Introduction: The rebel Zapatista (ELZN) army in southern Mexico has announced its intention to attend meetings in Mexico city due to start October 8th. They have appealed for Mexican and international volunteers to form a cordon to protect the EZLN delegation from arrest or assassination by the Mexican state. Mark Connolly for the Irish Mexican Group ****** UPDATE ON MILITARIZATION IN MEXICO AND HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES Village Idiot Column, by Jaime Aviles, La Jornada, October 5, 1996 The Mexican Army has finished establishing military reinforcements along the entire length of the highway from San Cristobal to Las Margaritas, in order to prevent the exit of the Zapatistas. "A Major Deployment of Police and Military Forces in La Realidad", Herman Bellinghausen, reporter, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, La Jornada Oct. 5 An intensive deployment of police and soldiers was noted today during the day on the road that leads to La Realidad. It was a significant deployment of troops of the federal Army, Judicial Federal Police, Public Security of the State, as well as immigration agents of the office of the Secretary of Governance. All vehicles were stopped, and identification was demanded from all passengers. An exhaustive search of the vehicles and the baggage, as well as of the backpacks of peasants was carried out. Especially the indigenous were aggressively searched, including their clothes, according to the reports by the NGOs. The operation included searches of the tires, the glove compartments, the engine. The checkpoint was guarded by tanks and artillery vehicles of the federal Army. It is important to note that this is the road that will be traveled the next few days by members of the procession that will go to La Realidad to invite the Zapatista comandantes to attend the National Indigenous Congress, that will be conducted in the capital. A vehicle of the International Red Cross that also went through the roadblock received the same rigorous treatment. Even an eyewitness reports that he heard a soldier indicate to his subordinate, pointing to the Red Cross vehicle: Them too, because they can be camouflaged"With this unusual operation tension in the so-called zone of conflict has increased considerably. It is the first time that an action of this nature was carried out since the Law for Dialogue and Reconciliation in Chiapas has been in effect. What is more, in the judgment of some of the witnesses, an operation like this was never before carried out in the zone. "Harassment of Foreigners Reported in La Realidad", Elio Henrequez, reporter , San Crist'bal de las Casas, Chiapas, La Jornada, October 5 Foreigners from various countries who have tried to enter the Lacandon jungle to accompany a delegation of Zapatista leaders who will be traveling to Mexico City have been harassed during the past few days by immigration officials at the immigration checkpoint outside of Las Margaritas, according to NGOs. The immigration agents are "taking photographs, videotaping and interrogating" foreigners who tried to enter the jungle to deliver humanitarian aid and to accompany the Zapatista leaders.They also have been given appointments at the immigration offices in San Cristobal de las Casas, and once there they are told to leave the country within a certain period of time. "Patrols intensified in the communities around Ocosingo", Juan Balboa, reporter, Tuxtla Gutierrez, La Jornada October 6 In Ocosingo, one of the three municipalities in the so-called conflict zone, there has been an increase in the number of patrols through various communities, particularly in the area around San Jose, a collective farm whose residents are Zapatistas. The environment has grown tense, affirmed officials at the city hall. Interviewed by phone, the representatives of the city council in Ocosingo stated that the possible trip by the Zapatistas to Mexico City has caused the increase in military patrols in communities considered to be sympathizers of the Zapatistas. One official in Las Margaritas reported, "We do not know how large the [military] mobilizations are, but we have seen new checkpoints". IS THIS THE FINAL CRISIS? The EZLN and their trip to Mexico City By Cecilia Rodriguez October 6, 1996 Many of us marveled at the way the rocky dirt path to Oventic was transformed as the Mexican government tightened its military grip on Zapatista communities. Like cockroaches, huge muddy trucks filled with asphalt, gravel, cement suddenly overran the muddy path. Like turtles, bulldozers, asphalt spreaders and planers clambered over the mounds of red earth. Suddenly a paved road emerged from chaos. The fact was however that long before the mechanical cockroaches and turtles appeared, hundreds of indigenous feet had traipsed back and forth in the darkness of clandestinity. They quietly constructed a wall of defense against a future of annihilation. As civilians arrive from all over Mexico and the world, and the storm of debate intensifies around the possible departure of the Zapatistas from the jungle, the same indigenous feet once again cut a new path. This time, however, the path cuts through human history as well as the green mountains of Chiapas. The Zapatistas have turned the tables once again on a dictatorship determined to maintain its grip on power at any cost. In an inane attempt to keep the Zapatistas in Chiapas, the government issues direct threats and strident accusations and hands the limelight back to the Zapatistas. What can the government do? If it uses force against hundreds of unarmed civilians protecting a Zapatista delegation, it will create an international scandal. If the government unilaterally breaks off the dialogue by arresting the Zapatista delegates, it willreveal its profound fear of their political proposal, and elevate their already heroic status. The government is now fenced in by the Zapatistas. Meanwhile everyone has lost count of the number of convoys, tanks and soldiers deployed to their villages. Five or six security forces submit indigenous travelers to abusive searches and foreigners fight the deportation of the immigration services. The Mexican government would have us believe that they hold the upper hand because of their death machines. "Is this the final crisis?" I was asked by someone as I left the States for Chiapas. "I mean are the Zapatistas going to be able to get out of this one?" If "this one" is death, it has been their only companion for 500 years. Their ability to leave this political and military juncture, however, has never depended solely on them. It depends on us. Those of us outside the military blockade have difficulty grasping the importance of our presence on this path. We are overwhelmed by the power of propaganda. We have somehow forgotten that no government can rule without the consent of its people. What is at stake in the struggle of the Zapatistas is an alternative approach to the prolonged combat which has wracked the Third World. It is a moral force which disables all previous forms of power. It is the distant glimmer of an alternative to this global system of exploitation. The crisis will be final only if we fail to mobilize. Given what is at stake, can we really afford to stand still? -- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Find out about the Revolution in Mexico http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/3102/ This summer 4,000 people from 43 countries met "for Humanity and against neoliberalism" there http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/3849/gatherdx.html