Chiapas: Letter of support from Las Abejas of Acteal to the Triqui region

On 22 September, during the monthly commemoration of the Acteal massacre, the civil organization Las Abejas published a communiqué in which they denounce the context currently prevailing in Mexico:  “We can mention many of [these] massacres, such as that of the 72 migrants killed in Tamaulipas that is nothing more than a demonstration that which happens every day but fails to make it to the news, or what is happening in San Juan Copala, Oaxaca, that reminds us of what happened in Chenalhó in 1997–that, despite all the denunciations, the government does nothing and, when a large massacre occurs, goes on to say, as did Emilio Chuayffet in 1997, that no one knew what was happening.”

They also stressed the case that “is taking place closest to us, one that shows how, for indigenous people, neither independence nor autonomy exist 200 years after the struggles of Hidalgo”: that of the Zapatista support-base families from the community of San Marcos Avilés in the municipality of Sitala, Chiapas, displaced following harassment carried out by PRI, PVEM, and PRD militants.  Las Abejas emphasized that “their only crime is to have constructed autonomous education from below and for the people, an education different from that of the government that seeks to destroy our roots and make us docile slaves of the neoliberal system.  The behavior of the members of these parties reminds us of the way paramilitaries acted in Chenalhó in 1997: death-threats, stealing of crops, charging of fines, and demanding that people renounce their organizations and struggles.  More than a decade after the Acteal massacre, it is not possible that the same acts be repeated with all the protection of the government.  Whatever it is that happens to our brothers and sisters, those responsible will be the governments of Calderón and Juan Sabines, ones that clearly are to be found on the list of repressive governments in the history of our Mexico.”

Las Abejas made a call to organize and engage in struggle, affirming that “we are convinced that, to effect actual change and bring about a new Mexico, the struggle must be as it is termed by our Zapatista brothers: from below, with a new system of government and a new constitution. This is not realized by miracles; instead what is needed are the action and efforts of all those who were born to struggle and to live freely in this world, which in our Tsotsil cosmovision we call ‘to live in harmony with the heart of the sky and the heart of the land.'”

In other news, on 24 September Las Abejas sent a letter to authorities expressing their concern regarding the situation in the Triqui region, especially with regard to San Juan Copala.  “We see that that which occurred with the Acteal massacre may soon be repeated.  Many times have been denounced the death-threats and human-rights violations in the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala by human-rights grops and some media sources.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Communiqué of Las Abejas in observation of the commemoration of the Acteal massacre (22 September)

Letter of support from Las Abejas of Acteal to San Juan Copala (24 September)