Justseeds: Blog: Painting 2 Banners in Acteal; 14 Years of Impunity

Painting 2 Banners in Acteal; 14 Years of Impunity

Posted January 19, 2012 by santi in Art & Politics

For a while I’ve been going to Acteal in the municipality of Chenalhó, in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. Acteal is a small Tzotzil community who were victims of the 22nd of December 1997 massacre by a PRI party sponsored Mascaras Rojas paramilitary group.

I have encountered lots of people who mistake Acteal as a Zapatista Community. One key difference is that Las Abejas (The Bees) is a pacifist and religious organization. Despite those differences, Las Abejas have vocally expressed their support for the EZLN and their demands. It was this link with the Zapatistas which led to the massacre of 45 members (4 of them pregnant) of Las Abejas. The members were murdered inside a small church praying, in an environment filled with fear of the EZLN growing stronger.

Las Abejas is part of La Otra Campana and has been in solidariry with many social movements throughout Mexico. In 2006, Las Abejas showed their support of the APPO of Oaxaca organizing a caravan to deliver food and medical supplies.It has been fourteen years since the massacre and Las Abejas have done everything possible in their search for Justice. In 2009, twenty of the incarcerated members of the paramilitary group were released despite the strong opposition of Las Abejas, along with the human rights group Fray Bartolome de las Casas.

Presently, Acteal community members have to share the same village with the perpetrators of the massacre: people who physically killed their relatives, friends and loved ones.

The fact that members of Mascaras Rojas are free and back in Chenalho is not a coincidence. It’s an integral part of the state’s counterinsurgency tactics, where it doesn’t matter if you are a pacifist. As long as you are speaking out and organizing, you become a threat to the state and a potential target for “neutralization”.

On the 22nd of each month, Las Abejas commemorate their dead; they revitalize their struggle with ceremonies mixing Tzotzil Mayan and Roman Catholic beliefs and ceremonies. Each year, on the ominous 22nd of December, there is a huge commemoration where people from all over Mexico and the world come to support and remind Las Abejas that we haven’t forgotten the spilt blood of indigenous children, women and men. Most importantly, we show them that they are not alone in their search for Justice and Freedom.

My friend Patro ,who is part of Las Abejas has been asking me for a while to paint a couple murals in the community. We both thought that painting them for this year’s commemoration would be perfect. We weren’t counting on the constant moist of the Chiapas highlands.

So my partner Hallie and I rushed from the very north of Mexico to the very south, making a couple quick stops along the way.

We arrived in Acteal on the 16th of December and we started sketching and painting as soon as we got there. Everyone was super busy cleaning up for the commemoration. There were bands of children cleaning and painting all the walls. So we got plenty of time to focus on what we were set out to do.

Since all the walls were wet with rain and as far as we could see all of the children’s efforts were getting washed away, we decided to paint a couple 2 x 3 meter banners that could be hung anywhere.

The first banner that we painted is a big candle that signifies the light that we look towards, and out of its flame bees are being born, signifying the struggle and the organization. Right above the candle and bees the letters read “ACTEAL: Sacred land of the Martyrs”

We had occasional help from “El Frayba” volunteers and curious children.

The second banner was a lot more specific to their request; Las Abejas had the phrase and a red piece of fabric ready for us.

The second banner reads “Mexico is covered in impunity and blood from the Acteal Martyrs” along with the phrase we decided to use a reference picture from 2 women of the Acteal chorus.

We finished the banners just in time for the 3-day commemoration/celebration. The rest of the time we devoted to helping out setting up and enjoying the event.

On the 22nd there was a march from the nearest military base, which is about a 45-minute walk on the highway. So we got banners, pickets, crosses and instruments ready to set out and take the highway. When we left Acteal we must have been around 200 people, mostly people who had arrived that very same morning. At the base there was about 300 more, but cars loads of people kept on coming and we reached a pretty solid number.

There were all sorts of slogans, chants and music as we all marched back to the village to have one last ceremony.

We devised new plans to come back and paint the actual walls and we waved goodbye to our friends.