How are the Zapatista communities responding?
EL: The understanding is to not respond to the provocations, to not respond to the aggressions with more aggressions. The Zapatistas have their civil government — the Councils of Good Government. The Councils have said that if the government forms paramilitary groups, and their neighbors are misled into joining, we are going to insist by all means possible that there is a dialogue with these indigenous organizations that are opposed to us. JT: What is the impact of the new government of Felipe Calderón on this situation? EL: The social movements in Mexico are enduring a repression that we have not seen in many years. Felipe Calderón practically militarized the nation. There are roadblocks everywhere. There’s currently a proposal to modify the law in Mexico to allow the police and the army to enter people’s homes without a judge’s order. All the political parties are in support. The signals are very clear: they are going to apply the mano duro (“heavy hand”) to all those who are not in
