Only six weeks after the Zapatistas historic March for Indigenous Dignity which mobilised hundreds of thousands across Mexico last March, federal leglislators threw a spanner into the peace process by approving a revised version of the San Andres Accords, which waters-down key aspects of indigenous autonomy.

At the heart of the debate is the question of who will control the abundant natural resources found in indigenous territories, above all in the Zapatista autonomous municipalities in Chiapas. The original accord, signed in 1996 between the EZLN and the Mexican government, grants indigenous communities collective control of resources found on their lands. These include oil, water, minerals and massive biodiversity. In almost diametric opposition to this agreement is the infamous “Plan Puebla-Panama” (PPP) which fits in nicely with the revised constitutional reforms promoted by Fox and his pro-business party the PAN.

The thrust of this multi-million dollar development plan is what we are seeing all over the world: new corporate colonialism. From Mexico’s central state, Puebla, through six central American countries down to Panama – with a specific focus on Chiapas – the project includes the expansion of motorways, ports, airports and railway systems to increase trade flows in and out the region; the construction of ‘maquiladoras’ or sweat-shops in the region; the further encroachment of the private sector in agriculture; increased access for transnational pharmaceuticals to the ‘genetic resources’ of Mesoamerican rainforests which can then be patented; and ‘energy projects’ involving gas and oil production and the building of hydroelectric dams.

The revised law conveniently subordinates community control of land use and ownership to national private property law. Resistance to the PPP is growing rapidly as more information about its content is being shared. In June, for example, at the “First Week for Cultural and Biological Diversity”, representatives from 184 organisations from 15 countries expressed their complete rejection of the PPP calling it “a new type of colonialism allowing transnational businesses to benefit while the underclass suffers.”

If approved in their original form, the San Andre’s Accords would create a formidable obstacle to corporate designs on Mexico’s Indian lands. But above and beyond this legislation, corporations have a long battle ahead of them, facing some of the most radical and organised communities in the world. The military has not withdrawn from the seven bases, but actually relocated to old and new bases and checkpoints. Three of the “withdrawn” bases remain under government control and the lands have not been returned to neighbouring Zapatista communities.
According to the Chiapas Community Defenders, over one hundred and four military operations have taken place between April and July of 2001, while paramilitary harassment and attacks have increased. In fact, eleven members of the government-created and sponsored paramilitary group Paz y Justicia (those responsible for the massacres in Acteal of 45 unarmed civilians in 1997) were released after serving only 5 months in prison.