CPTnet
November 28, 2001
CHIAPAS: The Mexican Major and the Canadian Penny

A few weeks ago, Cliff Kindy and Aaron Blythe spent ten days in Quextic
Centro, one half hour on rugged trail from any road, after 277 Abejas
returned to the village. The forty-seven families had been displaced since
just before the 1997 massacre of forty-five people--thirteen from from
their own community. On the second night, Kindy found a Canadian penny on
the dirt floor of the church where the CPTers were sleeping.

On the same day, Blythe and Kindy visited the military camp on the ridge
above the Quextic valley. They asked Luis, the guard, if they could meet
with the commanding officer, but were told he was gone. A day later, Luis
came down to Quextic Centro to invite the two CPTers to a meal with Major
Benigno, the commanding officer.

In a meeting with the governing board of the Abejas they were encouraged to
go but not accept the meal. The Abejas have refused the food, medical care,
and other services offered by the military because they see it as a cover
for the militarization of their county.

The next day Blythe and Kindy were met at the entrance by Luis who took them
to Major Benigno. In their half hour visit, the major pointed out that
foreign companies are quite interested in the petroleum, uranium and land of
Chiapas. "The Mexican government is weak and, since the army is a political
tool, we often get
used to open areas we would not choose."

The military presence in communities like Quextic allows Mexican President
Fox to open the nine southern states of Mexico to the globalization of the
Puebla-Panama Plan. The local people understand very well that they will be
the losers in the NAFTA economic arrangements. The Canadian (and US)
pennies will soon be trickling in as the local resources tumble out.