REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL: The giant with the seven-league boots

Part 1

I learned of it through Aristotle, the most famous philosopher in the history of humankind.

Human beings are capable of marvelous actions or the very worst injustices.

Their astonishing intelligence is capable of using the unalterable laws of nature for good or evil.

With much less experience than I possess today, during those days in which our armed struggle was developing in the mountains of Cuba, in the great nation of Mexico – in which all Cubans saw something of their own – we experienced a fleeting but unforgettable period in which all those wonders came together in one corner of the Earth.

There would be no form or words of describing my impressions like a certain Mexican has done who, no wonder, is the person with the greatest authority to speak of the tragedy of that country, as he was the elected mayor of Mexico’s most important electoral district, that of Mexico City, capital of the Republic, and in the 2006 elections was the candidate of the "Coalition for the Good of All."

He stood during the elections and won a majority of votes against the PAN candidate. But the empire would not allow him to assume the mandate.

Like other political leaders, I knew how Washington had drawn up the ideas of the "neoliberalism" that it sold to the countries of Latin America and the rest of the Third World as the embodiment of political democracy and economic development, but I never had such a clear idea of the way in which the empire used this doctrine to destroy and devour the wealth of such an important country, rich in natural resources and the home of an heroic people who possessed their own culture before the pre-Christian era, more than 2,000 years ago.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a person with whom I have never spoken or maintained a friendship, is the author of a small volume that has recently been published, and I am grateful to him for his brilliant exposé of what is happening in that sister nation. His title is "The Mafia That Has Taken Over Mexico…and 2012."

I received the book four days ago, in the afternoon of August 7, after I had returned from my meeting with deputies of the National Assembly of People’s Power of Cuba. I read it with great interest. It describes the way in which the United States is totally devouring a sister nation in this hemisphere, one from which it has already snatched more than 50% of its territory, the largest high-quality gold mines, and the oil wealth that has been intensively exploited for more than one century, of which almost three million barrels are still being extracted a day. I am omitting the reference to the vast volume of gas extracted, as I am aware of the details.

In Chapter 1, he explains the extremely bizarre phenomenon of the total disappearance in Mexico of the railroad created during the time of Benito Juárez - when the first stretch from Mexico City to Veracruz was begun.

During the administration of Porfirio Díaz, it was extended by more than 20,000 kilometers, an endeavor that was subsequently and considerably expanded by the Mexican Revolution.

Today, there is a railroad that "goes from Chihuahua, Chihuahua to Los Mochis, Sinaloa. In the blink of an eye, the technocrats did away with the dreams of 19th century liberals, who saw in the railroad links the ideal way of making Mexico progress," Obrador’s book recounts.

"Fox’ arrival in the presidency of the Republic merely served to revamp the old regime and continue with the same corruption. In reality, it concerned the six-year period of gatopardism, that maneuver via which, in all appearances, everything changes but everything stays the same. Prior to assuming the presidency, Fox subordinated himself to the international financial organizations and, obviously, continued serving the country’s tycoons. Furthermore, not only did he maintain economic policy as inalterable, but supported the same group of technocrats who had been working since the era of Salinas."

Some pages further on, the author states, "…today, almost all the banking institutions belong to foreigners; they do not award credits to promote the country’s development, they invest in government securities, charge the highest interest rates in the world, obtain fabulous profits and are the fundamental source of the transfer of resources to their headquarters in Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom."

"With Fox, the assets of the people and the nation continued being handed over to private companies, both national and foreign […] with Fox, the handing over of national territory for the exploitation of gold, silver and copper was extended without limits […] the Mining Act was modified in order to award unique exploration and exploitation concessions valid for up to 50 years and with the possibility of being further extended […] up to December 2008, 24,816,396 hectares had been granted, 12% of national territory and equivalent to the size of Chihuahua state, the largest in the country."

Something truly astounding and surprising, even for those who have the worst opinion of neoliberalism, are the details that López Obrador offers in the final part of Chapter 1 of his book.

During the Fox government, he affirms: "…in 2005, during Fox-ism, the law on revenue tax was changed again, once again conceding 100% of benefits to large corporations. In order to better understand what this means, we have to bear in mind that in 2008, according to official figures, 400 large monopolies, which obtained incomes of five billion pesos – according to official figures – more than half the country’s GDP for that year – only paid 1.7% in revenue tax and business tax at a unique rate (IETU)."

"In addition, it was during the Fox government that the highest tax refunds were issued in favor of the so-called large contributors and, as is obvious, both the PRI and PAN governments have justified this fiscal sinecure with the fallacy of encouraging investment. If that was a certain fact, we would have had economic growth in the past 27 years and not the paralysis that has prevailed. At the same time, it can be demonstrated that the tax refunds are superior to the increase in private investment; in the 2001-2005 period alone, while private investment increased by 279 billion pesos, tax refunds reached 604 billion pesos; in other words, double that amount. Corruption in the upper echelons of power has been made so official that the Federal Institute of Access to Public Information (IFAI) has decided to keep secret for 12 years – until 2019 – the names of companies that, in 2005, were the beneficiaries of the Tax Administration Service (SAT), having received multi-million peso tax refunds."

Those were the exact words of Carlos Ahumada, when we arrested him in Cuba for violation of our laws. López Obrador knows them because we sent him the minutes together with the deportee Carlos Ahumada on April 28, 2004.

Without any doubt, the event constituted one of the greatest political frauds in the history of America. There are some other points that I will clarify with total precision.

In Chapter 1 itself, under the title, "The masters of Mexico", López Obrador writes: "During the time that I was mayor of Mexico City (2000-2005), I met almost every member of this elite…"

I also share López Obrador’s opinion of Carlos Slim. I also met him. He always visited me when I went to Mexico and, on one occasion, visited me in Cuba. He gave me a television set – the most modern at that time – which I kept in my house until just one year ago. He didn’t do it with the intention of bribing me. And I never asked him for any favors either. In spite of being the richest of all of them, with a fortune in excess of $60 billion, he is an intelligent man who knows all the secrets of the stock markets and mechanisms of the capitalist system.

There would have been multimillionaires with or without Salinas, and with or without Fox, although since then, never as many as there were under the mafia that took over Mexico. López Obrador includes their names in his book and identifies the power of the mafia that took over the country.

Chapter 2 is entitled "Abandonment, corruption and poverty." He notes the GDP of countries throughout the world during 1982-2009; he refers to China with admiration: 10.1%. Furthermore, in a separate paragraph, he mentions the GDP in 2009. He remarks that "if that were not enough – that year – Mexico occupied, in this matter, last place among all the countries on the American continent and, although it may seem incredible, we were below Haiti."

"The technocrats have behaved like fundamentalists. Not only did they comply with the orthodoxy of international financial organizations but they transformed their recommendations into ideology."

