As the presence of organized crime is increasingly being felt in Chiapas, people are organizing themselves to protect their lives, their territories and Mother Earth. Hopefully, we are beginning to see the first fruits of recent proposals from the Zapatistas.
Young Liria nodded excitedly with a smile that lit up her face like the Mayan sun. Her small frame rocked back and forth with emotion. She had been at the 30th anniversary celebration of the EZLN in the Caracol of Dolores Hidalgo, and still vibrated with the energy of it. Along with thousands of her peers, she witnessed as people from around the globe streamed into the remote canyons of Chiapas to celebrate, and to listen to the Zapatista youth as they enacted their stories before an international audience. She witnessed for the first time the global reach of their movement that her grandparents and parents had built, and that she, should she choose to, would be charged with carrying on.Â
Another municipality in Chiapas chooses not to participate in elections, citing violence and disorder. They will opt for governance by Municipal Council.
As part of its migration agreements with the US, Mexico deported almost 800,000 people between January and September 2023 and the numbers are rising in 2024. The UNHCR estimates that 70%of those deported would be in danger if returned to their countries of origins.
Puente Madera, Oaxaca has become a target of intimidation, criminalization, and dispossession by the State as the 4T pushes the Interoceanic Corridor and its Development Poles. But they can’t hold the line for the whole region.
They call upon the peoples of the region to meet the challenge together, warning that if there is no unity in the resistance, there will be no landscape after the transformation.
