Zapatistas

Since arriving in Chiapas, I have traveled around the state visiting all of the major cities and many outlying villages. I frequently see homemade signs along the road declaring this area to be “Zapatista Territory.” The whole state of Chiapas is technically ruled by this band of paramilitary rebels, but in all my years of traveling here, I have never once encountered any of them…..until this week. Twice this week during our travels we encountered road blocks manned by men claiming to be struggling for social justice. Pablo said they were the Z’s, but I saw no masks or outward representation of that, just men dressed like all the other men we see daily.

The first road block was on the way to San Cristobal. These men had a 4x4 board with spikes in it that they threw across the road in front of the car that was stopped. This kept you honest I supposed while they made their pitch for support. They handed each driver a photocopy of a declaration demanding justice for a man that they claimed had been hacked up with a machete by the military. They “requested” $20 pesos from each car before they allowed them to pass. Traffic was backed up for a long way as each driver got the pitch and negotiated their way through. I can imagine they made a tidy sum on that busy road.

We passed a convoy of military vehicles going toward the road block several miles after we were through. We questioned Pablo to see if they were going to intervene. He says that the military and local police are powerless to stop these kinds of things because the Zapatista have an amnesty from the Mexican Government that declares they have self rule in Chiapas. So the military would have to pay to get through too!

The second road block was on the road to Palenque. This time there was no board with spikes, just a rope across the road at a tope. These men claimed to be seeking $50 pesos (about 5 USD) in support of a man that was a victim of a hit and run. Jan negotiated them down to $10 pesos (or about 1 USD) for both cars, and we were on our way fairly quickly.
We got the brilliant idea to bring the Bible School students up to this section of the highway and block traffic, asking for a donation to get through and use the money to fund the operation of the bible school! The next week we could go back and hold up traffic for the clinic construction. We just claim we are with the Z’s and nobody can stop us! I even bought a Zapatista mask at the market in San Cristobal. I can see the headline now “NC Missionary results to paramilitary tactics to fund clinic, film at 11.”

Just kidding, folks!