Marcos Sets Off Alone on His Motorcycle as the Other Campaign Kicks Off

Subcomandante Marcos left La Garrucha, a village in one of the Zapatistas’ autonomous municipalities, in the early afternoon. The surprise for journalists, observers, and curious bystanders was that he came out alone, without any security escort, mounted a motorcycle and took off on his way to San Cristóbal.

He is alone, at least in terms of security, and exposed to any kind of undesirable situation — something that no one among the EZLN’s supporters wants to happen, but none of them can offer him any kind of security.

Journalists and other traveling companions were left behind; as everyone knows, a motorcycle goes faster than any other vehicle. This time, there were no police cars clearing the way as happened in the Zapatista March of 2001, when the state government pulled out all the stops, telling the media that it would guarantee the safety of the Zapatista caravan in Chiapas. Now, Rubén Velásquez, the Chiapas secretary of government, simply stated that the security provided to the guerilla chief would be the same as that which the government of Chiapas would provide to any citizen. That is the difference that five years bring.

Meanwhile, the march the gigantic march that has now been seen on other occasions, began. It was impressive for its indigenous contingent, the members of which can only be distinguished by the traditional clothing of the various region that some of them pull out to show off for the fiesta (though most simply arrived in work cloths, probably the only clothes they own). There they were, hundreds and hundreds, thousands. The counts are always a little exaggerated, but they are based on the space the people take up in the central plaza, which holds about 20,000, in addition to those spread out nearby, especially the women with their small children who sit to rest on the steps of City Hall.

They arrived in the central cathedral plaza; some call this the plaza of peace, others the plaza of resistance. There was the stage, from which the comandantes sent their political message. Later spoke Subcomandante Marcos, known as of yesterday as “Delegate Zero” of the Other Campaign.

The comandantes’ speeches all followed roughly the same tone, talking of the struggle and the same problems they have faced for twelve years. In the audience, the small non-indigenous presence was lost in the crowd of Indians. Some came out of curiosity, others were simply there as tourists, and there were very few local participants from the city. The march was one hundred percent Zapatista.

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