TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES

The end of the 20th century suggests what the 21st century will be like. All over the world, rebellions representing different ideologies and aims remind us that there are aspirations beyond political and economic systems, aspirations belonging to human beings that elevate them above plants, beasts and, not a few times, above themselves. Since January 1, 1994, there has existed in Mexico an insurrection that is primarily indigenous. The principal characteristic of this rebellion is that it seeks a voice. Having exhausted all legal means of enabling that voice, indigenous Mexico had to use the voice of guns in order to be heard. We rose up in arms. This is how we pulled away the veil of falsehood and hypocrisy that covered our land. We rose up with old and decrepit weapons. The Mexican government responded with all its might, with the best and most advanced military technology. And the government of the United States supported that military response. During the first half of this decade, the US Government made a mistake in supporting one man in Mexico, Carlos Salinas de Gortari. And he made a mistake when he signed the North America Free Trade Agreement, which brought with it a summary execution order against indigenous Mexicans. Did the American people know that, in signing NAFTA, their government had become an accomplice in genocide? Did they know that the indigenous people of Mexico were now condemned to death? We were annihilated not with bullets or bombs but by the silent death of disease, of penury, of abandonment. When we rose up in arms at the dawn of 1994, we did not do it for power or by foreign command; we did it simply to be heard, to say, "We are here." We are still here. Our demands still have not been resolved and our weapons continue to say "we are here" to the new government, to the people of Mexico, to the people and governments of the world. Meanwhile, somewhere in the dark circles of power in Washington, somebody decided that the worst threat for the United States of America is an uprising of the indigenous people of the Mexican southeast. From the darkness the order came: Exterminate them! The government of the United States decided once more to support one man, who continued the politics of falsehood of his predecessor. Billions of dollars were made available to this man and his government without the approval of the people of the United States. Not in order to improve the conditions of life in Mexico, not in order to establish democracy in the political life of the country, not in order to promote economic growth with factories and other productive projects. This money only served speculators, corruption and the annihilation of a group of rebels, primarily indigenous people, poorly armed, fed and equipped, yet worthy and very human. Only fear can explain so much money in support of a lie. But what does the government of the United States fear? The Truth? The realization by the people of the United States that their tax money supports the oldest dictatorship of the modern world? That their taxes pay for the persecution and death of the indigenous Mexican? What do the American people fear? Our wooden rifles, bare feet, broken bodies, our language and culture? Must the people of the United States fear our cries calling out for democracy, liberty and justice? Are these not the foundation of the United States of America? Are democracy, liberty and justice not rights that belong to every human being? How many millions of dollars can justify the right to deny human beings the freedom of thought that animates words and actions, the right to give and receive that which justice earns, to democratically elect their own government and choose a collective direction? Should not the people of the United States fear instead the money, the modern weaponry and the sophisticated technology of drug trafficking? The complicity of governments in drug trafficking? The consequences of a party dictatorship in Mexico? The violence that is inevitable when democracy, liberty and justice do not exist? Fomenting fear, racism and insecurity, political leaders in the United States offer economic aid to the Mexican government to control violence arising from the misery produced by the economic situation. They want to thicken the absurd walls that supposedly will prevent millions of Mexicans from crossing the northern border in search of a means to live. The best wall against massive immigration to the United States is a democratic, free and just regime in Mexico. If Mexicans would find this in their own land, they would not feel forced to go elsewhere. Supporting the (PRI) party dictatorship in Mexico, no matter who the man is, means supporting an uncertain and troubled future. Supporting the people of Mexico and their aspirations for democracy, liberty and justice will bring honor to the people of the United States and their own history and the human condition as well. Today, in 1995, after 20 years and tens of thousands of dead and wounded, the government of the United States acknowledges its mistakes in Vietnam. Today, the government of the United States is becoming involved in the dirty war of the Mexican government against the Zapatista people by providing military equipment, advisers, covert actions, electronic spy systems, financing, diplomatic support and the activities of the Central Intelligence Agency. It is not necessary to wait 20 years before acknowledging the mistake of continued involvement in this unjust war. It is possible for the people of the United States to stop and not repeat the mistakes of history. (10/21/95)

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