To: Esteban Moctezuma Barragán
Secretary of the Interior
From: Insurgent Subcommander Marcos
Zapatista National Liberation Army
Sir:
A few hours ago I received the communiqué from the Secretary of the Interior reasserting your willingness to dialogue. In that communiqué, there is an absurd reference to an absurd declaration by the usurper Robledo Rincón. I do not know if the Secretary of the Interior is now spokesman for the misgovernment of the state of Chiapas, but that is not the point. Only that it increases our distrust of your true intentions in looking for a dialogue. From other sources I have been informed of the ultimatum that you allow yourself to direct to the EZLN about the supposedly "strongly armed" Zapatista military posts in the municipality of San Andres Samach. "If you don't remove them, they will be displaced by the army," your threat states. I also appreciate the campaign in the media about the alleged advance of our troops in the region of Los Altos. You know very well that the "strongly-armed" posts and the "Zapatista troop advancement" in Los Altos is a lie. The only thing that existed was a civilian post to avoid the introduction of weapons, alcohol, and drug trafficking. That was the decision of the civil authorities and not of the EZLN. The same media give accounts of the people who were in the posts and who DID NOT CARRY WEAPONS. Otherwise, in one of the civilian posts 5 kilos of marijuana were confiscated that was being sent to the federal troops in the military post of Cathe.
It is particularly interesting that your ultimatum does not mention any of the violations of the federal troops in the border with Guatemala which go against the 15th of Jan., 1995, agreement, signed by you and this writer. Violations which have been communicated to you promptly. "That's small stuff," you may say, but they contribute to the deteriorating climate of stretching sides.
If they are advising you to increase the military pressure to force a new confrontation, they are tricking you. The Zapatistas respond to military pressure in kind, we are not intimidated by threats and you can throw all the soldiers you wish to at us. This way there will not be a solution to the conflict. Be assured that the conflict will be expanded throughout the country. We respond to getting sides together when there is a will for a political solution. That is how the first meeting happened. If you use military pressure thinking that we are going to dialogue, you are mistaken, and the advisors you have will only lead you to failure.
Remember that, in the meeting of Jan. 15, 1995, you told me that many thought we were only gaining time with the dialogue. I answered back that we thought that you were gaining time to prepare a military solution. Maybe the latter is the truth. Maybe in the secret conditions agreed to by Mr. Zedillo for the US loan is the condition to annihilate us. If this is the case, then you may proceed whenever you like; we will fight to the last soldier. We were sincere when we sat down to talk with you, we believe that you had the predisposition we have: to resolve the conflict without loss of human life and destruction. Maybe we were mistaken, and you were only looking for the precise time for the military attack. I profoundly deplore that it may be this way. The opportunity for peace existed, and was only taken advantage of to prepare for war. History will know how to settle accounts.
We will not sit down if the military pressure continues. We have our word: There is not one military post in the Zapatista positions which are a result of the actions of Dec., 1994. You can continue making up lies and continue supporting the usurper Robledo with your bayonets. Either way, he will fall, and along with him, all the ones who insist in supporting him against all political and human logic.
If this is all a pretext for a military action, I deplore that Mr. Zedillo's regime had decided to dirty his hands with Indigenous blood, and that you be an accomplice to this barbarism.
That is all.
From the Mountains of the Mexican Southeast
Insurgent Subcommander Marcos
México, February, 1995