"Rural Mexico has been the most affected by so-called neoliberal policies. The abandonment of the countryside is dramatic. I still recall that Pedro Aspe, secretary of housing during the Salinas government, boasted that stimulating production activities in the agricultural sector was unimportant because in a globalized world, it was more economical to buy what we consume abroad."

"The package of neoliberal policies applied to rural areas has given rise to a serious decline in the agricultural sector in relation to population growth. In the three-year period of 1980-1982 to that of 2007-2009, the agriculture, forestry and fishing GDP per inhabitant fell by 15.2%. In other words, while total food production advanced at an annual rate of 1.5%, the population of the country grew, during the periods mentioned, at a rate of 1.7% annually."

"From 1996, oil production continued to rise until, in 2004, it reached the record figure of 1,231,145,000 barrels. Between 1996 and 2004, exports of crude rose from 563 to 683 million barrels per year. This increase coincided with the over-exploitation of the Cantarell complex which, from 2000 to 2004, increased its production from 47% to 61% of national production, becoming the oil field with the greatest output in the history of the world

"While oil extraction was increasing, proven reserves registered a resounding decrease: in 1982, these were 48.3 billion barrels; however, in 2009, they fell to 10 billion. During the period of the Fox government alone, a third of proven reserves were consumed."

"This absurd policy also led to devastation in oil refining, and the gas and petrochemical sectors. Companies linked to these activities were deprived of resources for their expansion and upgrading. No new refineries have been built in the country since 1979. Recently, because of our movement, Calderón was forced to say that there would be one; however, two years have passed since he announced it and still not one brick has been laid."

"And at the same time the price assigned in the United States, the most expensive in the world, was established as a reference. For that reason, we have turned into importers of gas."

In the case of the petrochemical industry, given the lack of investment and neglect, the only thing that has been done is to reduce "the losses" of the petrochemical complexes by halting production lines."

"…the large business and finance corporations have opted for confiscating all its revenues from Pemex. From 2000 to 2009, this company recorded accumulated sales of 8.841 trillion pesos and it paid 6.185 trillion pesos in taxes; in other words, the equivalent of 70% of its sales. …direct public investment in Pemex (not including debt) was 437 billion pesos, or 5% of its total sales."

"Logically, starting with the adoption of neoliberal policies, the energy sector was closely linked to external interests. In this period the possibility of integrating it and utilizing it as a national development lever became even more distant, and all the neoliberal governments have maintained the idea and the intention of privatizing both the electrical and oil industries."

"We do not accept any occupation of our territory. Mexico must continue being a free, independent and sovereign country. We do not want to turn into a colony."

"…on that occasion I ended by reminding them of what General Lázaro Cárdenas del Río once said: ‘a government or individual that hands over national resources to foreign companies is betraying the homeland.’ However, in these times, unfortunately, corruption is stronger than patriotism."

"One of the juiciest businesses benefiting officials and contractors has been buying gas from foreign companies. For this reason, for the technocrats, it has never been really important to extract gas or avoid it being wasted. Mexico is the oil-producing country that burns the most gas into the atmosphere."

"These days, what most concerns the people is the lack of work. Unemployment is alarming. The decline in the job market has grown exponentially. It is estimated that one million young people enter the job market every year and the new jobs that have gradually been created in the formal economy do not even satisfy 25% of demand."

"Even those people who have been able to hold onto their employment have incomes that do not even cover essentials. In a January 2010 investigative report, the Multidisciplinary Analysis Center attached to the UNAM Faculty of Economy maintains that 17.776 million people, who receive less than two minimum salaries and represent 41% of the economically active population, receive incomes that do not permit them to acquire a recommendable family shopping basket, taking into account nutritive, cultural and economic aspects."

"In terms of education, the backslide is dramatic: the population aged 15 and over without a complete elementary education has reached 34% and illiteracy

stands at 9.46%, but in states with a higher degree of marginalization, like Oaxaca, Guerrero and Chiapas it has even reached 23%."

"In Mexico, only two out of every 10 young people have access to higher education, or 20%. UNESCO has established 40-50% as a reference parameter for this level."

"In February 2010, Dr. José Narro Robles, UNAM rector, announced that out of the 115,736 students who took the entrance examination, only 10,350 were selected: 8.9%.

"In the last 20 years, as a consequence of the abandonment of higher education on the part of the state, matriculation in private schools has grown from 16% to 37%."

In Chapter 3 López Obrador reaffirms: "…The oligarchy, the power mafia, felt threatened and it wasn’t of any importance to them to destroy the little that had been constructed to establish democracy in Mexico."

"Time and the reality have demonstrated that fraud caused immense damage: it wounded the sentiments of millions of Mexicans, undermined institutions, totally degraded the so-called political society…"

"Today, March 9, 2009, here in Tamazula, Durango, where Guadalupe Victoria, the first president of Mexico was born, I end my tour of the 2,038 municipalities of the party regime existing in the country. Now, all that I am missing are the 418 indigenous municipalities, in terms of habits and customs, of the state of Oaxaca, which I will visit in the last quarter of this year."

"Over 430 days we covered 148,173 kilometers of paved and dirt roads, to reach the most isolated towns of Mexico."

"The lack of infrastructures and basic services in the municipalities is notorious. Of the 2,038 that I visited, 108 do not have paved roads in their administrative centers. The most backward state in this aspect Oaxaca; of its 152 party regime municipalities, 36 are unpaved. It is followed by Puebla with 15; there and in the region of the Guerrero mountain, I not only confirmed the bad state of the roads; I saw that the new ones, that are just barely being built, are of such poor quality that within 12 months at most they will revert to dirt roads."

"It is illogical that so much Coca-Cola or its equivalent is consumed…"

"I believe that this consumption of soda, calculated at one million liters per day, is fundamentally due to publicity and has become, in certain regions, a status symbol."

"It is indispensable to eliminate the current political economy which has not even produced results in quantitative terms. Mexico is one of the countries of the world with the lowest growth in the last few years."

"It is necessary to change the way of doing politics. This noble profession has been completely perverted. Today, politics is synonymous with deceit, elite arrangements and corruption. Legislators, leaders and public officials are removed from the sentiments of the people; the idea prevails that politics is a thing of politicians and not a concern of everyone."

"The transformation that the country needs must not only propose to achieve economic growth, democracy, development and wellbeing. It also, and above all, implies crystallizing a new current of thought sustained on the culture of our people, on their vocation for work and on their immense generosity; adding values such as tolerance, respect for diversity and environmental protection."

In March 2009, I concluded my tour of the 2,038 municipalities of the country’s party regime, for that reason I drafted a text called ‘‘El país desde abajo: apuntes de mi gira por México’ (The Country from Below: Notes of my Tour of Mexico). On November 20 I completed my visit to the 418 indigenous municipalities in habits and customs of the state of Oaxaca."

