Las Abejas Arrive in Oaxaca Fasting and Praying for “Peace with Justice”

Las Abejas, renown for their nonviolent struggle for indigenous rights in Chiapas and their suffering as targets in the 1997 Acteal massacre, were the first to demonstrate in the militarized city center of Oaxaca on November 11th.  As the principal members of the Chiapas Caravan for Peace and Solidarity with Oaxaca, nearly 250 members of the Abejas community arrived after having trekked for days from Chiapas, packed tightly into the beds of pickup trucks and enduring several mechanical problems along the way.  The Abejas-led caravan arrived to express that they have fasted and prayed that “peace with justice may arrive here in Oaxaca.”

Upon first contact, the Federal Preventative Police (FPP) refused passage into the Zócalo for the Acteal visitors, in response to which representatives of the Abejas group declared that they would perform their ceremony for peace in the street directly in front of one of the main FPP barricades.  Officials finally let them pass, and the police stood vigilant in tight ranks as the pilgrims proceeded to the portico of the Oaxaca cathedral, where they lit candles, played music, danced, and sang for peace and “sufficient political will” on the part of state and federal governments to solve the crisis.  The colors, rhythms, and melodies of the Abejas contrasted starkly with the sea of grey police uniforms and the unnatural wave of silence that has flooded the city center since the end of October.

(Members of the Abejas community in the Zocalo on Saturday, November 11. Pictures courtesy of Rochelle; click to see more from her Oaxaca collection.)

Although a small number of townspeople venture into the Zócalo to enjoy its recently “de-graffitied” coffee shops and restaurants, the streets immediately beyond the FPP barricades are ghostly and vacant, and turning the corner from any one of them toward the city center feels a bit like suddenly skydiving into a statically charged thunderhead.  The number of police elements in the Zócalo is staggering to behold: 5,000 according to one of the agents.  Some news sources report that there are even more.  Then there are the tanks and high-powered cannons of water and teargas, poised and manned, that confront anyone who steps toward the Zócalo past the high and guarded barricades.

(Agents of the Federal Preventative Police. Photo by Robert Saper.)

The police agent I spoke with seemed to believe their occupation would last for two months at least.  From the conversation, it also became clear that the agents are not free to venture outside the central occupied zone, which—while lessening chances of confrontation in the streets—makes it impossible for these men to see members of the APPO as anything but enemies.  In fact, as the agent beat his fist against his bulletproof vest, he assured me: “They’ll shoot you.”

Then he asked me, “Do you feel safer now that we have arrived?”  Shocked by the sudden difficulty of the question, I began to consider the current state of “political will” spoken of by the Abejas: the FPP has been convinced by their commanders that the APPO is violent and willing to shoot; the occupation will likely last for months to come without contributing to an ease of daily tension; the state governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, has shown no signs of compromise nor of leaving his post as the movement has requested—and even as federal Interior Minister Carlos Abascal has suggested; and the Attorney General of Oaxaca, Lizbeth Caña Cadeza, has delivered the official state line that the APPO is a terrorist organization (an argument based on their having seized property as part of their movement).

While still pondering how I would respond to the agent’s question, I realized that the Zócalo, in its occupied silence, was a deafening place for thought.  Then a new noise came echoing up the cobblestone street as several files of police agents marched in formation to change the guard.  Clearly the one I was speaking to had to attend to his duties, and so we parted with a handshake and an unclear response.  Though in my words I declared that I did not know if I felt safer, had he any capacity to see into my heart he would have heard my real answer: “No, in fact, things seem likely to get worse.”

This morning APPO leaders emerged from a three-day congress determining their direction in the upcoming weeks.  Their negotiating body has been reorganized to amplify the strength and input of statewide leadership and there is renewed commitment to building barricades and reinstituting traveling brigades (intended in part to take control of state government offices and further their demand that Ulises Ruiz Ortiz step down).  Negotiations between the APPO and the federal government have, for the moment, provided for a lull in street confrontation between protesters and federal police, but with political will as it is and such strong rhetoric coming from the state government, it would appear that “peace with justice” may not arrive for quite some time in Oaxaca.