by Herman Bellinghausen, correspondent, La Realidad,Chiapas, August 9* translated by Susana Saravia, Nuevo Amanecer Press, Washington,August 10*
"The encirclement is broken, Commandant Ramona is coming out. A tzotzil woman, "the most belligerent arm, aggressive and intransigent of the EZLN". according to subcomander Marcos. Up to her re-apperance this afternoon in Aguascalientes, she has not been seen in public since march of 1994, when the talks at the Cathedral concluded, that first stone of the now in the still uncertain process of peace in Chiapas. Her small frame, today thinner and more fragile than back then, ends up being a humbling and demolishing weapon.
For that person, with her potent San Andrean blouse and the national flag between her hands, did the center spoke with thunder, lightening and police threats? Ramona or earthquake to the Country? Ramona, the first symbol shown to the world of the greatness of the rebel mayan peoples of the mountains of Chiapas.
An act apparently weak that responds with the extremely small, to all the force of the State. "We don't have more to give" said Marcos referring himself to the care the zapatistas have been able to offer this celebrity and secret sick woman. "Before dying, she wanted to speak with the indigenous".
"Having all the cards", Marcos said, the zapatistas confront the "political illiteracy" of the system, with the untouchable fragilessness.
"The EZLN did not ask permission" , only requested Cocopa "to negotiate the exit in a way that the parts would not be hurt. With Ramona "goes the representation of the men, women, children and elderly, combatants and non combatants, of the EZLN."
LIFE GIVES US SURPRISES
THE GUEST
Adolfo Regino, the young mixe leader, expressed the formal invitation in the name of the National Indigenous Congress for a zapatista delegation to go to the DF (Mexico City)*translator's note, in order to add themselves to "never again a Me'xico without us" that since yesterday resounds in the nation's capital. The new turn of the screw of the indigenous movement, that since the National Congress celebrated in 1974 in Chiapas has done nothing but grow and get stronger, marvelling some and ,leaving others with a lack of understanding that grows within the powerful.
And in the air, the slap on the face of Commandant Ramona remains. What Villoro, in his speech,said in these words: "Power in the service of people, and not people in the service of power".
This decision of the CCRI-CG (Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee- General Command)*translator's note, is a "moral lesson", said another zapatista adviser. The new piece of the peaceful road that takes to the National Dialogue for Peace.
In listening to the invitations spoken by Adolfo Regino, the barzonista Jose' Quirino, Luis Villoro and Adriana Lo'pez Monjardin, subcomander Marcos says:
"The response is that no. Never again a Me'xico,Federal District without us". (Federal District is nation's capital)*translator's note.
Ramona is the symbol, the message, the confirmation of David's syndrome defying Goliath with the force of gentle lasting dignity and words dangerously fast.
Yesterday, President Ernesto Zedillo visited three military bases in Chiapas. Today the zapatistas deploy a bomb that no one was expecting. The bomb of removing themselves from the center. The bomb of patience. The bomb of overpowering tenderness. The strength of those from the bottom.
The representatives of national and international organizations who are here waiting for two days for the solution to the crisis, applauded the appearance of the first woman of the CCRI that the world met. The last card. The first.
When Marcos walked towards a house next to the Aguascalientes, and he came out with Ramona, no one understood. Is that all? Well, yes, this is everything,, nothing more and nothing less.
No wonder last night, as expressed by congressman Oscar Gonzalez of the Cocopa and the PT (workers party)*translator's note, the situation came to extreme dangerous tension. Against Ramona the tanks and arrest orders crash. The littlest ones, the last, confirm Schumacher ,Small is beautiful.
And the indigenous comes back to center stage, just in case someone was doubting. Just in case there is someone who still does not understand.
Susana Saravia (Anibarro) is a certified legal and court interpreter by the Office of the Administration of the Courts in Washington State. Please translate to other languages and re-post and distribute. NUEVO AMANECER PRESS- NAP A PRESS DEDICATED TO HUMAN RIGHTS P.O. BOX 25326 Federal Way,Washington 98093 USA e-mail:amanecer@cyberspace.com NAP is an effort by civil society Mexico and USA Director: Roger Maldonado Coordinator: Susana Saravia