Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee

Subcommander Marcos surrounded by several commanders of the CCRI

The Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee - General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Spanish: Comité Clandestino Revolucionario Indígena - Comandancia General del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional), sometimes simplified as CCRI, is the joint command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN).

This collective leadership of the EZLN is made up of 23 commanders and 1 subcommander (Subcommandante Marcos, who acts basically as speaker). This is one of the unique characteristics of the Comité Clandestino Revolucionario Indígena or CCRI, (Revolutionary Indigenous Clandestine Committee).

Most of the CCRI commanders are only know by their nom de guerre if at all. Their names are: Comandante Brunel , Comandante Abraham, Comandante Alejandro, Comandante Bulmaro, Comandante Daniel, Comandante David, Comandante Eduardo, "Comandanta" Esther, "Comandanta" Fidelia, Comandante Filemón, Comandante Gustavo, Comandante Isaías, Comandante Ismael, Comandante Javier, Comandante Maxo, Comandante Míster, Comandante Moisés, Comandante Omar, "Comandanta" Ramona†, Comandante Sergio, "Comandanta" Susana, Comandante Tacho, "Comandanta" Yolanda, Comandante Zebedeo.

Women in the Clandestine Revolutionary Committee demanded right to education, justice, democracy, life without poverty, and a right to be heard as Indigenous Women. Ramona, a Comandante and a popular figure of this group, spoke on behalf of the indigenous women of Mexico: "The army destroyed food and seeds; took away tools, and now we can't even sow. We women will believe in peace only if government soldiers stop threatening us, we will only believe in the government's words of peace if its army is not pointing guns at our children's heads."^[1]

References

1. ^ Rovira, G. (2000). “The Indigenous Clandestine Revolutionary Committee”. Women of Maize: Indigenous Women and the Zapatista Rebellion (p. 148-163). London, UK: Latin America Bureau.