At one minute passed midnight on Saturday 9 August, the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (EZLN) declared the creation of "Juntas of Good Government" in the five territorial zones under its control, which in future will be known as "Caracoles" or Snails. At the same time it declared the end of the "Aguascalientes", centres of political and cultural expansion created on August 8, 1994, a few months after the EZLN first appeared publicly. With this turn of events, the Zapatista movement is once again bursting on to the Mexican political scene, putting into practice, without asking permission from anyone, the implementation of the San Andrés Agreements, signed with the federal government in 1996, which recognise the right to self-determination and autonomy of indigenous peoples and their own forms of electing their authorities. These agreements have been continually avoided by the governmental authorities. At a ceremony in the community of Oventic – which currently constitutes one of the five Caracoles, together with Morelia, La Garrucha, La Realidad and Roberto Barrios-, "Commander Javier", member of the Clandestine Indigenous Revolutionary Committee, officially declared the move before some 20 thousand people and representatives of the 33 autonomous Chiapas municipalities. The creation of the Caracoles concludes the exercise of government by the EZLN that is passing control to the indigenous civilians elected by their communities. These events coexist with the established constitutional municipalities, but they will operate separately from the Chiapas government. They will collect a "solidarity tax" which will be distributed fairly. The government response The response by the federal government has been conciliatory, even acknowledging that the juntas of good government could be compatible with the Constitution. They stressed that it was positive that the EZLN promote "a new form of political organisation, demilitarising its structure" among the communities that support its movement. With "so-called respect", the government invited the EZLN to resume the dialogue to allow progress in the construction of a just and honourable peace. They added that "they will evaluate the signals given by the Zapatista Army, giving consideration to what could be the basis of identifying mechanisms for re-establishing the negotiation process". The government's attitude has been interpreted as an attempt to minimise the political price of an event which was impossible to stop. There are those who accuse the government of favouring chaos and breaking the country apart. But many voices are receiving the event favourably, and recognise that it is inevitable after the National Congress and the Supreme Court of Justice refused the essence of the indigenous proposals in the 2001 constitutional reform. Magdalena Gómez, vice President of the Mexican Academy for Human Rights, expressed her opinion that the new forms of zapatista government have their foundations in international law through Agreement 169 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Representatives from the National Indigenous Congress (NIC) who are participating in the inauguration of the Caracoles and juntas of good government, announced that they rally to the initiative of promoting indigenous autonomy throughout the country and in this way assert, in practice, the rights of the indigenous peoples. In a communiqué, the indigenous delegations declared that "with the call of our brothers from the EZLN, the time to strengthen and deepen our processes of indigenous autonomy in their various spheres and levels has begun". For its part, the NIC Supervisory Commission publicly declared that with the process that is unfolding "we will be able to improve living standards for all our people and we will put a stop to the mechanisms of neo-colonialism that subject us to their designs. Today, the ancestral resistance of our people has acquired a new meaning and will be able to move towards full reconstitution by exercising autonomy in practise". It added that it is "an important contribution to the defence of national sovereignty, which, in practice and in the law, is day by day surrendered by the State in the interest of neo-liberal globalisation". Plan La Realidad-Tijuana The most noticeable absentee at the ceremonies was Sub- commander Marcos, who, nevertheless, spoke to the people via a recorded message which was broadcast on August 9 on the inaugural programme of Radio Insurgente: "The voice of the voiceless". Marcos anticipated that new Caracoles will appear in the country and the world now that "the zapatistas have fed snails to the government". He commented that "the Zapatista Army cannot be the voice of those in command, although they command well and obediently. The EZLN is the voice of those below". He declared that the zapatista forces will maintain their positions, "waiting to defend the people ". In the celebrations, Commander Esther of the EZLN called upon the indigenous peoples of Mexico to defend their right to be Mexicans. "We cannot stop being Indians so as to be recognised as Mexicans", she said. Commander David, for his part, in the name of the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee -General Command of the EZLN, spoke to the non-indigenous and non- zapatista people in the zone: "You don't have to be zapatista to be listened to and respected by the junta of good government of the autonomous municipalities. As members of the community you have the right to be listened to", he stressed. The EZLN called upon the people to support the so-called Plan La Realidad-Tijuana, which was born in "response to the plans that the politicians are trying to introduce in the country" (in allusion to Plan Puebla-Panamá). This plan consists of seven agreements and seven demands. Standing out among the proposed agreements are respect for autonomy and independence of social organisations; the promotion of forms of self-administration and self-rule in all national territory; and the drive of rebelliousness and civil and peaceful resistance in the face of bad government and political parties. The formation of "a network of trade in basic goods" between communities and the promotion "of basic local consumption and national trade" was also proposed. An announcement was also made to "form a network of information and culture" to demand truthful and balanced information from the media and to organise the defence and promotion of local culture and of universal art and sciences. The Plan's seven demands cover the defence of the cooperative and communal property of the land and the protection and defence of natural resources; decent work and a fair salary for all; decent living standard, free public healthcare, food and clothes for all, as well as secular and free education for children and young adults. Respect for the dignity of women, children and the elderly was added. Zapatismo confirmed its participation in the days of global mobilisation against the meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in September. (Translation by ALAI)