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CHIAPAS - After several days of maintaining a presence in a semi-permanent tent on the grounds of a military camp near the Abeja community of Xoyep, CPTers and Abejas have had several opportunities to talk with members of the military about the reasons for their presence. CPTers and Abejas will be maintaining their presence of prayer and fasting throughout Lent in order to draw attention to the plight of the displaced people, to demand that the government provide conditions for a safe return, and to call all people to a return to God's way: love.

The officials in the military "civic action" camp have demonstrated to CPTers the pretext on which they maintain their presence by offering the CPTers and Abejas the services of the camp - from food and rest rooms to medical attention.

Every time the soldiers are asked about the reasons for the camp, they reply, "We provide food, medical facilities and haircuts." Those maintaining the peaceful presence have seen very little activity in the camp besides a daily soccer game and attentive observation of the "tenters". The Abejas refuse to use any of the services of the camp because they see it as an attempt to buy their allegiance to the government. It is clear that this "civil action" camp, along with the 10 other such camps in the county of Chenalho, have other reasons for existing.

Major General Enrique Canovas, on a visit to the military camp, approached the CPTers and Abejas and told them that the military there has been told "not to kill." After discovering a common Catholic faith with the general, CPTer William Payne stated, "You need to choose between your work and your Christianity. The two cannot go together." Gen. Canovas replied that popes led crusades and "there is a lot of violence in the Bible." Rather than using the crusades for a model of Christianity, one CPTer commented that the Abejas make a much better example to follow - modeling the love of God through suffering rather than using violence.

A member of the Abejas pressed the general about the military presence. "People are afraid. They are not used to seeing people with guns here in this area. Never before were there guns of high calibre. Now, in every community there are guns. We don't know where they are from, but they are the same as the soldiers carry." Canovas responded that the paramilitary groups "use guns from Czechoslovakia or China, and we don't use these guns." One CPTer noted, however, that very few guns have been confiscated and no official declaration has been made as to where the guns came from, so how does the military know this?

It is worth noting that many of the Abejas were displaced from their communities for refusing to cooperate in the purchasing of weapons for use by the paramilitary groups. In response, the paramilitary supporters, accompanied by the highly militarized state police, stole their coffee, and looted and burned many of their houses.

Regarding the army's presence in Chenalho, the general's parting remark may have been in jest: "When you peace people make peace here, we'll leave."

CPT accepts his offer.