"The people of Oaxaca have survived because of their culture. Their mystique of work, their talent and their strong family and community relations emanate from that culture. Their link with the land helps them to maintain an economy of self-sufficiency in food, based on the production of corn, beans and farmyard poultry, as well as coffee cultivation, making use of forests, weaving mats and hats, handicrafts and other activities. In the country’s cities, in the agricultural areas of the north and abroad, their creativity and their workforce are highly appreciated. In the United States, the Mixteca peoples have really earned their reputation of being among the best workers in the world."

"Due to government neglect, Oaxaca is the state with the greatest poverty and marginalization in the country. And in these times they are feeling that more. Let us begin on the basis that people have three fundamental sources for sustaining themselves: an economy of self-sufficiency in food, government support and the money derived from emigration. In the first case, the principal cultivation is that of corn. This blessed plant is what ensures that they do not lack basic foods, among others, tortillas complemented with beans, chili, nopal, and which makes it possible to alleviate hunger. However, in 2009, given a delayed rainy season, the harvests were lost and they have had to buy corn."

"Finally, the third source of income is made up of remittances, which have fallen by approximately 18% in 2009, due to the economic crisis in the United States and in our country. In 2008, Oaxaca received $1.456 billion and in 2009 it is estimated that barely $1.194 billion was obtained."

"It broke my heart to see grown men crying while telling me of the difficult situation that they are enduring and the abandonment in which they find themselves."

"In terms of health, neglect is also a constant. There are municipalities without a doctor and although there are first-rate clinics in the administrative centers, the doctors there only work Monday through Friday and there is a shortage of medicines everywhere."

"In terms of education, despite the effort of pupils and teachers, the decline is apparent. The schools are neglected, with roofs in bad condition, they lack chalkboards, desks and chairs, there are classrooms built with flimsy materials. And most lamentable is that many children and adolescents walk for up to two hours to attend school and almost all of them arrive without having breakfasted."

"In the personal context I have been painted as messianic and a lunatic. Here, I am opening a parenthesis to say that I recently took part in a series of conferences at Mexico City College and the historian Lorenzo Mayer asked me if I had thought of doing something to counteract the attacks on my person, because if in 2006 I was associated with Chávez, whom I do not know, it wasn’t too ridiculous to think that, looking toward the presidential elections of 2012, they would even reach the point of comparing me with Osama Bin Laden."

"The campaign against us has gone so far that many have taken as read rumors that I have a lot of money and luxury residences in the country and abroad. Some people, blinded by their right wing position, and others, totally manipulated, cannot accept that I am not corrupt and that I am fighting for ideals and principles, for me the most important thing in my life."

"However, it is a motive of pride that, in spite of their attempts to destroy us, they have not succeeded nor will they do so. Not only because we have moral authority, but because we, the women and men taking part in this fight, profess a profound love for our compatriots and, beyond treachery and in the face of all kinds of adversity, we maintain the firm conviction of constructing a more just, more humane and more egalitarian society."

In that final chapter López Obrador notes 10 objectives as a synthesis of his political thinking:

"1. To rescue the state and place it at the service of the people and of the nation.

"2. To democratize the mass media.

"3. To create a new economy.

"4. To combat monopolistic practices.

"5. To abolish taxation privileges.

"6. To exercise politics as an ethical imperative and to put republican austerity into practice.

"7. To strengthen the energy sector.

"8. To achieve food sovereignty.

"9. To establish a welfare state.

"10. To promote a new current of thought."

He asks: "What are we doing with the mafia?"

"…our question on what we are doing with the mafia, or rather, what we will do with the oligarchies, moves in another context and is based on our concept that Mexico’s principal problem is, precisely, the predominance of a handful of people who hold power and are responsible for the current national tragedy. And, as is evident, if we are pledged to establishing democracy and transforming the country, it is best to make it known from now what we would do with the oligarchies upon the triumph of our cause."

"…unfortunately, what has predominated in the country is greed and making money at all costs, without moral scruples of any kind. In other words, the culture of agandalle (ruthlessly self-seeking) and the maxim that ‘he who doesn’t cheat, doesn’t advance.’"

He ends on Page 205, with the following words:

"So, the revolution of conscience to construct the new Republic is underway. The task is a sublime one, nothing in the public terrain can be more important than the renaissance of Mexico. No other activity can produce more satisfaction than that of fighting for the wellbeing of others. It is a seal of pride to live with daring and moreover, to have the good fortune of making history."

His book is a valiant and irrefutable condemnation of the mafia who took over Mexico.

1. He does not mention the fact that a colossal drug market has been created in the United States and that its military industry supplies the most sophisticated weapons, which have converted Mexico into the first victim of a bloody war in which more than 5,000 young Mexicans are dying every year. Although I understand that a man who is incessantly touring the most isolated municipalities of the country could not tackle that matter. However, for my part, I consider it a duty to remind the Mexican people that this problem is added to the facts noted in López Obrador’s courageous condemnation.

2. Neither does he put on record the fact that climate change has become a colossal danger to the survival of the species, that it is in fact already creating extremely grave problems like the one that Russia is currently suffering, where a the number of victims of heat and smoke from the fires it is provoking in the forests and peat bogs, has more than doubled the number of people requiring funeral services in Moscow and other cities. Mexico is precisely the country where the future Climate Change Summit and many other activities related to it will take place.

3. He omits any reference to the imminent risk of a nuclear war, which could make our species disappear. However, it is fair to note that on May 24, 2010, when López Obrador completed his book, the United Nations Security Council had not adopted Resolution 1929 of June 9, 2010, ordering the inspection of Iranian merchant ships and creating a situation from which it can no longer escape.

Nevertheless, López Obrador will be the person with the greatest moral and political authority in Mexico when the system collapses and, with it, the empire. His contribution to the battle to avert President Obama unleashing that war will be of great value.

I shall continue tomorrow.

Fidel Castro Ruz

August 11, 2010

9:53 p.m.

Translated by Granma International

U.S. Military Funded Mapping Project in Oaxaca: University Geographers Used to Gather Intelligence?

U.S. Military Funded Mapping Project in Oaxaca: University Geographers Used to Gather Intelligence?

