From the mountains of the Mexican southeast

OK, it's not about Chiapas, but I just got back last night from a week in Mexico City. The excuse was to extend my visa, which thankfully I was able to do the first day with no problems after standing in only five lines, but I was able to pack in a lot of other stuff too. I stayed with my friends José Manuel and Nancy, who are grad students in Latin American Studies at the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) and have an apartment right in the historic center of the city a few blocks from the zócalo (main plaza). It was great to see them again, we had lots of interesting political and philosophical discussions over the course of the week, and they were kind enough to take time away from their studies to show me all around.

It's a terrific city with the variety and pulse and attitude of New York, around 8 million in the city proper and close to 20 million in the metropolitan area. I think I really needed a big city fix of culture and cuisine after a few months in the sticks. One of the many interesting things we did was go to the Museum of Mexico City, where there was an excellent permanent exhibit on the history of the city going back to the time when it was first settled by the Mexica (Aztec) people. Legend has it that the Mexica migrated from a place called Aztlán somewhere to the northwest (i.e., what's now the southwest of the U.S., still territory of the Mexica or Xicano/Chicano people), following a religious vision to settle in a spot where they would find an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. They found the spot in Tenochtitlan, an island in the middle of a lake, and settled what would become Mexico City. Contemporary excavations for construction of the Metro would show that today's zócalo, flanked by the National Palace and the Cathedral, stands atop the original Aztec temple and central plaza. Anyway, the exhibit included interesting aspects of the city's geography, colonial history, architecture, and the impressive logistics of moving enormous quantities of people, food, water, garbage, etc. to keep the city functioning today. There were also sociodemographic breakdowns, showing that about half the working population belongs to the "informal sector," providing services and products without benefit of a formal employment contract, regular wages or benefits.

The exhibit included photos and accounts of the 1985 earthquake, which turned out to be a watershed political event that revealed the country's social and political fault lines, like Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. There was also an entire room devoted to social/protest movements, and one on political prisoners and the disappeared. It's one of the contradictions of the current moment of uncertain political transition in Mexico that this aspect of reality could be prominently displayed in an official museum in the capital city. This is probably in part due to the fact that the Federal District (D.F.) has been governed by the center-left PRD, ever since 1997 when the government was pressured into allowing elections for what had previously been the presidentially appointed post of mayor of Mexico City.

Despite this little bit of glasnost, political murders and disappearances continue in present-day Mexico, with little change in the tradition of impunity for the powerful. Public pressure forced the Fox administration to finally appoint a Special Prosecutor for Social & Political Movements of the Past, supposedly to investigate the "dirty war" against the left which included massacres in 1968 and 1971. But the Attorney General until recently was an Army general, and when the special prosecutor's office made a few tepid attempts to bring charges against high-ranking officers for crimes in the dirty war, the Secretary of Defense dropped a big hint with a public statement that it was time for national reconciliation, and charges were quickly dropped. One of José Manuel & Nancy's friends, P., works in the special prosecutor's office and says the head of the office is a mediocre lawyer who doesn't have the moral stature required for such a position. And indeed today's paper quotes the prosecutor, Ignacio Carrillo Prieto, whining that the army was also a victim! Aside from the invisible and autonomous power of the military, Mexico also hasn't signed on to key provisions of international agreements in the area of these kinds of crimes against humanity. Those like P. who really want to get to the bottom of what happened find that their path is blocked at every turn, and there is never any budget for investigation while the top bureaucrats in the office have fat salaries and expense accounts. They can't fire P. because it would look really bad and he may know too much already, so they just haven't paid him for six months; but he's earnest and stubborn and his friends have been loaning him money so he can keep trying to do his job.

There are other glimmers of democracy trying to peek through the heavy clouds of the authoritarian legacy. Though the two main TV channels are controlled by conservative gazillionaires, there are more independent media now than a couple of decades ago. For example José Manuel & Nancy listen regularly to a radio program by award-winning journalist Carmen Ariztegui, who politely but sharply interviews political figures who are often hoist on their own petard. While I was there she interviewed former President Miguel De la Madrid on the twentieth anniversary of the devastating Mexico City earthquake, and asked him about the political consequences of his much-criticized handling of the disaster. With his guard down, the former president astounded the listening audience by saying that the handling of the earthquake was one of many factors contributing to the PRI's loss of the 1988 presidential election. Of course everyone knows that that election was stolen, but this was the first time a PRI official--in fact, the outgoing President at the time--publicly admitted it. Another morning she was interviewing the bishop of Aguascalientes, who acknowledged that yes, the Church does receive money donated by drug kingpins, but said the money became purified and sanctified when it passed through Church coffers and could be used for good deeds. Public response to this miraculous transformation has forced Church officials to issue "clarifications," while some legislators called for a federal investigation. Even President Fox was on the program one day, in contrast to his colleague north of the border who only gives rare and stage-managed press conferences.

Thursday night, on the eve of Mexican independence day, we joined the throngs in the zócalo for the traditional "grito," in which the President appears at 11:00 p.m. on the balcony of the National Palace to ring the bell of freedom and reenact the historic cry of independence from Spain. Huge displays of green/white/red lights portray the Mexican symbol of the eagle and snake as well as independence heroes Hidalgo and Morelos. It's a festive occasion, with whole families decked out in national garb and patriotic colors. An enormous deployment of police filled the downtown area, but the presence seemed less oppressive since half of them were dozing or hanging out with their girlfriends, and many of Mexico City's finest and their patrol cars had been decorated with foam and confetti by revellers. There was some hooting and booing when Fox stepped out onto the balcony, but then wild cheering at the cry of "¡Viva México!" and a fireworks display over the national cathedral.


