From January 31st to February 5th, I had the good fortune to travel to Chiapas, Mexico and meet with Zapatistas, La Abejas, various NGOs, and the incredible people who grow our “Bird Mountain” coffee. Instead of writing this piece as a story of what I experienced, I’d like to offer the readers a look into my journal and read everything I wrote down, verbatim. 

January 31st, 2005
Yesterday was 18 hours of travel starting at 4:00 a.m. Two hours of waiting for our delayed AVIACSA (Mexican airline) connector to Tuxtla Gutierrez were followed by an hour waiting on the runway for clearance to take off, which was followed by being shuttled back to the terminal to receive vouchers for a hotel in Mexico city, dinner, and a 6:00 a.m. flight the next day (today). We took a cab to the hotel Riazor, our driver could barely open his eyes for some reason and we were nearly hit by two speeding SUVs that passed us on the carreterra. The driver said he didn’t know exactly where the hotel was because “they all look the same, all of their logos are the same.” Good fortune was ours and we luckily found our way. It was a relief to have found Evan and Peg (two folks from the delegation) on the connector flight to Tuxtla Gutierrez. 

I am now sitting in Museo de Café, a 100% fair trade coffee shop in San Cristobal with nothing but caffeine, adrenaline, and 8 hours of sleep in two days to keep me going.

Meeting with ENLACE CIVIL
This organization acts as a door to the autonomous communities for people who want to donate money, time, or information. We met with them to learn about what they do day-to-day. 

• ENLACE CIVIL (CV) was established in 196 due to the autonomous community’s lack of connection to outside communities. 
• EC serves as a bridge between Zapatistas and international human rights organizations. 
• EC answers general questions for people who want to learn more about what is happening within the autonomous communities, what the Mexican government is doing (and isn’t doing), and issues with indigenous rights.
• The Juntas now handle most of the work that EC used to, however, sometimes communication is difficult so a person could contact EC to pass the message the appropriate Junta.
• EC also provides office utilities when necessary to Zapatista farmers, organizers, and leaders.
• EC is a non-governmental organization so they can accept money from donors who want to financially support the movement. 
• Yachil (1,600 families) and Mut Vitz (1,000 families) are both Zapatista owned and operated cooperatives and use EC’s offices from time to time.
• Coffee, corn, honey, and beans are all big products for the autonomous communities. Coffee is probably the most important crop for export. 
• The most important thing for Zapatistas is to grow what they need first. 
• Producing artisan goods brings in less money than crops, but allows them additional luxuries and to continue certain traditional arts (making blouses, woven goods, etc.) 
• Money from fair trade coffee pays for: the cost of projects in the entire Caracole, wages, production, and the bigger plan – to be self sufficient with food production and assisting the board of directors with living expenses (board positions are all volunteer). 
• The volunteers of EC are often spied on, people track them as they move/change apartments, and often times, their phones are tapped. All of which are meant to be intimidation tactics. 
• EC’s primary responsibilities since 1996: coordination of human rights observers, online publications, project development, general administration. 
• Current projects include: getting computer servers to each Caracole, building more clinics and more schools, women’s rights, and production projects. 
• EC can see that the Zapatista movement is advancing because projects no longer have timelines, they are becoming ongoing operations and the Juntas are taking on more responsibilities. 

February 1st, 2005

Meeting at Oventic – “The Heart of the Zapatista Resistance”
Shortly after our arrival, the welcoming committee of the Zapatistas at Oventic met with us. A man and a woman, both masked, sat with us in a wooden barn and told us their story. (Note: these are the phrases and quotations that really struck a chord with me).

• We are indigenous, we are Zapatistas. 
• This is the center of the new world, we don’t have a place as special as this. 
• We struggle and resist for people like us around the world. 
• We have 8 clinics in various communities. Many international doctors volunteer in the clinics for 2-3 weeks at a time.
• We have a secondary school here in Oventic. Four generations have graduated from this school since it opened. 
• We don’t have hope for the bad government (Mexican government) who’s only response to our struggle and resistance has been the murders of men, women, even children (man gets chocked up). 
• Coffee production still needs many things, but above all, our communities need clean drinking water. 
  