Written by Cyril Mychalejko and Ramor Ryan

Wednesday, 01 April 2009

Source: Z Magazine "War was God's way of teaching Americans geography," once wrote Ambrose Bierce, an American journalist and social critic. Today, a University of Kansas (KU) professor may be using geography to teach Americans war. Dr. Jerome Dobson, a geography professor and president of the American Geographical Society (AGS), sent out a one-and-a-half page white paper sometime in late 2004-early 2005 to the Department of Defense and civilian agencies looking for funding to promote a $125 million "academic" project that would send geographers to countries all over the globe to conduct fieldwork. "The greatest shortfall in foreign intelligence facing the nation is precisely the kind of understanding that geographers gain through field experience, and there's no reason that it has to be classified information," wrote Dobson. "The best and cheapest way the government could get most of this intelligence would be to fund AGS to run a foreign fieldwork grant program covering every nation on earth." This fieldwork program, named the Bowman Expeditions, was enthusiastically received by Dr. Geoffrey Demarest, a former Lieutenant Colonel and current Latin America specialist at the U.S. Army's Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO). The FMSO is a research center housed at Fort Leavenworth, about 50 miles down the road from KU. According to its website, FMSO "conducts analytical programs focused on emerging and asymmetric threats, regional military and security developments, and other issues that define evolving operational environments around the world." Demarest, a School of the Americas graduate who served multiple assignments in Latin America during his 23-year military career, has written extensively about counterinsurgency and believes mapping and property rights are necessary tools to advance U.S. security strategies, such as with Plan Colombia. He helped secure a $500,000 grant to partially fund México Indígena, the first Bowman Expedition, which until recently has been quietly mapping indigenous lands in Oaxaca, Mexico. In January, a communiqué sent out by the Union of Organizations of the Sierra Juárez of Oaxaca (UNOSJO) alleged that the project was carried out without obtaining free, prior, and informed consent of local communities as mandated by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. UNOSJO also questioned whether the project, which in addition to the involvement of the U.S. military office that runs the controversial Human Terrain System, involves the participation of Radiance Technologies—a weapons development and intelligence company that could in the future use the information collected to the detriment of the local population in terms of counter-insurgency, bio-piracy, or the privatization of land. The communiqué generated a confined hurricane of criticism on Internet sites and listservs (and a flurry of articles in Oaxaca daily newspapers). But when reports of the conflict starting appearing on international media outlets like Pravda and Seoul Times, project directors Dobson and fellow KU professor Peter Herlihy (lead geographer for México Indígena) were prompted to defend the ethics, purpose, and scope of their projects. "Because the Foreign Military Studies Office has been one of several sponsors of the first Bowman Expedition México Indígena," they wrote on the México Indígena website to address "misconceptions" on the project, "there has been some understandable confusion regarding the project's aims.... FMSO's goal is to help increase an understanding of the world's cultural terrain, so that the U.S. government may avoid the enormously costly mistakes which it has made due in part to a lack of such understanding." On the gathering controversy in Mexico, they stated, "The México Indígena team is well aware that some people are suspicious of the fact that FMSO is one of its sponsors. We ask only that such potential critics keep an open mind, that they learn a little about what we really do, and that they reconsider their assumption that any action which involves any part of the U.S. government must necessarily be bad." These words only added fuel to the fire. Community on Fire In a small rural Zapotec community deep in the distinctly isolated Sierra Juárez of Oaxaca, southern Mexico, a regional gathering of indigenous peoples' autonomy took place from February 21 to 23. The 3rd Feria of the Cornfield-Globalization and the Natural Resources of the Sierra, convened by the UNOSJO coordination, drew together a couple of hundred local attendees to consolidate the ongoing process of autonomy and present a showcase of indigenous corn-based culture and food sovereignty. But the burning topic of the mapping controversy seemed to overshadow other discussions. "We made it very clear that we don't want anyone mapping around here," said Juan Perez Luna, community leader of the host village, Asuncion Lachixila. "Yes, we want to map our own communities and, yes, we want to learn how to do it, but we don't believe what these (México Indígena) geographers were saying." Don Juan, an elderly grandfather who attended the gathering, was straightforward with his thoughts on the project: "We think these studies are about counter-insurgency." The U.S. geographers promoting the México Indígena project first approached UNOSJO in 2006, as if recognizing the NGO as the informal conduit to the Zapotec communities. This coincided with the development of the popular social movements in Oaxaca that gave birth to the Oaxacan Peoples Popular Assembly (APPO) and a dynamic new kind of popular uprising marked by horizontal organizational structures and militant non-violent direct action. APPO seized the city of Oaxaca for seven months in what become known as the Oaxaca Commune, often mobilizing as many as a half-million citizens in support of their revolutionary demands. The state, unfamiliar with how to deal with this kind of social unrest (no obvious leaders to arrest, disappear, assassinate) repeatedly failed to quell the uprising and eventually sent over 5,000 members of the Policía Federal Preventiva (PFP), Mexico's heavily armed federal military-police force, to retake the city. The violent counter-offensive led to several deaths and hundreds of arrests, and was followed by intense repression against the social movement. Indigenous communities across the Oaxaca state, representing the poorest and most oppressed segment of the population, sided with the inclusive social movement. The Zapotec communities of the Sierras threw their weight behind the APPO, supporting its demands for indigenous autonomy. "Indigenous peoples' demand for land tenancy and territorial autonomy challenge Mexico's neoliberal policies—and democracy itself," wrote Professors Dobson and Herlihy in a July 2008 article published in the Geographical Review ("A Digital Geography of Indigenous Mexico: Prototype for AGS Bowman Expeditions"). This overtly political observation contrasts strikingly with Dobson's February 5 written response to the growing controversy around his project, where he claimed "our team's abiding dedication to the indigenous people of Oaxaca and our neutrality in all things political." Aldo González. Photo by Ramor Ryan "UNOSJO have been showing how Dobson, or better said, the U.S. military authorities who are behind the mapping project, have an interest in the privatization of communally held lands," explained Aldo González, director of the Union of Organizations of the Sierra Juárez. "Throughout their mapping investigations, they are seeking to understand the communities' resistance to privatization and identify mechanisms to force them to join PROCEDE [a government privatization scheme]. Bowman Expeditions clearly state that they are collecting information so that the U.S. government can make better foreign policy decisions. So obviously they are going to take into consideration the information gathered here in these communities and apply it in general to all the communities in similar circumstances in Oaxaca and all over Mexico." México Indígena's own website reveals, "Since the tumultuous period of political unrest in the summer and fall of 2006, Oaxaca has been in the news as a region where long-standing grievances among many indigenous communities are meshing with other movements in complex ways. Our work will illuminate neglected but important facets of these movements." This reinforces concerns, like Don Juan's and González's, that the project's real focus is on counter-insurgency and social engineering. When asked about the stated goal of understanding social movements, Herlihy didn't initially recall that from the project's website. When asked in a follow-up interview to clarify the statement on the website, he defended his research and its purpose. "Land is often at the root of social conflict. Our participatory research mapping methodology helped illuminate the neglected and little-understood PROCEDE program and how the neoliberal privatization of 'social property' begins to threaten indigenous lifeways through the introduction of individualistic and capitalistic land tenure practices, changing historic guarantees of the inalienability of communal property," wrote Herlihy in an email. "Indeed, indigenous communities and organizations have only begun protesting the results and impact of the Mexican land certification program." Another intrinsic part