Chiapas Parte Dos....Tzaljechen y que Aprendimos

Here's the serious part of my Chiapas trip....

Besides being beautiful and fun, Chiapas was by far the most incredible and inspiring Witness for Peace trip in terms of what we learned. We spoke with the organizations SiPaz, Ceipac...etc...all human rights organizations in San Cristobal de las Casas, the city where we stayed. We learned about the militarization and paramilitarization of this state in particular. We learned about protests and fights by the Zapatista movement for Indigenous and human rights. We saw manisfestations and campouts in the city Zocolo to protest violent arrests by the government of campesinos and indigenous people, under the excuse of la guerra on narcrotrafficing. We learned about the specifics of what constitutes a "low instensity war," and how unjust this style of warfare is. AND we spent three days in a pueblo in the rainforest called Tzaljechen....birthplace of Las Abejas.

Las Abejas are a nonviolent organization who work to fight for indigenous rights, but are incredibly inspiring because of their solidarity and faith and commitment to non-violence. Tzaljechen is a coffee-growing community and, like many Zapatista communities, is autonomous. This means that they've chosen to cut themselves off from the government that is committing human rights violations. It also means that they receive no money, run their own schools, have their own system of government, etc. They are horribly poor but have an amazing dignity and perserverence for their cause. About ten years ago, in a nearby community called Acteal, where the Las Abejas organization is governed from, a group of paramilitaries entered a church of women and children and murdered them. They proceeded to even cut four fetuses out of their pregnant mothers and decapitate them. All because it was an autonomous, "abeja" community. We visited Acteal on our way back to San Cristobal. We spoke with the Board of Directors of Las Abejas and went into the church where the massacre took place. We visited the memorial for them and saw all the photos. It was horrible.

At the end/in all....Chiapas was very inspiring for me. As this is the third WFP trip, we've learned how leftist and one-sided they can be, so our group did a lot of our own research and talking......but to see the people and all we learned.....it was just an amazing trip.

PS....above are some photos from the 3 days we spent in the pueblos....