Concientización y Liberación is the section of ¡LA VERDAD! in which we publish our analysis on specific questions facing the struggle for Raza National Liberation. We understand that only by bringing clarity to the struggle through criticism and self-criticism will we be able to advance as a movement.

On the Question of Revolution and Armed Struggle in México:

The current social conflict that is coming down in México, as part of a global crisis, has its foundation in the prolonged and ever-increasing crisis of capitalism-imperialism. It doesn't take a genius to understand that for all intents and purposes, México is a neo-colony of U.S. imperialism (This is a situation where the economic and political power is in the hands of a foreign power, but the country is ruled through puppets, thereby giving it the facade of being an "independent country"). Therefore, in order to resolve the crisis in which México finds itself, we must deal with its source: capitalism-imperialism.

The Burning Spear (newspaper of the African People's Socialist Party) summed up clearly the current situation of imperialism:

"There is no place on earth where the crisis of imperialism does not reveal itself. Even Japan, previously secure from social crisis because of the health of its economy and the feudal-like social relations that undergirded its capitalist production, is now experiencing economic difficulties and reeling from one social explosion after another.

"Russia, first touted as a secure imperialist resource subsequent to the capitulation of the Soviet Communist Party and the Soviet State, is now viewed with anxiety. One province [Chechnya] has even initiated an armed struggle for independence and the Russian people themselves are daily sinking into more and more squalor. [Editors Note: Drug use and trafficking, employment, prostitution have reappeared in Russia.].

"Other areas of Europe are confronted with crisis that is peculiar to each of them. These include Germany in its attempt at post cold-war reintegration; France, suffering from the de-stabilization of its African neo-colonies and its unemployment, homelessness and domestic political violence; and the former Yugoslavia which is wracked by devastating internecine warfare. However, none of Europe has been spared the consequences of imperialism in crisis...

"All over the world it's the same: Imperialism in crisis accompanied by the growing resistance of the world's oppressed people..." (The Burning Spear, Vol. 21, No. 1, February 1996).

Our Nation's History Has Been A Constant Struggle Against Colonialism - For The Liberation Of The People

The vicious competition between the imperialists (U.S., Japan, and Europe) and the very nature of capitalism-imperialism, which selfishly demands more and more profits, has led to a situation where the masses of the oppressed and colonized (which consist of the great majority of the people on planet earth) are forced - through sweat, blood, and death - to produce more and more as a way of satisfying the needs of the capitalist-imperialist nations.

It is around this crisis that we see the ever-growing conflict in México. It is this crisis that forms the basis of armed struggle and revolution in México and other neo-colonized nations. But the current world crisis and situation in México is not something new. Our nation's history has been a constant struggle against colonialism/imperialism - for the liberation of our people. In fact, the current crisis has its origins in the year 1492.

It was on Oct. 12, 1492, that the first colonial expedition, led by the pirate Cristobal Colón, set foot on what is today called the "Americas." This expedition was to be the vanguard for even larger invasions that resulted in the destruction of hundreds of nations and civilizations (Maya, Inca, Azteca, etc.), the genocide of the majority of the indigenous people (over 100 million died), the kidnapping and enslavement of millions of Africans (estimated to be over 100 million) - of which up to one third died in the "middle passage" to the Americas - and the establishment of a racist-colonial system which continues to exist in a different form up to this day. Therefore, the invasion of 1492 is the starting point for the current crisis confronting La Raza and other oppressed people throughout the world.

The following quote accurately describes the impact of this invasion:

"The Americas were by no means empty lands, as the colonists so deceitfully portray. When Columbus came to this hemisphere there may have been as many as 200 million or more people living between what is now Alaska and Chile and in the Caribbean islands. In many parts of the Americas, population density was greater than it was in parts of Europe during the same period. The Azteca capital of Tenochtitlán was five times larger than Madrid at that time and twice as large as Seville, which was the largest city in Spain.

