Subcomandante Marcos: biography and photos

Subcomandante Marcos is a politician and a Mexican revolutionary who was the leader of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), an armed group that rebelled against the Mexican government in Chiapas in January 1994.

Biography

The image under which the head of the EZLN hides, was the subject of numerous speculations, since during frequent speeches before national and international media he always concealed his face under a balaclava. Despite this, in February 1995 Subcomandante Marcos removes the mask: the Mexican government identified him as Raphael Sebastian Guillen Vicente. According to the sources of the President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo, Guillen was born July 10, 1957 in Tampico (Tamaulipas), a large family engaged in furniture trade. Having started his studies in his hometown, Guillen continued it in Guadalajara and Monterrey, and then entered the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where he received a higher education in philosophy and literature. The same sources suggest that at the age of 24 he decided to leave his job as a teacher of aesthetics, went to Chiapas and became the defender of the rights of the indigenous peoples of the state.

This aspect is probably the main thing in the Zapatista uprising, as the movement is trying to uncover the root causes of the backwardness of the indigenous peoples accumulated over many centuries in order to demand their social development. The fact that Subcomandante Marcos (pictured in the article) was identified as a person not belonging to any of the local cultures, and not even a resident of the State of Chiapas, became the argument of the Zedillo government in an attempt to discredit the movement. According to the Mexican leadership, behind the pseudonym was the intention of the left-wing ideologists of the middle class to use the Mexican Indians to discredit the national executive power.

The role of the media

Be that as it may, one of the sources of the popularity of the Zapatista movement was the success enjoyed by Subcomandante Marcos from international public opinion. He read poetry, joked and proclaimed critical political messages signed by the underground revolutionary committees of indigenous peoples, whose leader was. The press releases published on the web (without a doubt, another key to the popularity of this revolution outside the country) put forward the requirements for the transformation of Mexico into a multinational republic, recognizing the right of indigenous community committees to participate in municipal government, guaranteeing them justice and justice, and Also ensuring the support and confirmation of the right to conduct their rituals and customs. In addition, the Mexican States had to guarantee that Indigenous communities would be governed by the Indians themselves and that indigenous peoples should have the right to themselves to resolve certain civil, criminal, labor and commercial disputes in a manner that would take into account their traditions and customs.

The Rise of the Zapatists

Subcomandante Marcos at the head of the Zapatista National Liberation Army on the first day of January 1994 occupied six cities in the state of Chiapas, including San Cristobal de las Casas. After twelve days of fighting and numerous human casualties and injuries, he began negotiations with the government. Since then, Marcos (Rafael Sebastian Guillen Vicente) took part in the discussion and remained the most iconic figure of the Zapatista movement.

In February 1996, government delegates and guerrillas signed an agreement in San Andres on the rights of indigenous communities, but a few months later EZLN accused President Zedillo of violating the treaty and breaking the dialogue between the parties. The pact set wide limits on the self-determination of tens of millions of Mexican Indians, confirmed the state's recognition of the existence of indigenous peoples, the forms of their administration, traditions and customs, but President Zedillo proposed another version of the text rejected by the rebels, and in January 1997 EZLN withdrew from the negotiation process.

Resumption of the dialogue

After the change of power in the country following the July 2000 elections, the new president, Vicente Fox, appointed former Senator Luis Alvarez as peace commissioner in Chiapas. Alvarez formed the Commission for Conciliation and Peace (Cocopa), responsible for drafting a bill summarizing the agreements reached, the observance of which was demanded by the Zapatists.

The newly elected President of Mexico, Fox, proposed resuming negotiations with the partisans, and Marcos accepted the offer, even agreeing to go to the federal capital. The day after the inauguration, the leader of the EZLN, at a press conference crowded with journalists, stated about the insurgents' demands to restore the dialogue by withdrawing the army from the region, implementing the agreements of San Andres and releasing the imprisoned activists of the movement.

The rapprochement between the government and the insurgents was facilitated by the defeat of the PRI party in Chiapas and the formation of a new ruling coalition. Governor Pablo Salazar took office on December 8, 2000 and promised to help reconcile complex social, political, agricultural and religious differences. The governor promised to begin legal procedures for the release of Zapatist prisoners, which was one of the main conditions for Marcos to resume the dialogue.

The Zapatista march

In the early days of his presidency, Fox ordered the release of 40 Zapatista prisoners and part of the withdrawal of troops from the rebellious state. He also sent a bill to Congress on the rights of indigenous peoples, agreed in 1996. Marcos responded to these measures by announcing a march to the capital to announce his demands in Congress. A slight relaxation of the conflict was achieved, which came to naught within a few months. EZLN requested that the campaign to Mexico City be accompanied by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, but the government, under pressure from business and military forces, blocked this opportunity. Fox accused the partisans that they did not give a positive response to the concessions made and abolished the withdrawal of troops and the release of prisoners, and Marcos blamed the president on the fact that he was only pretending to be interested in resolving the conflict without making real decisions to achieve peace.

