A Dark History of Regional Conflict

San Juan Chamula

At the center of Chenalho, from which the people of San Pedrito come, many indigenous people still believe in a centuries-old syncretism of Catholicsm and native Mayan beliefs. Their churches are Catholic in outward appearance only. They believe in three Crosses, with the middle and highest Cross representing Saint John the Baptist, who they believe to have founded San Juan Chamula, their cultural and religious center in the highlands.  The traditional saints of the Catholic Church actually represent old Mayan gods and spirits. Their daily rituals and sacrifices require use of numerous items including alcohol, soda, pine branches, candles, live chickens for sacrifices, and so forth.  Upon entering a church, one immediately notices the shaman-like priests, and people on the floor lost in trance and meditation, and others performing rituals and sacrifices.

Several decades ago, the Federal and State governments gave six local caciques (chieftains) considerable independence and rule over Chamula and the immediately surrounding area.  Over the years these caciques established an entire economy based on these ceremonies and sacrificies.  They monopolized the sale of these items and developed a hierachical system of jobs and services for supporting the ceremonies and sacrifices.  All people in the area are required to participate in these activities, thus enriching the caciques, and ensuring job security for many people.

When people in the area began to convert to Christianity they refused to partake in all this.  This significantly impacted the lucrative revenue base these caciques had developed over the years.  In 1972 the caciques responded by rallying their people to persecute and exile the Chrisitans (Roman Catholics included).  With no one to protect them, they were burned out of their homes, beaten, killed and forced to flee.  In all, over 35,000 people were displaced over the next few decades.  The government did not do anything to help, and international relief organizations were forced to intervene to help these people.

While the people of San Pedrito were not directly involved in this, they are nevertheless still affected in that so many of the region's resources otherwise potentially available to San Pedrito, are still consumed in addressing the effects of these displacements.  More importantly, the Chamula displacements set off a worsening cycle of poverty and indigenous marginalization which ultimately inspired the Zapatista uprising which in turn was a catalyst in the Acteal massacre which forced the the founder families of San Pedrito to move to their present location.

Zapatistas

Land has always been at the center of the Mayan culture and identity.  Given the endless cycle of poverty in a system of feudal land ownership dominated by wealthy Mestizo ranchers, land has tended to be a prevailing political theme.  The Chamula displacements exacerbated this growing problem and had an unforeseen effect.

In response, The Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional (EZLN), a.k.a. the Zapatistas, a Marxist guerrilla group fighting for indigenous automomy, began forming in the late 1980s, and made its first public appearance in 1994, taking control of San Cristobal immediately following the signing of the NAFTA accord.  Unfortunately, rather than improve conditions, it worsened the displacement issue and hurt the very people it intended to help.

The Mexican army immediately applied full military suppression to regain control of the region, and in doing so did return people to their communities but ended up displacing others.  The Zapatista movement is militarily incapacitated now but the effects of the conflicts are still felt.

Acteal

Acteal is a community in Chinalho, approximately 70 miles north of San Cristobal and San Juan Chumala.  Most of the people of San Pedrito come from the immediately surrounding area.

Acteal had been divided into three distinct groups - Zapatistas, Las Abejas Negras (a pacifist indigenous rights group primarily composed of Catholics sympathetic to the Zapatista doctrine), and the "conservatives", a group primarily composed of Presbyterians loyal to the former rulling party, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).  The government, in response to the Abejas Negras and other indigenous political groups, recruited paramilitaries primarily from among the Presbyterians to neutralize them.

On December 22, 2005, a large group of militaries entered Acteal and started shooting at unarmed men, women and children, killing 45 and wounding many others, while the military and police just several hundred meters down the road ignored the massacre.

International outcry forcing the Mexican government to take action, resulted in the arrest of 75 perpetrators.  Two of the individuals arrested and still in prison today are Miguel Lopez Gomez and two brothers, Lorenzo and Agustin Ruiz Vasquez.  While many of these prisoners were eventually released, many still remain in prison with sentences of 35 years.  There were a number of problems with the legal process and their exist arguments on multiple sides as to the whether or not the process was fair.  The prisoners' guilt or innocence remains unclear to this date. We consider all persons involved in this tragedy as victims, regardless their role or side.