"The extent of the genocide against these peoples is ghastly and chilling. In many areas ancient and great civilizations, some as old as 30,000 years, were annihilated without a trace and in a matter of a few short years nothing was left but spectacular ruins to augment the colonizer's tourist trade." (see Culture Of Violence, by Penny Hess)

It Was The Wealth Stolen From Our People That Gave Birth To The Renaissance and Industrialization Of Europe

During the colonial period (1500-1820) under which México, Peru, and other nations existed, literally thousands of billions of dollars worth of gold, silver, and other precious metals and resources where stolen by the imperialists (Spanish, English, French, Dutch, Portuguese, etc.). It was this wealth that gave birth to the so-called "Renaissance" (rebirth of science and the arts), the Capitalist Class (merchants, bankers, etc.), and the "Industrial Revolution" (the use of technology in the production of goods). Subsequently, it was also the resources and labor of Raza, Asian, and African peoples that also gave birth to the so-called "white working class."

Our understanding of these realities are corroborated by the work of great thinkers and revolutionaries. For example, the great economist and philosopher Karl Marx wrote, "The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black skins, signalized the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production."

V.I. Lenin, theoretician, revolutionary, and leader of the Russian Revolution, commented,"The exploitation of colonies by a handful of 'Great' Powers, increasingly transforms the 'civilized' world into a parasite on the body of hundreds of millions in the uncivilized nations.... A privileged upper stratum of the proletariat in the imperialist countries lives partly at the expense of hundreds of millions in the uncivilized nations." (both quotes from The Road to Socialism is Painted Black, by Omali Yeshitela)

But the indigenous peoples (Raza) did not take their enslavement and oppression passively. During the whole period of colonization there was one rebellion after another. Raza resistance to colonialism-imperialism was the norm, not the exception. In fact, there was not one day in the colonial history of México that an uprising or rebellion did not take place. It was this fierce resistance from the Mexicano-Indigenous people, along with the deadly competition between the imperial powers themselves (fighting to steal or control each others colonies), which led to the independence of México.

The following illustrates this culture of resistance:

"Our people have yet to live in peace since the genocide, slavery, and colonialism brought upon the masses of indigenous people of the Americas (as well as to Asia and Africa) by European colonialism. Our oppression has it's roots in the landing of the military-pirate expedition led by Columbus on Oct. 12, 1492.

"From the uprisings of the Yopes (Guerrero in 1531), the Mixtón (1541 in Zacatecas-Jalisco), the Tepic (Nayarit in 1598), to the Yaqui wars throughout the 1700s to 1950, and the Maya War (1846-48), are just a few examples of how the Mexicano people have always resisted oppression and foreign domination.

"In fact, there has never been a day in the 500 year history of colonization (from 1500-1820 Spanish colonialism and from 1820 to the present British/U.S. neo-colonialism) suffered by the Mexicano peoples, that an uprising or general revolt was not taking place." (read book: EZLN - Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, by La Verdad Publications)

The Mexican War Of Independence Was An Anti-Racist, Anti-Imperialist Struggle

The Mexican War of Independence (1810-1820) against Spain was primarily fought by Indígenas, Mestizos, and Africans. Its greatest and most progressive leaders were Mexicanos of Indio-Mestizo-Africano heritage, such as José M. Morelos, Vicente Guerrero, and Juan Alvarez.

The anti-colonial and liberation stance of the leadership of the war of independence is clearly demonstrated in the following passage:

"The mestizo priest José María Morelos soon picked up where Hidalgo (priest who initiated the war for independence and was later captured and killed by Spanish colonialists) left off, organizing a disciplined army of thousands that closed in on México City in the spring of 1813. Peasants and the impoverished rallied to Morelos' condemnation of 'all the rich, criollos, and gachupines' (those born in Spain), his advocacy of the distribution of idle hacienda lands for the benefit of small agriculturists, and his plan to distribute half of all seized wealth to the poor. Profoundly anti-racist, Morelos also forbade the use of racial terms like 'mestizo' among his troops.

"In 1813, Morelos called a meeting of all his forces at Chilpancingo in order to draft a revolutionary program and coordinate future actions. The congress resolved to end slavery and caste distinctions; initiate an income tax; abolish state monopolies, sales taxes, and tributes; and introduce higher wages for the poor - all of which would benefit the oppressed." (see México: Class Formation, Capital Accumulation, and the State, by James D. Cockroft)

After the war, the leadership was co-opted by the Criollos (those who claimed to be of pure Spanish blood and denied their Mexicanidad). While the objective of most Criollos was the consolidation of capitalism and to maintain "white power" over the new Mexican nation (which at that time extended from Oregon to Nicaragua), they nevertheless had to give concessions to those who formed the majority of the Mexican nation: slavery was abolished and every inhabitant was recognized, if only on paper, as citizens.

