This year has been pretty violent here in Mexico, but most of that violence has been related to fights among the drug cartels to gain new territories. However, this news from Associated Press is different; and sadly it rings a familiar bell…
Last Sunday five state police officers were arrested in San Cristóbal de las Casas – a municipality located in the southern state of Chiapas – in relation with a raid to remove protesters that had trespassed a Mayan archaeological site, in which 6 villagers were killed.
These Indian villagers had occupied the entrance to the Chinkultic ruins, that are close to the border with Guatemala. They had stayed there for nearly a month.
The villagers, most of them from the Mayan Tzeltal and Tzotzil cultures, were protesting what they call excessive entrance fees and a failure to reinvest gate revenues in local infrastructure and environmental protection. They also demanded a role in the administration of the ruins.
So, why do I say this sad news rings a familiar bell? Well, for starters San Cristóbal de las Casas was the region where the Zapatista movement – a.k.a. EZLN – began, in 1994. During those days the whole world was captivated by the charismatic figure of Subcomandante Marcos, who seemed to be a modern version of the old Revolutionary leaders; and for a moment the western world bothered to remember all the millions of men, women & children from whom there has been no escape of the 500-year yoke brought upon them since the discovery of America; who have received only empty promises and are among the poorer humans in the planet – a cruel irony, considering they live in the richest state in the country, full of natural resources along with incredible tourist attractions.
Alas, in time the public forgot all about the Zapatistas; and all the political capital gathered by Marcos was utterly wasted, with less news papers heeding his words. Aside from a brief reappearance in 2001 when President Vicente Fox had just come into power and finished the decade-long reign of the official party, there has been hardly any news coming from the movement that supposedly sought to gain more rights for the original inhabitants of the continent.
Another reason why this news seems like old news, is that this is hardly the only time the authorities have massacred villagers in Chiapas. The most infamous of those killing occurred in 1995, in the town of Aguas Blancas (if you care to see a video of the massacre, click here). 13 years have passed since that atrocity, and the solving of the case is nowhere in sight.
And in a weird twist of fate, this new massacre happened to coincide with a concert given by world-acclaimed tenor Placido Domingo in the ruins of Chichen Itzá, which caused a bit of controversy among certain circles, that questioned whether an archaeological site was suited for a spectacle intended for a few privileged spectators. It has always been the tradition of the Mexican government to act in a very conservative way when dealing with the archaeological sites; so a cultural event what wouldn’t be a problem somewhere else like Egypt, for example, might be paralysed by the bureaucratic red tape if the INAH (the National Institute of Archaeology & History) considers it affects the conservation effort of the ruins… or even the way those sites are promoted. Of course, most people are not aware of a tiny curious detail: the Chichen Itzá ruins are private property!
One of the most popular subjects currently discussed here at TDG are all the theories and rumours surrounding the 2012 Mayan prophecy. But while we like to read and comment about what changes the future might bring, we have lost sight to the matter that the descendants of that advanced culture have been deprived of a present. They are not even allowed to profit from the monuments built by their ancestors, and when they react outside of the attitude expected from them – silence & resignation – they are always dealt with in the harshest of manners.
