Junio 21, 2005

Zapatista Red Alert!

Holy shit! On the very day that I returned from Mexico (well, from that weird hybrid of Mexico and the U.S. called The Border), yesterday, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation has called a red alert! Amazing. Less than a month after I was in Zapatista territory, they are encouraging internationals to leave, writing: "national and international civil societies who are working in peace camps and in community projects are being urged to leave rebel territory. Or, if they decide freely of their own volition, they remain on their own and at their own risk, gathered in the caracoles. "

What's going on? The communique doesn't explain WHY they're doing this. Wow. Is this the start of some big new rebel armed operation? Or a new defensive posture based on recent violence perpetrated by the Mexican Army and the Chiapaneco paramilitary groups? Is it related to threats last month against peace volunteers, as I wrote about in this blog?

Pues si, anyway, I am safely back in Iowa, about as far from Chiapas as one could be, though the 2 places are simliar in at least one way: they are both definitely lands of corn.

Posted by steev at Junio 21, 2005 09:35 AM
Comments
Those pictures are really cool. I like how colorful things are! And what is the deal with the snails? Posted by: Allan at Junio 23, 2005 10:18 AM
Snails, or caracoles in spanish, are very important in Mayan mythology and society. I don't full understand their significance, but they are everywhere. The Mayan communities, especially the Zapatista ones, are modelled on the shape of snails, and society is supposed to be somehow based on the snail or spiral shell shape, too. Posted by: Steev at Junio 23, 2005 02:57 PM