Monday in Chiapas

¡Hola! today is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We spent the morning at CAPISE (center for political analysis and social and political research) this organization monitors the militarization of the area including the activities of the para military groups. Our speaker at the center is also a driver for Sub Commandante Marcos of the EZLN (Zapatistas) . There is a huge military presence in and around the Zapatista villages. The indigenous people are being forced out of their communities through government manipulation and tactics designed to divide communities and get people to fight among themselves..to do the government´s dirty work of removing indigenous people from their land. some of that land will end up in the hands of multi national corporations. This puts not only people at risk, but the entire planet.

military installations near the villages create all kinds of problems...drugs, alcohol, prostitution etc. when the army moves into a village, onto confiscated land, it tries to win over the young people with sporting events, movies --either war films in which the army always wins, or pornography--& prostitutes. young men from the villages tend to make heros of these soldiers and aspire to be like them. this ultimately creates a situation where some young men (brainwashed and armed by the military) begin to attack their indigenous brother and sisters. they do this with gov't backing and the promise of the legal right to the lands that they can clear of their neighbors (this is how the para military groups are formed). it is a situation in which some villagers support the resistance movement, and some are being won over by army and convinced that their Zapatista neighbors are their enemies. the army positions itself so as to be as intimidating to the Zapatista supporters as possible. soldiers harass villagers--men and women--especially women. camps are positioned near a village water source. villagers cannot live without access to water, so women need to walk by the soldiers to get water. this is when they are intimidated and threatened. tomorrow we will visit Acteal where a paramilitary group massacred 45 men, women and children. tomorrow is the tenth anniversary (plus one month). This is a good place to remind ourselves and others that it is the US that trains many officers of the Mexican army at the School of the Americas.

Our speaker told us a story about the creation of the world. the gods created the earth with many colors and made the people the color of the earth. something happened and the gods ran out of the color of the earth and so had to use other colors for some people. but, in every one they planted a heart of maize that gives life and unites us. that´s why there are people of other colors with hearts of maize. He thanked us for standing in solidarity with the Zapatista resistance movement. We told him that we couldn´t have found a better speaker for MLK Day and he said that for many people in the EZLN Dr. King was an inspiration.....so in memory and honor of Dr. King I send prayers and blessings from Chiapas.......and hope for a just world for ALL people.
LuAnn
PS. At the end of the talk at CAPISE i promised our speaker, who will also be our driver to Acteal, that i would try to NOT throw up in Sub commandante Marcos' van on the way to Acteal like I did on the way to Oventik last Thurs!