White Supremacists Fear An Independent And Revolutionary México

It was this control of México by the Criollos and their refusal to deal with the race, cultural, and national questions of the great majority of its citizens, as well as conflict between the feudal landlords and rising capitalists, that immediately after independence led to chaos and civil war in México. Of critical importance to the understanding of our history is the fact that these conflicts and rivalries were often instigated and financed by the European (including the U.S.) imperialists who feared the consolidation of a giant, powerful, non-white nation with the natural and human resources to challenge white (European) supremacy and assist the other peoples of the world who were fighting for national liberation. This fear was one of the reasons that between the years 1823 and 1861, México faced invasions from the European imperialists (British, Spanish, French, and gringo) on the average of once every six years.

The Treacherous Imperialist Invasion Of México By the United States

It was precisely during this period of chaos and civil conflict that the United States connived and treacherously launched its wars of aggression (the occupation of Tejas in 1836-38 and the rest of Aztlán in 1846-48), occupying more than half of Mexican territory (Aztlán).

The following excerpt only begins to explain the historical magnitude and consequences of this gringo-colonial occupation of México:

"From its conquest of México, the United States obtained wealth territory soon to be the scene of the fabulous Gold Rush. México, on the other hand, lost an estimated 50,000 lives, most from among the urban unemployed, workers, and peasant soldiers who put up the only significant resistance. In addition, some 100,000 Mexicans in the conquered territories became labor power for U.S. capital. U.S. rail men, miners, industrialists, ranchers, farmers, and land tycoons immediately began violating provisions of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo guaranteeing the property and civil rights of those Mexicans remaining at their home sites in today's southwestern United States. In the following few decades, U.S. citizens of Mexican descent lost some 20 million acres. Respect for the Mexican's culture and language, guaranteed by the treaty, was systematically violated." (México: Class Formation, Capital Accumulation, and the State, by James D. Cockroft)

During The Entire 19th Century, Raza Fought Against Both The Imperialists and The Vendidos

During the whole of the 19th Century, México was plagued by internal ruling class conflict, imperialist invasions, and the collaboration of the ruling class (who fear the poor and the workers more than the Gringo and French occupying armies) with the imperialists to suppress and exploit the masses of the Mexicano people. Yet during the entire century, the Mexicano people fought against both the imperialist and the neo-colonialist vendidos, and for the establishment of a just and equitable society, free from oppression and poverty. The following are just a sample of these struggles:

From 1836 to 1910, the state of Veracruz was the scene of almost constant peasant (campesino-indigenous) revolt.
Between 1857 and 1881, an agrarian rebellion led by Manuel Lozada (the "tiger of Alica") in Nayarit spread to Jalisco and engulfed both states.
After 1868, Julio López's Chalco revolt spread to peasant communities in the states of Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, México, and Puebla before Benito Juárez had López executed in 1869. López's final words were reportedly, "Long live socialism!".
In 1869, to the south, a messianic movement of Chamula Indians in Chiapas erupted.
In 1879, a rebellion led by socialist Alberto Santa Fé in San Martín Texmelucan, Puebla, proclaimed a "Law of the People" inspired by utopian socialism, provoking further agrarian revolts in Morelos, Guerrero, and San Luis Potosí. (México: Class Formation, Capital Accumulation, and the State, by James D. Cockroft)

The Mexican Revolution Of 1910 Upheld, Once And For All, The Reality That Historically, Racially, And Culturally, México Is Primarily An Indian Nation

It was not until the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) that the great masses of the Mexican people (Indigenous, Mestizos, and Africans) were able to forge themselves into one nation, accepting their different racial-ethnic backgrounds and the reality that historically, racially and culturally México is primarily an Indian nation. The revolution - caused by the continuing oppression of the masses of the people and to the growing consciousness as to their nature of oppression - under the leadership of Zapata, Villa, Magón and others, the great majority of Mexicanos rose in armed struggle to reclaim their lands and heritage. This great revolution, the first major revolution of the 20th Century, was characterized by its goal of liberating campesinos, the poor, and the workers, and for the recognition of the rights of indigenous people.

