Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

CHIAPAS, MEXICO - A few weeks ago, Cliff Kindy and Aaron Blythe spent ten days in Quextic Centro, one half hour on rugged trail from any road, after 277 Abejas returned to the village. The forty-seven families had been displaced since just before the 1997 massacre of forty-five people--thirteen from from their own community. On the second night, Kindy found a Canadian penny on the dirt floor of the church where the CPTers were sleeping.

On the same day, Blythe and Kindy visited the military camp on the ridge above the Quextic valley. They asked Luis, the guard, if they could meet with the commanding officer, but were told he was gone. A day later, Luis came down to Quextic Centro to invite the two CPTers to a meal with Major Benigno, the commanding officer.

In a meeting with the governing board of the Abejas they were encouraged to go but not accept the meal. The Abejas have refused the food, medical care, and other services offered by the military because they see it as a cover for the militarization of their county.

The next day Blythe and Kindy were met at the entrance by Luis who took them to Major Benigno. In their half hour visit, the major pointed out that foreign companies are quite interested in the petroleum, uranium and land of Chiapas. "The Mexican government is weak and, since the army is a political tool, we often get used to open areas we would not choose."

The military presence in communities like Quextic allows Mexican President Fox to open the nine southern states of Mexico to the globalization of the Puebla-Panama Plan. The local people understand very well that they will be the losers in the NAFTA economic arrangements. The Canadian (and US) pennies will soon be trickling in as the local resources tumble out.