The sound of conch shells filled the enormous auditorium of CIDECI, on the outskirts of San Cristóbal de Las Casas. It resonated in every corner of the packed venue, accompanied by drums and marimbas, the thick aroma of incense, giving an air of serene solemnity to a meeting organized by the diocese that was titled “JTatic Samuel. Traveller in the heart of the people.”
A brief pilgrimage reached the Maya altar decorated with fruit and candles, where behind a cross, the rustic sculpture of the Tatic with a cap looking into the distance stood out. After the opening, the twelve hundred attendees, almost all indigenous people from Chiapas, prayed on their knees, each in their own language, forming a communion of voices that whispered prayers forming a circular litany that enveloped us with the tenderness of their voices.
Formally, the Diocesan Congress was convened to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Samuel Ruiz, the fiftieth anniversary of the Indigenous Congress and the tenth anniversary of the Congress of Mother Earth. The attendees come from the seven zones belonging to as many native cultures. Throughout this year, each zone held its pre-congress to share pains and sorrows, joys and hopes, as Bishop Rodrigo Aguilar Martínez pointed out at the opening of the event.
In his thoughtful presentation, the bishop referred to a work by Andrés Aubry in which he reviews the four bishops committed to the peoples who preceded the Tatic. The first, naturally, was Brother Bartolomé de las Casas, who was named bishop in 1545, who wrote the famous “Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies” in which he denounced the mistreatment and atrocities committed by the conquerors against the native peoples.
He then mentioned Brother Juan Zapata, bishop since 1615 and later bishop of Guatemala, who defended the self-government of indigenous peoples. Then it was the turn of Francisco Polanco, bishop in 1775, and he ended his tour by mentioning Luis García Guillén, bishop since 1831 who stood out for supporting the struggles for independence.
All the words denounced the widespread violence, the displacements and deaths, the ineffectiveness of the state, and the need to build peace even in the midst of violence. The former bishop of Saltillo, Raúl Vera, was full of energy despite his almost 80 years and stressed that having worked with Samuel Ruiz made him understand many things, perhaps the most important of which was the message of the Second Vatican Council.
The large team of the diocese explained that the Congress required a year of preparation and that the inspiration was the Congress of 1974, which consisted of a process of reflection for liberating action. “It was a congress of indigenous people for indigenous people,” said someone from the organizing team. Now it is about “warming our hearts in a world darkened by violence” to continue those inspirations.
The first session, on Thursday 3rd, was entirely dedicated to the memory of the figure of Samuel Ruiz. Each area brought its word. The Tseltal team said that it is about “awareness and organization, of proposing solutions, of recovering dignity in these times of pain and suffering.” “Not acting like bosses but serving,” said others from the regions, and proposed following their example of living with the communities and getting to the root of the problems.
The extensive intervention of Brother Pablo Iribarren was dedicated to the context in which the 1974 Congress took place. “It was the first indigenous warning of an awareness,” he said, and then expanded on how the diocese was moving from “liberation theology to Indian theology,” which some considered a heresy.
Although Indian theology was not discussed in depth, some attendees mentioned in the hallways the enormous change that was meant by the fact that deacons and pre-deacons were not chosen by the ecclesiastical authorities but by the communities of believers in their assemblies. Samuel limited himself to blessing what these assemblies had decided, which invested the power in the ecclesiastical institution, which was now in the hands of the believers, who in this way made decisions that had previously been monopolized by the hierarchies.
Juan Manuel Hurtado highlighted the work of the diocese with more than 800 catechists working in the communities, who were a central piece in what he called the indigenous church, dedicated to “the promotion of indigenous people so that they are subjects and not objects of evangelization.”
He then recalled Tatic’s role at the head of CONAI (National Commission for Intermediation) formed after the Zapatista uprising in 1994 to achieve peace in Chiapas. There were also references to the Acteal massacre as a response by the State to the prominent role of the diocese and to the growing activism of the people.
Friday 4th will be dedicated to the fruits of the 1974 Congress, in the words of the seven pre-congresses, focusing on the insights that that event can bring to explore new paths. Saturday 5th will be dedicated to building peace in the territories, for which they announced the motto “Plowing Peace”, which will be the focus of the debates and contributions from the seven zones.
Original article by Raúl Zibechi at Desinformemonos, October 4th, 2024.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.
All photos at https://desinformemonos.org/50-anos-del-congreso-indigena-arar-la-paz-en-medio-de-la-guerra/