Again, the imperialists (specifically the U.S.), fearing the independence of a mighty indigenous nation and the example and assistance that this nation could provide to other colonized people (Sandino, Farabundo Marti, and others, were influenced by the Mexican Revolution), united with vendido elements (hacendados and the bourgeosie) to destroy the Revolution. The U.S. sent money and weapons to the reactionary forces, which were able to kill off (through treachery and assassinations) the most honest and revolutionary leaders of the struggle, bought off the opportunists, and through propaganda and plain lies, confused a large sector of the population. The revolutionary forces, without a unified program or large and consolidated advanced political organization, were unable to keep the vendidos (U.S. neo-colonial puppets) from hijacking the revolution.

In a series of articles on the history of revolutionary struggle in México, we summed-up this situation:

"Like our Movimiento [Chicano Power Movement], some of the principal errors of la Revolución Mexicana were the failure of the leadership to develop and articulate a cohesive ideology and the failure to consolidate an advanced revolutionary organization. Thus, hounded by the resolve of the gringos to not give México any breathing room at all costs, and with a revolutionary front that was divided between true revolucionarios and petty bourgeois opportunist gusanos, the revolution faced defeat." (see "The Revolutionary Struggle In México", ¡LA VERDAD!, Feb-July 1992)

Though The Mexican Revolution Was Defeated, It Was Able To Bring Great Advances To The Mexican People

While the reactionaries and neo-colonialists immediately began to secretly attack the revolutionary advancements, the revolution was still able to consolidate the masses of the people into a strong Mexican national identity, win recognition of México's indigenous heritage, disburse lands to a large sector of the population, and ratify a constitution which recognized the rights of all its people.

The Constitution of 1917 created by the Mexican Revolution was the most progressive of any country of the world at the time.

"It guaranteed the right to organize unions and the right to strike. These rights were to be enjoyed by workers employed in public service, as well as those employed by private enterprise. Article 123 established an eight-hour workday and carefully limited overtime. Well defined limitations on child labor were set, and the principle of equal pay for equal work regardless of sex was laid down. A provision for maternity leave and limits on physical labor for pregnant women were included in the legislation." (see México In Crisis by Judith Adler Hellman)

The concessions won by the Mexican Revolution (1920's to 1950's) made México, by far, the most socially progressive nation in the world. México was the first country where social activists, cultural workers, and intellectuals openly criticized European (white) culture and upheld the great contributions and beauty of indigenous culture.

México Became The World's Center For Progressive Art And Science

México during this period was a center for progressive artists and social scientists from throughout the world, and gave birth to the great mural movement of Siquieros, Rivera, Kahlo, and Orozco. The rich culture of other Latin American countries, most notably that of the Caribbean peoples, gained international recognition in México, as it was not accepted and prohibited by the reactionary-colonial ruling elites of those countries. Athletes from throughout Latin America, unable to participate in their own countries because of racism, became Mexican citizens and competed under the Mexican flag. Mexican cinema surpassed all others during this period. The National University of México, became one of the largest in the world and a center for progressive thought; students from throughout the world came to study in México.

In the past, we referred to this progressive social-cultural movement in the following terms:

"... México was undergoing a cultural rebirth unequaled in Latin America until the Cuban Revolution of 1959. It is even possible that this cultural revolution was more earth-shattering because it had never been done before.... México stood tall with their anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, anti-fascist themes and their reflection of the reality of México as it was: obrero, campesino, indio. Bourgeois and criollo pretension faded away during this period in the arts, not to rear its ugly white heads for decades." ("The Revolutionary Struggle In México", ¡LA VERDAD!, Jan-Feb. 1993)

The Hijacking Of The Mexican Revolution

After the second imperialist war (World War II), while many of the imperial powers (France, Germany, England, Japan, etc.) were temporarily out of commission, the United States opportunistically began to spread its tentacles over most of the world, demanding even more resources from its neo-colonies. This forced the Mexican ruling class and that of other neo-colonies to further oppress the workers and exploit more of its national resources (oil, ore, silver, nickel, etc.).

