The Uncomfortable Dead
Page 26
XXI
The Zapatistas aren’t in any hurry. They’re waging a masterful media war, keeping up the pressure while dissidents across the country go on the alert and mobilize. The pressure must be kept up in order to establish nonfraudulent conditions for the next elections.
A space for the social movements opens. Some of the townships that were occupied in the coastal region of Chiapas throw out mayors accused of fraud; indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Michoacán, and Puebla mobilize; 10,000 teachers in Chiapas march to demand a 100 percent increase in salary. During this impasse, Zapatismo acquires social legitimacy through T-shirts, posters, continuous declarations of allegiance.
The electoral campaign of the left and center left, a broad front led by Cárdenas, is growing and has adopted the Zapatistas’ program as its own. A ring is forming around the PRI that will make it difficult for the party to stage more fraudulent elections in August.
Are we nearing the end of the oldest dictatorship in the world? From 1920 to 1994 they have governed this country in the name of modernity and a betrayed revolution. Has their moment passed?
XXII
For now we’re walking on shadows, disturbed and filled with hope. We are waking up with the distinct feeling that we slept among phantoms.
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