depends on how you measure them, but they w ere roughly cut in
half, and they w eren’t high before that). Starvation increased, but so
did the number of billionaires (mostly friends of the political leaders
w ho picked up public assets for a few pennies on the dollar). T hings
finally collapsed in December 1994, and Mexico w ent into the w orst
recession of its history. W ages, already poor, declined radically.
A journalist I know at a Mexican daily called to interview me
after the collapse. He reminded me of some interview of mine from
a couple of months earlier w here I’d said that the w hole economy
w as going to fall apart.
I don’t know much about Mexico or economics, but it w as pretty
obvious. Very short-term speculative funds w ere pouring in, and the
speculative bubble had no basis. T he economy w as actually
declining. Everybody could see this, including the economists at the
international financial institutions, w ho (according to some
specialists) kept it quiet because they didn’t w ant to trigger the
collapse.
Mexico w as the star pupil. It did everything right, and religiously
follow ed the World Bank and IMF prescriptions. It w as called
another great economic miracle, and it probably w as... for the rich.
But for most of the Mexican people, it’s been a complete disaster.
W hat do you hear from the Zapatistas?
Negotiations have been stalled for a couple of years, but I think
it’s clear w hat the government’s strategy is: continue negotiations
w hich w on’t get anyw here and ultimately, w hen the Zapatistas lose
their capacity to arouse international interest, w hen people get
tired of signing petitions—then the government w ill move in w ith
force and w ipe the Zapatistas out. T hat’s my suspicion, anyw ay.
I think the only reason they didn’t w ipe them out right aw ay is
because the Zapatistas had so much popular support throughout
Mexico and the w orld (w hich they managed to garner w ith a good
deal of imagination). T he fact that they’ve been able to remain in
opposition for several years is pretty remarkable in itself.
But as it stands, it doesn’t seem to me that they have any sort of a
w inning strategy. I don’t say that as a criticism—I can’t think of one
either. U nless international support becomes really significant, I
don’t see how their position can be maintained.