WORDS OF MARÍA DE JESÚS PATRICIO MARTÍNEZ IN THE CARACOL OF LA GARRUCHA

The plaza in front of the Caracol’s elevated stage in La Garrucha was overflowing.
Brothers and Sisters, it is the time of the peoples, it’s time that we unite, it’s time that together we take out these big capitalists that have taken away our lands for years. They have divided us, they have made us fight with each other, and they have made us see that just by extending a hand we have to offer caravans to them. We must unite, we have that big task, removing this capitalist system that is destroying our communities, that is destroying our peoples, that is dispossessing us of what is ours, that is contaminating all these waters, and is cutting down all these forests; that’s why it’s necessary to unite and together be able to destroy this capitalist system that is not only going to destroy our communities and our peoples, but that is also going to destroy human life and that is in the indigenous communities and is also in the big cities.
Now is the time, brothers and sisters, of unifying, of thinking about what we are going to do together, of how we are going to construct that new Mexico and remove this Mexico that the people who have money have imposed on us, the people who only think about themselves, who don’t think about us, who don’t think about out lands, who don’t think about our waters, who don’t think about our trees; that’s why we have decided to unite and fight for everyone, for the whole world, not just for the indigenous peoples but for everyone.
Then, we must destroy this big capitalist that is destroying us and we can only do it organized, thinking together about how to do it, only with the indigenous peoples and their sister and brother workers of the countryside and the city shaking hands. It’s necessary that we walk firm, that our voice is heard, that our steps are seen, that those peoples that for y ears have been forgotten and stepped on rise up and say “We are no longer in agreement, we want to continue living and we want life for everyone;” that’s why it’s necessary to unify those efforts and demonstrate to the powerful that yes we can achieve it, that if we achieve uniting all the indigenous peoples and the workers of the countryside and the city, and clearly we can do it, then we can make the powerful that want to dispossess us of what we have tremble.
Let us feel it, brothers and sisters, let us trust the one at our side, she is not our enemy, we must unite so that we can free ourselves from this capitalist system.
Long live the indigenous peoples of Mexico and of the World!
Long live the workers of the countryside and the city!
Long live the EZLN!
Long live the National Indigenous Congress!
Long Live the Indigenous Government Council!
Gracias, brothers and sisters!
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Originally Published in Spanish by Actividades del CIG y su vocera
Monday, October 16, 2017
https://actividadesdelcigysuvocera.blogspot.mx/2017/10/palabras-de-maria-de-jesus-patricio.html
Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee