EZLN - Social Security Law
First: Abandoned children will be fed and protected by the nearest neighbors
under the authority of the EZLN, before being turned over to the civilian
authorities, who will protect them until they reach 13 years of age.
Second: Elderly people without family will be protected and will receive
priority in housing and the distribution of free food coupons.
Third: Those incapacitated by the war will receive attention and work
priority under the direction of the EZLN.
Fourth: The pension of retirees will be equal to the minimum salary
established by local Price and Salary Commissions.
EZLN - Justice Law
First: All prisoners in all prisons will be liberated, except those guilty
of murder, rape and the leaders of drug-trafficking operations.
Second: All government officials, from the level of the municipal president up
to the president of the republic, will be subject to audit, and will be judged
for misappropriation of funds in cases where evidence of guilt is found.
EZLN - Revolutionary Agrarian Law
The poor campesinos' movement in
First: This law is valid in all Mexican territory, and benefits all
poor campesinos and Mexican agricultural laborers
regardless of their political affiliation, religious creed, sex, race, or
color.
Second: This law affects all agricultural properties and agro/livestock
businesses inside of Mexican territory, whether they are national or foreign
owned.
Third: All poor-quality land in excess of 100 hectares and all good-quality
land in excess of 50 hectares will be subject to the Revolutionary Agrarian
Law. The landowners whose lands exceed the aforementioned limits will have the
excess taken away from them, and they will be left with the minimum permitted
by this law. They may remain as small landholders or join the cooperative campesinos' movement, campesino
societies, or communal lands.
Fourth: Communally held land and the land of popular cooperatives will not be subject to agrarian reform, even though they exceed the limits mentioned in the third article of this law.
Fifth: The lands affected by this agrarian law will be distributed to the landless campesinos and the agricultural laborers who thus request it as collective property for the formation of cooperatives, campesino societies or agricultural production/livestock collectives. The affected lands should be worked collectively.
Sixth: The collectives of poor, landless campesinos and agricultural laborers men, women, and children without land title, or who have land of poor quality-will have the right to be the first to request land.
Seventh: In order to better cultivate the land for the benefit of the poor campesinos and the agricultural laborers, the expropriation of large estates and agricultural/livestock monopolies will include the expropriation of means of production such as machinery, fertilizer, stores, financial resources, chemical products and technical expertise. All of these means should pass into the hands of the poor campesinos and agricultural laborers, with special attention given to groups organized in cooperatives, collectives and societies.
Eighth: The groups that benefit from this agrarian law should dedicate themselves to the collective production of necessary foodstuffs for the Mexican people: corn, beans, rice, vegetables and fruit, as well as to the raising of cattle, bees, pigs and horses, and to the production of animal derived products (meat, milk, eggs, etc.).
Ninth: In time of war, a portion of the products of the lands affected by this law will be designated for the sustenance of orphans and widows of revolutionary combatants, and to the support of the revolutionary forces.
Tenth: The purpose of collective production is primarily to satisfy the people's needs, to instill in those who benefit from this law a consciousness of collective work and benefit, and to create production, defense and mutual-aid units in the Mexican countryside. When a region doesn't produce some product, it will trade justly and equally with another region where it is produced. Excess production can be exported to other countries if there is no national demand for the product.
Eleventh: Large agricultural businesses will be expropriated and passed to the hands of the Mexican people, and will be administered collectively by the workers of those businesses. The cultivation machinery, seeds, etc. that are sitting idle in factories and businesses will be distributed among rural collectives, with the objective of making the land fertile and ending the hunger of the people.
Twelfth: Individual hoarding of land and the means of production will not be permitted.
Thirteenth: Zones of virgin jungle and forest will be preserved. There will be reforestation campaigns in the principalzones.
Fourteenth: The riverheads, rivers, lakes and oceans are the collective property of the Mexican people, and they will be cared for by not polluting them and by punishing their misuse.
Fifteenth: In order to benefit the poor, landless campesinos and agricultural workers, in addition to the agrarian redistribution established by this law, commercial centers will be created to buy the campesinos' products at a fair price and to sell to them, at a fair price, goods that the campesino needs for a dignified life. Also, community health centers will be created with every benefit of modern medicine, with capable and conscientious doctors and nurses, and with free medical care for the people. Recreation centers will be created for the campesinos and their families so that they may rest in dignity without the need for bars or bordellos. Educational centers and free schools will be created where the campesinos and their families can receive an education, regardless of their age, sex, race or political affiliation, and where they can learn the techniques necessary for their development. Housing and road construction centers will be established with engineers, architects, and the necessary materials for the campesinos' dignified housing and the construction of good roads for transportation. Service centers will be created in order to guarantee potable water, drainage, electricity, radio and television, in addition to everything necessary for housework: stoves, refrigerators, lavatories, mills, etc.
Sixteenth: The campesinos who work collectively will not be taxed. Nor will the ejidos, cooperatives or communal lands be taxed. From the moment that this Revolutionary Agrarian Law is implemented, all debts--whether they are from credit, taxes, or loans--that are owed by the poor campesinos or agricultural workers to the oppressive government, to foreigners or to capitalists, are forgiven.
EZLN - Law of Rights and Obligations of Peoples in Struggle
In its liberatory advance through Mexican territory,
and in the struggle against the government and against the large national and
foreign exploiters, the EZLN will implement, with the help of the people engaged
in struggle, the following Law of Rights and Obligations of Peoples in
Struggle:
First: The peoples in struggle against the oppressor government and the large national and foreign exploiters, without regard to their political affiliation, religious creed, race or color, will have the following rights:
A: To choose, freely and democratically, the authorities of whatever
type they consider convenient, and to demand that they be respected.
B: To demand that the revolutionary armed forces not intervene in
matters of civil order or the disposition of capital relating to agriculture,
commerce, finances, and industry, as these are the exclusive domain of the
civil authorities, elected freely and democratically.
C: To organize and exercise armed defense of their collective and
private goods, as well as to organize and exercise the vigilance of public
order and good government according to the popular will.
D: To demand that the revolutionary armed forces guarantee the safety of
people, families and private and collective property of neighbors or
transients, when these people are not enemies of the revolution.
E: The inhabitants of every population have the right to acquire and
possess arms to defend their persons, families and property, according to the
laws of disposition of capital of farms, commerce, finance and industry,
against the armed attacks committed by the revolutionary forces or those of the
government. By the same token, they are fully authorized to make use of those
arms against whatever person or group of people assaults their homes, the honor
of their families, or attempt to commit robberies or attacks of whatever form
against their persons. This is valid only for those who are not enemies of the
revolution.
Second: The civil authorities of whatever type, who are elected democratically, will have, in addition to the previous rights and the attributions that are signalled by the respective revolutionary laws, the following rights:
A: They will be able to imprison, disarm and turn in to the Commands
anyone they find robbing, raiding or looting any home or committing any other
violation, for which they will receive their deserved punishment, even if they
are a member of the revolutionary armed forces. The same procedures will be
employed against those who commit any violation, even if they are not caught in
the act, if their guilt is sufficiently demonstrated.
B: They will have the right that, for their conduct, revolutionary taxes
be imposed as established by the War Tax Law.
Third: Peoples in struggle against the oppressor government and the great national and foreign exploiters, without regard to their political affiliation, religious creed, race or color, will have the following obligations:
A: To give their services in works of vigilance, according to majority
will or the military necessities of revolutionary war.
B: To respond to calls for help made by the democratically elected
authorities, the revolutionary armed forces or by any revolutionary military
person in cases of urgency, to combat the enemy.
C: To lend their services as mail deliverers or guides to the
revolutionary armed forces.
D: To lend their services to carry food to the revolutionary troops when
they are combatting the enemy.
