Ana de Ita states, in not addressing the campesino agrarian nuclei as collective owners of the land, but instead as individuals, choosing some and not others —the end of this term will not see a single difference, neither in the reduction of poverty, nor in reforestation and care for the forest.”
by Raúl Romero For more than 20 years, the Regional Organization of Coffee Growers of Ocosingo (Orcao) has constantly attacked the EZLN bases of support communities. In the past three years, the attacks have intensified. The aggressions have been varied: insults, amenazas, beatings, kidnappings, theft, shootings, fires, torture, dispossession of lands, forced displacement… The denunciations by collectives in solidarity with the Zapatista communities are numerous. Human rights organizations have documented the incidents. Journalists and the communication media have covered the facts. Individuals in the academic and artistic worlds have signed letters and appeals for the situation to to be addressed. …
it’s been 3 years.. always living with gunfire, we go out to work our milpa and we are always afraid, because they run us out with bullets. It’s been 4 years and still… Who is going to solve the problem? The damn government does nothing, do they want us to die, or what?”
Luis Hernandez Navarrro assesses the the significance as well as the result of the recent recall election held by AMLO.
Instead of protecting them [the communities], the current government, which continuously proclaims to be on the side of the poor, without hesitation took the side of capital, when the communities decided to defend what belongs to them. The episode helps to dissolve the illusion for those who thought that this government was on their side, or that it brought justice to the poor.
