CPTnet
July 23, 2001
CHIAPAS UPDATE: July 1-8, 2001

July 2-5
Based on extensive consultation with advisors done by the team in May,
Kryss Chupp and Matt Guynn developed recommendations for CPT Mexico's work
in the next twelve months.

The team's reflections suggest that CPT can use three years of relationship
building to move even deeper into the work of nonviolence. This move will
be accomplished through more intentional strategic planning with local
colleagues and partners (for instance, with the Catholic pastoral team in
the county).

Two major areas of concern emerged in recent conversations. The first is
the predicted increase in violence leading up to the October 7 municipal
elections in Chenalh=F3. A leader of the Abejas (and mayoral candidate)
suggested public actions with the message: "No Caer En La Tentaci=F3n De La
Violencia" ("Don't Fall into the Temptation of Violence"), could help.

The second concern is the larger issue of increasingly entrenched
paramilitarism in Chenalh=F3 County. Team members are looking to explore a
strategic campaign focused on engaging, unmasking, and moving toward
disarmament of paramilitaries in the region.

Reservists and full timers are currently being sought to staff these
campaigns! Contact CPT Chicago!

July 3
The team met with three Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) representatives
to discuss CPT work in Mexico and further possibilities for regional
development. Mexican MCC workers continue to urge CPT to nurture the
growing interest in peace and justice concerns among Mennonites in Mexico
City.

July 6
  Guynn and Chupp traveled to Acteal to make arrangements for the July
13-14 workshop with members of the Abejas about active nonviolence.

The team traveled from Acteal to the relocation camp of New Yibeljoj, a
community of about 500 Abejas, which relocated in October from the
displacement camp of X'oyep. Recently New Yibeljoj received a large
donation of lumber and metal roofing, and more and more houses now replace
plastic tents and makeshift structures. In addition, two school buildings
are under construction. The team participated in evening prayers with the
community and spoke briefly with the catechists. At dinner the team met
with a medic from Doctors of the World (M=E9dicos del Mundo) about health
issues in Chenalh=F3 refugee camps.

July 7
  Chupp and Guynn visited with friends and Abejas leaders in New
Yibeljoj. They met with a former member of the Mesa Directiva (Leadership
Council) of the Abejas, who has suffered from partial facial paralysis for
the last two and half months, attributed by doctors to the stress of living
under the conditions of displacement: lack of basic resources like firewood
and water, lack of nourishment, and the constant military presence and
threat of paramilitary attack. There is a Public Security outpost within
two hundred meters of his home. (Public Security is the state police force
which was implicated in the December 1997 massacre of 45 members of the
Abejas in Acteal.)

He shared that members of the Abejas from the village of Yaxgemel, who are
currently displaced in X'oyep, are beginning conversations about possibly
relocating to a new displacement site due to lack of firewood and water.

In addition, he related that a handful of PRIistas (supporters of the
former government power structure, many of whom are involved in
paramilitary activity) have now changed affiliation, joining either the
Bees or the Zapatistas.

The team traveled to the autonomous Zapatista support community of Polh=F3,
where they stayed with the family of Ernestina and Eduardo (names changed;
see Chiapas Update, June 12-19, 2001). Polh=F3, which had a population of
2,000 people before the displacements in Chenalh=F3 began in 1997, now has a
population of about 8,000. Autonomous communities have declared some
level of independence from all standard political channels (municipal,
state, federal).

Eduardo is a natural health nurse and a member of the catechist team in
Polh=F3. Together all shared in storytelling about nonviolence and social
action, and relationships between Christians within Zapatista and Abejas
communities. Eduardo shared, "The only time that Jesus is 'the only way'
is when we are all united," regardless of creed or belief even regardless
of social change tactics.

Catechists from all autonomous communities in Chenalh=F3 recently reached a
group decision to reject the Plan Puebla-Panama, which is the Mexican
government's new plan for economic development through free trade in
southern Mexico and Central America (CPTnet release: "PLAN
PUEBLA-PANAM=C1--We Reject It Completely." This decision will
probably entail further loss of economic and material aid from the
government, and means that members of the community will not work in sweat
shops if they are placed in the region (a part of the Plan).

July 8
The team attended worship at the Evangelical/Protestant Church in Polh=F3,
where they told stories about CPT prayer witnesses on military bases in
Chenalh=F3 County. After the service, team members met with church
leaders. This church was formerly Presbyterian, but members said that
they have been without a Presbyterian pastor since they became a Zapatista
support base, and they now consider themselves a church open to anyone who
wants to follow the word of God. The church's membership includes
Pentecostals, Presbyterians, former Catholics, and others.