A-Infos (en) The San Andres Accords in English, (Jan 14-98 English version)

[Ilan Shalif <gshalif@netvision.net.il>]

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     A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
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This posting has been forwarded to you as a service of
Accion Zapatista de Austin.

NB:At long last we have the Accords in English. Lo these many months
they have been on the FZLN web page in Spanish but inaccessible to many
who are interested. Although these accords do not constitute the program
of the EZLN they do contain a fuller expression of many of their demands,
especially in the area of indigenous autonomy than just about anything
else available in English. These are the Accords that the Mexican govt
signed and promised to implement. These are the Accords that they
subsequently refused to recognize. These are the Accords that they and
their apologists claim would tear Mexico apart. Now you can read them and
judge for yourselves.

Harry

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 14:10:07 -0500 (EST)
From: Hector Castillo <hjc5@cornell.edu>
Reply-To: mexico2000@mep-d.org
To: Multiple Recipients of List Mexico2000 <mexico2000@mep-d.org>
Subject: Acuerdos de San Andres

Listeros,

        Nuestra amiga Rosalva (rosalva@uab.edu) ha hecho un trabajo excelente
traduciendo al ingles los Acuerdos de San Andres. Difundamosla lo mas
posible. La traduccion se presenta a continuacion.

Hector Castillo


Joint Proposals which the Federal Government and the EZLN
commit to send to the Debate and National Decision Authorities, in
Accord with  Point 1.4 of the Rules of Procedure.

Translated by Rosalva Bermudez-Ballin

January 18, 1996

The various parties commit themselves to sending to the Debate and
National Decision Authorities the following joint proposals upon which they
have agreed".

On the basis of the new relationship between the State and the indigenous
peoples it is necessary to recognize, insure and guarantee rights within an
emended federalist framework.  Such  an objective implies the promotion of
reforms and addenda to the Federal Constitution and the laws emerging from
it , as well as to State Constitutions and local Judicial Dispositions, to
further, on the one hand, the establishment of general foundations that may
insure unity and national objectives; and, at the same time, allow the
federative entities the true power  to legislate and act in accordance to
the particularities of the indigenous issues coming before them.

1.- To urge a profound transformation of the State, as well as of the
political, social, cultural, and economic relationships with the indigenous
peoples, which satisfies their demands for justice.

2.- To urge the emplacement of an all-inclusive new social agreement, based
on the understanding of the fundamental plurality of Mexican society and on
the contribution that the indigenous people can make to national unity,
beginning with the constitutional acknowledgement of their rights, and in
particular, to their right to self-determination and autonomy.

3.- The legal reforms to be promoted must originate from the principle of
the equality of all Mexicans before the law and judicial organs, and not by
the creation of special codes of law that privilege particular people;
respecting the principle that the Mexican Nation is a pluricultural entity
which is originally supported by its indigenous peoples.

4.- The constitutional modifications represent one of the most important
factors in the new relationship between the indigenous peoples and the
State within the framework of reforming the State, so that their demands
may find support within the State legal system.

II.

1.- The creation of a judicial framework that establishes a new
relationship between indigenous peoples and the State, based on the
recognition of their right to self-determination and the judicial,
political, social, economic and cultural rights that obtain from it.  The
new constitutional dispositions must include a framework of autonomy.

2.- Such a judicial framework must be produced with the recognition of the
self-determination of indigenous peoples, who, with previous societies, are
the ones who have suffered a historical continuation of colonial
oppression, maintain and recognize their own identities; and possess the
will to preserve them, based on their own, distinct cultural, social,
political and economic characteristics.   Those attributes characterize
them as indigenous peoples, and as such, they are constituted as subjects
with a right to self-determination.

