A Report On My Stay In Chiapas -by Monique Lemaitre ------------------------------ I spent a total of close to two months in Chiapas. After checking in, and being accredited at the Fray Bartolome' de las Casas Center for Human Rights,in San Cristo'bal de las Casas, I left for Prado Pacayal in the Can~ada of Patihuitz, with two extremely young(most volunteers are extremely young,)bright and cheerful Mexican students (I forgot to say they were women,like 80% of the volounteers I later encountered.) The dirt roads you have to take in Chiapas to get to Zapatista territory are now, for the first time in history, being taken care of by the government, to allow Federal Army vehicles to "cruise" them. Before January 1st, 1994, those "roads", which look and feel like river beds, were completely abandoned by the state, and federal governments, as were the almost half million indians and poor mestizo farmers who used them. I happened to wonder outloud why the government isn't investing all that effort, time, and money to build asphalt roads, instead of playing Sisyphus, after every dayly downpour. Apparently the actual process benefits many middle men, and is one more tactic of the low intensity war being waged against the Zapatistas. The first community I stayed in is called Prado Pacayal. It is located in one of the canions that lead to the Lacandon jungle, and it is inhabited by Tzeltal Indians who are, for the most part, monolingual. The community fled to the mountains on February 9th of this year, when the Federal Army invaded it, and destroyed the community's food supply, primitive agricultural tools, and meager household belongings. Many of you will remember Sub-Commander Marcos' communique', where he tells the story of how Ton~ita found her little tea cup broken upon her return to Prado Pacayal, on March 8th of this year. All you can see now in Prado(corn mills, radios, clothing, etc.) has been donated by NGO and other organizations. Subcommander Marcos lived there for some time, and one can visit his former quarters which were literally ransaked by the army who also left its signature on the walls of the wooden huts. A signature made up of an array of three letter words directed against the EZLN. Prado Pacayal is about 99 % Zapatista. It's easy to detect the other 1%. They have more money, and they drink heavily. Since February 9th of this year there are no longer Zaptista checkpoints to stop the introduction of alcohol and drugs into communities which had been highly alcoholized by the Spaniards, and the Indian and mestizo caciques. This is only a testimony, so I won't go into all the intricate political, and even religious implications of this very serious problem. In Prado Pacayal, while I was there, the army presence was not overwhelming, because of the location of the "Ejido". We heard them go by every day, and we saw the helicopters overhead, but the army did not enter Prado Pacayal while I was there, the way it entered La Garrucha and La Soledad (this was reported in "La Jornada" at the time.) In Prado Pacayal, as in the other two communities I spent time in, the Peace Volunteers spent most of the day teaching. Prado Pacayal had no benches and, no tables for children to sit and learn. In Patihuitz, a community which is divided among Zapatistas and PRI followers, the Zapatistas built an alternative school, with benches for the children , and they designated three young literate Tzeltal men to teach the children the basic skills in Spanish and Tzeltal, so that the Peace Volunteers could help the Tzeltal teachers, and the more advanced bilingual students, and also teach Spanish to the students. I was impressed by the Patihuitz model, and I hope that soon it can be implemented in Prado Pacayal, an otherwise very well organized community. Prado Pacayal is known as a five star camp, because, thanks to the solar cells they managed to hide from the Federal Army in a nearby cave, they have electricity in the evenings. They also have running water which they bring from the nearby lovely river where one can actually swim. There is also a very clean outhouse located right outside the camp. Everything you have read about Prado, and other communities in Zapatista territory in Sub-Commander Marcos' communique's is true, as it is true that you fall in love with the children, and the men and women of these communities. In Patihuitz, my second stop, I was also a witness to how the PRI-Government is dividing a Tzeltal community. The Peace Camp is right across from the Aric Oficial, and anyone could see how the Aric buys half of the Tzeltal farmers with bags of MASECA flowr (Raul Salinas de Gortari's monopoly), sugar, cooking oil, and all the products not available to the farmers who are Zapatista sympathizers. I was also a witness (it can be seen on film) to how the PRI farmers got lifts in army vehicles. Patihuitz has no electriciy and no running water. It is a split community, and yet an admirable one from every point of view. Patihuitz lost five very young men, aged 15 to 20 during the battle of Ocosingo. I was trusted to film the chappel where they were burried. By the way, when the 5 year olds in Patihuitz see an army helicopter they say in Spanish (although their language is Tzeltal) "puta, puta puta" ( "whore, whore, whore".) The army camp which is just outside of Patihuitz brings prostitutes from Tabasco for the troops every weekend!!!!!! The third, and last community I stayed in is called San Jose' del Ri'o, and it is located in the "can~ada" of Margaritas, on the original road that Zapatistas were trying to get control of during the talks with the PRI-government in San Andre's of the Poor (Larra'inzar.)It is about an hour from La Realidad and Guadalupe Tepeyac by dirt road in the rainy season. It is a Spanish speaking mestizo community which settled near a beautiful river about ten years ago. Most of its inhabitants come from San Antonio de las Rosas (two hours walk from San Jose'.) For a number of reasons my stay at San Jos del Ri'o was much more fruitful than my saty at Prado and Patihuitz. The most important being that there was no language barrier, and I was able to interact with the members of the community at many different levels. I somehow earned their trust (and it ain't easy,) participated in their lay celebrations, and their religious ones. I shared everything with them, from 5 A.M. until dusk, and I videotaped, and videotaped, and in the evening that would be their show(under the pouring rain.) Watching themselves dancing, playing the marimba, singing during the school hours, playing football, and watching army convoys go by morning and afternoon... I had never been a witness to true democracy before in my life. In San Jose' del Ri'o EVERYTHING is decided by majority vote, even the length of a dance (party) or the building of a bread oven and, although, as a feminist, there were times I had to bite my tongue, significant advances are being made to include women in decision making positions. I don't want to make this too long because I am busy with the referendum at this point, and classes will start soon. Although I was not a witness to any direct human rights abuses, I was a witness to the low intensity warfare being waged against defenseless farmers. I brought back samples of my students drawings, especially the little boys. Helicopters, machine guns, tanks...and they don't watch T.V. What the EZLN has been able to do in and for these communities in only 10 years of silent work is amazing.