400 UNIT 3 MODERN MESOAMERICA
In these independent cells, most of them located in the highlands in areas where
there are de facto parallel local governments, security reasons or religious prefer-
ence for nonviolent involvement dictates the wisdom of keeping a low profile. Many
dozens of these independent cells are base communities of the type organized in
the 1980s and 1990s by catechists working within the liberation theology tradition of
the Catholic church. Acteal, a Tzotzil community of this type located in the high-
lands, was the victim of the infamous massacre of December 23, 1997 (see earlier).
Other independent cells are made up of Maya Christian traditionalists and Protes-
tants.
A final type of affiliation with the Zapatistas—one that has been essential to the
movement’s survival—is the national and international support network. Some be-
long to NGOs, and others work as independent volunteers. These thousands of Za-
patista sympathizers attend to fund-raising and recruiting volunteer services, staffing
the Web site, as well as renting and staffing contact offices (called enlaces civiles)
throughout Mexico, Latin America, North America, and Europe.
In addition to the EZLN itself, which now functions as a clandestine militia, there
are two basic administrative units that attend to everyday life and public affairs. One
is the more local municipio autónomo(‘autonomous municipio’), of which there are
thirty to forty, distributed and constituted as discussed earlier. The caracol(“conch
shell”) is a kind of regional, highest-level administrative unit, of which there are cur-
rently five units. The caracolis the seat of the top governing council, called the Junta
de Buen Gobierno, or Council of Good Government. Together, the five Councils of
Good Government make up the top decision- and policy-making body of the Za-
patistas. We will discuss each of these briefly.ZAPATISTA POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
Ejército Nacional de Liberación Nacional (EZLN)
The EZLN began to evolve from a standing army to a militia in July 2003. Although
its structure is not publicly known, its key distinctive characteristic, as with all Zapatista
social and administrative units, is the lateral organization of coequals at the highest
level. In the case of EZLN, the highest level is the Comandante (or Comandanta).
The purpose for having a relatively large number of coequals at the highest level of
leadership is to achieve the Zapatista ideal of consensus and the imperative of lead-
ing by obeying the general will (usually phrased in Spanish as mandar obedeciendo).
There were, as of the date of their public appearance before the Mexican Congress
in the spring of 2001, twenty-three Comandantes, with almost equal distribution be-
tween the sexes and with proportional representation of the various linguistic and eth-
nic groups involved (Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Tojolabal, Chol, and Zoque).
Subcomandante Marcos ranks below the twenty-three indigenous leaders, but
his role has been from the beginning that of chief spokesperson for EZLN and for
the Zapatista Movement. His role has evolved, with the change in EZLN itself (see
earlier), to become chief spokesperson for the political whole that is constituted by
the five Councils of Good Government. He is also, as per the meeting in Michoacán