Search collectives break dialogue with EZLN over rejection of Mexico City meeting, Digi Mart USA News (Mexico): Collectives of families of disappeared persons in Mexico have broken dialogue with the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) after the indigenous movement refused to take part in a public meeting with search families planned for December in the Mexican capital. The dispute led Captain Marcos to publicly apologize on Wednesday.
The controversy arose from an invitation to meet on December 6 at the Glorieta de las y los Desaparecidos in Mexico City, a space of memory and protest used by families searching for their loved ones. The EZLN, through communiqués from Captain Marcos, ruled out participating in that collective meeting and proposed holding private meetings with relatives of disappeared persons during its upcoming visit to the capital.
The decision drew rejection from search collectives, which questioned the EZLN’s position and announced they would continue their activities without the Zapatista delegation. The collectives forming the Glorieta de las y los Desaparecidos called the Zapatista statement “insensitive” and said the invitation had been issued by the families themselves.
“We regret that, before the embrace arrived, the rejection arrived; this hard blow to the families who make up the Glorieta de las y los Desaparecidos,” they said in a public statement. The collectives also said the EZLN’s distance from their processes had led it to hear voices that favor dividing the families.
On Wednesday, Captain Marcos responded with a letter titled “Una disculpa” (An Apology), acknowledging that his words had offended the search families and taking personal responsibility for the tone of his statements. “From the bottom of my heart, I ask your forgiveness for having offended, hurt and attacked you,” he said.
Marcos said the Zapatistas had also felt “attacked and hurt,” but acknowledged that he should have been “more careful” in addressing the families. He also expressed his wish that the families succeed in finding their loved ones.
However, he did not announce any changes to the EZLN’s plans or confirm its participation in the December 6 meeting.
The controversy intensified after Marcos issued a statement on Tuesday defending the decision to prioritize private meetings. “We are not going to go where, they say, we were ‘invited,’ because our goal is to hold private meetings to listen to them,” he said at the time.
The rupture comes ahead of a planned Zapatista mobilization in Mexico City in December, where the EZLN is considering activities with organizations and social movements. According to the EZLN’s logistics, 1,530 Zapatista delegates would travel to Mexico City to individually listen to families of disappeared persons and meet with small groups.
The disagreement occurs in a country facing a crisis of disappearances, with more than 130,000 people still unlocated, according to figures from the National Registry of Disappeared and Non-Located Persons (RNPDNO).