On February 24, 2001, the Zapatista march started on a new round of confrontation. 15 days after its inception and after traveling more than 3000 km through the poorest areas of the country, the subcommandante led the convoy to El Sokalo Square in Mexico City. The insurgent leader announced his intention to stay in the capital until the parliament approved a bill to grant autonomy to tens of millions of Indians. On 12 March, representatives of EZLN held their first meeting with the Cocopa Commission, which preceded the meeting of the partisans and representatives of the Mexican Congress and the Senate. The government offered Marcos to organize a meeting between 10 rebel representatives and 10 senators, but the Subcommandante did not agree and demanded that the delegation appear before the assembly of the houses of parliament. In the absence of an agreement, and despite the assured approval of the bill, Marcos unexpectedly announced his decision to leave the capital and return to the Chiapas mountains.

The pressure had an effect, and President Vicente Fox decided to accept the conditions of the partisans and thus prevented the return of the Zapatists, which would cause a new stalemate in the peace process. The head of state announced the release of all prisoners of the guerrillas, the withdrawal of troops from the three military facilities in the rebel zone and promised to make efforts for the rebel delegation to be accepted in the Congress.

During the historic meeting held on March 22, 2001, the parliament approved (218 votes in favor, 210 against, 7 abstentions) the participation of the EZLN delegation. On March 28, 23 delegates of the insurgents took the first ranks in the Mexican parliament and from the rostrum the "commander" Esther, member of the political leadership of EZLN, appeared. After his speech in defense of the rights of indigenous peoples, it was announced that the mission of the march had been accomplished. The peace process resumed and the first contacts between partisans and the government took place. Subcomandante Marcos and Zapatistas, clearly satisfied, returned to Chiapas on March 30th.

The struggle continues

Despite the conquest of the media, the demands of indigenous leaders have not received the expected support. In April, the Senate and Congress adopted a document that provided for the introduction of changes to the Constitution that would ensure the rights of indigenous people, but the amendments to the original draft significantly restricted the San Andres conventions and triggered a negative reaction. Indigenous groups ultimately rejected the Law on the Rights and Culture of Indigenous Peoples, which did not provide mechanisms for the implementation of these rights. Also, the Zapatists expressed their direct opposition to the text approved by the Chambers, because it did not allow "neither self-determination nor genuine autonomy." Subcomandante Marcos announced that EZLN will not resume negotiations with the government, suspended in 1996, and will continue to struggle.

Indigenous peoples, intellectual groups of the left and the Party of the Democratic Revolution filed more than 300 lawsuits against the law passed by the Congress, but in September 2002 they were all rejected by the Supreme Court.

Another campaign

In August 2005, in his first public appearance in the spring of 2001, Marcos in Chiapas announced his intention not to support any of the presidential candidates in the 2006 elections and sharply criticized them, especially the former mayor of Mexico City, Manuel López Obrador. The subcommandante also said that the forthcoming integration of the Zapatista movement into the Mexican political system will take place through the creation of a broad left front. On the first day of 2006, Marcos began a motorcycle tour around the country in support of the so-called "Another Campaign" to create a movement that brings together indigenous peoples and resistance groups to carry out changes that go beyond the pre-election race. After the election, he appeared from time to time with regular statements.

The commandant never officially confirmed or denied that he was Guillen.

Subcommandante Marcos: creativity

The Zapatist leader wrote more than 200 essays and short stories and published 21 books in which he outlined his political and philosophical views. Works published under the name of Subcomandante Marcos - "Another Revolution" (2008), "Ya Basta! Ten Years of the Zapatist Insurrection "(2004)," Questions and Swords: Tales of the Zapatist Revolution "(2001), etc. In them the author prefers to speak not directly, but in the form of fairy tales.

The next work, published by Subcomandante Marcos - "The Fourth World War began" (2001). In it, the author deals with the issues of neo-liberalism and globalization. The Third World War, he considers the cold war between capitalism and socialism, and the next after it - between major financial centers.

Subcommandante Marcos, whose books are written in an allegorical, ironic and romantic vein, thus, perhaps, tried to detach himself from the painful situations described by him. In any case, each of his work pursues a specific goal, which confirms the title of the book "Our word is our weapon" (2002), a collection of articles, poems, speeches and letters.

Subcommandante Marcos: quotes

One of the headlines of the 1992 essay reads:

"This chapter tells how the Supreme Government concerned about the poverty of the indigenous peoples of Chiapas, and it built hotels, prisons, barracks and a military airport. It also talks about how the beast eats popular blood, as well as other unfortunate and sad incidents ... A handful of companies, one of which is a Mexican state, appropriates the entire wealth of Chiapas, in exchange for leaving its deadly and poisonous trail. "

An excerpt from the book "The Fourth World War Begins":

"Toward the end of the cold war, capitalism created military horror - a neutron bomb, a weapon that destroys life, leaving buildings intact. During the Fourth World War, however, a new miracle weapon was discovered - a financial bomb. Unlike those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it not only destroys cities, sending death, horror and suffering to those who live in them, but turns its goal into another part of the puzzle of economic globalization. "