The lowering of wages, the selling of its natural resources, and the murder of dissidents became common in México. With its revolutionary leadership dead, and the "left" (socialist and progressive organizations) co-opted or infiltrated, within 30 years (by 1950), the reactionaries and puppets of U.S. imperialism (organized under the Partido Revolucionario Institucional - PRI) had virtually destroyed all the gains of the Mexican Revolution, but not before a certain degree of national culture, revolutionary ideology, and science had been embedded in a large percentage of the Mexicano people.

The following describes the situation of México since the hijacking of the revolution by the PRI and the importance of a revolutionary México to the struggle against world capitalism-imperialism:

"Despite 80 years of struggle by poor peasants for land they could farm, 14 million peasants are landless while 10,000 large landowners won most of the land. Clearly, the PRI government has never fulfilled the promises it made in the Mexican revolution of 1910 to distribute the land more equally...

"The actual fact is that the PRI is as repressive a regime as any in Latin America: There are known to by at least 1000 persons who have 'disappeared'.... By official count, shoot-outs between the private armies of the landowners and rural police with landless peasants leave 300 peasants dead every year." (see Already The Hour: History and Analysis of the Guerrilla Movement in México 1965-1978, published by The New Movement in Solidarity with the Puerto Rican and Mexican Revolutions)

The 1960's And 1970's Saw A New Period Of Revolutionary Struggle

It was during this period (1960-1975) and under the above mentioned conditions, as was the case throughout the world (Cuba, Vietnam, etc.), that new revolutionary guerrilla movements took place in México. Various revolutionary organizations, under the leadership of Gamíz, Vázquez, Cabañas, Medrano, and others, led armed struggles in an effort to destroy the oppressive neo-colonial PRI government. The massacre of over 500 unarmed students protesting U.S. intervention and lack of democracy at Tlatelolco-México City in 1968, confirmed the reality, as the guerillero Arturo Gamiz said, that the only thing the enemy understood was the gun.

The importance of these movements and their significance to Raza on both sides of the militarily imposed border is succinctly summed-up in the following excerpt:

"Revolutionary activity in México not only threatens U.S. hegemony in Latin America, but the stability of U.S. imperialism within its own borders. In the past years, the CDP (Comité de Defensa Popular), and other organizations have taken up the demand of Mexican revolutionaries in the U.S. 'southwest' [Aztlán] to destroy the border that has divided their nation for over 100 years.

"México is one nation - from Yucatán in the south to the occupied territories of California, Arizona, New México, Nevada, Texas, and Colorado in the north. This territory, known as the southwest of the U.S., is land that was torn away from México by U.S. invasion and military conquest in the 19th century. Since this time, the U.S. has occupied and colonized the Mexican people living on this land. The Mexican revolution is a battle for national liberation that will destroy the border imposed by imperialist aggression and will challenge the very foundation of U.S. wealth and power. The strategy to reunify México under one socialist nation is a strategy that will win liberation for the masses of Mexican people." (see Already The Hour: History and Analysis of the Guerrilla Movement in México 1965-1978, published by The New Movement in Solidarity with the Puerto Rican and Mexican Revolutions)

Terrified by the specter of a liberated and revolutionary Mexican nation, the United States, which had just gotten its ass whipped in Vietnam and was struggling for its own survival as the leading imperialist parasite, led by the racist-fascists Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, unleashed a vicious terrorist-counterinsurgency campaign (which was centered around the strategy of low-intensity warfare where the entire populations were targeted as enemies) which was able to temporarily defeat the revolutionary forces in México.

This terrorist-counterinsurgency was also unleashed within the borders of the U.S. imperialist state itself, destroying or neutralizing the Black, American Indian, and Chicano revolutionary movements led by organizations such as the Black Panther Party, AIM (American Indian Movement), and the Brown Berets, during the 1960's and early 1970's (read Agents Of Repression, by W. Churchill and J. Vander Wall).

In reference to this question, la Unión wrote the following:

"At the same time that things were heating up south of the false border, the Chicano liberation movement was entering a new and more militant phase north of the gringo-imposed border. The sixties gave birth to Reies Tijerina, the farmworker huelgas, MEChA and the Chicano Student Movement, the Brown Berets, and La Raza Unida Party." ("The Revolutionary Struggle In México", ¡LA VERDAD!, July-Sept 1993)

Che Called For One, Two, Many Vietnams

Just as colonialism and imperialism were able to put the brakes on the revolutionary struggles in México and occupied America (U.S.), within two or three years it found itself getting a trashing from the national revolutionary movements in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Colombia. Drawing lessons from past struggles, each new revolutionary movement contributed to the ever-growing crisis of imperialism and its inevitable destruction. This scenario of imperialism temporarily defeating a revolution in a particular region only to see the rising of another somewhere else has historically repeated itself, making real the call by the great revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara - as a way of defeating imperialism - "... for [the creation of] one, two, many Vietnams."