of the war of words in this bitter dispute is the Bowman Expeditions' insistence that UNOSJO, and particularly its director, Aldo González, have no right to speak on behalf of the communities. "UNOSJO is a small NGO that works with Zapotec and other indigenous communities in the Sierra Juárez (but) it is not the political or official voice of the Zapotec communities where we did our research," wrote Herlihy in an official statement with other students and professors participating in México Indígena. González refutes the charge. UNOSJO—with the affiliation of 24 communities—is the largest Zapotec organization in the region. He said: "Mr. Herlihy and Mr. Dobson—and indeed the U.S. military—are used to speaking to individuals. For them it is sufficient to ask one person as the owner of a piece of land for permission. But for the indigenous communities things aren't like that. Today we are struggling for autonomy for our indigenous peoples, and this is a project bigger than any one single community. So what is happening in Tiltepec and Yagila is affecting other Zapotec communities. For this reason, we have the courage, the duty, and the reason to protest against Bowman Expeditions because it is not just the communities of Tiltepec or Yagila, but all the Zapotec communities in that region, and, ultimately, all of the indigenous communities in Mexico, who are being or will be affected by the studies." "Let the indigenous people of Oaxaca speak for themselves," wrote Dobson in his February 5 response to critics. The problem in this is that the two communities who hosted the mapping project—San Miguel Tiltepec and San Juan Yagila—have not yet come out publicly on the matter. Herlihy, the México Indígena team leader, wrote in the aforementioned statement "our (sic) community leaders have openly expressed heartfelt appreciation for our hard work. And you recognize the usefulness of the maps we produced together with you, as well as the training received by the community investigators and university students involved." González offered a different version of events: "We have been talking to the communities involved in the U.S. studies and they maintain that they were not sufficiently informed about the source of finance and they feel angry because of this. For sure the Herlihy team will try and go to them to change their minds and convince them otherwise, and that will generate more debate." Zoltan Grossman, a faculty member in Geography and Native American Studies at Evergreen State College who also serves as co-chair of the Indigenous Peoples Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), has been following the project and the controversy surrounding it. "In this case of mapping collective land holdings, it seems like some indigenous communities are working with Herlihy's project, while others are suspicious of it," said Grossman, speaking as an individual and not on behalf of the AAG's Indigenous Group. "Personally, I don't think the support of some indigenous people for the project should be used as an answer to criticism by others." He added that this could exacerbate internal divisions among the Native peoples, while it also creates a colonial divide-and-conquer dynamic that pits indigenous communities against each other. Meanwhile, in Oaxaca, everyone is taking a position. Don Juan from Lachixila is more disappointed with his neighbors in Tiltepec and Yagila: "They don't have enough awareness of what's really going on. They were fooled." Melquiades Cruz, an indigenous communications worker from Santa Cruz Yagavila (the first community to stop work with the México Indígena project), admitted that people there were initially interested in the project as a way of empowering local students. "At first the community was interested in the México Indígena project primarily so that the youth would learn how to do this kind of graphic information work, to be useful for the community and the region. The community entered into communication with them, and there were three assemblies during which they presented their project," said Cruz. "It was during the third assembly that the community told them that this project doesn't appeal to us because we think that it seems like an awful lot of money and there must be something else behind it. But if you have the money to just leave your people here to train our people to do the work, that's all, then we can do it. So that this knowledge can be communal, and so that it is shared between the community and the academics that come from outside." Cruz said the México Indígena team broke off relations after that. This led the community to determine it would not make a formal decision in the assembly. "These people from outside always come trying to sell a great idea—in this case to produce a graphic picture of the community—but this time we saw through it, and we said, it's not just a graphic map, maybe they are interested in the community resources," said Cruz. "We saw that there was something else behind it." Among the Zapotec in Lachixila, the charge of counter-insurgency activities resounds. UNOSJO has also outlined its concerns in terms of both land privatization and bio-piracy. "It's not just about military control, but also about strategic control over the communities, controlling their land and their consumption," said González. The bio-piracy issue has been taken up by groups working in food sovereignty and environmental advocacy. Silvia Ribeiro, a researcher from the environmental advocacy ETC Group wrote in the Mexican daily La Jornada, "These maps are of great utility for military ends and for counterinsurgency, but also for industrial purposes (exploitation of resources like minerals, plants, animals and biodiversity; mapping access roads already constructed or 'necessary,' sources of water, settlements, social maps of possible resistance or acceptance of projects, etc)." "We're putting the power of maps into the hands of these communities," insists Herlihy. But could it also be that these University of Kansas geographers' mapping project is serving as an imperial alibi for the FMSO's Demarest, "champion" of the Bowman project, to further his agenda of strengthening the collaboration among "policymakers, officers and soldiers to have better on-the-ground information" through GIS mapping systems to conduct war? Santa Cruz Yagavila's Cruz alleged that the geographers were not forthright with where their funding was coming from, thus suggesting either a lack of comfort with the project's relationship with the military, or a conscientious effort to conceal the military designs behind the project. "Herlihy made a presentation in the community showing what were the uses of the maps, where they had worked before, but he never told us where the funds for the project were coming from," said Cruz. "He said it was funded by the University of Kansas or by the University of San Luis, but he never mentioned the source of the funds coming from the Armed Forces of the United States, never." "By not really revealing their intentions, by not revealing the sources of their funding, by not giving all the information, México Indígena are violating the communities. They are concealing the truth, they are lying," said González. "What they say is a façade, a deception. Yes, we recognize that the maps do have a certain usefulness for the communities, but what we see behind the project is not a helping hand. No, in reality, it's espionage, a form of spying on the communities." Answering critics' attacks on the lack of transparency, Herlihy recalled how he gave numerous presentations about the project to local communities and "was sure to declare that the project was partially funded by the Foreign Military Studies Office." Nevertheless his description of the FMSO as a "small military research office within Fort Leavenworth down the road from the University of Kansas" seemed deficient, especially in light of the fact that the research being carried out by the office largely concerns counter-insurgency and focuses on "emerging and asymmetric threats." An Indecent Proposal? Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan often spoke of America as "a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere," even as he was cozying up to Guatemala's genocidal former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, funding and training death squads in El Salvador, and being charged by the World Court for "unlawful use of force" (terrorism) for Washington's overt and covert support of the Contras in Nicaragua. In a similar light, neither Dobson nor Herlihy seem to accept any type of radical critique of U.S. power, refusing to acknowledge the country's imperial designs for the region dating back to Manifest Destiny. "My whole rationale for Bowman Expeditions is based on my firm belief that geographic ignorance is the principal cause of the blunders that have characterized American foreign policy since the end of World War II," Dobson wrote in his February 5 statement answering his critics. He told me in an interview that, "America abandoned geography after World War 2 and hasn't won a war since." But statements like that seem to contradict assertions that the project in Oaxaca was conceived exclusively to "help" the local indigenous population. "It's the prostitution of geography for the national ruling class," said Neil Smith, distinguished professor of Anthropology and Geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Smith, whose book American Empire: Roosevelt's Geographer and the Prelude to Globalization exposes Isaiah Bowman, whom KU's Dobson named his project after, as an imperialist and racist. "This project is aptly named the Bowman Expeditions," Smith said. "[It] follows in the tradition that he started." México Indígena power point presentation Dobson and Herlihy's July 2008 article in the Geographical Review reveals that General David Petraeus, co-author of the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, met with México Indígena's research team in October 2006, and commented how, "U.S. troops were unprepared for the 'cultural terrains' of Iraq and Afghanistan and how they needed ways 'to get troops smarter faster.'" Dobson shares with readers his reply, explaining "how geography combines the 'cultural' and 'geographical' terrains into the synthetic 'cultural landscape.'" In the project's executive summary, prepared by defense contractor Radiance Technologies (whose role according to the company is to provide "requirements oversight"), México Indígena "represents the initial step in a much larger concept of reviving a tradition of research by university scholars providing 'open-source intelligence' on different parts of the world...