/* Written 6:53 AM Feb 22, 1995 by peacejustice in igc:nfn.tempforest */
/* ---------- "Exodus to the Jungle (2/21 Jornada)" ---------- */
From: Peace and Justice Coalition <peacejustice>
/* Written 11:15 PM Feb 21, 1995 by moonlight in igc:reg.mexico */
/* ---------- "Exodus to the Jungle (2/21 Jornada)" ---------- */
La Jornada, Feb. 21 pg. 9
*Indigenous Exodus began in Morelia, Chiapas*
*Forced to abandon their homes, they look for protection in
the Jungle*
*Pangs of hunger and illnesses grow more serious each day*
Jose Gil Olmos, correspondent, Lacandon Jungle, Feb. 20
Friday morning, February 10th, in the collective farm of
Morelia, the bell rang again and again. Like a cold wind
from the mountains, fear came to the indigenous. Everyone
ran looking for clothes or ground corn, the children began
crying. "The soldiers are coming" yelled everyone else. The
majority left, fleeing to seek refuge. It was the beginning
of an exodus to the jungle for about 6,000 indigenous
Tzotziles and Tojolabales who escaped the threats of the
signs of war, and who now find themselves living in a
forgotten corner of their own country.
After a year of threats, the community had gotten accustomed
in some ways to the consequences of the so-called "cold
war". However in their memories they remembered the date of
January 7, 1994, when Morelia was taken by Mexican Army
troops, and men were tortured in the chapel of the village,
and three disappeared.
Thursday night the 9th of February, while Isaias was
watching television, he was surprised to suddenly see the
program interrupted in order to broadcast a presidential
message announcing the arrest orders of the leadership of
the EZLN and Rafael Sebastian Guillen Vicente, identified
officially as subcomandante Marcos.
Immediately the community of tzeltales met in the small
plaza. There the men congregated, frightened that the Army
troops, which were only 8 kilometers (4.8 miles) away from
the village would come in. In a new radio message they
heard the announcement of arrest orders for members of the
community. The message provoked more fear. Even so, they
decided to wait, as they did not believe that it was true
because on various occasions they had heard the talk that a
definite truce and dialogue would be announced soon.
Isaias and the other men of Morelia organized a nighttime
guard brigade at the outskirts of town. The arrival of a
group of men who had been posted some kilometers from the
community to cut wood created a premonition that soon became
a reality.
The morning arrived cold and foggy. Waiting expectantly,
the guards did not stop watching the sinuous road that cuts
through the woods. At about six in the morning, the first
warning was given: "The soldiers are coming". The supposed
woodsmen were soldiers who had begun to surround Morelia, a
military strategy that had been put into effect days before
the presidential order.
The bell installed on the side of the chapel resounded like
never before. The drum resounded announcing the advance of
the soldiers. The evacuation plans that had been prepared
with anticipation dissipated in just a moment. The women
dressed their children as best they could, took some ground
corn and perhaps one piece of clothing or another, leaving
behind all of their belongings.
The men agreed rapidly that the best thing was to take the
road that goes to the mountains and the jungle. The elderly
began to leave the village followed by the women, many of
whom were carrying children crying loudly.
"Everyone ran like crazy, sometimes without knowing where
to. What happened? Why are they coming for us? We asked
ourselves while the bell sounded again and again",
remembered Isaias with accusing eyes.
In the cold air of the pine forests shots could be heard,
after an explosion. "They are shooting at our companeros
who warned us of the army's arrival. They threw a bomb to
startle us. All of us went to the road and began to walk",
stated Isaias, now looking at the jungle roads.
Hundreds of children, women and elderly, barefoot, walked
the road of stones. A large line of frightened men and
women began to advance as quickly as they could. The young
men lagged behind to cut down some trees and gain time for
the fleeing people.
As the hours passed, fatigue began to take over the elderly
and the barefoot children who were lifted into the air by
the men who tried to multiply themselves. Nearly 1,300
indigenous from Morelia started a long several day journey
in search of a refuge within their own country.
As they passed, campesinos from other communities asked what
had happened, why had everyone left Morelia. There was just
one answer, "the soldiers are coming."
The caravan of sadness and fear grew larger with the passage
of hours and each time that they passed a ranch, a village
or a family. The small pebbles were stepped on by more and
more people. Some could not flee their homes because their
women or children were sick, others for the fear of being
confused for "Zapatistas". The residents of the La Laguna
and Jalisco quickly joined those of Morelia, and later came
those of Rancho Alegre.
