On December 1, President-elect Vicente Fox Quesada was sworn in before the Mexican Congress, becoming the first president of the post-revolutionary era to come from a party other than the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). In his first speech he announced that he would fight against corruption and impunity. He committed to promoting seven core reforms that would guarantee an “effective democracy and a democratic efficacy” and to achieving a reform of the State that will assure an increasingly balanced exercise of power. With respect to Chiapas, on the day of his inauguration he ordered the dismantling of 53 military checkpoints in the three most conflicted areas: the highlands, the northern region, and the cañadas of the Lacandon Jungle.

A Cabinet of “order and respect”

President Fox defined his cabinet as one of “order and respect.” The naming of Luis H. Alvarez as Chiapas Peace Commissioner was generally viewed as a good choice, since he is felt to have the moral authority necessary to participate in the peace talks. The nomination received a positive response from the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). Luis H. Alvarez was a founding member of the congressional Commission for Agreement and Pacification (COCOPA). He participated in the negotiations that led to the signing of the San Andres Accords. In his view, “The COCOPA proposal [the legislative initiative on Indigenous Rights and Culture drafted in November 1996 as the basis for implementing the San Andres Accords] is consistent with the principles of national unity. The free determination and autonomy of the indigenous peoples is proposed without compromising national sovereignty, and within the constitutional framework of the Mexican State.”

The naming of General Rafael Macedo de la Concha to the office of Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) raised eyebrows. After almost a century of civilian tradition, for the first time a military leader assumed this post. When he was Attorney General for Military Justice, Macedo de la Concha neglected to deal with a series of accusations against the military regarding human rights violations.

The EZLN breaks its silence

In a press conference held on December 2 in the Zapatista community of La Realidad, the EZLN asked the new government for three signs of its good will as a basis for renewing peace talks: fulfillment of the San Andres Accords, freedom for all Zapatista political prisoners, and the withdrawal and closure of seven army positions out of what the EZLN referred to as “the 259 that it presently maintains in the conflict zone.” It announced that in February 2001, 23 members of the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee – High Command of the EZLN will travel to Mexico City to convince Congress of the “benefits” of the COCOPA proposal.

Although the EZLN did not explicitly take it up as one of its demands, in a communiqué it accused the new government of not doing anything in regard to the paramilitary groups. It also charged that on December 20, nine Zapatista families from the community of Santa Fe el Duraznal (county of Chilon) were displaced by a paramilitary group.

Government responses

Almost immediately, Fox responded saying that he will seek to fulfill the EZLN’s conditions. On December 5, he sent the COCOPA proposal to Congress. Afterwards, Senator Manuel Bartlett (PRI), as president of the Commission on Constitutional Issues, warned that Congress would not legislate “in a vacuum.” He argued that before any legislation is approved, there should be a national consultation because it affects not only with Chiapas but all parts of the country where there are indigenous groups.

In response to the Zapatista demands for military withdrawal, the first position to be abandoned was Amador Hernandez. The army entered this community on August 9, 1999. On October 18, 2000, then-President Ernesto Zedillo expropriated 3.5 hectares (approximately 9 acres) from the ejido (communal landholding). On December 22, President Fox returned the property to the community. The move was welcomed by the EZLN, and it was seen as contributing to prospects for renewed dialogue. On December 31, in the face of a protest by local Zapatista supporters, the military sped up its departure from the Jolnachoj (San Andres Larrainzar) army base. By presidential order, on January 9 Cuxuljá became the third base to be withdrawn. And, on the January 17, the military abandoned its base in Roberto Barrios.

After the closing of the fourth military base, President Fox said that there would be no more redeployments by the army pending “a signal from the other side in order to restart the dialogue.”

Chiapas before the change of governor

Following the October 28 detention of eleven leaders of the alleged paramilitary group UCIAF (Farming and Forestry Indigenous Peasant Union, a splinter group of Development, Peace and Justice), and only a few weeks before the inauguration of Pablo Salazar as the new governor of Chiapas, the atmosphere grew more tense. Continued threats by paramilitary groups were denounced by several communities, especially in the northern region and the highlands. Among them were the refugees of Tierra y Libertad (county of Yajalon) who had been displaced on August 3.

In this agitated climate, early on the morning of November 13, 150 federal police and 20 agents from the state Public Ministry carried out an operation in Los Chorros (county of Chenalho) in search of guns in the hands of alleged paramilitary members. With the army’s passivity in the face of the aggressive posture of the community toward the federal agents, the townspeople were able to block the operation in a confrontation that left 20 people injured. The federal PGR acknowledged the failure but said that it would continue such operations.

Pablo Salazar takes office

On December 8, in the presence of President Vicente Fox, Pablo Salazar Mendiguchia became the first post-revolutionary, non-PRI governor in the history of Chiapas. In his first speech he called for President Fox to audit all federal resources sent to Chiapas in the past few years. He signaled that he would uphold the rule of law so that there would be no more spilled blood. He asserted the necessity of knowing the truth about the Acteal and El Bosque massacres and what he termed “the paramilitary bands.”

His new cabinet includes prominent representatives of both the business and the civil society sectors. Emilio Zebadua, a member of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), was nominated as Secretary of Government. Porifirio Encino, of the Rural Association of Collective Interest – Independent and Democratic (ARIC-I), an historic indigenous organization, will occupy the position of Secretary of Indigenous Peoples.

The new governor’s actions

The new governor promised that he would undertake a withdrawal of state police parallel to that of the Mexican army from the seven points listed by the EZLN. He also abolished the State Redistricting Commission created by the previous government, a highly conflictive initiative that had resulted in the creation of seven new counties, principally in the regions where the autonomous councils of the EZLN were found.

Secretary of Government Emilio Zebadua asserted that the redistricting agencies undermined prospects for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. He also said that they compromised the independence of the State Supreme Court (STJE) because they were under the authority of that body’s president, Noe Castanon. He added that the fate of the Zapatista autonomous counties should be considered in the framework of the revision that will be made of the San Andres Accords.

In another development witnessed by Chiapas Peace Commissioner Luis H. Alvarez, 22 Zapatistas were released from the Cerro Hueco prison. That leaves 81 out of a total of 103 individuals identified as Zapatista political prisoners who have been arrested and tried since the beginning of 1994 (some with sentences of up to 25 years.) The state Attorney General said that two mechanisms would be utilized in the review of the case of the alleged Zapatistas: the Law of Suspended Sentence for those who have been sentenced and adjournment for those whose cases are still in process.

Power struggle

Days before the new state government took power, the PRI parliamentary faction approved a series of reforms to the Public Treasury Code. According to Salazar, its intent was “to remove faculties from the Executive for reviewing the accounts of the county councils through the Comptroller General of the State and to make the legislature the only body with the authority to audit the county governments.”

The PRI faction in the state Congress filed a political suit against Salazar and Zebadua, claiming that the naming of Emilio Zebadua as Secretary of Government was unconstitutional “because he is not from Chiapas.” While this conflict remains unresolved, the state Congress is declining to discuss several of the governor’s proposals (such as a legislative reform proposal and the proposal to repeal a law passed in October 2000 that prohibits alliances by political parties in state legislative and county elections). Furthermore, although Salazar abolished the Redistricting Commission, the state Congress indicated that it would continue its discussion of the second stage of the redistricting project.

The legislature proposed a 90 percent increase in the its own budget and a 17 percent reduction in the state Social Development Ministry. The governor vetoed this budget, claiming that it contravened provisions of the Chiapas state constitution. While the standoff continues, the budget from 2000 remains in effect.

The president of the State Supreme Court (STJE), Noe Castanon, charged Governor Salazar with responsibility for the death threats against him and against 16 PRI judges. Castanon, who had presided over the STJE for six years, was re-elected for another term with the vote of the PRI majority of the magistrates.

More changes

A presidential press release announced that the immigration regulation requiring a special visa for human rights observation in Mexico had been eliminated. Such activities will continue to be subject to relevant laws regarding the activities of foreigners in Mexico.

For the first time in Mexican electoral history, the Federal Electoral Tribunal annulled a state-level election. In this case, the October election of a PRI candidate for governor of Tabasco (adjacent to Chiapas) was annulled because of widespread irregularities. Weeks of political uncertainty followed during part of which there were two interim governors. Finally a political agreement was reached between the federal Interior Ministry, the national directorates of the political parties involved, and the local Congress. An interim governor from the PRI was named and new elections were scheduled for November 2001.

In the state of Yucatan another electoral conflict arose around accusations of political partisanship in the naming of members of the State Electoral Council. The same federal tribunal intervened to demand that the PRI-majority state Congress develop a new, longer list of electoral councilors, to be elected randomly this time. The PRI bench declined to do so and announced that the previous Council would remain in place.

At the end of December, an Amnesty Law was approved in Oaxaca to benefit all persons allegedly affiliated with guerrilla groups. As a result, 32 people were released from prison, and 129 who are fugitives and who supposedly have links to the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) will also benefit.