It was out of the lessons of armed struggle gained during the late 1960's and early 1970's that we find some of the cadre that continued to struggle clandestinely (during the 1980's) and were to emerge in the 1990's as members of the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN) and the Ejército Popular Revolucionario (EPR).

Mexican Neo-Colonialists Find Themselves Locked Into A Deadly Internal War

In México, the crisis of imperialism continues to get worse by the day. The PRI, who has ruled with an iron fist, is rapidly disintegrating. Unable to squeeze any more profits and blood from its own people and at the same time meet the demands of their foreign-colonial bosses in the U.S., the vendido Mexican neo-colonial ruling class is engaged in a deadly internal war fighting over the few crumbs left after paying tribute to U.S. imperialists. The two main factions, the "old dinosaurs" (the sector who has historically controlled the PRI) and the now dominant "technocrats" (led by President Ernesto Zedillo) are the main culprits involved in this "mafia style" war. A third faction, the "liberal wing", has long been left out, ever-since Cuauhtemoc Cárdenas left and founded the Partido de la Revolución Democrata (PRD).

At no other time in Mexican history have we witnessed so many arrests and murders of its own ruling class. The killings or arrests of presidential candidates, PRI leaders, federal prosecutors, state and federal police agents, mayors and governors, is a common occurrence (recent issues of La Jornada, La Opinión, and San Diego Union-Tribune document these occurences). For example, within a period of two months, more than eight high-ranking Mexican federal agents have been killed in the city of Tijuana (news broadcast Televisión, Jan 5, 1996). This continual bloody war among the ruling class of México demonstrates the true nature and psychology of the most degenerate-decadent type of personality found within an oppressor class of people. While in the past they were able to kill the poor and go home to a life of luxury and "peace," they now kill each other, each other's children, brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers - and there is no end in sight.

What Alternatives Does El Pueblo Mexicano Have?

The current situation in México - where on the one hand you have the colonialists and their flunkies oppressing and killing the masses and are more and more engaged in their own murderous internal struggle, while on the other hand you have the masses of the Mexicano people reacting to their growing misery - finds all the forces involved in attempting to find solutions based on their class and national interest:

· The crisis is forcing imperialist sectors (U.S., Europe, and Japan) to more viciously oppress the working class in the colonies and the oppressed nations within its own borders (Raza, Africans, etc.). Even its pampered collaborators (in the case of the U.S., the white masses) are feeling the ramifications of this crisis (growing unemployment, homelessness, etc.). Through the so-called North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), low intensity warfare, Prop 187, etc., imperialism is attempting to forestall the inevitable: its death.

· For the vendido-neo-colonialists (those who run the third world nations for their masters) to maintain their rich standard of living to which they have grown accustomed to, they must intensify the oppression of colonized people and kill-off their neo-colonialist rivals. In México, this calls for the "militarization" of the nation (which has already taken place as the policing and security of México City is now under the direct control of the military), elimination of part of its own class, while at the same time creating the facade of democracy and social tranquillity for foreign investments: An impossible task.

· The current imperialist crisis which has caused tremendous poverty, hunger, disease, and violations of human rights, has left the masses of the Mexicano people with only three options: (1) migrate north, to the lands currently occupied by the United States; (2) get involved in the drug economy; or (3) join the armed struggle.

While migration and the drug economy are temporary options (for survival), only armed struggle can create a totally new system necessary for bringing justice, peace, employment, and democracy to México. The truth is that migration and drugs only brings more suffering to La Raza.

