5th National Assembly
POLITICAL DECLARATION
The 270 delegates, from 63 organizations representing indigenous peoples and communities in the 16 states of the Republic, gathered together in the 5th National Assembly of the National Indigenous Conference, held on the 8th and 9th of April of 1999, at the headquarters of the Mexican Union of Electricians, in Mexico City, reaffirming our commitment to the struggle of the Mexican people,
CONSIDERING,
First. During the great mobilization for the recent Consulta for the Recognition of the Rights of the Indian Peoples and For an End to the War of Extermination, the broad consensus that exists in the entire country has been amply demonstrated - by the people as well as by large sectors of civil society - for the San Andres Accords and for the proposal for constitutional reform presented by the Commission of Concordance and Peace (COCOPA).
Second. That, the Consulta itself represented an enormous effort of organization and direct democratic participation by millions of free Mexican men and women, who contributed their own ideas, initiatives and resources, and who joined their minds and hearts from thousands of communities, mountains, regions, barrios, developments, school and work centers, in order to together weave, from below, this great National Consulta. It is a process that represents, through deeds, a new way of opening paths to the true participation of the peoples, in the building of the Great House that we all want, so that the San Andres Accords may be made into reality in the Political Constitution of our country.
Third. That, since this broad popular mobilization, the federal and some state governments, especially that of Chiapas, have begun a new escalation of violence that is trying to deceive our peoples, distorting information on the Consulta, inventing false desertions by zapatista support bases, and renewing their attacks against the Autonomous Municipalities, now, in particular, against the Autonomous Municipal Council of San Andres Sakamch'en de los Pobres. This grave provocation is directed against the dialogue process and the carrying out of the San Andres Accords, and it demonstrates a serious lack of respect for the community that is the physical and moral seat of the dialogue and the peace process, and that will continue to be recognized as such by our peoples, despite the deployment of the police, the military, paramilitaries, judicial police or government propaganda mongers.
Fourth. That, the path that marks our country's current regime is carrying us to the edge of a precipice. That to continue with the privatization of the ejidal and communal lands and waters would strip the support base from the Mexican campesinos and indigenous; that, with the policy of privatizations, such as that of the electricity industry and higher education, the already unhappy social and economic inequality between Mexicans would deepen.
In response to all the foregoing,
WE DECLARE
First: We ratify that the National Indigenous Congress is our space of meeting, of reflection and of joint action; it is the House of All; we are an assembly when we are together, and a network when we are in our regions; as for our internal organization, we have decided to keep our Monitoring Commission, broadening it and carrying out a thorough and constructive review; and we ratify that our key principles for action are:
Second: We ratify that our struggle, potential and primary way of life and existence are to be found in our various regions and territories. Through them, we will continue to strengthen and to rebuild our peoples and identities, and we will continue to make the seeds of liberty and hope flourish for the entire Patria. The mobilization process of the National Consulta for the Recognition of the Rights of the Indian Peoples and for an End to the War of Extermination, continues.
Third: We express our most vigorous repudiation of the violent and irresponsible actions by the interim governor of Chiapas, Roberto Albores Guillen, and those of the Department of Government, who are trying to move recklessly towards new confrontations and to fertilize this already prolonged war of extermination against our peoples with more indigenous blood. The war is primarily centered in the conflict zone, but it is being carried out in the other indigenous regions of the country, even in urban areas, against the peoples, communities, organizations and persons who have participated in the process of the Consulta and in the mobilization for the recognition of our rights.We defend the right and respect for the just and dignified life, and we condemn all forms of extermination and violence against our peoples, in Mexico as well as in the rest of the world, especially, now, in Yugoslavia.
Fourth: We respond positively to the invitation by the EZLN, in the sense of returning the visits of the five thousand zapatista delegates, asking them that our next meeting might be held in Oventic, Chiapas, in the Aguascalientes where our organization was born.
Never again a Mexico without us!
Presented in Tenochtitlan, Mexico,
eighty years from the assassination of General Emiliano Zapata.
___________________________ Translated by irlandesa Date: Sunday, April 11, 1999 19:03:51 -0600 (CST) From: "Ce Acatl, A.C." <ceacatl@laneta.apc.org>