ACTEAL, CHIAPAS, southeast Mexico: Acteal is a peaceful, quiet place --
filled with a mumble of voices as The Bees kneel for prayer, the whisper
of breezes in the cedars, the pad of bare feet off for wood or water,
and the stillness of the full moon in the clear sky.

But the holes in the roof of the simple wooden building where the
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) group sleeps explode the quiet. They
are from the sprays of bullets that ended the lives of 45 people
actively praying and fasting for an end to the violence that culminated
in the December 22, 1997, massacre. The contrast is emphasized by the
steady flow of military and security vehicles that pass the Bees' camp
20-60 times per day.

According to an article in a leading Mexican daily "La Jornada" this
past month, 18,000 people have been displaced state-wide. Among them
are many of the 4,000 members of The Bees, a group inspired by the
biblical stories of the Exodus and the unarmed witness of Jesus in the
struggle for wholeness and justice.

June 6-10, a five-member CPT team stayed in Acteal. They heard the
stories of brutality and were shown where Mexican public security
officials passed by on the road and stood by across a ravine while the
massacre continued over six hours.

Times are as difficult as ever in the refugee camps. The pressure
increases because of crowded facilities, polluted or no water, disease,
and a shortage of food. Two weeks ago, after three days of fasting
and prayer, The Bees decided that on June 25, 850 of them will return
to Yibeljoj and Los Chorros, two of their home communities. This trial
will be the fleece (Judges 6) to see if it is safe for the others to
return.

Fifty to seventy thousand Mexican military troops are in the state of
Chiapas and the paramilitary groups are still living in the communities
to which the Bees will return. Safety may come from the religious,
human rights, and media groups who the 4,000 Bees are asking to join
them in the unarmed pilgrimage from the refugee camps to their homes.

The conflict playing itself out on these quiet ridges hides the
invisible economic and political forces that have made pawns of the
indigenous people. NAFTA began to affect this region January 1, 1994.
It opened lands and resources to private enterprise--including lands
held collectively by indigenous peoples. Additionally,
The United States government has been training the Mexican military in
counter-insurgency tactics at the School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort
Benning, GA. Graduates of the SOA have perpetrated some of the worst
human rights abuses in Latin America and the Caribbean and currently
approximately one-third of the soldiers enrolled are Mexican.

The Bees have taken the initiative away from the Mexican government in
their decision to return. They have placed their faith in the God who
carries no weapons. They invite others with the same commitment to join
them in their return.