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href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Zapatistas-Back-Indigenous-Woman-to-Run-for-Mexicos-Presidency-20170528-0020.html">http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Zapatistas-Back-Indigenous-Woman-to-Run-for-Mexicos-Presidency-20170528-0020.html</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Zapatistas Back Indigenous Woman to Run
for Mexico's Presidency<br>
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<div id="reader-estimated-time">May 28, 2017<br>
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<p>Hundreds of Indigenous representatives at the National
Indigenous Congress from all across Mexico elected a
prominent Indigenous leader Sunday as their independent
candidate for the upcoming presidential elections in
Mexico due in 2018.</p>
<p>Maria de Jesus Patricio “Marichui” Martinez will be
backed by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation,
known by it's Spanish acronym EZLN, in <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Zapatistas-Meet-to-Elect-First-Indigenous-Presidential-Candidate-20170527-0013.html">a
break</a> from more than two decades of the rebel
group's rejecting the Mexican state and its electoral
politics. Among the EZLN delegates present were
Subcommandantes Mosies and Galeano — formerly known as
Marcos — and Comandante Tacho.</p>
<p>Coming from the Nahua community of Tuxpan, in the state
of Jalisco, Patricio Martinez is a traditional doctor in
her community, founder of the health center Calli
Tecolhuacateca Tochan in 1992 and a long-time leader in
the Indigenous movement.</p>
<p>The convention and consultations, which began Friday
and concluded Sunday, also included delegates from 32
states, for a total of 848 delegates from 58 Mexican
Indigenous communities and was held in San Cristobal de
las Casas in the southeastern state of Chiapas.</p>
<p>The assembly formed and also appointed counselors to
its Indigenous Government Council, with Patricio
Martinez as their spokesperson. The goals of the
presidential campaign include organizing in every corner
of the country and making the Indigenous Government
Council a self-governing body.</p>
<p>The members debated proposals and strategies of the
council, as well as its organization and networking with
other sectors of the civil society, with the
participation of 296 international observers, including
representatives of the Apache community from the United
States and the Mam community from Guatemala.</p>
<p>The Zapatistas came into the international scene after
attacking several military installations in Mexico on
Jan. 1, 1994, launching an Indigenous struggle
against NAFTA and conditions in Mexico. The movement has
seen victories, but also considerable challenges,
including intense repression and criminalization of the
struggle at the hands of the Mexican state, private
landowners, and paramilitary forces.</p>
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