Autonomy is the concrete expression of the exercise of the right to
self-determination, within the framework of membership in the National
State.  The indigenous peoples shall be able, consequently, to decide their
own form of internal government as well as decide their way of organizing
themselves politically, socially, economically and culturally.  Within the
new constitutional framework of autonomy, the exercise of
self-determination
of indigenous peoples shall be respected in each of the domains and levels
in which they are asserted, being able to encompass one or more indigenous
groups, according to particular and specific circumstances in each federal
entity.  The exercise of autonomy of indigenous people will contribute to
the unity and democratization of national life and will strengthen national
sovereignty.

It is appropriate to admit, as a fundamental demand of the indigenous
peoples, their right to autonomy, insofar as they are communities with
different cultures and they have the faculty to decide their own local
issues within the framework of the National State.  This acknowledgement is
based on Agreement 169 of the OIT International Labor Organization, and
ratified by the Senate of the Republic.  Thus, the recognition of autonomy
is based on the concept of indigenous group, which is founded on historical
criteria and on cultural identity.

3.- National legislation must acknowledge indigenous peoples as subjects
with the right to self-determination and autonomy.

4.- It is proposed to the Congress of the Union to recognize, in national
legislation, these communities as entities with public rights, with the
right to free association in municipalities with populations that are
predominantly indigenous, as well as the right of a group of municipalities
to associate, in order to coordinate their actions as indigenous peoples.

Competent authorities will execute the orderly and gradual transference
of resources, so that the people themselves may administer the public funds
assigned to them, and to strengthen the indigenous participation in
government, negotiations and administration in the various domains and
levels.  It will be up to state legislatures to determine, in their case,
the obligations and faculties that might be transferred.

State legislatures will be able to move forward on the remunicipatization
in the territories in which the indigenous villages are established, said
remunicipalization must be based on consultation with the towns involved.

In order to strengthen the federal contract, it is essential to revise in
depth, not only the relationship between the Federation and the state
governments, but also the relationship between the latter and the
municipalities.

The union between townships and predominantly indigenous populations is
proposed, not as a different type of municipality, but as one which, within
the framework of the general concept of this political institution, may
allow indigenous participation in its composition and unity, while, at the
same time promoting and integrating indigenous communities into the
municipal government.  As to what constitutes a municipality with a
predominantly indigenous population, reaffirming the full meaning of a free
municipality on which federalism is based, it is considered necessary that
the organizations be constitutionally strengthened, in such a manner that:

a) they may be endowed with duties that guarantee the exercise of
autonomy of the indigenous peoples;

[b) the structure foreseen in the Municipal Organic Law will guide and
orient them toward facing the new challenges of development, and in
particular to the needs and new forms of organization specifically for
indigenous towns;

5.- It is proposed that the Congress of the Union and to the State
Legislatures  acknowledge and establish the characteristics of
self-determination and the levels and modes of autonomy, taking into
consideration what "autonomy" means.

a) Territory. Every indigenous town is found in a territory that covers the
entire habitat occupied or used by indigenous people in one form or
another.  The territory is the material base of their reproduction as a
people and it expresses the inseparable unity people-land-nature.

b) Demarcation of application.  Jurisdiction is the spatial, material and
personal normative field of validity in which the indigenous people apply
their rights.  The Mexican State will acknowledge the existence of said
fields.

c)  Responsibilities.  There must be compatibility with various federal,
state and municipal authorities, as well as a distribution of political,
administrative, economic, social, cultural, educational, judicial
resources, for the management and protection of natural resources, with the
purpose of responding opportunely to the requirements and demands of
indigenous peoples.

Furthermore, it will be required to specify the obligations, faculties and
resources that are likely to be transferred to the indigenous communities
and towns under the established criteria in Section 5.2 of the document
entitled "Joint Pronouncements", as well as the various forms of
participation by the communities and towns vis =E0 vis the government
authorities, so that they may interact and coordinate their actions with
them, particularly at the municipal level.

d) Self-development.  The indigenous communities and towns  themselves
must determine their development projects and programs.  For this reason,
it is considered appropriate to incorporate, in local and federal
legislation, the ideal mechanisms that  would promote the participation of
indigenous peoples in the planning for development at all levels; so that
the design of this participation may take into consideration their
aspirations, needs and priorities.

e) Participation in the national and state channels of representation.
Local and national participation and political representation must be
ensured, respecting the various socio-cultural characteristics, in order to
create a new federalism.

