The taxi is flying around the corner with the mountains on our right side. The driver is taking the curves as ware we part of a rally race. We are somewhere north of San Cristobal. We are heading off to the unknown. We are in the direction of Oventic, a small village that is controlled by “El Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional” (EZLN) translated into English; The Zapatista Army of National Liberation, often referred to as the “Zapatistas”.
We are excited because we do not exactly know what is a head of us, since the Zapatistas is an “organization” in Chiapas who are working for making their own societies with no control from the Mexican government in Mexico City, which has lead to huge conflicts between the two parts since 1994, where they declared “war against the Mexican State”. Their political inspirations is coming from: Zapatismo, Marxism and Liberal Socialism.
Not only do the Zapatistas fill they are suppressed by the Mexican government, because they fill they are to far from the life in the mountains of Chiapas to the decisions made in Mexico City. The conflict is ongoing, even though right know it is not so eruptive, so for many is the fight a form of a “hidden war”. One of the biggest massacres doing the war was the 22th of December, 1997, where 45 people where killed doing a prayer meeting of Roman Catholics in the small village Acteal. Doing the murdered people where children and pregnant women, who were members of the group Las Abejas who supported the Zapatistas.
Doing the years have there been a lot of western people as international observers to make sure that no human rights treaties are violated. Even though doing my five-month in Mexico have I never head about any fights doing the Zapatistas and the paramilitary but since it is an ongoing war can the situation change from day to day, as we later are experiencing on our way to Palenque, where we need to change our plans do to the direction because of road-blocks. Road-blocks and checkpoints which before was a everyday thing for the Zapatistas in the mountains around San Cristobal.
The gate
The landscape is green and the sky is blue when we are driving through the corners. After around an hour’s drive does the taxi stop. On our left side is there a big sign saying, “Esta Usted en territorio Zapatista en Rebeldia. Aqui Manda el Puebla y el Gobierno Obedece” (“You are in the territory of Zapatista in rebellion. Here commands the village and the government obeys). On the other side of the road is there a gate with two small checkpoint houses where tree people are standing, all with full face-mask with the letters “EZLN” wrote in red. The Four letters that symbolize the Zaptistas.
From the outside does it look like a small village with a gate, but with the history of what the Zapatistas is fighting for and can do am I going slowly and respectful forward to the gate, from where I am meet by two of the tree men. One of the man is having a paper and a pin in his hand.
I can only see their eyes, when I softly and friendly are asking them if Bjørn and I can get though the gate to visit their city, Oventic. We have been advised to bring our passports since they in the gate usually want to see them as ID. Therefor when the men are starting to ask us about our names, profession and purpose of our visit to Oventic am I not surprised. When the man with the paper and our information’s is turning around and walking into a house nearby with our informations and after some time is returning and saying that we are welcome, Am I more surprised that it was so easy without even showing any form of ID to get in. Maybe the beautiful day with the sun falling down on us had an influence…
The silence mask
The atmosphere is tense when we are walking down the “main” road in the small village, Even though not as much as I had experienced four years earlier at the border between North- and South- Korea.
As expected are we not allowed to walk alone in the village. We got a guide who also is wearing a full face-mask where we only can see his eyes, but according to his hands and eyes can I tell that he is not the youngest Zapatista in the village.
We are meeting a lot of students on our way down to the basketball court and the school. The pupils are just having a brake at the time we are arriving. We are not talking with any of them. I can easily fill the distance that is between us. Our guide is telling me that there are around 160 students at the school and it is this school and the hospital that the Zapatistas have made since the government did not want to support it. This information is some of the only information I can get out of our guide since he not really wants to talk – and I don’t want to put more pressure on the atmosphere.
The walls of the houses are full of painting telling stories with words expressing the idea of the Zapatistas. The red star is not only represented at the baskets at the basketball court but also in some of the paintings as well as Ché Guevara, known from the Revolution in Cuba. When we are entering a small shop with different T-Shirts is it easy to see that we are surrounded by people who are part of a revaluation. Some of the T-Shirts in the shop are having a picture of Ché Guevara with the face of a Zapatista giving salute to Ché while he is warring a full face-mask with the four letters “EZLN” as we have seen the men warring at the gate.
Another T-Shirt is having the words “Ya Basta” (no more) printed. Another T-Shirt is saying “Esta es nosotra” (this is us) with a picture of a fingerprint painted so it looks like a full face-mask and before we are getting supported out of the gate is there a big face-painted with Ché Guevara.
With the wall-picture of a heart with the words “Amor y Revolición” (Love and Revolution) and the masks at my retinal are we getting into a Taxi to take it back to San Cristobal. Even though we by our visit got the filling of being in a war-zone where the war at the movement is more political than physical, is this still a fact that can change as fast as the win is doing it doing a day. Because this is Mexico, so everything is changing all the time, but still it was interesting to see this village, which should be the biggest of five that the Zapatistas are controlling in Chiapas.
Toke Bull 