Armed Struggle Is Becoming The Road That More And More Mexicanos Are Taking

More and more Mexicanos are coming to terms with this truth and are seeing revolutionary armed struggle as the most legitimate and correct road to ending the oppression which they face. It is precisely that conclusion that the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional came to in 1994 and the Ejército Popular Revolucionario in 1996; and many more as we enter 1997. It was on an early Saturday morning, minutes into 1994, that the EZLN, made up of Mexicano-Indígenas from the state of Chiapas, launched an armed struggle that not only scared the hell out of the Mexican sell-out ruling class, but shook the very foundation of gringo-European imperialism. Within hours, the EZLN had taken over several towns, creating a liberated zone in the southern part of our nation. It was an action that also raised the revolutionary spirits of oppressed people throughout the world and confirmed the truth raised by Mexican freedom fighters for the last 500 years: Liberation can only be won through armed struggle and the imperialists are nothing but paper tigers when facing a well organized and politically advanced liberation force. The current struggle led by the EZLN in Chiapas also "...confirmed the political analysis and theory advanced by Chairman Omali Yeshitela (chairman of the African People's Socialist Party); A perspective which upholds the idea that the main contradiction facing U.S./Imperialism (and its eventual defeat) is found in the struggles led by the colonized peoples of the world, and that the only way to resolve these contradictions is through revolutionary movements led by vanguard formations composed of the most oppressed and exploited sectors of the colonized peoples." (see book EZLN: Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, La Verdad Publications, page 10)

Immediately after the appearance of the EZLN, the PRI, supported by the media inside the belly of the imperialist beast (U.S.), attempted to portray the EZLN as terrorists, foreigners, or a small group of discontents engaged in some isolated struggle with no support from the majority of the Mexicano people. Yet today, several years later, we witness the continuing struggle, growing popularity, and support of the EZLN by the great majority of the Mexicano people.

Through these years the EZLN has scored important political victories, keeping the army from waging an all out attack by exerting tremendous national and international pressure on the PRI government. Regular demonstrations, some with over 100,000 in attendance, have taken place in México City, other parts of México, Latin America, and Europe. The EZLN has organized several national and international conferences in the liberated zones with the objective of not only addressing the question of democracy and justice in México, but to expose the imperialist practice known as "neo-liberalism": the opening up by the neo-colonial governments of their nations to an unrestrained exploitation of their natural resources and the labor of the workers by international corporations.

While it has been engaged in a dialogue with the Mexican government, the EZLN has not laid down their weapons or allowed the police and military into the territory under their control. The EZLN's strategy appears to be one of using armed-struggle as a way of winning democratic demands, raising the consciousness of the masses, and creating the conditions for a national liberation movement which would be representative of all the popular sectors of the Mexican nation (workers, peasants, indigenous peoples, students, progressive professionals, etc.).

The Center Of Our Nation

A key political and inspirational victory for the EZLN came when one of its leaders, Comandante Ramona, actually went to México City after being warned by the Mexican government that it would arrest any EZLN member who traveled outside the Zapatista zone, and to a rousing welcome, gave a presentation to hundreds of people attending a conference on indigenous rights. Comandante Ramona explained to those at the conference:

"Through my voice speaks the voice of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation [EZLN]. Today we come here, to the center of our nation that is named México, to give a few words to all Mexicans that we the Zapatistas want you all to hear.

"We want a México that acknowledges us a human beings; that respects and recognizes our dignity. This is why we want to unite our small voice of the Zapatistas to the great voice that struggles for a new México.

"We came to make the call to everyone, that no longer [will there be] a México without us. That is why we are in favor of a national dialogue with everyone." (see "We Are Open To A National Dialogue," Voz Fronteriza, Oct. 1996)

We Struggle Against Oppression And Injustice

In late August of 1996, two years after the emergence of the EZLN, a new revolutionary group calling itself the Ejército Popular Revolucionario (EPR) carried out a series of high-profile military attacks in seven Mexican states, concentrating its actions in the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Hidalgo, and Chiapas. (read The Nation Sept 18, Los Angeles Times, Sept 12, and La Jornada, Aug. 29, 1996). The EPR first appeared publicly on June 28, 1996 during a large gathering organized by the Frente Amplio para la Construcción del Movimiento de Liberación Nacional (FAC-MLN) to commemorate the massacre of over 18 men, women, and children by the police near the town of Coyuca, in the state of Guerrero; the FAC-MLN itself is a mass-based formation of progressive, militant, and independent organizations with over 20,000 members.