E: To lend their services to transport wounded, bury cadavers or other
similar works tied to the cause and interests of the revolution.
F: To give food and lodging to the revolutionary forces that are
guarding or passing through the respective populations, to the degree that they are able.
G: To pay taxes and contributions established by the War Tax Law and
other Revolutionary Laws.
H: They should not help in any way the enemy, nor give them articles of
primary necessity.
I: To dedicate themselves to legitimate work.
Fourth: The civil authorities, of whatever type elected democratically,
will, in addition to the previous obligations, have the following obligations:
A: To regularly report to the civil population on the activities
under their command and the origin and destination of all of the material
resources and human posts in their administration.
B: To regularly inform the respective Command of the revolutionary armed
forces of any events that occur in their area.
Instructions to Leaders and Officials of the EZLN
The following orders are obligatory for all leaders and officials of troops under the control the Zapatista National Liberation Army.
First: You will operate according to the orders that you receive from the General Command or from the Commands of the Front Line.
Second: The leaders and officials who are in military operations in isolated zones or with difficulties in communicating with the Commands should carry out their military work, combatting the enemy constantly, according to their own initiative, taking care to advance the revolution in the places where they find themselves working.
Third: You will submit a War Dispatch whenever possible, or at least monthly, to the respective Commands.
Fourth: You will endeavor to preserve, as much as possible, good order among the troops, especially when you enter populaces, guaranteeing in full the lives and interests of the inhabitants who are not enemies of the revolution.
Fifth: To aid the troops in their material necessities to the degree possible, you should impose war contributions on the businesses or property-holders who find themselves in the zones where you are operating, but only if they have important capital according to the War Tax Law and the Revolutionary Laws that affect commercial, agricultural, financial and industrial capital.
Sixth: The material funds that are gathered by these means will be employed strictly for the material necessities of the troops. The leader or official who takes any of these funds for his personal benefit will be taken prisoner and judged according to the rules of the EZLN by a revolutionary military tribunal.
Seventh: For the feeding of the troops, pasture of the horses, and fuel and repair of the vehicles, you should direct yourselves to the democratically elected authorities of the place in question. This authority will gather what they can from among the civilian population, for the material necessities of the Zapatista military unit, and will hand them in to the leader or official of the highest rank in said military unit, and only to him.
Eighth: Only those officials with the rank of Major or higher will change authorities in those places that fall under the power of the revolution, according to the will of the people, and according to available and relevant sections of the Law of Revolutionary Government.
Ninth: The people, in general, will take possession of their goods according to what is established in the Revolutionary Laws. The leaders and officials of the EZLN will give to these people their moral and material support, with the goal of carrying out what is set out in these Revolutionary Laws, whenever the same people request this help.
Tenth: Absolutely no one will be able to have meetings or treaties with the oppressor government or with its representatives without the prior authorization of the General Command of the EZLN.
EZLN - War Tax Law
In the zones controlled by the EZLN the following War Tax Law will be instituted and will be made to function with all of the moral, political and military force of our revolutionary organization.
First: The War Tax Law will apply from the moment that a military unit of the EZLN begins to operate in a specific territory.
Second: The War Tax Law affects all of the civilian, national or foreign populations residing in or passing through said territory.
Third: The War Tax Law is not obligatory for the civilian population that lives by its own resources, without exploiting any labor whatsoever and without obtaining any advantage from the people. For poor campesinos, day workers, workers, employees, the unemployed, participation in this law is voluntary and in no way will they be obligated morally or physically to subject themselves to this law.
Fourth: The War Tax Law is obligatory for those in the civilian population who live by exploitation, by force or through work or who obtain some advantage over the people in their activities. Those small, medium and large capitalists of the countryside and the city can be obligated to obey this law without exception, in addition to submitting themselves to the Revolutionary Laws affecting agricultural, commercial, financial and industrial capital.
