Posted on 11/22/2006 12:23:43 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — Blanca Navidad is the name of a dusty squatter's quarters that doesn't have too much to cheer about.
It is a barren plot of land where some of Nuevo Laredo's poorest residents live, literally, in oversize plywood boxes.
There's no water and no electricity.
This year, the mayor unsuccessfully tried to dislodge the residents of Blanca Navidad and force them to move to already-developed low-income areas.
On Tuesday, Subcomandante Marcos, the near-mythical masked leader of the Zapatista National Liberation Army, rallied the neighborhood and used it to launch a tirade against politicians from here to Mexico City, vowing to create a new order for America's neighbor to the south.
The Zapatistas would "purge" President-elect Felipe Calderón of the National Action Party before his term ends, Marcos said.
"We will not sit still, the Zapatistas will not sit still," he said.
Marcos is continuing a cross-country tour, known as La Otra Campaña (The Other Campaign), that has run almost continuously since January.
The Other Campaign is an effort to mobilize communities behind the leftist indigenous rights movement that was born in the jungle of Chiapas in 1994 with the Zapatista uprising.
Dressed in black pants, a brown shirt with the sleeves rolled above his elbows, a tattered camouflage cap and his trademark black mask, Marcos took Nuevo Laredo Mayor Daniel Peña Treviño to task for trying to push the residents out.
"We'll do something for you, even if it's meager," Marcos, also known as Delegado Zero, told residents.
Marcos bashed incoming President Calderón but didn't throw his support behind the parallel government created by former presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
"When there are two presidents, there is no president," Marcos said.
The crowd of about 250 people was smaller than the crowds Marcos could have drawn five years ago, when he became a celebrity and hero to thousands of Mexicans after he marched from Chiapas to Mexico City to demand equal rights and better working conditions for the poor.
Marcos' popularity has since waned, but his supporters treated him as an A-list celebrity.
"Delegado Zero is here!" people shouted as they rushed Marcos' caravan, pushing each other to take a picture with the leader.
Volunteers from other cities had arrived earlier and painted slogans on some of the houses.
"This is like when President Fox comes to visit," Blanca Navidad resident Margarita Bella, 19, said. "He can solve our problems. He can help our neighborhood become legalized."
Several residents made petitions to Marcos about local problems.
The smoke from the flavored tobacco inside Marcos' pipe wafted into the crowd. His eyes scanned the crowd often.
"We don't want to be president, or even governor. We want to be respected," he concluded.
The Other Campaign will be in Matamoros today.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mcastillo@express-news.net
Yep.
Maybe they could have a "co-presidency" kind of like Bill and Hill had?
Zapatista ping!
Mexico is on the verge of exploding. Build the damn wall before it's too late!
But heck, no problem when American Citizens haul buns down to mexico to have a photo op with Delegado Zero (Subcomandante Marcos, the near-mythical masked leader of the Zapatista National Liberation Army), AKA commie-to-the-core self avowed enemy of America on his Northern mexico "tour".
Oh and BTW, let's brand anyone trying to bring attention to this insanity as racists and vigilantes, yea, good idea.
This country is gonna sink in the stink outa pure STUPID.
"rallied the neighborhood and used it to launch a tirade against politicians from here to Mexico City"
"Use" is the right word. Communist devils use whoever they please and then discard them later. In "Coming Out Of The Ice" the Soviet Gulag master told the prisoner "we use men up, here". Use them UP.
I don't care what kind of crazy stuff goes on there and crazy mess they make ... Just so long as they make the mess in Mexico. Not in the USA
Sorry, but our insightful president is and has been working on the top item in HIS agenda, bringing our "economic saviors" to your very home town. Just as fast as he can get snugly with a Democratic congress that "creates opportunities"!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.