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CHIAPAS, MEXICO - Tzotzil and Tzeltal indigenous people filling two pickup trucks broke into laughter as two human-sized ears of corn along with 5 other members of Christian Peacemaker Teams gathered by the entrance to the Majomut army base, the military headquarters of Chenalho County. A liturgist led the corn and other CPTers down the road into the base as to the hymn refrain, "Óyenos mi Dios" ("Hear us, my God").

Soldiers and civilians were invited to join the candle-holding procession which stood beside U.S. made HUMVs to read a confession of complicity and words from Jesus about loving enemies and proclaiming release to captives. Delegates wrote their addresses and phone numbers on the leaflets they distributed to individuals and left in military vehicles, inviting soldiers to contact them for further exchange of ideas.

The procession addressed the violence created by the presence of thousands of military and security people on bases that push against the boundaries of indigenous communities. In the confession the CPTers acknowledged the responsibility of their governments in the U.S., Canada, and Taiwan for the political tension here.

The response by the solders was mixed. Some refused the leaflets, others took them (about eighty were distributed on the base); many chuckled at the two CPTers dressed as ears of corn -- an essential life sustaining food here. The humor attracted attention and defused some of the tension inherent in the situation.

CPTers and delegation members involved in the action included Matt Guynn (Richmond, IN) Carl Meyer (Goshen, IN), Duane Schmidt (Paoli, IN), Sherry Schmidt (Paoli, IN), Jerry Stein (Nazareth, TX), William Payne (Toronto, ON), and Chih-Chun Yuan (Taipei, Taiwan).