Fifth: The following percentages of taxes will be established, according to the work of each person:
A: For small commercial businesses, small property holders, workshops
and small industries, 7% of their monthly income. In no way will their means of
production be affected by the collection of this tax.
B: For professional people, 10% of their monthly income. In no way will
materials strictly necessary for the exercising of their profession be
affected.
C: For medium-size property-holders, 15% of their monthly income. Their
property will be affected according to the respective Revolutionary Laws of
agricultural, commercial, financial and industrial capital.
D: For large capitalists, 20% of their monthly income. Their property
will be affected according to the respective Revolutionary Laws of
agricultural, commercial, financial and industrial capital.
Sixth: All of the goods seized from the armed forces of the enemy will be property of the EZLN.
Seventh: All of the goods recuperated by the revolution from the hands of the oppressor government will be the property of the revolutionary government according to the laws of the revolutionary government.
Eighth: All taxes and burdens imposed by the oppressor government will be ignored, such as those debts of money or goods that the exploited people of the country and the city find themselves obligated to pay by those governing or by capitalists.
Ninth: All of the war taxes recovered by the revolutionary armed forces or by the organized people will become the collective property of the respective populations, and will be administered according to the popular will by the democratically elected civil authorities, giving to the EZLN only what is necessary to contribute to the material necessities of the regular troops, and for the continuation of the liberatory movement according to the Law of Rights and Obligations of Peoples in Struggle.
Tenth: No civil or military authority, whether it be of the oppressor government or of the revolutionary forces, will take for personal or family benefit any part of these war taxes.
EZLN - Law of Rights and Obligations of the Revolutionary Armed Forces
The revolutionary armed forces of the EZLN, in their struggle against the
oppressor government and the great national and foreign exploiters, and in its liberatory advance over the Mexican territory, commit
themselves to the carrying out and enforcement of the following Law of Rights
and Obligations of the Revolutionary Armed Forces:
First: The revolutionary troops of the EZLN in their combat against the oppressor will have the following rights:
A: The troops that pass through a village will have the right to
receive from the people, through the democratically elected civil authorities,
lodging, food and the means to accomplish their military missions, according to
the means of the inhabitants.
B: The troops that, by orders of the respective commands, are garrisoned
in a place, will have the right to receive lodging,
food, and means according to what is established in section (A) of this
article.
C: The leaders, officials or soldiers who observe that some authority
does not fulfill what is established by the Revolutionary Laws, and lack
popular approval, will have the right to denounce this authority to the
revolutionary government.
Second: The revolutionary troops of the EZLN, in their combat against the oppressor, have the following obligations:
A: To make sure that those peoples who have not named, freely and
democratically, their authorities, proceed immediately to free elections of the
same, without the intervention of the armed forces, which under the
responsibility of their military orders, will let the population work without
any pressure whatsoever.
B: To respect the civil authorities elected freely and democratically.
C: To not intervene in civil matters, and to let the civil authorities
work freely on these matters.
D: To respect legal commerce that obeys the respective Revolutionary
Laws.
E: To respect the agricultural redistribution carried out by the
revolutionary government.
F: To respect the rules, customs and agreements of the people and to
submit themselves to them in cases of civil-military relations.
G: To charge no taxes to the population, in no way and under no pretext,
for the use of its land and waters.
H: To not take over, for personal use, the lands of the people, or of
the estates taken away from the oppressor.
I: To obey all of the laws and rules issued by the revolutionary
government.
J: To not demand personal services or works of personal benefit from the
civilian population.
K: To report those subordinates who commit any crime, imprison them, and
remit them to a revolutionary military tribunal, so that they may receive their
deserved punishment.
L: To respect civil justice.
M: The leaders and officials will be responsible before the respective
Commands for the abuses or crimes of subordinates who are not remitted to
revolutionary military tribunals.
N: To dedicate yourselves to making war against
the enemy until they are definitively removed from the territory in question or
are annihilated.