The proposal also establishes new norms for both access to and the administration of justice. Conflicts resolved in this way would only need recognition by the State's jurisdictional authorities to be considered cases closed. In terms of culture, the proposal establishes the right of indigenous peoples to preserve and enrich their languages, knowledge and all the elements that make up their culture and identity. This includes recognition of the right to acquire, operate and manage their own communications media. In the field of education, the parties established the obligation of the federal, state and municipal authorities to consult the indigenous peoples involved to define and develop regionally-appropriate educational programs that would necessarily include indigenous cultures.
Accords also addresses the rights of indigenous migrants.
Their inclusion refers to the State's obligation to promote specific programs for their protection, both within the national territory and abroad. Once it was made public that the EZLN had accepted it, the government asked for time to analyze it. By December 20 of 1996 the government presented what it called several objections, which in reality was a counter-proposal, and by the beginning of 1997 the EZLN considered it unacceptable.4 The political atmosphere grew tense and remained so all year, while the repression and harassment of indigenous peoples worsened, leading to the Acteal massacre in Chiapas. The first discrepancy involves the subject that has the rights. The effect is to recognize that indigenous peoples exist, but they do not have rights, because rights are granted only to the communities where they live.