It is proposed to the Congress of the Union, the recognition, in
constitutional and political reforms that may derive, of the rights of the
indigenous woman to participate as an equal with men in all levels of
government and in the development of  indigenous peoples.

6.- It is proposed to the Congress of the Union and to the State
legislatures that, in acknowledging indigenous autonomy and for the
determination of all its levels, they take into consideration the main
rights that are the objects of said autonomy; establishing the
characteristics required to insure its free exercise.  Among said rights,
the following may be emphasized:

a) to exercise the right to develop the specific forms of social, cultural,
political and economic organization;

b) to obtain the recognition of their internal normative systems for
regulation and sanctions, insofar as they are not contrary to
constitutional guarantees and human rights, especially those of women;

c) to agree to State jurisdiction in a better way;

d) to agree collectively to the use and enjoyment of natural resources,
except those which fall under national jurisdiction;

e) to promote the development of the various components of indigenous
identity and cultural heritage;

f) to interact with the various levels of political representation in
government and the administration of justice;

g) to cooperate with other communities of their ethnicity or different
groups, in joining efforts and coordinating actions for optimal use of
resources, and the initiation of regional and general development projects
for the
promotion and defense of common interests;

h) to design their community and their municipal government representation
freely, as well as selecting their authorities as indigenous peoples, in
accordance with their own institutions and traditions;

i) to promote and develop their languages and cultures, as well as their
political, social, economic, religious and cultural customs and traditions.

III.
1.- Increase in political participation and representation.  Municipal
strengthening.  It is convenient to anticipate at the constitutional level
the necessary mechanisms that:

a) Insure the adequate political participation of indigenous communities
and peoples in the Congress of the Union and local congresses,
incorporating new criteria in setting the boundaries of the electoral
districts that correspond to the indigenous communities and towns;

b) Allow participation in the electoral processes without requiring
participation of the political parties;

c) Guarantee the effective participation of the indigenous peoples in the
publicity and supervision of those processes;

d) Guarantee the organization of internal election or nomination processes.

e) Recognize the system assignation of offices and other forms of
organization, methods of designation of representatives, and the making of
decisions in the assembly and of popular consultation.

f) (Establish the election of municipal agents or allied figures or, when
appropriate, be named by the corresponding towns and communities.

g)  Foresee in the state legislation the mechanisms that may allow the
revision, and, when appropriate, the modification of the names of the
municipalities, proposed by the population located in the corresponding
boundaries.

2.- The guarantee of full access to justice.  The State must guarantee the
towns full access to the jurisdiction of the Mexican State, with
recognition and respect for their own internal normative systems,
guaranteeing full respect for human rights. It will promote the recognition
that positive Mexican Law may acknowledge the authorities, norms and
internal procedures for conflict resolution of towns and communities, will
guarantee that local judgments and decisions are confirmed by the judicial
authorities of the State.

The recognition of jurisdictional spaces to the designated authorities in
the heart of the indigenous communities, towns and municipalities stems
from a restructuring of the municipal charter, so that said authorities
will be able to settle internal conflicts of coexistence; their knowledge
and resolution may imply a better acquisition and distribution of justice.

The marginalization in which the indigenous people live and the conditions
of disadvantage to which they consent in the system of granting and
procuring justice, create the need for a serious revision of the federal
and state judicial frameworks, so that effective access of the indigenous
peoples be guaranteed, or in place of local action, access to its members
to the State jurisdiction, and in this manner, avoiding partial
distribution of justice to the detriment of[the indigenous sector of the
population.

In the legislative reforms that may enrich the internal normative systems
it must be determined that, when sanctions are imposed upon members of the
indigenous towns, the economic, social and cultural characteristics of
those sanctioned must be taken into consideration, privileging sanctions
other than incarceration.  Preferably sentences may carried out in places
that are closer to home and also, that integration into the community be
favored as an essential mechanism of social readaptation.

The insertion of the norms and judicial practices of the indigenous
communities as a source of law applicable to procedures and resolutions
of controversies under their authorities, will be encouraged; also, in
order to provide constitutional guarantees, it is strongly suggested that
federal and local judgments in which the indigenous people are involved be
taken into consideration.


3.- Knowledge and respect of indigenous culture.  It is considered
necessary to elevate the constitutional rank of all Mexicans by means of a
pluricultural education that acknowledges, disseminates and promotes the
history, customs, traditions and, in general, the culture of the indigenous
peoples,  root of our national identity..

The Federal Government will promote the laws and necessary policies so
that the indigenous languages in each state may have the same social value
as Spanish, and it will promote the development of practices that deter
discrimination against them in administrative and legal transactions.

The Federal Government commits itself to the promotion, development,
preservation and practice of indigenous languages by providing education in
the indigenous languages;  moreover, it will favor the instruction of
writing and reading in the languages themselves; and measures will be
adopted to insure that these peoples have the opportunity to learn Spanish.

Knowledge of indigenous cultures is national enrichment and a necessary
step to eliminate misunderstandings and discrimination toward indigenous
peoples.

4.- Integral Indigenous Education.  The various governments commit
themselves to respect the educational tasks of the indigenous peoples
within their own cultural space.  The allocation of financial, material and
human resources must be brought about with fairness to plan and carry out
educational and cultural activities determined by the indigenous towns and
communities.

The State must bring about the indigenous peoples' right to a free and
quality education, as well as to encourage the participation of the
indigenous towns and communities in selecting, ratifying and removing
teachers, taking into consideration criteria on academic and professional
performance previously agreed on by the indigenous peoples and the
corresponding authorities, and to form supervisory committees on the
quality of education within the
framework of local institutions.

The right to bilingual and inter cultural education of the indigenous
peoples is ratified.  The definition and development of educational
programs with regional content, where their cultural heritage is
recognized, are established as the jurisdiction of federative entities in
consultation with the indigenous towns.  It will be possible, through
educational action, to insure the use and development of indigenous
languages, as well as the participation of towns and communities in
conformance with the spirit of Agreement 169 of the
OIT (International Labor Organization).

5.- The provision of basic needs.  The State must set up mechanisms to
guarantee the indigenous towns the conditions that may allow them to
satisfactorily tend to their nourishment, health, and housing at an
adequate level of well-being.  Social policy must set up priority programs
for the improvement of the levels of health and nourishment of children, as
well as support programs, in an egalitarian plane, for the training of
women, increasing their participation in the organization and the
development of the family and the community.  Priority must be given to the
intervention of the indigenous woman in the decisions regarding economic,
political, social and cultural development projects.

6.- Production and employment.  Historically, development models have not
taken into consideration the productive systems of the indigenous peoples.
Consequently, the utilization of their potentials must be encouraged.

The Mexican judicial system, both at federal and state levels must push for
the recognition of the indigenous peoples' right to the sustainable use and
the derived benefits of the use and development of the natural resources of
the territories they occupy or utilize in any form, so that, in a framework
of global development, the economic underdevelopment and isolation may be
overcome.  This action also implies an increase in and reorientation of
social spending.  The State must foster the development of the economicbase
of the indigenous towns and must guarantee their participation in designing
the strategies directed toward the improvement of their living conditions
and the provision of basic services.

7.- Protection of migrant indigenous peoples.  The State must set up
specific social policies to protect migrant indigenous people, both in the
national territory as well as beyond its borders, with inter institutional
actions to support work and education of women, and health and education
for children and youth, which, in rural regions, must be coordinated in the
areas of contribution as well as those that attract agricultural workers.