For years there had been "rumors" of an armed group forming and training in the hills of Guerrero and other states. Obviously the people knew and supported the existence of the EPR, otherwise an organization of hundreds of guerrillas would not have existed without the knowledge of the government. Nonetheless, as in the case of the EZLN, the Mexican government immediately began to claim that the EPR was a small terrorist grouping without any support from the Mexican masses. But Jorge Castañeda, who has written extensively on guerrilla movements in México, was quoted giving a more accurate description of the EPR. He describes the latest armed rebellion in the following way:

"A mass base for a guerrilla movement is people who will feed them, hide them and who the guerrillas can recruit from - but who are by definition clandestine. Do the rebels have such a base? In Guerrero and Oaxaca, I think they have one." (Los Angeles Times, Sept 12, 1996)

Throughout August, September, and October of 1996, the EPR waged a series of hit-and-run guerrilla attacks in dozens of cities and at least seven states. The EPR, according to newspaper articles, was created by the merging of 14 different groups, one of them was the PROCUP-PDLP (Partido Revolucionario Obrero Clandestino Unión del Pueblo-Partido de los Pobres). The PROCUP has been active in México since the late 1970's and through the 1980's has actively carried on armed-propaganda activity. (see La Jornada, Sept 15, 1996)

In order to understand the political nature of the EPR, we quote from the presentation they made at the June 28 commemoration:

"The Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) is formed by men and women, from different exploited and oppressed sectors of the people, that have comprehended the necessity of organization against the reactionary violence of the exploiters and oppressors that for decades intended to drown in blood the struggle of the Mexican people and their legitimate aspirations.

"Our army also struggles for the profound transformation of our society through the path of armed revolution as one more form of struggle that our people develop in defense of their interests....

"The Popular Revolutionary Army is the sector of the people who aspire to be part of the achievements of liberation and combats that our people have liberated from exploitation, injustice, and oppression throughout its history and which today manifest itself in the struggle for democratic revolutionary transformation of the country...and against the repressive politics of a state which is supported and financed economically and militarily by imperialism.

"We struggle against oppression and injustice, against humiliation and theft, in defense of the dignity of our children, women, working class, farmworkers, indigenous, colonized, and students..." (read "The Mexican Revolution is Not Over! Long Live the Popular Revolutionary Army!: Manifesto Of Aguas Blancas", Voz Fronteriza, Oct 1996)

Judging by its historical origins and practice, the EPR seems to be committed to the view that the revolution is a protracted (long term) struggle, politically based on a dialectical class analysis, and uses armed struggle as a form of propaganda (education), to defend its membership, and as a means of advancing the materialization of the conditions for a national revolutionary struggle.

Those Fighting For Social Change Must Take A Stand For Or Against Revolutionary Struggle

Those elements active in the Chicano Mexicano Movement (the struggle for Raza self-determination in the occupied territories-Aztlán), must learn from the past experiences of those who for centuries have been involved in the liberation struggle. History teaches us that revolutionary violence and armed struggle will continue to be the primary alternative for the masses of oppressed and colonized peoples for one fundamental reason: no oppressive ruling class has ever given-up power without struggle.

In a gathering of progressive and liberation movements from throughout Latin America the conditions that give birth to armed struggle by masses were summed-up in the following way:

"In this continent of semi-colonies [or neo-colonies] about four persons per minute die of hunger, curable illness or premature old age; five and a half thousand a day, two million a year...A holocaust of lives which in fifteen years has caused twice the number of deaths produced by the First World War, and it still continues. Meanwhile from Latin America a continuous torrent of money flows to the United States, some four thousands dollars a minute, five million a day, two billion a year....For each thousand dollars that leaves us there remains a corpse; that is the price of what is called imperialism." (quote from Strategy for Revolution, by Régis Debray)

When people refuse to take action when confronted with these realities, as is currently the case among most of us, then violence and death will continue to exist. Each one of us has to decide which side he or she is on: The side of imperialist violence or armed-revolutionary struggle; on the side of violence that oppresses or violence that liberates. The EZLN and the EPR have made a decision. At minimum, it is our duty to show support and solidarity to the liberation struggles of oppressed people, especially those who courageously have taken arms in defense of dignity and freedom.

¡HASTA LA VICTORIA - SIEMPRE!