Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

[Note from the Chiapas team: "Our team has been concurrently operating and keeping log entries in several different communities."]

Tuesday, October 23
Quextic Centro
Keith Young and Aaron Blythe went to Acteal to bring back school supplies. While in Acteal, they spoke with a returned Mesa Directiva from Colonia Puebla. (The Mesa Directiva is the governing board of the Abejas.) He mentioned that the public security officers were occupying the community's meeting house, and that the Abejas wanted them to leave.

Wednesday, October 24
Quextic Centro
Blythe and Young visited Poblado Quextic to tell people there that other CPTers were coming. The two also attended a meeting in Quextic Centro, where there was talk of a new road being built to connect Quextic with the highway.

Thursday, October 25
San Cristobal
Freeman, Holmes and Kindy attended the 'Evaluation Meeting' of the Abejas returns at the FrayBa Center (a Catholic human rights organization.) The meeting turned out to focus more on the human rights lawyer who was assassinated in Mexico City in the previous month.

Quextic Centro
Blythe and Young joined in the building of a house, and did the best they could to straighten nails, etc. Blythe and Young were surprised when Angie Freeman, Bob Holmes and Cliff Kindy arrived in the dark.

Friday, October 26
Quextic Centro
Blythe and Kindy met with two FrayBa accompaniers, who would be in Poblado Quextic for for two weeks.

Tzajalhucum
After visiting the Abejas office in Acteal, Freeman, Holmes and Young arrived in Tzajalhucum. They had an opportunity to learn more about the community's history, included the events that took place before the Abejas left for X'oyep and ultimately Acteal.

Saturday, October 27
Quextic Centro
Blythe and Kindy went up to Canolal, and surprised a Public Security police crew as they passed. In Canolal, they talked with two Abejas, who said that all was calm in the community. On their way back, they talked with a friendly Canolal Public Security guard, who talked of being part of the clean-up crew following the massacre in Acteal.

Later Blythe and Kindy talked with an officer at the military base/social labour camp in Chimix who spoke of of the 80-100 people they feed each day. After Blythe and Kindy returned to Quextic, a community member there told them that number is closer to 30 people.

Tzajalhucum
Freeman and Young were having a quiet day, when several musicians passed through the community. The two followed them to the Presbyterian Church, and Young recognized the musicians as residents of Colonia Puebla. Freeman and Young joined the Presbyterian service that evening.

Sunday, October 28
Quextic
The military camp guard from the previous day and a companion entered the community to invite Blythe and Kindy to join the commanding officer for a meal. They were concerned about how the Abejas would interpret the invitation.

Tzajalhucum
Following the service, Freeman and Young joined Las Abejas in the school for a meeting to decide how to organize for hosting accompaniers in the future.

Holmes returned from San Cristobal, and the three walked through the community of Pechiquil to the military base and had a short conversation with two guards there.

In the evening, an Abeja member came to the church where the three were staying to pray. He mentioned that there were some threats made by two unknown men regarding the situation after all the Abejas return to their villages and the human rights accompaniers leave.

Monday, October 29
Quextic
Two armed public security officers were seen in Quextic Centro and Poblado, and were accompanied by a PRI supporter (PRI is the Mexican political party that has dominated the Mexican government for the last seventy years.)

Blythe and Kindy walked to Acteal to meet with the Mesa, in order to talk about the previous days' events. They were encouraged by the Mesa to join the commander for a meeting the next day, without partaking in the meal, and to discuss the issue of armed officers entering the communities.

Tzajalhucum The teacher at the Abejas school joined them in the church. The Abejas children are schooled separately from the village residents who did flee the village several years ago, because the Abejas did not and cannot contribute financially to the school built by the PRI supporters in the community.

Tuesday, October 30
Quextic
Blythe and Kindy visited the military base in Chimix (see forthcoming article, "The Mexican Major and the Canadian Penny.") Blythe and Kindy also visited the Public Security base, where they asked the police not to bring weapons with them into communities. The Public Security police told them they would comply with the request.

Colonia Puebla/Yashgemal
Freeman, Holmes and Young walked to Yashgemal and Puebla, stopping in at Chuchtic, where they visited with the schoolteachers and some members of the community.

In Yashgemal, the team visited the new Abejas cooperative store, and was greeted by Abejas members. They continued on to visit in Puebla. Some Abejas members they met with reported that they would like to organize a meeting regarding the community meeting building, currently occupied by Public Security, and that the Abejas children have still not started school. The team stayed in Yashgemal.

Wednesday, October 31
Yashgemal/Tzajalhucum
Team awoke to the sound of Young smashing a tarantula. The three went for a drive with some Indymedia journalists. They returned to Tzajalhucum for night.

Thursday, November 1
Acteal
All five team members traveled to Acteal for the All Saints' Day service, led by Padre Pedro. Following the service, the team met to continue discussion on CPT's role in Chiapas. Another international accompanier joined the team briefly, and shared some of the history of Tzajalhucum before and after the massacre in Acteal, including how the PRI supporters in the community held the Abejas community hostage.

Friday, November 2
X'oyep
Freeman, Kindy and Young traveled on to Polho and X'oyep. The three were not granted passes to visit Polho, a Zapatista community, and hiked around the community to X'oyep, where they met with three Abejas members. The Abejas expressed concerns about the war the US is currently waging in Afghanistan. They also mentioned the importance of making connections between groups working toward justice in the communities of the returnees.

Saturday, November 3
San Cristobal
The team met and decided to start talking with other groups and individuals about creating a response team in case an emergency situation arises (November 12 release, "Returned, but Justice Not Forgotten.")

Monday, November 5
San Cristobal
The team had a meeting with one of the Abejas who is still displaced and and living outside of the Nueva Primavera neighborhood of San Cristobal. He stressed the importance of communication and coordination between groups, He said that some refugees will not return to their communities because the situations there are still bad, and in some cases life threatening.

Tuesday, November 6
San Cristobal
The team met with Sister Josephina, who spoke of the importance of education and linking groups who are working on the same issues. She also mentioned several upcoming meetings that were bringing together groups to discuss specific components of the Abejas movement and philosophy.