8.- Means of communication.  With the purpose of creating an inter cultural
dialogue from the community level up to the national level, that may allow
a new and positive relationship between the various indigenous groups and
between these groups and the rest of society, it is essential  to endow
these towns with their own means of communication, which are also key
mechanisms for the development of their cultures.  Therefore, it will be
proposed to the respective national authorities, to elaborate a new
communications law that may allow the indigenous towns to acquire, operate
and administrate their own means of communication.

The Federal and State governments will promote that the means of
communication currently in the hands of the Indigenists become indigenous
means of communication, which is a demand made by the indigenous
communities and towns.

The Federal Government will recommend to the respective authorities that
the seventeen INI (National Indigenist Institute) radio stations be given
to the indigenous communities in their respective regions, with the
transference of permits, infrastructure and resources, when an expressed
request by the indigenous communities has been issued to this effect.

In the same manner, it is necessary to create a new judicial framework in
the area of communications that may consider the following aspects:
national pluriculturalism; the right to use indigenous languages in the
media; the right to rebuttal; guarantees to rights of expression,
information and communication; and the democratic participation of the
indigenous towns and communities before the authorities who decide on
matters of communication.  The participation of interested parties in
establishing a civic responsibility process for the decision making
authorities in the area of communication, can be realized through the
creation of a communications Ombudsman or a citizens' Council of
communications.

IV. THE ADOPTION OF THE FOLLOWING PRINCIPLES, WHICH MUST GOVERN THE NEW
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AND THE STATE AND THE REST OF
SOCIETY:

1.- Pluralism.  The contact between the peoples and cultures that
constitute Mexican society must be based on respect for their differences,
and must assume their fundamental equality.  Consequently, it must be the
policy of the State to regulate its action, to promote a pluralist
orientation in society, capable of actively combating every form of
discrimination, and of correcting  economic and social inequalities.
Similarly, it will be necessary to move towards the creation of a judicial
order nourished by plurality, reflecting intercultural dialogue with common
standards for all Mexicans and respect for the internal systems of law of
the indigenous peoples.

2.- Self-determination.  The State shall respect the exercise of
self-determination by indigenous peoples, in all fields and levels where
they will try to validate and practice their separate autonomy, without
damaging national sovereignty and within the new normative framework for
the indigenous towns.  This implies respect for their cultural identities
and their forms of social organization.  It will also respect the abilities
of the indigenous towns and communities to determine their own development,
as long as national and public interest is respected.  The various levels
of
government and State institutions will not intervene unilaterally in the
affairs and decisions of the indigenous towns and communities, in their
organization and forms of representation, and in their current strategies
for the use of resources.

3.- Sustainability.  It is necessary and urgent to safeguard the natural
areas and culture of the territories of indigenous peoples. Legislation
will push
for the recognition of the rights of the indigenous towns and communities
to receive the corresponding indemnization, when the exploitation of
natural resources carried out by the State causes damages to their habitat
which may endanger their cultural survival.  In the cases where damage has
already occurred, and the towns are where damage has already occurred, and
these towns are able to show that the given compensation does not allow
their
cultural survival, the establishment of review mechanisms will be promoted
to allow the State and the affected to jointly analyze the specific case.
In both cases the compensatory mechanisms will try to insure the
sustainable
development of the indigenous towns and communities.

In the same manner, there will be launched, in common accord with the
indigenous towns, rehabilitation activities of those territories, and
support of
initiatives to create the conditions that may insure the sustainability of
their practices of production and of life.

4.- Consultation and Accord.  The policies, laws, programs, and public
actions that might relate to the indigenous towns will be consulted.  The
State must promote the integrity and agreement of all the institutions and
levels of government that influence the life of the indigenous towns,
avoiding partial practices influence the life of the indigenous towns,
avoiding partial practices that may split up public policy.  To insure that
their action corresponds to the distinct characteristics of the various
indigenous towns, and to avoid the imposition of uniform policies and
programs, their participation in all the phases of public action, including
conception, planning and evaluation must be guaranteed.

