A Feb. 22 press release from Narco News, via New Zealand's Scoop:

Zapatistas to Raise Two Peace Encampments on Indigenous Territory

Subcomandante Marcos, spokesman of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), recently announced that the Sixth Commission and the EZLN will be supporting two peace encampments, one in Baja California and the other in Chiapas, on Zapatista and Cucapá territory.

The Cucupá, who live in the valley near Mexicali where the Colorado River once flowed strong into the sea, have been prohibited from fishing in their remaining native waters by the Mexican government, hastening the possible extinction of an entire people in the name of "conservation."

From the Communiqué:

"...(the peace encampment) will be formally installed on February 26, 2007, at 9:30 a.m., with a traditional ceremony by the indigenous Cucapás. The encampment will be maintained during the months of February, March, April and May of this year of 2007 during the fishing season. The Sixth Commission of the EZLN will be present with one of its Zapatista indigenous delegations of maximum authority beginning in mid-March 2007 until the end of fishing season."

The other encampment will be in the southwestern state of Chiapas, on Zapatista territory:

"In Chiapas, on Huitepec Hill, outside of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, in the ecological reserve under the protection of the Zapatista Good Government Council of the Chiapas Highlands, the encampment will have the mission of protecting an important forest region in danger of being looted by international soft-drink and paper manufacturers...

"We invite the alternative and free media to be present and, with their knowledge and abilities, link both encampments and contribute that way to the defense of nature and its original guardians, the Indian peoples, and the unity of the Northwest and Southwest of the Mexico from below."

The entire communiqué, in both English and Spanish, can be found at The Narco News Bulletin:

http://www.narconews.com/Issue45/article2569.html

From somewhere in a country called América,

David B. Briones
Webmaster
The Narco News Bulletin

See our last posts on Mexico and the Zapatistas, Baja California, the Cucupa and struggles for control of water in Mexico.