After our meeting with the welcoming committee, after we told them why we were there and who we wanted to visit, they granted us permission to travel freely throughout their district. 

Before leaving Oventic, everyone in the group visited the four women’s artisan cooperatives. We were looking for every opportunity to spend our money there. If ever there was a local economy that we wanted to support, this was it.

Meeting with the Mut Vitz Coffee Cooperative

We were supposed to meet with the Mut Vitz Board of Directors today, but they didn’t show up. Despite multiple reminders over the phone that we were coming, no one was there to meet with us. Lucky for us, a nearby coffee farmer, and member of the co-op, invited us to check out his coffee parcel. 

February 2nd, 2005

Meeting with Maya Vinic Coffee Cooperative, Macario Gomez, el Presidente

• Est. July 30th, 1999 
• Exclusively Arabica coffee 
• January and February – members are busy selecting seeds for planting. 
• March to May – members plant new coffee trees. 
• June to December – rainy season. 
• December to February – harvest season. 
• All members of the co-op are part of the civil society, “Las Abejas” 
• 33 communities are represented, a little less than before because now everyone has to obtain organic certification. Currently, 118 members are certified organic, 106 are in the second year of organic transition – total transition process is 3 years). 
• Coyotes are paying a little more these days, and still pay up front. The co-op always tries to pay $1 peso above the Coyote’s price. 
• The co-op is still too dependent on loans from banks. 
• About 200 members of co-op have started to make honey, they hope to start selling it regularly by 2006. 
• The co-op produces 4 tons of bagged/roasted/ground coffee per month for hotels in Cancun. Their roaster is old and can’t keep up for long, they’ll need to find a way to buy a new one soon. 
• One delegate walked 8 hours to attend the meeting today. 

After the meeting, we climbed into the back of Maya Vinic’s pick up truck and bounced down the mountain road to a small community for some lunch. After lunch, we headed to meet with Las Abejas.

Meeting with Las Abejas (The Bees) – a nonviolent community in resistance

• Mission: Develop justice, dignity, peace and democracy in the communities of Las Abejas. Their struggle is very similar to that of the Zapatistas in that they are resisting for land reform, indigenous and women’s rights and autonomy. They refuse to pay “war taxes” to the government because they don’t believe that violence will solve problems. 
• In 1997, 45 people who were praying and fasting in a church were massacred by the paramilitary.
• “We are witnesses of the truth, there can be no peace until justice is found.” 
• 40 communities align themselves with Las Abejas. 
• The board of directors changes every year but the community is the ultimate authority because they directly elect the board. Board positions are all volunteer. 
• Currently, many of their communities live in desperate poverty without justice, liberty, or peace. Above all these, they live without adequate access to clean drinking water. The only water that is available to them is from contaminated rivers and wells. 
• The Mexican government has started to divide and privatize the land that Las Abejas inhabit and work and sell it to private international companies. The most pressing land issue lately is the proposed development of 75 new hydro electric dams to produce electricity. All the electrical output would be sold to the electrical grid of the southern United States. Some of these dams are now under construction, which is displacing hundreds of Las Abejas families. 
• Like the Zapatistas, Las Abejas communities deal with low-intensity warfare on a daily basis. This means that the Mexican government has established as many military bases in their state as they can to create a constant military presence. Soldiers constantly intimidate, harass, and threaten Las Abejas. Prostitution is a growing problem around military bases. Community members are bribed by military officers with drugs, alcohol, and sex to swear their allegiance to the Mexican government (Las Abejas and Zapatistas are strictly drug and alcohol free societies). 
• The Las Abejas board of director told us that if we want to help, we need to contact our elected officials, as well as the Mexican government, and demand that real action be taken to alleviate the suffering of the indigenous peoples of Chiapas. 
• The first step Las Abejas are taking is this: understand their capacity to change their situation and figure out ways to acquire the things they need to enact their plan. 

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Andy’s Journal from Chiapas will be continued in the next issue of Fair Grounds…

To read an general overview of what is happening in Chiapas, please read Anna Canning’s submission to the February 2004 issue of Fair Grounds 

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