CPTnet
August 24, 1998
Chiapas, Mexico: CPT spends four days in X'oyep with the Bees

Members of the Christian Peacemaker Team in Chiapas visited X'oyep
(pronounced "shoyep")from August 10 through the morning of August 14. X'oyep
is one of the hamlets that members of the Bees (Las Abejas) fled to after the
massacre in Acteal on December 22, 1997. More than 2,000 Bees--a pacifist
Christian organization of Mayan Indians--now live in the refugee camp in
X'oyep. The village originally housed about a dozen families before the
paramilitary violence of the last two years drove thousands of Bees from their
homes in other villages.

The team spent the second day of their visit primarily in Acteal, a few miles
away, as about 2000 folks gathered for the visit of some of the Catholic
bishops.

The military traffic in Acteal was heavier than the team
had observed previously in that Polho/ Acteal area. In the one hour period
leading up to the arrival of the bishops, twelve military vehicles passed on
the road. All security vehicles were heavily armed, even the last two grocery
delivery vehicles - a troop carrier and a pickup.

The "peace belt" of unarmed people that welcomed the bishops in Acteal turned
back one Humvee with seven soldiers just as the parade of vehicles and people
with the bishops was coming up the road from the south.

The team were told by medical personnel in the X'oyep refugee camp that many
people there are suffering with long-term fevers.

There are 220 people living in four long houses in the lower part of the camp.
Rain water runs into the buildings but they lack the gutters that are used in
other parts of the camp to save the rain water. Their three water tanks get
filled every week or two but only last 4-5 days, so they have to carry water
from up the hill the rest of the time.

Toilets are often built above ground because the holes in the ground fill
quickly with rain water. This means, though, that excrement can wash out and
down the hill - especially into the lower section of the camp

There is still no school operating nor plans for one though
parents talk of the importance of school.

In order to address the critical housing situation, people living in the camp
have made plans made to build up to 50 houses. The team was able to help
construct two of them. Sufficient materials are not available on site for all
the buildings, so the community has to make the difficult decisions about who
will receive the materials.

Beet, radish, cilantro, and spinach seeds are being passed
out to families for quick harvests, but the corn and beans that have not been
planted will have to wait until the fall planting. There are many larger
fields of corn and beans, cane, and bananas that are flourishing because of
the rains.

The team was stopped and had their documents recorded at the Chenalho
checkpoint by military and immigration on the trip to X'oyep. They left well
before daylight on the trip back to San Cristobal de las Casas and avoided the
military on the way out.
Often recording the information of internationals traveling in the region is
the first step in the Mexican government's efforts to deport them.