declarations Going on strike No one foreign or unknown allowed in the territory Not paying:

taxes electric light water government loans

The President Refuses: Autonomy Carries the Risk of "Secession"

With regard to the declaration of the constitution of autonomous regions, the acting substituto governor of the entity, Javier López Moreno, affirmed on October 27 that there are groups which intend by their action to "corral" the governor of the state Some with more invasions Others by going to Mexico City with their demands And others by proclaiming "inadmissible

autonomies.”

Presidential interview (rejecting the idea) "To be sure, this [autonomy] is not the proposal

of the immense majority of communities. They consider themselves Mexican in the first place . . . but to propose autonomy, especially there in Chiapas, which borders on another country, would run the risk of a secession from the territory, and we Mexicans would never accept that, not even the immense majority of indigenous people who live together in that region,"

And the Women? "Their Struggle for their Rights is Going to Take as Long as Ours Has"

In his analysis, the indigenous women have been conspicuously absent

Not only do they still have no right to land, but despite the conceptual leap which the "Revolutionary Law of Women" of the EZLN represented, their contributions in this process are still brushed aside and their proposals are often regarded as a product of manipulation by mestizo women. The same people who say this, who are considered

"progressives,“ criticize it as "racism" when others refuse to recognize theoretical elaborations by the indigenous men.

Who were the true authors of the demands

For the right to decide How many children to have and when,

"because one suffers a lot when one has a lot of children;"

For respect as women; For pay equal to men's pay for their work; Or for punishment for those who mistreat

them -including their fathers and husbands

Example of men’s control: forced marriage/ incest

sometimes the fathers want their daughters or stepdaughters to be their women for a while and not go with their boyfriends, and therefore, even if the boyfriend whom the woman likes pays for her, they don't let her get married.

Example of failed law

There is laxity on the part of many social organizations in the face of the accusation that three young

Tzeltal women were raped by soldiers at a military roadblock in Altamirano, despite the seriousness not only of the deed itself,

but of the precedent which would be set if a civil crime were judged in military courts, as the military authorities intend.

Inequality of rights and of discrimination against the women

They "have to take part in decisions," the reality is that, for example, there are

women's committees in only two communities of the autonomous region of Las Margaritas And there is no community where they have the

right to land.

Women & Work

women can only participate in the administration of the corn mill and the Conasupo store. Another source tells us that as soon as the mill in the ejido Veracruz started producing income, the men took over its administration from the women.

President view on women

When asked directly, Hernández offered his vision of the participation that women have had in the process of autonomy: "The women suffer just as much lack of

recognition as we, as Indian people, do. And the women in the Indian villages are even less recognized, because the Indian men don't pay attention to the women, there is a big problem of machismo and discrimination. It is now a well-established illness there.

Political Reform and "A True Agrarian Reform"

Antonio Hernández explained that they intend to carry out a true agrarian reform in the autonomous indigenous regions, pointing out that that would in no way imply the disappearance of authentic small property, but that now "the people must take charge of respecting" small property. It would, however, affect the latifundios, which, he assured us, are still spreading in Chiapas.

"Yes, but who is the Nation now?"

"Now government officials are showing up: the federal government, they are the ones who have ruled and have prevented the Mexican people from moving toward democracy. That's why these great riches of our people are concentrated in the hands of the government and the rich people. So we think that the Nation can exploit these natural resources, but with a prior agreement with the government of the regional peoples."

Institutional Vacuum in the Autonomous Regions

in the mountainous northern region, one notes a power vacuum of the institutions -state and federal- which, however, does not express itself in anarchy, due to the presence of the other powers

After the uprising of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (EZLN)

Now, they publicly gave a name to their decision to govern themselves: autonomy. In this process "the action of the EZLN is fundamental. In Chiapas the peasant and indigenous organizations had gotten a little worn down and lost perspective. Our methods of struggle weren't working, they were worn out and we didn't find any solution."

After the uprising of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (EZLN)

On one hand, the traditional mestizo cacique power which, after it was practically evicted from the semifeudal plantations, went on to control the levers of economic and political power

On the other hand, indigenous power, based in the authority of traditional community institutions, which has been conquering more and more visible spaces in the public sphere

Final thoughts

Hernández emphasized that in a future dialogue or negotiation, the federal government and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation "have to take into account" the participation of the indigenous and peasant social organizations and take up the question of autonomy.

establish

new economic and political relation with the federal government. the municipality can continue to maintain itself

as a structure of government inside the regions. it would only have economic administrative

functions. It would not be like it has been up to now, telling the

villages what they want to do Now it would be the other way around: they would only

have power over the fate of their municipality

Conclusion

Although some of the mestizos in many villages already understand and even participate in the indigenous movements, the traditional centers which hold economic and political power in the region continue to resist conceding more rights to them.