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3 Postscripts 3. II.- POSTSCRIPT ON RACES AND OTHER DIFFERENCES. One continent, many colors.

3 Postscripts 3.

II.- POSTSCRIPT ON RACES AND OTHER DIFFERENCES.
One continent, many colors.

If you were to paint each geography a different color, which would you choose?

Let’s say that, on the American continent, you choose yellow, bordering on orange. It’s a very fashionable color in the north of that continent. Very much in keeping with the American ICE, whose troops hide their faces not to show that their skin color, perhaps, is the same color as that of their victims. «Beaners» or «frijoleros» is the derogatory term they use to describe their victims. This refers both to what is eaten and skin color. They also used the term «cafecitos» («brownies»).

For those in power and their henchmen, skin color and cultural identities are a way to identify the enemy they want to eliminate. When the Mexican army (today so adored by the “progressive left” who yesterday railed against it), invaded Zapatista territory in 1995—a product of Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León’s betrayal in February of that year—it attacked the communities to steal (as the so-called Pakal Immediate Reaction Force of the Chiapas state government does now) the few belongings of the indigenous people. As they invaded, they shouted: «Fucking pozol eating Indians!»

The paradox is that, when they deserted, the soldiers would pass through the same communities they had looted, begging for a little… pozol.

But don’t be distracted by today’s politically incorrect memories. We’re talking about skin color.

There’s more: for example, the language. For Mr. Trump, it’s clear that the «frijoleros» not only speak a very different English, they’ve also created their own language.

In January 1994, when tens of thousands of federal agents arrived in Chiapas to «finish off the lawbreakers,» an officer who deserted when he realized who they were after told us that they asked the high command how they identified «the Zapatistas.» The generals replied: «They’re short, dark-skinned, they speak Spanish poorly or don’t speak any Spanish, and their clothes are very similar to those in museums or crafts stores.» The troops looked at each other. Millions fit that description.

I bring up this memory because that’s the «criminal» criterion used by the American ICE to detain, beat, imprison, and deport migrants.

Does it matter if the detainee has papers? No, what matters is the color of his skin, his slang, argot, and jargon (here we say «el modo»), his mustache, his baggy clothes, and that, faced with a hamburger and tacos, he chooses… tacos («with cilantro, onion, tomato, and lots of salsa, please»). If he’s also part of the LGBTIQ+ movement, well, he’s a criminal with all the aggravating circumstances.

In the early years of the uprising, in the federal army barracks, they did everything possible to convince the troops to attack the Zapatistas. For example, they presented plays (a valid pedagogical resource) in which the deceased SupMarcos was gay, homosexual, queer, fag, faggot, ‘pillow-biter’, or whatever they’re called these days. Everyone wanted to play the role of the deceased because, well, let’s face it, the man was handsome.

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We start with skin color, then culture, language, height, food, clothing, sexual and emotional identity, etc. Now add your status, legal or not, of having another geography as your own or your ancestors’ place of birth. Migrant, or of migrant parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents. There you have the profile of the criminal to pursue.

Now look at any geography and identify the people who fit that «scientific» profile (which would embarrass any American TV series where the police are always brilliant, pretty, and, above all, incorruptible and law-abiding), and you’ll see that there are millions.

Without going too far, Trump’s cabinet has descendants of migrants in key positions. Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, doesn’t have a very Anglo surname and is the son of Cuban migrants. Kristy Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, is of Norwegian descent. Without a cabinet position (yet), there is far-right Senator Ted Cruz, whose father is Cuban and whose name is Rafael. Lori Chavez, the Secretary of Labor, is of Mexican descent. Trump is a descendant of immigrants, and his wife is Slovenian by birth.

Since it’s difficult to differentiate using these criteria, let’s address the repeated argument: they are criminals. In reality, what isn’t said is that they are considered «potential criminals.»

Leave aside the fact that several members of that cabinet have been accused of sexual abuse and drug use. It’s unproven. So focus on those who are convicted, that is, tried and found guilty. See? Yes, Donald Trump.

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Regarding migration, the pretentiously called, Nation States, on their own initiative, and later coinciding with the position of the US police, are doing the same. South of the American Union, Mexico has implemented a criminal operation against migration coming from Central America and, through it, from other countries. The National Migration Institute is a replica, in illegality, brutality, arbitrariness, and violence, of the US Border Patrol and ICE. And racism in society is not far behind. Of course, with its differences. In the US, they’re beaten, imprisoned, and deported. In Mexico, they’re sold to cartel bidders, extorted, imprisoned, disappeared, murdered… and burned alive.

In El Salvador, Bukele (trained in the school of FMLN cadres, once it turned into a party) locks them up and televises their conditions. This doesn’t prevent him from receiving his cut from organized crime.

The story repeats itself in the rest of the countries that have their foundation and history in those dark colors. In progressive Chile (ha!) and Milei’s Argentina, the people of the land, the Mapuche people, have been harassed for centuries (although they have emerged victorious 10, 100, a thousand times). In progressive Brazil, a «silent» ethnocide operates in the Amazon. Geographies like Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia repress the protests and rebellions of indigenous peoples, who bear the color of the earth, as best they can.

And yet, in the shop windows of progressivism (which, paradoxically, insists on reclaiming the past), some «indigenous» mannequins sometimes flaunt their finery, aspiring, as servitude, to have their color tolerated on the upper floors of the pyramid. That is, as cheap and replaceable costume jewelry.

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Nation-States are born from the dispossession of wealth. But not only from wealth, but also from identities, differences, and particularities. The Nation-State, with the myth of citizenship, imposes homogeneity and hegemonizes. The flag, coat of arms, anthem, armed forces, national sports teams, official history and language, currency, legal structure, and administration of justice all contribute to supplanting, with a violent imposition, differences of color, race, language, gender, and, please note, social position, history, and culture.

«Citizens» include black people, brown people, yellow people, red people, and white people. They also include tall people and short people; fat people and thin people; men, women, and otroas; mestizo people and indigenous people; employers and employees; rich people and poor people.

In this sense, the indigenous people who are dispossessed of their territory are equal to the person who executes the eviction order and the «indigenous» official who endorsed the theft. A woman who is a victim of violence is the same as the man who disappears, murders, or assaults her. A transgender person is the same as a police officer who «exceeds» his duty. A cafeteria employee is the same as Carlos Slim. And so on.

And these «citizenships» are supported by a nationality, which, in turn, supports the arguments for genocides, crimes of all kinds, and wars… to eliminate the expendable.

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If there are different colors at the top, at the very top of the pyramid, and below, at the base that bears the weight of the wealth of those at the top, what then is the difference?

The place in the pyramid.

With all their differences, particularities, and colors, those at the base of that structure have in common that they are disposable. And, for that very reason, wars (in all their forms) are about getting rid of them.

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In every corner of this planet, even the most remote, there is a medium-sized, large, or small pyramid. It thinks of itself as eternal, powerful, and indestructible.

Until someone says «no more,» an organized collective forms and overthrows it with the cry of…

-*-

But instead, do we make another pyramid?

Or something different?

Perhaps in a meeting of some parts of the whole, an answer will be hinted at.

From the mountains of the Mexican southeast.

The captain.
June 2025

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