It was the first day of a mass pilgrimage, the advantage
gained by the Army troops who were advancing into the jungle
grew less. The exodus left behind a trail of abandoned
homes, phantom villages, closed doors with fear seeping
through the cracks in the wooden walls.
"The children cried from tiredness; their feet were swollen.
The men could hardly help them. There were more children
than men. The elderly trailed behind, and we had to leave
them at a small ranch, while we advanced. Later we returned
for them. We were like animals fleeing from the fire
towards the mountain and the jungle. We drank water from
wherever, and almost no one brought food. The Army came
after us like they were hunting animals, and we are not
animals," narrated Isaias now with enraged eyes.
By the afternoon more than 2,000 indigenous arrived at
Lazaro Cardenas. There they shared some corn and water.
Night fell with the powerlessness of the campesinos who,
digging trenches and felling trees, tried to gain a little
time and terrain.
By the second day of the exodus things had become more
complicated. One woman went into labor. Thirst was
increasing, and women continued to give their children water
from streams and unsanitary gullies. The smallest ones had
swollen and bloody feet. The flyovers of helicopters caused
the march to be interrupted so that people could hide. The
contingent had grown with the residents of Lazaro Cardenas.
Now it was more than 3,000 people.
Meanwhile, the troops of the Army continued advancing into
the jungle. In Cardenas they detained three campesinos--
Alfonso Garcia Jimenez, Enrique and Benjamin Lorenzo
Espinoso--accusing them of being "Zapatistas" because they
used oil cans. Alfonso, 45 years old, was jailed for more
than three days, tied up and without food. Later he was
taken by helicopter to somewhere unknown to this day. The
others were released after being beaten.
On the third day they got to the first communities at the
entrance to the jungle and the mountain. The long line now
included another 4,000 indigenous whom they had encountered
in Sociedad La Victoria and Zapata, among others. Food was
very scarce, and the children began to show signs of
sunstroke.
On the fourth day of flight the mountains were on the
horizon. By this time there were more than 6,000 residents
from other communities, among them Belisario Dominguez. The
Army had stayed behind, barracking in the Yaxolob ranch,
near Lazaro Cardenas, and from which they dispatched
soldiers towards Ocosingo, crossing the hills of Corralchen,
as well as towards Venustiano Carranza, in search of
"Zapatistas".
Thousands of frightened indigenous looked for a place that
was inaccessible for the "soldiers". Cane fields, rivers,
trees, stones, types of vegetation that would help them hide
from the helicopters which did not stop crossing the clouds
scrutinizing the greenery.
On February 14th, outside of the military blockade was
completely different than inside of it. Now three women
were in labor. They were girls who too early became
mothers, giving birth to the first three children homeless
within their own land.
Beans and corn became the only food that the refugees had.
Groves of wood and palm housed thousands of indigenous who
concentrated on looking for a roof for the women and
children. The men tried to sleep outdoors, in the middle of
a cloud of mosquitos and an army of chiggers who covered the
invasion of the jungle with blood.
The symptoms of cholera began to appear among the children
who had drunk water on the road, and among the men who had
eaten spoiled food. Others suffered respiratory problems.
Without medicine, they began to run fevers, vomit and have
diarrhea. Powerless, their parents looked at one another,
and then launched at the reporters an anguished call to the
national and international community to bring them medicine,
food and clothing.
Rain threatened on the horizon. A helicopter flew over the
mountains in search of the civilians who had abandoned their
homes. With the noise of the propellers of the military
ships, everyone hid among the trees, the underbrush and the
huts. Only now there was no road to run to.
When the helicopter flew away, the women and children
returned to receive a ration of beans and some tortillas
which they were due today. Yesterday it was only corn. The
three newborns locked themselves to the flaccid chests of
the girls who became mothers too soon.
While watching the helicopter fly away between the
mountains, Jacobo asked, " What are we going to do? Why
does the government say that it wants peace and then sends
soldiers to pursue us?"
The question remained floating in his black eyes, while
Isaias also observed one of his young children, who has been
sick with an infection in his bronchial tubes for the past
several days, without being able to receive medical
attention.
(translated by Cindy Arnold, volunteer, National Commission
for Democracy in Mexico)