Then it's all over quickly, and impressive brigades of broom-pushers are sweeping up the confetti as the crowds pour into the surrounding restaurants and bars. We did our patriotic bit for the national economy by repairing to the Cantina Corona, one of the older popular downtown establishments, for grilled octopus tacos and beer. Somehow Mexican patriotism doesn't seem to have the kind of belligerant and exclusionary edge that U.S. flag-waving sometimes takes on, maybe because it is historically associated with anti-imperialism rather than imperialism.

Over the holiday weekend we went with a group of friends to Cuernavaca, a nice town about an hour away where chilangos (what the rest of the country calls people from the capital, with connotations similar to "New Yorker") go to escape the smog and tumult. We spent a very relaxing day at a temazcal, a sweat lodge based loosely on indigenous rituals, then crashed at the home of Ricardo who does biomass energy research with experimental plantings of a kind of acacia. Then the next day we went to the smaller town of Tepoztlán, which has become kind of a bohemian/artist hangout. Some Argentine friends of a friend of José Manuel & Nancy were staying at the country home of an aunt and invited everyone over for Argentine-style grilled meat and wine, sort of a last fling before they had to return the house.

One of the recurring conversations over the weekend, and probably among educated lefty types throughout the country, was the criticism of PRD candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (also known as AMLO, or "El Peje") by Marcos. Nobody has any illusions about AMLO, an old political operator who has been tacking to the center lately to reassure investors and pick up votes. But there is real fear of Roberto Madrazo, an even dirtier political operator from the "dinosaur" wing of the PRI who is his main competitor for the 2006 presidential election. And a lot of chilangos are pleased with some of the highly visible programs that AMLO introduced as mayor of Mexico City, including face-lifting of the historic downtown, large new buses with a designated lane and construction of a new highway ring around the city, and a small social security plan for elderly and disabled residents of the capital. The latter is potentially significant since the existing national social security only covers the small portion of Mexicans who are on the payroll with formal sector jobs, and some of the innovations have shamed President Fox into trying to imitate them at the national level. Critics point out that AMLO is pandering for votes in an election year (there's a shock); that a lot of the transportation and construction schemes mostly benefit the middle class rather than the poor (also true); and that the programs entail a large fiscal cost (though the city has always had a high level of indebtedness).

Back in the big city we managed to squeeze in three offbeat films, which was great for me because the cultural offerings are a bit limited in San Cristóbal. I also got to sample such delicacies as chiles en nogada, a seasonal dish of stuffed peppers garnished with parsley, walnut cream sauce, and pomegranate seeds (the green-white-red colors of the flag, an independence day tradition); quesadillas de huitlacoche, made from blue corn fungus; and huazontle, an ancient Aztec vegetable like an elongated broccoli that is battered and fried and lathered in sauce. We also checked out the World Press Photo exhibit, walked around a lot in the downtown and in Coyoacán (the once bohemian but rapidly yuppifying area near the university), and tracked down obscure products like tahini for friends back in San Cristóbal.

And yes, I also did some work-related stuff. I hit some bookstores, including the wonderful Librería Gandhi, where I found a book I had been searching for about agrarian issues in Chiapas (which has not yet made its way down to Chiapas, as all roads lead to Rome). One day Nancy and I got together with Pancho, a professor of rural development at the University of Morelos whom I had met at one of the recent Zapatista encounters. He's a very interesting person and eclectic thinker, who is trying to plug his students into projects that have practical grassroots applications as well as congruence with indigenous traditions. I also looked up a sociologist I had been told about at the Colegio de México (Colmex), a kind of elite but public research university, who is just finishing a very interesting research project in Tojolabal communities in Chiapas. Marco was kind enough to take time to talk with me about his research and give me copies of some things he's been working on, and it turns out he's supervising a small group of grad students doing a variety of projects in Chiapas. On the bus ride out to the Colmex I observed an interesting little slice of Mexican life. The bus driver was pulled over by a cop for no apparent reason, and after a brief negotiation by the side of the patrol car he returned to the bus, dipped into the fare box, and sent his assistant over to pay the spontaneous "fine" and send the policeman on his merry way. This process was repeated a few miles down the road with a clipboard-toting bus supervisor, all in full view of the indifferent passengers.

All in all it was a great trip, a much-needed change of pace, enjoyable as well as productive. Now I need to head back out to the Caracol where I'm still waiting for permission from the Junta. On the way I plan to stop at the city on the edge of the jungle to catch a few sessions of a symposium on Tojolabal communities where Marco is coming down to present some of his work.

While I was away the Zapatistas held the concluding meeting in the jungle canyons to wrap up the series of encounters with civil society groups. They revealed that the government-appointed commissioner for the non-existent dialogue with the Zapatistas, Luis H. Alvarez, had sent them a message proposing secret negotiations, which the Zapatistas rejected because they prefer open and above-board politics. They also announced that the next phase of "The Other Campaign" will begin on January 1 (the anniversary of the 1994 rebellion), with Subcomandante Marcos being the first in a series of leaders who will travel around the country visiting other grassroots movements. He'll be kicking off the tour in San Cristóbal, which will no doubt give the coletos an apoplectic fit. Tonight I went to one of the fortnightly "En Voz Alta" (Speaking Out) forums organized by local NGOs on the subject of The Other Campaign, and people are finally starting to realize that they are the campaign, that the Zapatistas are creating a space but have no intention of setting themselves up as a vanguard or defining the correct line. It's going to be an interesting time.