No one should have been surprised by the uprising in Chiapas, Mexico's poorest state and the site of long-running violations against the human rights of native peoples and a virtual assault by large landowners against the small agricultural holdings that are the lifeblood of the indigenous communities. Their plight, and the failure of their government to respond, is mirrored to some degree in every Latin country with a substantial indigenous population. The greatest tragedy of Chiapas may not be the awful death toll, now estimated at more than 100 people, but that the news from Mexico may provoke copycat rebellions of frustration.

January 06, 1994|MARTIN EDWIN ANDERSEN | Martin Edwin Andersen, a member of former Sen. Cranston's professional staff on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is writing a book on the future of Native Americans in the 21st Century.