Take a Stand by Jorge Ramos

Author:Jorge Ramos
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-02-12T14:46:55+00:00

SUBCOMANDANTE MARCOS: THE LESSONS

The last time I heard about Subcomandante Marcos was from an article in the Spanish newspaper El País, back in May 2015. The masked guerrilla had attended a tribute to the philosopher Luis Villoro in the town of Oventic, Chiapas.

The reporter, Pablo de Llano, acknowledged that the EZLN was no longer “the media phenomenon that it was in the late nineties, but it is still present in five areas of Chiapas, with its sense of resistance and political and economic autonomy, plus its paradoxical mix of disciplinary compulsion and sense of humor.”

But there was one major change. Subcomandante Marcos was no longer Marcos. Now he was known as Galeano, or Marcos-Galeano, in memory of a Zapatista by the name of José Luis Solis, also known as Galeano, who died in 2014. “He was kidnapped, tortured, and finally finished off,” Marcos-Galeano told the Spanish reporter.

Surprisingly, more than two decades after their initial uprising, the Zapatistas have yet to fade away. They have continued their struggle against capitalism and against the Mexican political system. Also surprising is that several Mexican administrations have tolerated the existence of an insurgent army in their own sovereign territory. Then again, perhaps they tried to do away with it but just weren’t able to succeed.

The Zapatistas never became a political party, as they had once seen themselves. And thanks to that separation from the traditional political parties, they are left with a purity and innocence that is rare to see in this day and age. Their independence from everything that’s rotten in Mexico has become one of their primary virtues.

The problem for these guerrillas lies in defining their purpose. If they aren’t willing to step into the political arena, yet also aren’t interested in taking power by force, then what is it that they do want? The debate has been going on for years.

While they seek to define themselves, Subcomandante Marcos has stepped down as the leader of the Zapatistas. He has been replaced by Subcomandante Moisés, the first indigenous leader of the last Latin American guerrilla movement of the twentieth century. But Marcos-Galeano has lost neither his voice nor his image: the mask continues to appear alongside his frequent literary references. He is, without a doubt, one of the most well-read guerrillas in history. A warrior poet.

Guerrillas are, by definition, involved in a marathon operation whose success is measured in years if not decades. And the Zapatistas have been no exception. They have long since ceased to be front-page news, having been replaced by drug traffickers, corrupt officials, and other elements of a country that is not looking down and to the south.

It is evident that they cannot overthrow the government by force, as they tried to do back in 1994. But what’s also clear is that they have the intent and the ability to maintain a presence in the political life of the country.

Subcomandante Marcos was right when he said that patience is a virtue of the warrior. The Zapatistas’ sense of

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