390 UNIT 3 MODERN MESOAMERICA
Figure 10.1 Photograph of the Zapatista Rally in 200l at the Zócalo, Mexico City. (Courtesy of
/Corbis.)and other conveyances to Mexico City, culminating in a rally of 150,000 on Sunday,
March 11, in the Zócalo, a great plaza that is the symbolic heart of the Mexican na-
tion. (See Figure 10.1)
Following the rally in Mexico City was still another event that will be remem-
bered for a long time: The EZLN leaders (minus Subcomandante Marcos) addressed
members of the Mexican Congress on March 28. Wearing Indian traditional cos-
tumes and their signature ski masks (symbolizing, among other things, their per-
ception that the Mexican state regards them as “faceless”), they spoke for several
hours, hoping to persuade legislators to approve new constitutional guarantees for
Indian autonomy. President Fox had already presented drafts of these proposals to
Congress. Predictably, there was strong opposition to these changes from within his
own conservative party (PAN) and from the recently deposed ruling party (PRI). In
May 2001, a watered-down version of these legislative proposals was passed by the
Mexican Congress, and the Zapatistas rejected them. Stalemate continues to this day.
The pilgrimage just described was not an ordinary journey, however; nor are the
rules for discussing Indian-state relations the same as before. Indeed, much hasBettmann