San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas. A group of teenagers from the parish of the Tsotsil municipality of Chenalhó released a video in support of the Palestinian people in the war they are enduring and to let them know that they are not alone.
Accompanied by music from a traditional group called Los Serafines and with the song “Solo le pido a Dios” (I Only Ask God) by Argentine singer-songwriter León Gieco, they recited a poem dedicated to the Palestinian people.
Guadalupe Vázquez Luna, a survivor of the Acteal massacre that occurred on December 22nd, 1997, explained in the video’s introduction: “Sisters and brothers of Palestine. We are young men and women from the education department of the parish of San Pedro Chenalhó, Chiapas, Mexico. We as students, young men and women, know about the violence you are experiencing, the destruction, the war there, which is very intense. It pains us greatly to see the children, the women suffer, and in general everything that is happening in Palestine. That is why we, the youth, have prepared something for you, so that you know that you are not alone, that we are with you as young people from Chiapas asking for peace for Palestine.”
Immediately afterward, the musical group performs “I Only Ask God” and then, to the background melody of the Mass, begins the poem they themselves wrote:
“THE CRY OF PALESTINE
I have heard a cry
A people cry out with tears
A people weep tears of blood.
A cry very far away, but it resonates
throughout the world.
Palestine is the name of the people
the cry of Palestine
that leaves my soul with a thousand wounds,
it is like being in the midst of darkness.
Palestine, I know that one day peace will prevail,
I know I cannot reach your home,
but my heart is with you.
In the name of God, let us not lose hope
of seeing children living among growing branches
the hope that one day they will be free
yes, free like butterflies.
2)
Brothers and sisters of Palestine, we just want to say to you, seeing your country in the Darkness, a place where you can no longer breathe, just a place of destruction.
We just want to tell you that we are asking for peace because what you are experiencing is a monster that is completely destroying life.
We just want to tell you that we are with you, even though life is filled with adversity, together with God we can overcome this war.
3)
We only have one request: that men and women see each other as brothers and sisters, that the war in Palestine end, and that men and women live in peace.
We only have one request: that injustice end, because war is not life.
We only have one request: that God grant you peace. God be with you, Palestine.”
Guadalupe Vázquez Luna, known as Lupita, explained that the video was recorded in the multipurpose room of the Yabteclum community, Chenalhó, after a “biblical reflection.”
On the walls of the building are photographs of the Tsotsil priest Marcelo Pérez Pérez, shot dead on October 20th of last year in San Cristóbal; of the Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, now a saint, murdered by death squads on March 24th, 1980, in San Salvador; and of the Bishop of San Cristóbal, Samuel Ruiz García, who died in 2011.
Lupita added that most of the twenty young people participating in the video are members of the Las Abejas Civil Society organization, to which the 45 Tsotsils massacred on December 22nd, 1997, in Acteal belonged.
The video can be seen here.
Original article by Elio Henríquez, La Jornada, July 3rd, 2025.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.