Mexico - Comandanta Ramona, 1959-2006, Presente!

Yesterday, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation lost its "greatest weapon" – Comandanta Ramona, who succumbed to cancer after a 10-year struggle, at only 46 years of age. Ramona was one of the most well known and beloved figures of the EZLN, a symbol of both indigenous and women's resistance. Andrew Kennis reports and eulogizes in The Narco News Bulletin:

"Ramona was a petite, soft-spoken woman charged with significant responsibilities, such as having been entrusted with the military leadership in San Cristóbal during the uprising in 1994. In February of that year and after the Zapatistas called a cease-fire to the twelve-day long uprising in response to mass peace marches, Ramona was the first Zapatista representative to speak during peace talks with the government. Two years later, when the Mexican authorities forbade the Zapatistas from participating in the National Indigenous Congress in Mexico City, the frail and ill-struck Ramona was asked to represent the Zapatistas. The plan worked as the government conceded to Ramona and she went on to represent the Zapatistas, speaking in front of 100,000 supporters in Mexico City's Zocalo during the important nation-wide indigenous gathering."

Read the full report, here at The Narco News Bulletin's special page for coverage of the Zapatistas' Other Campaign:

http://www.narconews.com/otroperiodismo/

From somewhere in a country called América,

Dan Feder
Managing Editor
The Narco News Bulletin
http://www.narconews.com

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