Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

January 13, 2001

As the CPT team whose members recently participated in a time of fasting and prayer in front of the military base in Guadalupe Tepeyac, we would like to respond to some of the legitimate comments that have been made over the last few days concerning our presence there. We would also like to praise the efforts of the federal government, as well as the state government, in their important work to achieve peace. In the last six weeks more tension-relieving measures have been taken than in the six previous years.

Many people have raised concerns that our time of prayer might be considered an intervention into affairs that are the domain only of Mexican citizens. We are aware of the long and terrible history of foreign intervention into Mexican affairs by foreign powers. We note especially the U.S. government's shameful history of imperialism and intervention in Mexico and throughout Latin America, promoting violence and disrespect for human rights. As citizens of Canada and the United States, we would like to share some thoughts on the reasons for our time of prayer in the jungle, and on the reasons for our presence in Mexico at all.

We have had a non-violent presence here in Chiapas since 1998, through an invitation from "Las Abejas" after the massacre in Acteal. Our work has been primarily focused in Chenalho, and so we are personally familiar with the realities that the displaced people there have faced. We have listened to the stories of the survivors of the massacre and other displaced people there. During Lent of 2000 we joined with members of the Civil Society of the Bees in a 35 day presence inside a military camp in Chenalho, praying and fasting for a return of the displaced and the soldiers to their homes, and for a just peace. Before Christmas, we read a newspaper article about the six years of displacement under which the people of Guadalupe Tepeyac have lived. We began to pray and reflect on that situation of violence, a process that led to the decision to conduct this time of prayer and fasting.

It is worth mentioning that our team members come from the two partner countries of Mexico in the North American Free Trade Agreement. In the early nineties our governments intervened into the affairs of Mexico in a monumental way. The governments of Canada and United States required Mexico to alter its constitution in order to be considered for participation in NAFTA. The structure of land ownership was altered, as well as other constitutional and legislative changes, in order to facilitate the entry of Canadian and U.S. transnational corporations into Mexico for the exploitation of natural resources and cheap labor. The uprising of Indigenous people in Chiapas was in part a response to this international interference, a last straw in a long history of injustices that they have experienced. We see our actions as our moral responsibility in light of what our governments have already done.

During the mandate of the previous government of Mexico, the United States supported the military efforts to repress the opposition of Indigenous people in Chiapas by providing money and military equipment (under the guise of a war on drugs). Also, many Mexican soldiers have been trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas, notorious for having trained its students in tactics of repression of civil society and in low intensity warfare. Many CPTers have worked to close this school.

Issues of justice for Indigenous and other marginalized people are very similar in all three countries. In the last year, in addition to our projects here in Mexico and elsewhere in the world, CPT has had projects in both Canada and United States. We have worked to reduce violence and for a respect of human rights in situations of conflict where Indigenous people were experiencing violence. We would like, and are working to facilitate, Mexican nationals committed to non-violence coming to our countries to work for non-violent and just resolutions to the conflicts that Indigenous people are experiencing there.

Upon leaving the jungle on January 8, there was a military roadblock that had not been in place three days before was functioning again. But we remain hopeful that there are people in positions of power who are committed to peace. We have received a response from the President's office and met with a representative of the federal government to share our perspective.

Members of CPT did not go to Guadalupe Tepeyac as representatives of Canada and United States to manifest ourselves in Mexican internal issues. We went as simple believers and as human beings, to fast and pray that the displaced people can return to their homes, a return that is dependant on the withdrawal of the military forces. We also prayed that all the governments of North America might commit themselves to ending the injustices, economic and physical, that all the Indigenous people of this continent have suffered for over five hundred years. We continue to pray specifically for those governing in Mexico, that they have the wisdom to carry out their duties with a view toward justice and true peace.

Our faith called us to come and place ourselves in solidarity with those who are suffering injustice, as we read in the book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 58: "Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers... Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is this not the fast that I choose: to loose bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?"

We are part of a filthy, rotten system that has led to so much suffering and violence, particularly here in Chiapas. We do not come here as people with great solutions, but as humble people who believe that it will be the power of prayer and a commitment to nonviolence that will lead us to more just relationships throughout our respective countries.

The repression and injustices suffered by Indigenous peoples in all three of our countries do not know borders. The response of our Christian faith and consciences to their suffering must be just as universal. If the people of faith in Mexico, Canada and the United States were to all join together in the solidarity of conscience, as the civil society of Mexico did in January of 1994 to stop the war, and in defense of human rights, our governments would have no choice but to comply.

Sincerely in faith, hope and love.

Members of the Christian Peacemaker Team in Chiapas