[in light of] the unfortunate realization that the United States is now perceived as a mighty global power crippled by its own ignorance and arrogance about its dealings with its vast global domain." The document also states, "Indigenous regions in Mexico, like in so many parts of Latin America and around the world, are where rebellions are fomented, where drugs are produced, where resource pirates operate, and where conditions of poverty and despair drive up the highest rates of our migration. Few would disagree that as we move into the 21st century, indigenous populations are among the most important social actors in struggles of the future of Latin American democracies. Today's populist struggle against neoliberalism has been central to the indigenous movement in Mexico as illustrated by the emergence of the Zapatista army in Chiapas, challenging the corruption and neoliberal strategies of past PRI-run governments at the onset of NAFTA." Anti-ALCA (FTAA) cartoon posted in Oaxaca. Posted at web.ku.edu/~mexind Amnesty International (AI), on February 9, issued a statement criticizing a Mexican government human rights report recently submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council. Mexico is one of 16 countries up for review this year by the world body's Universal Periodic Review Working Group. According to AI, the report "fails to acknowledge the worsening human rights climate in many parts of the country." AI also offered an alternative report, which concluded that "Mexican federal, state and municipal police officers implicated in serious human rights violations, such as arbitrary detention, torture, rape and unlawful killings, particularly those committed during civil disturbances in San Salvador Atenco and Oaxaca City in 2006, have not been brought to justice." It also noted that, "Human rights defenders, particular those in rural areas, often face persecution and sometimes prolonged detention on the basis of fabricated or politically-motivated criminal charges." The FMSO, the principal sponsor of the Oaxaca mapping project, runs the Human Terrain System (HTS), an army program used by General Petraeus in Iraq and in Afghanistan, which embeds anthropologists with military units to conduct field research with the aim of assisting counterinsurgency efforts in the two countries. UNOSJO's first communiqué sent out in January claimed they believe that the Bowman Expeditions are a new manifestation of the counter-insurgency program. Roberto González, an associate professor of anthropology at San Jose State University and author of American Counterinsurgency: Human Science and the Human Terrain, told CounterPunch in an interview that the program is "a scheme to whitewash counterinsurgency and to clean up the image of anti-revolutionary warfare, which is always a dirty business. Even though the U.S. military has more than a century of experience in counterinsurgency warfare (going back to the 'Indian Wars' of the 1800s and the cruel campaign against Filipino revolutionaries in the early 1900s), General David Petraeus and other battlefield technicians have portrayed the method as a 'gentler' means of fighting, while recruiting political scientists, anthropologists, and other social scientists to create the tools to do this." This led the American Anthropological Association's Executive Board to produce a statement officially condemning the Human Terrain program as a violation of the field's ethical tenets, such as ensuring both voluntary informed consent and ensuring the welfare of affected populations. Dobson, in his Geographical Review article, claims allegations that México Indígena and the Bowman Expeditions are part of HTS are unfounded. "The AGS Bowman Expeditions offers a means of studying the human terrain, but they are substantially different from the human terrain system or human terrain teams as currently constituted: Our purpose is scholarly, not military," wrote Dobson. "I feel that this particular controversy would not have the traction that it does if it were not for the direct role of the U.S. military, especially in light of the turmoil in Oaxaca," said Evergreen State College's Grossman. "Oaxaca is not just any old state in Mexico and southern Mexico is not just any old region in the Americas, it's an area that has had significant repression in very recent years against indigenous peoples by federal forces funded by the U.S." Grossman said that given the political turmoil in the region, coupled with U.S. military pronouncements in recent years equating indigenous and anti-globalization movements with insurgency and terrorism, it's not surprising that some people believe that the maps could be used by the Mexican government for repressive actions in the name of stability. Specifically, FMSO analysts have lumped indigenous movements with insurgents and terrorists and suggests they are troublemakers and a threat to U.S. interests. Adding to the specter of U.S. and state violence and repression in the region, the U.S Joint Forces Command released a report in November 2008 that stated Mexico risked becoming a failed state and, if that were to be the case, it would demand U.S. intervention. Meanwhile, the U.S. House passed a spending bill on February 25 which allocates $410 million for the Merida Initiative, a militarization project modeled after Plan Colombia, to "carry out counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, and border security measures." CUNY's Smith said he believes the motivation behind the Defense Department is very clear, especially in light of Dobson's words. "It's clear that the work they are doing could feed into the Human Terrain System," he said. "The question to ask is why wouldn't it go into the HTS?" Grossman essentially agrees with Smith. He believes that the FMSO is interested in the research, if not "officially" for its Human Terrain System program, then to better understand the social and cultural human landscape of the region's research. But México Indígena's Helihy passionately defended his project and intentions. "This is not an evil military plot to destroy indigenous lands. It's nothing of the sort," said Herlihy. "I knew it would be conflictive precisely because we had FMSO funding, but I hoped it would be a project that would make a difference in the world." In addition, he stated, "We told the Tiltepec community Assembly, where UNOSJO Director presented the first public denouncement, that we would take down the maps if they wanted us too, and we would do the same for any other study community." Likewise, Dobson notes that one thing he insisted on with the FMSO was that the academic investigator in charge of any of the projects would have sole responsibility for choosing the topic of his or her expedition, which he believes quells any notion that this is a military-run research program. The debate over this program, the contradictions surrounding it, and the broader question of whether it is ethical for academia to be working so closely with the U.S. military and intelligence community has been going on for decades. But, in a way, it seems closer to beginning rather than ending. Whether this project is "about science in the service of the state and science in the service of elites," as Smith contends, or about using participatory mapping to empower indigenous communities to protect their land and cultural rights, as Herlihy and the projects' other supporters argue, an answer probably won't be fleshed out any time soon. Grossman said that dealing with research controversies and the ethical questions raised in cases such as this one could be a way for geography to overcome its colonial and imperial past. Indigenous peoples have been waiting over 500 years for the world to overcome its colonial and imperial past. What's uncertain is whether these indigenous communities in Oaxaca can afford to wait a few more. Cyril Mychalejko is an editor at www.UpsideDownWorld.org, an online magazine covering politics and activism in Latin America. Ramor Ryan contributed to this article from Oaxaca. He is an Irish journalist based in Chiapas, Mexico who wrote Clandestines: the Pirate Journals of an Irish Exile (AK Press, 2006).

