EZLN Solidarity Action

Over the past month, the Mexican government has intensified its offensive against Zapatista villages in Chiapas causing more than 5,000 people to flee their homes. In response to an email from the Zapatista Front of National Liberation (FZLN), the newly-formed Chiapas Link group in Newcastle (UK) targeted their local Nestle factory in solidarity with the Zapatista struggle. Nestle is a major investor in the food sector in Mexico: in 1997 the company sold over £800 million of processed foods nation-wide, and is planning a further £100 million of investments in Chiapas (hailed by the Mexican President as a great leap forward in the peace process...).

Security guards at the Nestle factory in Fawdon, Newcastle were caught unaware when two protestors walked through the gates and climbed onto the roof of a factory building hanging a banner reading "Nestle: OUT OF MEXICO". Others entered the factory site to speak to workers and leaflets cars, and the entrance was blockaded with a banner reading "Solidarity is Strength". Three police cars turned up, and after occupying the factory for an hour and repeated warnings, the group decided to leave. Local papers and radio covered the protest raising the issue of Nestle's collaboration with the oppressive Mexican regime.

For more information on further solidarity actions in the UK, contact Chiapas Link, PO Box 1TA, Newcastle NE99 ITA, or chiapaslink@yahoo.com.