Zapatista Red Alert

On June 19, 2005, the E.Z.L.N. issued a communiqué declaring a General Red Alert, only the third since their January 1994 uprising. Good government offices were closed and solidarity activists were asked to leave the area or stay at their own risk. Subsequent communiqués stated that the Red Alert was a precautionary measure taken because the Zapatistas were in consultas. The Red Alert was lifted on July 11. This special article collection includes English and Spanish translations of all the relevant communiqués as well as news and analysis regarding the Red Alert. E.Z.L.N. Communiqués

Two Communiques on the National Initiative

The EZLN has now designated a committee from its leadership in order to take responsibility for everything having to do with the work of carrying forward the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona. It will work, jointly and respectfully, with those organizations, groups, collectives and individuals who join with us in this new civil and peaceful initiative in Mexico. more...

Red Alert lifted; communities reopening

With the completion of the internal consulta – whose results have already been made known – the EZLN has decided to lift the Red Alert which it has been maintaining since June 19, 2005 in the zapatista indigenous communities. more...

Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona, in three parts by the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee, General Command of the E.Z.L.N.

Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

This is our simple word which seeks to touch the hearts of humble and simple people like ourselves, but people who are also, like ourselves, dignified and rebel. This is our simple word for recounting what our path has been and where we are now, in order to explain how we see the world and our country, in order to say what we are thinking of doing and how we are thinking of doing it, and in order to invite other persons to walk with us in something very great which is called Mexico and something greater which is called the world. This is our simple word in order to inform all honest and noble hearts what it is we want in Mexico and the world. This is our simple word, because it is our idea to call on those who are like us and to join together with them, everywhere they are living and struggling. Text in both English and Spanish

Consulta results are in! Stay tuned for Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona

First - The CCRI-CG of the EZLN is informing you that it has finished consulting with tens of thousands of support bases. Between June 20 and June 26, meetings and assemblies were held in more than one thousand indigenous communities in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas. more...

A letter of explanation...or, perhaps, farewell

This is not a letter of farewell. At times it is going to seem as if it is, that it is a farewell, but it is not. It is a letter of explanation. Well, that is what we shall attempt. This was originally going to go out as a communiqué, but we have chosen this form because, for good or for bad, when we have spoken with you we have almost always done so in this most personal tone. more...

The Reasons for the Red Alert

First - As has been made public, starting June 19, 2005, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation established the general Red Alert in rebel territory. The reason for this general Red Alert is that the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee – General Command of the EZLN has called to consulta their insurgent troops, all their comandantes and comandantas, regional and local responsables and their support bases. more...

The Zapatistas Can Survive a Decapitation

First and Only - We are informing you that, since the middle of 2002, the EZLN has been engaged in a process of reorganizing its political-military structure. This internal reorganization has now been completed. We have the necessary conditions in place to survive an attack or enemy action that would do away with our current leadership or which would attempt to annihilate us completely. more...

First Communiqué Announcing a General Red Alert

As of today, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation has declared, throughout all rebel territory, a GENERAL RED ALERT. more...

News and Analysis Zapatistas in Consulta, Announce Precautionary "Red Alert" by Mexico Solidarity Network

On June 19, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) declared a precautionary "red alert" to offer security for a movement-wide consultation around future strategic options. The red alert, only the third since the Zapatista uprising in 1994, set off a storm of speculation and analysis, with many commentators pointing to increased paramilitary activity and the recent destruction of marijuana plants by federal troops. Local groups and the federal government quickly clarified that the marijuana was not located in a Zapatista community, and on June 21, Subcomandante Marcos issued a clarification, assuring civil society the Zapatistas are not contemplating military options. In a sign of the importance of the Zapatistas, the Fox administration announced on Friday the army would not attack during the consultation. more...

Intense military movement in conflict zone by Elio Henriquez

The withdrawal of four military camps of the Mexican Army in the municipalities of Chenalho', Bochil and Ixtapa, signifies "no modification of their military strategy" in the so called conflict zone of Chiapas, affirmed the Centre for Political Analysis and Social and Economic Investigation (CAPISE). more...

Zapatista "Red Alert" Shakes up Mexican Politics by Laura Carlsen

The announcement of a "general red alert" by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) has once again turned Mexican politics on its head. more...

Alerta Roja: EZLN Declares Red Alert by Melissa Mundt

In the past few days the EZLN has issued four communiqués declaring a state of Red Alert in autonomous zones in Chiapas as a "precautionary defensive measure." Significantly, this means that members of civil society have been asked to leave Zapatista territory as the EZLN circles the wagons in preparation for an internal consultation. The Peace House and many other groups in Chiapas are monitoring the situation for further developments. Currently, there has been no call for international human rights observers. more...

Mexico admits Zapatista drug report untrue from Reuters

The Mexican government admitted on Thursday that a military report of marijuana plantations in Zapatista rebel territory that raised tensions in the state of Chiapas was not true. more...

Montemayor: There Is an Imminent Risk of Violence by Blanche Petrich

The writer Carlos Montemayor said that the EZLN’s “red alert” is a warning about the “imminent explosion of violence” in a zone of Chiapas where, in the five years of the Fox government tensions have accumulated and the structures of paramilitary groups remain intact. They (the paramilitary groups) continue under the protection of the state and federal governments and the Mexican Army. more...

Zapatistas Announce Red Alert by Mexico Solidarity Network

The Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) declared a "Red Alert" on Sunday night, June 19. The alert is reproduced below. The Zapatistas have declared only two previous red alerts since their uprising in 1994, the most recent in 1997 after the Acteal massacre. There has been a great deal of speculation in the press and among "experts" about the meaning and context of this red alert, but so far the Zapatistas themselves have not offered an explanation. more...