México: Declaración del III Foro Nacional en Defensa del Maíz Nativo

Para pensar juntos cómo enfrentar y resistir las agresiones que hace muchos años vivimos las comunidades indígenas, las organizaciones indígenas y campesinas y organizaciones de la sociedad civil nos reunimos por tercera vez (del 14 al 17 de mayo de 2007) en Cenami delegados, representantes, comuneros, ejidatarios y miembros de organizaciones procedentes de Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, Jalisco, Puebla, Estado de México, Veracruz, Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, Guerrero, el Distrito Federal, Perú y Brasil, en torno a la defensa de nuestros maíces, territorios y comunidades.

Tenemos varios años de estar al pendiente de las amenazas que se ciernen sobre nuestro maíz y nuestras comunidades. Primero acordaron la liberación del maíz y frijol en el TLCAN, dejando a los campesinos mexicanos en el olvido, a expensas de las grandes transnacionales de semillas y alimentos. Después hicimos los análisis y los diagnósticos en nuestras milpas para confirmar la contaminación del maíz transgénico a algunos de nuestros maíces nativos, que el gobierno se empeñó en negar. Hemos visto también cómo desde las leyes como la Ley de Bioseguridad y la Ley de Organismos Genéticamente Modificados, junto con otras iniciativas en agua, bosques, minas y medio ambiente, buscan crear un marco jurídico favorable a la agricultura comercial y a las nuevas tecnologías, olvidándonos a los pequeños productores y a nuestras formas tradicionales de hacer la milpa.

En estos días hemos visto que se viene un horizonte nuevo y más agresivo para nuestros pueblos: quieren abrir el campo mexicano a la experimentación transgénica porque así tendrían la posibilidad de introducir violentamente la tecnología Terminator y los agrobiocombustibles. Con la tecnología Terminator buscan sembrar la muerte, impidiendo que guardemos nuestras semillas y nos volvamos a reproducir; quieren que cultivemos biocombustibles para alimentar a las máquinas, aunque esto signifique que las comunidades dejemos de comer y vivir del maíz.

Estamos preocupados en las comunidades porque cada vez es más difícil entender las lunas, las aguas, los animales y el territorio como lo hacíamos antes con nuestros saberes y conocimientos tradicionales. Vemos ahora que el cambio climático lo han hecho discurso y excusa para justificar su ambición y para amenazarnos nuevamente. Las transnacionales, apoyadas por el gobierno, dicen que la única manera de solucionar el cambio climático y la crisis energética es sembrar agrobiocombustibles y transgénicos en todo el mundo. Las industrias energética, automotriz y agrícola, que son las culpables del calentamiento del planeta, quieren ahora que cultivemos agrobiocombustibles para ellos tener más ganancias a costa de nuestra alimentación, nuestra autonomía y de nuestras historias y costumbres.

Todas estas amenazas forman parte de un modelo más grande, el neoliberalismo, que sólo reconoce a los agroindustriales y cuyo objetivo es destruir la cultura del maíz. Los pueblos vivimos esto como un atentado porque atacar al maíz significa atacar a las comunidades. El maíz es la base de nuestra alimentación y de nuestras tradiciones. Los campesinos e indígenas que cultivamos el maíz le estorbamos al sistema, porque el que siembra comunitariamente consume lo que cultiva, pero ellos quieren que no seamos autosuficientes en nuestra alimentación, quieren que no sintamos el territorio y el maíz como sagrados. Quieren que olvidemos que el maíz, el territorio y la comunidad son la vida de los pueblos y que nos integremos a la cultura del dinero. Y si no lo hacemos, pretenden desaparecernos como pueblos y como campesinos.

Nos damos cuenta que los gobiernos entienden el territorio como una tabla rasa, sin diferencias, y buscan dos maneras de acabarlo: hacerlo producir por producir o no tocarlo ni vivirlo. Para los gobiernos es más útil el territorio deshabitado y por eso buscan que la gente salga de sus comunidades: porque así pueden aplicar proyectos carreteros, turísticos, programas de mejoramiento de la ganadería y de “semillas mejoradas” o transgénicas y proyectos productivos para el mercado, no para los pueblos. Luego premian a los que se van fuera con programas como el “Casa Digna al Jornalero” y engañan con miserias a los que quedan, como el “Oportunidades”. Enseñan a nuestros jóvenes en otros modos con sus programas educativos para que ya no quieran vivir en las comunidades, en el campo, para que ya no quieran sembrar y que rechacen su origen y sus costumbres; no les enseñan a responder a las inquietudes de nuestras comunidades, con nuestros conocimientos y tradiciones. A todo esto, le dicen desarrollo y progreso, pero nosotros sólo vemos miseria, migración y muertes como resultado.

Estamos claros por nuestra reflexión y nuestra experiencia que con un poquito de mazorcas resistimos y que la mejor manera de defender el maíz es sembrarlo. Hemos decidido que la autosuficiencia, el tener maíz para comer las comunidades, es más importante que el dinero, por lo que decimos nuestra palabra:

1. Reiteramos nuestro rechazo a la apertura a la experimentación transgénica, así como a la tecnología Terminator.

2. Exigimos la salida total de los transgénicos de México y por lo tanto la prohibición tajante de la tecnología Terminator en nuestro país.

3. Rechazamos enérgicamente los agrobiocombustibles en el campo mexicano por muchas razones: porque no resuelven ni el cambio climático ni la crisis energética; porque mantienen el mismo modelo que destruye la naturaleza; porque sólo sirven para beneficio de unos pocos y son una estrategia para vender más autos; porque convierten los cultivos en máquinas y a los campesinos en trabajadores asalariados; porque no responsabilizan a los verdaderos culpables del cambio climático; porque quieren impedir que sembremos para comer y así hacernos dependientes y esclavos; porque buscan que en el campo nos hagamos de ciudad y consumamos alimentos enlatados, despensas transgénicas y comida de fuera que está contaminada.

4. Reivindicamos que la producción para el autoconsumo de nuestras familias y nuestras comunidades es la mejor alternativa para la defensa de los pueblos y la construcción de nuestra autonomía.

5. Pedimos respeto a nuestros tiempos de siembra, nuestras fiestas, nuestras ceremonias y celebraciones y nuestras costumbres de cuidar y vivir con el maíz y la naturaleza.

Hemos acordado que, al interior de nuestros pueblos, comunidades y organizaciones, vamos a tomar las medidas de:

1. Fortalecer la producción del maíz sólo para autoconsumo, sin vender lo que sobre porque no sabemos qué trato le van a dar los comerciantes.
2. Reforzar nuestras asambleas comunitarias y ejidales, así como a nuestras autoridades y cargos tradicionales para cuidar nuestros territorios.

3. Darles ánimos a los jóvenes para quedarse en las comunidades y ponerse al servicio de las asambleas, en vez de esperar a que los ricos vengan a darles trabajo o salgan a buscarlos en las ciudades.

