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CHIAPAS, MEXICO - During the end of May, the Chiapas team carried out a consultation with local advisors regarding CPT’s work in Chiapas. The consensus continues to be that CPT’s work is an important contribution to the complex situation. As the fall municipal (county) elections approach, there is a predicted upswing in violence. (While the PRI, the ruling party in Mexican politics for 70 years, lost the presidency last year, it did not lose its hold on municipal and state governments. As contenders from other parties continue to rise to the fore, the PRI party is struggling to maintain its hold on power at any level.).

May 28:
Diego Mendez accompanied a member of the Civil Society of the Abejas to the Chiapas capital city of Tuxtla Gutierrez to apply for a document required to apply for a passport. (Two members of the Abejas, the pacifist indigenous organization which is CPT’s closest local partner, are preparing to join the CPT team in New Brunswick, Canada, later this year.)

May 29:
The team spent the day together in fasting and prayer after visiting the Rancho Nuevo army base (near San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas), where they spoke with General H. Sanchez (see forthcoming CPTnet release, “Enjoy Tourism?”).

May 30:
Lynn Stolzfus traveled to the Abejas village of X’oyep, which recently received a donation of tree seedlings to replant forests, which have been decimated by cutting for firewood due to the high numbers of displaced in the region.

May 31:
Mendez and Jerry Stein traveled to the autonomous community of Oventic. (Autonomous communities, of which about 1,000 exist in Chiapas, have seceded from the Mexican political system as part of their struggle for cultural and economic recognition.) Oventic is one of seven “Aguascalientes,” regional gathering points which serve as cultural and political centers for the Zapatista movement. (The term “Aguascalientes” comes from the site of a gathering during the Mexican Revolution, where poets and thinkers came together to share and dream about the possible future of Mexico.) In Oventic, the team attended the opening of the first secondary school in the autonomous communities.

June 1-3:
The next day Stein and Mendez traveled with Fr. Francisco Angeles (name changed), a Jesuit who works in this region, to attend a meeting of catechists in Polho, another autonomous community. Mendez stayed in Polho for two nights and attended the rest of the catechist meeting. Stolzfus joined him there and they participated in Sunday worship at the Presbyterian church in Polho.

Stein returned to San Cristobal with Fr. Angeles after attending part of a retreat of the Abejas choir at the Catholic church in Yabteclum.

June 4:
Team members met with the Mexico staff of Global Exchange to talk about an upcoming international conference on biodiversity (Jun. 15-17). Brethren Volunteer Service Director Dan McFadden visited Stolzfus in San Cristobal.

June 6:
Stolzfus departed for a retreat in Guatemala. Mendez participated in a planning meeting regarding the biodiversity conference at Global Exchange.

June 7:
Mendez and Stein went to Acteal to meet with the Mesa Directiva (Leadership Council) to make arrangements for passports for the two Abejas who plan to visit the CPT team in Esgenoopetitj. They traveled on to the Abejas displacement camp of Nuevo Yibeljoj (where previous CPTers have spent significant periods of time).

June 8:
Mendez returned to San Cristobal to meet with Global Exchange, CIEPAC, and the human rights center of the Catholic diocese. Stein visited with families in Nuevo Yibeljoj.

June 9:
Stein returned to San Cristobal. Mendez gave a talk to a group of students from the U.S. studying at a university in Xalapa (which is on the Gulf coast of Mexico, near Veracruz).

June 10:
Stein and Mendez accompanied Fr. Angeles to Tzabalo, a mixed community of PRI supporters and Zapatistas. There was a 5-hour Catholic mass with 11 baptisms and the rededication and furnishing of the church building.