Similarly, there must be a gradual and orderly transference of powers,
obligations and resources to the municipalities and communities so that,
with the participation of the latter, the public monies assigned to them
may be distributed.  As for resources, and for whatever purpose they may
exist, they may be transferred to the forms of organization and association
that are anticipated in point 5.2 of the document of Joint Pronouncements.

Since the policies in the indigenous areas should not only be conceived
with the towns themselves, but implemented with them, the present
indigenist and social development institutions that operate locally must be
transformed into different entities that may be conceived and operated
jointly and in concert with the State and the indigenous peoples
themselves.

5.- Strengthening of the Federal System and democratic Descentralization.
The new relationship with the indigenous peoples encompasses a  process of
decentralization of the obligations, faculties and resources of the federal
and state authorities to the municipal governments, in the spirit of point
5.2 of the document Joint Pronouncements, so that with the active
participation of the indigenous communities and the population in general,
they may assume the initiatives thereof.

V. CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL REFORMS
1.- The establishment of a new relationship between the indigenous peoples
and the State has, as a necessary point of departure, the peoples and the
State has, as a necessary point of departure, the creation of a new
judicial framework at the national level as well as in the federative
entities.  The constitutional reforms that recognize the rights of the
indigenous towns must be achieved through a creative legislative spirit,
that may produce new policies and may give real solutions to social
problems.  To that effect, we propose that these reforms must contain,
among others, the following general aspects:

a) To legislate on the autonomy of the indigenous communities and towns, to
include the recognition of the communities as entities with public law;
their right to associate freely with municipalities that are of
predominantly indigenous populations; and also the right of various
municipalities to associate for the purpose of coordinating their actions
as indigenous towns;

b) To legislate to "guarantee the protection of the integrity of the
lands belonging to indigenous groups," taking into consideration the
specifics of the indigenous towns consideration the specificsof the
indigenous towns and communities, in the concept of territorial integrity
contained in Agreement 169 of the OIT (International Labor Organization),
as well as establishing the procedures and mechanisms for the
regularization of the various forms of indigenous property rights and for
thepromotion of cultural cohesion;

c) In issues related to natural resources, to install a preferential order
that privileges the indigenous communities in the granting of concessions
in order to reap the benefits of the exploitation and use of natural
resources;

d) Legislate on the rights of the indigenous people, men and women, to have
representatives in the legislative entities, particularly in the Congress
of the Union and in the local congresses; incorporating new criteria to
delimit the electoral districts that may correspond to the indigenous
communities and towns, and that they be allowed to have elections in
accordance to the legislation on that matter;

e) Legislate on the rights of the indigenous towns to elect their own
authorities and to exercise authority according to their own internal norms
in  their autonomous localities, guaranteeing the participation of women on
equal terms;

f) In the content of the legislation, to take into consideration the
pluricultural nature of the Mexican Nation that may be reflected in
intercultural dialogue,
with common standards for all Mexicans and with respect for the internal
normative systems of the indigenous towns;

g) In the Constitution, to insure the obligation to not discriminate on the
basis of racial or ethnic origin, language, gender, beliefs or social
condition, thus, making possible the designation of discrimination as a
crime.

The rights of the indigenous towns to the protection of their sacred sites
and ceremonial centers, and the use of plants and animals that are sites
and ceremonial centers, and the use of plants and animals that are
considered sacred for strictly ritual use must also be insured;

h) Legislate so that no form of coercion may be exercised against the
individual guarantees and the specific rights and freedoms of the
indigenous towns;

i) Legislate the rights of the indigenous towns to the free exercise and
development of their cultures and their access to means of communication.

********************************************************************

Hector Castillo
Animal Breeding Group          (oo)
Cornell University
********************************************************************



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