The National Indigenous Congress and the Indigenous Government Council

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The National Indigenous Congress and the Indigenous Government Council

The National Indigenous Congress met over Memorial Day weekend to form an Indigenous Government Council for Mexico, an anti-capitalist governing council of those below and to the Left based on the same governing principles that the Zapatistas follow. The newly-formed Council named an indigenous woman as its spokesperson, and as a candidate in Mexico’s 2018 presidential elections. The articles below describe and analyze these events.

1. Marichuy, the independent candidate close to the EZLN– Isaín Mandujano reports that the Indigenous Government Council named María de Jesús Patricio Martínez (“Marichuy”) as its spokesperson and independent candidate to run for president in Mexico’s 2018 elections.

En español: https://www.chiapasparalelo.com/noticias/chiapas/2017/05/marichuy-desde-1994-cerca-del-ezln-y-una-de-las-fundadoras-del-cni/

2. María de Jesús Patricio, the CIG’s Spokesperson– Luis Hernández Navarro comments on Marichuy, the indigenous woman selected as spokesperson for the Indigenous Government Council (Consejo Indígena de Gobierno, CIG), and discusses her qualifications.

En español: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2017/05/30/opinion/021a1pol

3.Indigenous Government Council– Magdalena Gómez talks about the number of delegates that make up the CIG and some of the other discussions that took place at the Assembly.

En español: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2017/05/30/opinion/020a1pol

Counterinsurgency/Repression/Dispossession

At the end of the Assembly, the National Indigenous Congress and the EZLN issued a communiqué entitled “CNI-EZLN:The Time Has Come,” describing the war that they live and confront. It denounces recent counterinsurgency actions against organized indigenous communities, several of them in Chiapas.