4. Atender y cuidar al maíz para que esté en todas las ceremonias, en todas las familias, en todas las comunidades.

5. Promover los intercambios de semillas entre familias y comunidades.

6. Recuperar técnicas y herramientas tradicionales y agroecológicas de nuestras comunidades.

7. Dejar de usar fertilizantes, pesticidas y químicos que dañan la tierra.

8. No vender terrenos a gente de afuera y someter las ventas a acuerdos de asambleas.


El maíz sigue siendo el centro de la vida, de la inteligencia y de la sabiduría. Si seguimos haciendo nuestro cultivo como nosotros sabemos sin meternos en la otra tecnología, la práctica de la agricultura tradicional va a seguir adelante en la historia y nosotros seguiremos también adelante con la ayuda del maíz.

Mexico, DF, a 17 de mayo de 2007

la lista:

El regreso de la otra

Los zapatistas tienen hoy un diagnóstico y un mapa de los conflictos políticos y sociales que existen en el país, que no posee ninguna otra fuerza política

Por Luis Hernández Navarro
La Jornada


Este domingo comenzó la segunda fase de la otra campaña. Siete comandantes, siete comandantas y un subcomandante saldrán a recorrer nuevamente el país. Convocan a iniciar la Campaña mundial por la defensa de las tierras y los territorios indígenas y campesinos, autónomos, en Chiapas, México y el Mundo.

A la primera etapa de la otra campaña se le atravesaron circunstancias inesperadas. Primero fue la represión en Atenco, que obligó a suspender temporalmente la gira nacional. Después fue el levantamiento oaxaqueño, que cambió la dinámica de la confrontación social en el país. Finalmente se encontró con el fraude electoral y el triunfo de Felipe Calderón.

Aunque las fuerzas de la otra no fueron suficientes para sacar a los presos de Atenco de la cárcel y lograr el castigo de los responsables, sí lograron convocar una campaña permanente de solidaridad y evitar que el asunto fuera olvidado.

La comuna de Oaxaca abrió un foco de atención en la opinión pública y los medios de comunicación, lo cual provocó que la ya de por sí poca cobertura mediática de la otra se limitara aún más. Ante Oaxaca, los zapatistas se toparon, además, con la decisión del movimiento de seguir una amplia política de alianzas, que incluía a Andrés Manuel López Obrador y el PRD, cuando uno de los objetivos centrales de la otra era diferenciarse claramente de ellos.

Finalmente, el fraude electoral y el triunfo de Felipe Calderón modificaron el esquema en que la otra fue concebida. Los zapatistas supusieron que el triunfador en los comicios sería López Obrador, y se prepararon para ello. El fraude cambió ese resultado. El subcomandante Marcos denunció el timo pocas horas después de que fue perpetrado. Sin embargo, el EZLN no participó en las acciones de resistencia civil para tratar de revertirlo. Esa posición lo alejó de una parte de los integrantes de la otra y de un sector de la intelectualidad, usualmente solidario de sus posiciones.

La nueva fase de la otra se inicia en un complejo panorama político. Dentro de Chiapas, el nuevo gobernador, Juan Sabines, quien formalmente ganó las elecciones con las siglas del PRD, ha permitido la recomposición del PRI. El ex dirigente de ese partido Sami David está al frente de la Corporación de Proyectos Estratégicos del gobierno del estado. El hijo del tristemente célebre Roberto Albores Guillén fue designado secretario de Fomento Económico. El líder de los ganaderos y edil de Comitán, Jorge Constantino Kanter, tiene una magnífica relación con el mandatario estatal.

Simultáneamente a ese reacomodo en el gobierno estatal, se han reanimado y rearticulado los grupos paramilitares y la disputa por las tierras recuperadas en manos de bases de apoyo zapatistas. Organizaciones armadas del PRI, como la URCI y Opddic, buscan quedarse con los predios que trabajan los rebeldes y organizaciones campesinas democráticas, y hostigan regularmente a sus integrantes. Iniciativas "ambientalistas" buscan despojar a otros grupos campesinos de las tierras que poseen desde hace años, con el pretexto de la defensa del medio ambiente.

En el terreno nacional, el gobierno de Felipe Calderón se ha consolidado a pesar de todo. Hizo aprobar la nueva Ley del ISSSTE, sin tener que pagar un costo político demasiado elevado en el corto plazo, y su lucha contra el narcotráfico, aunque haya tenido pocos éxitos reales, ha sido aprobada por la opinión pública. Sólo el alza en el precio de la tortilla ha erosionado la imagen presidencial. Queda aún por precisar el precio que pagará por su actitud en el debate sobre la despenalización del aborto en la ciudad de México.

Formalmente, el Frente Amplio Progresista (FAP) no se ha disuelto. En las cámaras sus integrantes siguen votando juntos en lo esencial. Sin embargo, en los comicios estatales en curso, como Yucatán y Durango, marchan divididos. Su participación en la Convención Nacional Democrática (CND) es más formal que real.

La segunda asamblea de la CND muestra la existencia de una nada despreciable cantidad de ciudadanos, entre quienes la indignación por el fraude electoral sigue viva, al tiempo que reconoce a Andrés Manuel López Obrador como su presidente legítimo. Esta fuerza, empero, parece tener muy poco que ver con la gira nacional de El Peje, dedicada a construir una fuerza electoral ajena a los problemas inmediatos de la gente.

A pesar de la represión en Oaxaca, la APPO mantiene una indudable capacidad de resistencia y movilización, insuficiente para forzar la renuncia de Ulises Ruiz, pero sobrada para mostrar la ilegitimidad del gobernador. Sin embargo, la realización de comicios para renovar ayuntamientos y el Congreso local ha metido a muchos de sus integrantes en una dinámica marcadamente electoral, y en complejas y difíciles negociaciones con el FAP.

Todos estos elementos marcarán el regreso de la otra. Los zapatistas, como se vio este domingo, poseen una fuerza indiscutible dentro de Chiapas y grandes simpatías fuera de México. Fue notable en este arranque la participación de Vía Campesina, con mensajes enviados por Joao Pedro Stedilé y Rafael Alegría. Tienen hoy un diagnóstico y un mapa de los conflictos políticos y sociales que existen en el país, que no posee ninguna otra fuerza política. Cuentan, además, con un directorio y una red de relaciones con movimientos de base por todo el país, usualmente ignorados por los partidos políticos.

Si logran darle una estructura y una coordinación nacional estable a esos núcleos de resistencia que hoy funcionan aisladamente -en política, nada es seguro-, la viabilidad del proyecto de la derecha se topará con un fuerte escollo. Pero la apuesta se enfrentará a la pretensión gubernamental de desestabilizar sus territorios, el espacio ocupado por el activismo cenedista, a la opción de diversas fuerzas sociales en favor de la construcción de representaciones políticas por la vía electoral, y al propio aislamiento de los sectores medios de la sociedad. Los próximos meses serán decisivos.