Link to My Word is My Weapon blog below.
Its interesting looking at the timeline of events and government/military activity throughout the Zapatista struggle for land and dignity. Talking specifically, the events from December of 2007 to earlier this month.
Back in December, Subcomandante Marcos announced amid looming government repression that the EZLN [1] would cease public and media appearances to prepare for the war on the horizon. As in the past, the Zapatistas chose silence as their word.
January of this year not only marked the 14th anniversary of public activity of the EZLN, but as the 14th anniversary of the implementation of NAFTA [2] it also brought the deadline by which all tariffs must be eliminated on hundreds of items, most notably corn, beans, and powered milk and sugar. Another blow to small farmers throughout Mexico. In recent years, US-subsidized corn has already been flooding Mexican markets making it increasingly difficult for small and communal farmers to live off of their own crops.
Adding fuel to the fire, Plan Mexico/Merida Initiative and the Security and Prosperity Partnership are moving towards increased military repression of poor and indigenous Mexicans in the name of the "War on Drugs" while giving even more preference to large corporations over the resources of Mexico.
On June 4, we heard that 200 soldiers invaded Zapatista territory under the pretext of searching for marijuana plants. As the post below from My Word is My Weapon points out, these instances of repression and violence towards poor and indigenous people of Mexico can be traced back to US policies and legislation.
Zapatistas and the War on Drugs [3] -
In the context of Plan Mexico, the US government's material support for Mexican president Felipe Calderón's deadly war on drugs which has already claimed over 4,100 lives, it's worth taking a look at where all that new military hardware will go in the south. Despite having never caught a Zapatista with a single bag of pot (or a bottle of beer, for that matter), the government continues to use the war on drugs as an excuse to terrorize Zapatista communities.
Communique from Subcomandante Marcos, Dec 2007 | http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/communique-english [4]
Zero Hour - NAFTA deadline to eliminate tariffs | http://detodos-paratodos.blogspot.com/2008/01/zero-hour-nafta-and-mexico... [5]
Mexico's Battle Over Oil - the privatization of PEMEX | http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5231 [6]
200 Soldiers Invade Zapatista Land | http://boston.indymedia.org/feature/display/204800/index.php [7]
For more information and resources, see the Solidarity Without Borders [8] section of this site