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The following is a report by Zapnet correspondent and editor Genève Gil
who traveled to the Encuentro at La Realidad in April of 1996
This report was written in response to an article from
La Jornada which reported
intensification of military activity in Oventic just after Gil left the area. This military activity
included surveillance and intrusion by helicopters, planes and troops, and the
establishment of a new military encampment outside of Oventic (that tiny,
impoverished community is already surrounded by four!).
Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 22:37:42 -0700 To:chiapas-l@profmexis.sar.net "I visited Oventic before going to La Realidad and listened to several members of the CCRI, mostly women, speak about their lives in their community of resistance: what they are working for, what they hope, believe, and need. I have extraordinary respect for their tenacity, consciousness, and spirit. They are risking their lives and exposing themselves to continuous harassment, intimidation and cultural disruption from the federal soldiers camped around them. Comandante David was so proud to tell us that they had not lost a single member of their community to hunger in the past two years. The challenge they have set themselves is extra-human. The women there were literally falling asleep with exhaustion in the middle of the afternoon, tending babies as they spoke, in Tzotzil, of the great many new difficulties facing them since asserting their independance from the PRI. Their project, as a 'comunidad en resistencia', is to demonstrate their capacity to sustain themselves without assistence from the government. The idea is to show others, by example, that they need not be dependent on the PRI for survival; that they could choose to vote PRD, or to challenge government programs & policies, without necessarily losing their lives, livelihood and security. While Zapatistas struggle to develop health and educational facilities in their communities, the PRI offers 'assistance' to nearby communities in order to dissuade them from affiliating with the Zapatistas. Comandante David mentioned that, a year after promises from the PRI, some of those communities have realized that the proposed improvements are not forthcoming, and have begun to seek alliance again with the EZLN. Comandantes Isabel, Ana Maria, Susana, Roselia, Amalia, and others spoke of the soldiers' presence in their lives. They find it impossible to leave Oventic anymore because soldiers proposition them, offer them money for sex, and rape as well as threaten to rape them. The soldiers have brought prostitution to the area, which deeply offends the Tzotzil people living in Oventic. The behavior of the soldiers and prostitutes is abhorent to them and in violent dischord with their cultural beliefs, views, traditions and values. Finding it unsafe to travel to and from Oventic, the women are having great difficulty supporting themselves with their artisanry. They are no longer free to purchase the thread they need or to take their work to town to sell. When they buy thread now, it is from a store which is closer to their community, but more expensive. They expressed desire for assistance from foreigners in creating an artisan's cooperative in which they could safely continue to create and sell their weavings. Comandante David added that even before the presence of the soldiers, when they were able to travel freely, their work yielded scarcely enough money for food. A woman will often spend two months working on a single weaving, staying up till midnight or two a.m., with scarcely any light, day after day. At the end, she can sell her work -- if she's lucky -- for 200 pesos (less than three dollars). Since her initial investment in materials costs her approximately one half of her sale price, she ends up making a profit of one peso per day (less than one seventh of a dollar per day) -- if she's lucky. (At the moment, the peso is at about 7.5 to the dollar.) All this to say that I am deeply disturbed by recent reports of increased military presence at Oventic. I am afraid for those people. Comandante David has said that they have not used a single dollar ever given to the pueblo Oventic for weapons. Every bit of support is invested in health care, education, food, and work initiatives. These people do not need to be under surveillance by military forces which could destroy them in a matter of hours. I am afraid for them. I believe that the Mexican military is waiting for people to forget about the Zapatistas so they can be eliminated without an international scandal. I hope that this is never possible. |
