The welcome they received along the way registered the widespread identification of working people throughout Mexico with the heightened struggles by Mexico's indigenous peoples, captured by the sharp conflict in Chiapas between the government and ruling propertied families, on one hand, and Indians--mostly peasants and farm workers--fighting for equal rights, land, jobs, and decent living conditions. The response of the new president of Mexico, Vicente Fox, to this outpouring of support was cautiously conciliatory, while some in the ruling class reacted with virulent statements against the EZLN.

The March for Dignity, which began with a February 25 send-off rally of 10,000 in the town of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, drew turnouts of 10,000 to 15,000 in cities and towns all along the way. It culminated with a March 11 rally of 100,000 in Mexico City.

"The popular reaction has exceeded all expectations, as schools shut down to allow pupils to wave at the convoy," the Financial Times of London reported in its March 8 issue, noting that the public rallies along the way drew "thousands of youth."

The 12-state tour, covering more than 2,000 miles through southern Mexico, was aimed at demonstrating popular support for a bill on Indian rights and autonomy, also known as the San Andrés Accords, that has been stalled in Congress for the past five years.

At the March 11 rally in the nation's capital, EZLN leaders said they would stay in the city until this measure was passed. The following day they addressed a congressionally appointed "peace commission."

"Mexico, we do not come to tell you what to do," stated Subcommander Marcos, the central EZLN leader, to the Mexico City rally. We do not come to guide you in any direction. We only come to ask respectfully that you help us, that you do not allow that there be another dawn for this [Mexican] flag without us." He added, "We do not aspire to hold power."

The indigenous struggle in southern Mexico drew national and world attention on New Year's Day 1994 when some 2,000 combatants of a newly announced organization, the EZLN, carried out armed occupations of several towns in Chiapas for a few days, including San Cristóbal de Las Casas, a city of 85,000. The federal government responded with repression, sending 12,000 troops to Chiapas--one-fifth of its army--along with some tanks, helicopter gunships, and warplanes. Close to 150 people were killed in 12 days of fighting.

Over the course of the following year the government, led by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), sent 50,000 troops to Chiapas, where they have acted like an occupation army, besieging Indian communities that back the EZLN. Although a cease-fire has been in place for most of the conflict, hundreds of people have been killed in the repression.

Peace talks between the government and the EZLN have made little progress since 1996 when the Zapatistas accused the government of reneging on preliminary accords setting forth indigenous rights. The bill now in the Senate would enact the San Andrés Accords into law and provide constitutional rights for Indian communities to conduct their affairs--including administering justice, choosing leaders, and owning land--according to tradition and custom.

Fox and his top officials have expressed confidence that such an accord will be reached rapidly--and their hope that the indigenous rights fight will be over after that. "I am very confident that this will work out well," declared Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda. "Marcos is going to get his law and that will be the end of it."

Of Mexico's population of 100 million, at least 10 million belong to indigenous peoples--such as the Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Chol and Tojolabal of Chiapas--who speak 62 different languages. They confront abysmal living conditions, a result both of national oppression within their country and the superexploitation of this semicolonial country by U.S. imperialism. More than 90 percent of Indians in Mexico live in housing with no sewage system, and 60 percent of their houses do not have running water, according to government reports. Close to 45 percent are illiterate. Three-quarters have not completed primary school and many have had no schooling. Seventy percent of Indian children suffer problems related to malnutrition. Infant mortality among the indigenous population is 70 percent higher than the national average.

Mexican president Fox, with his eye toward achieving a measure of social stability and further opening southern Mexico to foreign investment, has called for rapid measures to reach a settlement with the EZLN. Seeking to avoid a public debate with EZLN leaders, he has called the march from Chiapas a "bridge for peace." Fox assigned a federal escort and police officers to guard the caravan over the course of its trip.

Since taking office December 1--after his conservative National Action Party (PAN) scored an electoral victory over the PRI, which had ruled the country for 71 years--Fox has closed four of the military's seven bases in the Chiapas area and released 50 imprisoned Zapatista supporters, while proclaiming his interest in negotiating a peace agreement and passing a bill on Indian rights.

The EZLN is demanding that the three additional military bases be closed and that all imprisoned Zapatista supporters be released. The governor of Chiapas, Pablo Salazar, announced March 8 that he was immediately freeing the other 19 imprisoned Zapatista sympathizers and dropping arrest warrants that were out for seven others.

Some PAN leaders and other capitalist politicians expressed disagreement with Fox over the EZLN caravan. The governor of Querétaro, Ignacio Loyola, for example, warned Marcos to stay out of that state or face a firing squad. Nonetheless, the March 8 Financial Times reported, "the rebel convoy pulled into Queretaro this week, where Marcos addressed a huge rally, called Mr. Loyola an 'imbecile,' then asked permission from the crowd to stay the night. The governor left town for the day."

In Nurio, a Purepecha Indian village in the western state of Michoacán, some of those on the caravan attended a National Indigenous Congress on March 3. The event attracted several thousand Indians and other supporters.

The state of Oaxaca, where the EZLN-led caravan passed through, has the largest indigenous population in the nation, as well as one of the highest levels of poverty. Dozens of people traveled for hours from the town of Santa Cruz Tepenixtlahuaca to join a rally in the city of Oaxaca to demand the government install a water system and build a road to their village.

Chiapas, where the 1994 rebellion by the Zapatistas took place, is Mexico's poorest state, but also one of the richest in natural resources such as oil and lumber.

An article in the Financial Times in early March pointed to the Mexican president's interest in expanding imperialist investment in this region. "Fox is aggressively moving forward," the article stated, in "christening Chiapas the 'central axis' in his vision to integrate southern Mexico with the neighboring economies of Central America."

Responding to a recently signed free trade agreement between Mexico and five Central American governments, Fox is seeking to upgrade the region's commerce-related infrastructure. This includes expanding the port capabilities in Puerto Madero, Chiapas, located on the border with Guatemala, as well as setting up an industrial park and a free trade zone for fisheries. "Bringing foreign investors to Chiapas is priority number one," stated Felipe Tomé, an adviser to the Mexican president. Fox also plans to refurbish the railroad connecting central Mexico with Guatemala.

In his third trip to Chiapas in the last three months, Fox insisted, "We are not going to wait for peace to promote development and we are not going to promote development in order to bring peace."

In the name of "development," Fox's plan is to accelerate the sell-off of the country's national patrimony--begun under previous PRI administrations--to investors from imperialist nations. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Mexican government expects to raise between $3 billion and $4 billion from privatization programs this year. State-owned property being placed on the auction block in 2001 will include the country's airlines, AeroMexico and Mexicana de Aviación, as well as an 85 percent stake in two groups of Mexican airports.
 
 
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