*Duel of Cameras between reporters and soldiers, now the
vehicles have covered up their identification marks*
Hermann Bellinghausen, reporter, La Realidad, Chiapas,
December 22
Yesterday moments of severe tension arose when a blue
helicopter with yellow markings practically landed in La
Realidad on repeated occasions, taking photos and acting as
if it were going to land. Simultaneously a military patrol
of 14 vehicles with soldiers pointing their weapons at the
village carried out a remarkable duel of cameras with a
Japanese television crew and reporters from Peru, Germany,
Italy and North America. Each side took pictures of the
other. In order to put itself on equal footing, the convoy
detained half of the village, in such a way so that their
cameras could pass calmly through the fire of the flashes of
the other cameras.
As in recent days the Civil National and International Camp
has grown in this jungle location, there are now people to
write down the registration numbers of the vehicles and
other relevant information. Perhaps for this reason the
olive green cars now go by with their numbers covered
although they pay a lot of attention to the construction
being done in La Realidad, the New Aguascalientes.
Today the buzzing flights over this village and nearby areas
were repeated. "Reconnaissance" flights, at close range for
sure. Apparently the chiefs of the Secretary of Defense are
against the making of these works; they suspect that they
could be used for military ends, and they are sure that they
will serve as a civilian meeting place--what the government
always has called "propaganda".
The fact is that there are serious reason to consider that
the new (although much smaller) meeting theater of the
Zapatista movement is seriously threatened. Remember what
happened with the original Aguascalientes in February: they
erased it from the map.
Now the advantage of the forces of the Secretary of National
Defense (Sedena) is considerably larger, and they control
the nervous system of the Lacandon jungle, while troops of
the EZLN have not been seen, as they appear to have stayed
in the mountains.
If the Army makes incursions into communities like this one,
perhaps by surprise, given how things are these days in the
land of Chiapas, furrowed by violence, the unarmed
campesinos, women, children, and men have been decidedly
peaceful and patient.
Last night there was a type of posada with the visitors from
the city and outside of the country, who sang, presented
plays and danced with the people of La Realidad in the patio
of the collective farm's central office.
During the day men coming from various communities of the
region advanced the work of constructing a small piece of
campesino engineering on the edge of the village. "Let's
see if they come again and fuck with us, " commented Anselmo
while with his machete he made a hole in a trunk and then
fitted it onto a pair of posts nailed to the floor. One
more bench for the bleachers of Aguacalientes, under the
wooden roofs that so concern the contrivances of the
government. This is what there is: dangerous and
threatening benches of wood with the malicious intention of
serving as a seat for the people.
Again, the irresistible comparison with Sisyphus: how many
times will these communities build up their constructions so
that afterwards they come to knock them down? The
intensity with which dozens of Tojolabal laborers cut and
nail appears to be a race against time. The absurd clock of
the resistance.
Translated by Cindy Arnold, National Center for Democracy,
Liberty and Justice