Mexico’s Burning

interview by bernardo loyola

The EZLN opens the doors of the IMSS supermarket to the people.

Vice: What was your first reaction to the fact that an army of indigenous people wearing ski masks had declared war on the Mexican government?

Marco Antonio Cruz:

Yeah, we were about to leave the third world to enter the club of the developed nations. Salinas was at the beach partying with a glass of champagne when he heard the news about the Zapatistas.

You were one of the first journalists to cover the uprising. When did you get there?

What did the graffiti say?

What kind of weapons were they using against the Zapatistas?

And the Zapatistas?

We rarely see the Mexican Army in action.

Zapatista soldier with his makeshift weapon.

Did you see any more combat?

I saw your photos published during that first week. How did you manage to send them so quickly?

Proceso

It’s too bad nobody has invented a way to develop and send photos instantly yet. Imagine, like an all-digital photo that you could then, I don’t know, send via phone lines. That would be amazing. But anyway, when did the international press start coming in?

It seems like it was all chaos and confusion during the first days over there. What did you and the other journalists you were with think was going on?

Why did all this happen, anyway?

After spending a couple weeks photographing the conflict, what do you think will happen? What will come out of it?

On our way to Altamirano, we were stopped at a Zapatista checkpoint.

Municipal cops as prisoners of war.

Gender equality is one of the foremost concerns of the Zapatistas, and in fact, several of their main generals are women. Here, two female soldiers carry weapons made of wood and nails in the streets of Altamirano.

As a symbolic act, Zapatistas destroyed the municipal government building in Altamirano with picks and mallets.

A group of Zapatistas on a public bus was ambushed by the army. The dead bodies remained in the same spot for more than ten days.