​This second declaration of the EZLN comes six months after the initial rebellion in June 1994. While reading this statement, one can see a turning away from the plans of an overthrow of the government through a military path. After a twelve day shooting battle between the army of the EZLN and of the army of the Mexican state, the rebel group claims that the broader idea of civil society led to the end of the military fighting and the creation of a ceasefire between the two sides. The rhetoric used by the EZLN throughout this declaration focuses on the creation of a more democratic electoral process and Mexican society. This statement does not focus on the plight of the indigenous but on the greater society of Mexico. The second declaration from the Lacandon jungle shows the importance of the fight not only for the oppressed indigenous but for the freedom of all people throughout Mexico as a whole. The focus of the EZLN, from reading this document, turned to the government in the hopes of turning to a democratic form of society. The group calls for a convention in order to establish a new constitution that allows for the all members of society, indigenous or not, to be free in all aspects of life.
​In the third declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, which came exactly one year after the start of the EZLN rebellion, the EZLN still believe in the call for a more democratic government and society. The EZLN, in this document, stops calling this movement for indigenous rights a communal struggle and starts to see itself as a national campaign for democracy in Mexico. It tells of how the hope for a democratic government came with the elections in 1994 but it did not happen in the opinion of this group. This was the turning point in which the EZLN went from an organization that used the military to achieve its goals to a peaceful, civic organization. Also, in this third installment of the declaration from the Lacandon Jungle, there is a return to dialogue about the indigenous and the perils of the home of the EZLN, Chiapas. There is a call for a national liberation movement to be formed, consisting of people from all over Mexico not based on religion, rave, or political ideology. From reading this document, one gets the sense that EZLN wants to take back the Mexican state from the PRI government, which had been in power for seventy years, and establish a democratic society for all people. 
​Third Declaration From the Lacandon Jungle
View More