Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

July 2-5
Based on extensive consultation with advisors done by the team in May, Kryss Chupp and Matt Guynn developed recommendations for CPT Mexico's work in the next twelve months.

The team's reflections suggest that CPT can use three years of relationship building to move even deeper into the work of nonviolence. This move will be accomplished through more intentional strategic planning with local colleagues and partners (for instance, with the Catholic pastoral team in the county).

Two major areas of concern emerged in recent conversations. The first is the predicted increase in violence leading up to the October 7 municipal elections in Chenalh=F3. A leader of the Abejas (and mayoral candidate) suggested public actions with the message: "No Caer En La Tentaci=F3n De La Violencia" ("Don't Fall into the Temptation of Violence"), could help.

The second concern is the larger issue of increasingly entrenched paramilitarism in Chenalh=F3 County. Team members are looking to explore a strategic campaign focused on engaging, unmasking, and moving toward disarmament of paramilitaries in the region.

Reservists and full timers are currently being sought to staff these campaigns! Contact CPT Chicago!

July 3
The team met with three Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) representatives to discuss CPT work in Mexico and further possibilities for regional development. Mexican MCC workers continue to urge CPT to nurture the growing interest in peace and justice concerns among Mennonites in Mexico City.

July 6
Guynn and Chupp traveled to Acteal to make arrangements for the July 13-14 workshop with members of the Abejas about active nonviolence.

The team traveled from Acteal to the relocation camp of New Yibeljoj, a community of about 500 Abejas, which relocated in October from the displacement camp of X'oyep. Recently New Yibeljoj received a large donation of lumber and metal roofing, and more and more houses now replace plastic tents and makeshift structures. In addition, two school buildings are under construction. The team participated in evening prayers with the community and spoke briefly with the catechists. At dinner the team met with a medic from Doctors of the World (M=E9dicos del Mundo) about health issues in Chenalh=F3 refugee camps.

July 7
Chupp and Guynn visited with friends and Abejas leaders in New Yibeljoj. They met with a former member of the Mesa Directiva (Leadership Council) of the Abejas, who has suffered from partial facial paralysis for the last two and half months, attributed by doctors to the stress of living under the conditions of displacement: lack of basic resources like firewood and water, lack of nourishment, and the constant military presence and threat of paramilitary attack. There is a Public Security outpost within two hundred meters of his home. (Public Security is the state police force which was implicated in the December 1997 massacre of 45 members of the Abejas in Acteal.)

He shared that members of the Abejas from the village of Yaxgemel, who are currently displaced in X'oyep, are beginning conversations about possibly relocating to a new displacement site due to lack of firewood and water.

In addition, he related that a handful of PRIistas (supporters of the former government power structure, many of whom are involved in paramilitary activity) have now changed affiliation, joining either the Bees or the Zapatistas.

The team traveled to the autonomous Zapatista support community of Polh=F3, where they stayed with the family of Ernestina and Eduardo (names changed; see Chiapas Update, June 12-19, 2001). Polh=F3, which had a population of 2,000 people before the displacements in Chenalh=F3 began in 1997, now has a population of about 8,000. Autonomous communities have declared some level of independence from all standard political channels (municipal, state, federal).

Eduardo is a natural health nurse and a member of the catechist team in Polh=F3. Together all shared in storytelling about nonviolence and social action, and relationships between Christians within Zapatista and Abejas communities. Eduardo shared, "The only time that Jesus is 'the only way' is when we are all united," regardless of creed or belief even regardless of social change tactics.

Catechists from all autonomous communities in Chenalh=F3 recently reached a group decision to reject the Plan Puebla-Panama, which is the Mexican government's new plan for economic development through free trade in southern Mexico and Central America (CPTnet release: "PLAN PUEBLA-PANAM=C1--We Reject It Completely." This decision will probably entail further loss of economic and material aid from the government, and means that members of the community will not work in sweat shops if they are placed in the region (a part of the Plan).

July 8 The team attended worship at the Evangelical/Protestant Church in Polh=F3, where they told stories about CPT prayer witnesses on military bases in Chenalh=F3 County. After the service, team members met with church leaders. This church was formerly Presbyterian, but members said that they have been without a Presbyterian pastor since they became a Zapatista support base, and they now consider themselves a church open to anyone who wants to follow the word of God. The church's membership includes Pentecostals, Presbyterians, former Catholics, and others.