Subcommander Marcos in Nuevo Laredo

Bill Weinberg

Zapatista Subcommander Marcos, continuing his “Other Campaign” tour of northern Mexico, arrived once again on the US border Nov. 22 when he stopped in Nuevo Laredo, Tamualipas, a border town which has been torn by narco-fueled violence in recent months. Marcos drew attention to the ongiong social crisis on the border which has been overshadowed by media reports of spectacular violence, meeting with shanty-dwellers who work in the maquiladoras but are squatting lands near the town garbage dump, with no legal title to their homes or access to running water or other services. (La Jornada, Nov. 23 via Chiapas95)

He next moved on to Matamoros, where he met with an group of prostitues organized in the National Network of Sex Workers, who complained of violence and exploitation by the authorities. (Hoy Tamualipas, Nov. 24)

In a meeting with fishermen on Matamoros’ Playa Bagdad, Marcos invoked the struggle in Oaxaca and openly called for revolt againt Matamoros Mayor Baltazar Hinojosa Ochoa and Tamaulipas Gov. Eugenio Hernández Flores, both of the same Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that rules in Oaxaca. “Here in Tamaulipas there are also PRIista governments, and this is dangerous; therefore, we trust the governor and the mayor of Matamoros are going to fall.” (El Mañana, Matamoros, Nov. 24)

See our last posts on Mexico, the Zapatistas and Oaxaca, the Other Campaign and the struggle for the border.

  1. And speaking of narco-fueled violence….
    From Xinhua, Nov. 24:

    A police chief and a councilor were killed by a gunman early on Thursday in Santa Catarina, a small town in the northern Mexico state of Nuevo Leon, the police told local media.

    The gunman killed police chief Baltazar Gomez and local councilman Osvaldo Rodriguez inside a convenience store as they were returning from a funeral, said the police.

    The attacker also hurt Councilwoman Socorro Escamilla. Another councilor Karina Dolores Garza escaped unhurt.

    Gomez is the sixth law enforcement officer killed this year in Nuevo Leon which borders the United States’ Texas. He took his post just six weeks ago, and local reports said he had received death threats from drug smugglers.

    The region has seen a wave of violence as drug cartels battle for more lucrative routes into the United States.