Sorry, I know I have been lagging on the post.  Last weekend was my birthday and I have been really busy with teaching my two courses at City College.  We also had a few events around Dia de los Muertos that kept me busy.

thought I would post this video a companera sent me.  until later when i post some other things from the run.

There are a lot of events happening throughout San Diego.  Here is one event on November 2, Monday at City College from 5-7pm.  The students from Chicano Studies 210 are hosting the event.  They are doing a great job.  The class is also hosting a mask making workshop tomorrow at the Centro Cultural.  On Sunday there are more happenings at the centro, check back for more info.  I leave you with this flier for now.

oh and check out the cool altar the students made as well.

Located in the cafeteria at SD City College

In honor of Red Warrior Singer Albert Bianez who recently passed away.  His artwork is currently in display at the Centro Cultural.

You know I never really had the opportunity to post a picture of all of us together.  This is a shot I got while we had a meeting an the Indian Human Resource Center after returning from the run.  Thanks to Jerry for taking and sending me the picture.

Ymoat, Gabby, Oscar, Abel and Tudy

Beginning with the intellectual and religious rationalization of the Doctrine of Discovery given by the Papal Bull Inter Caetera of 1493, the systematic and genocidal policies of the government states of the Americas that perpetuate colonization to this day require that the liberal elements of their national societies remain in alignment and in collusion with the lies and policies of European American (white) supremacy.

Now, In the territories of Arizona and the Greater Southwest, the wake up call from the nightmare of Manifest Destiny resounds with the call for a National Human Rights Movement, strategically linked to the international movement for Human Rights across the planet.

Otherwise, the capitulation of the regional movement of social justice in North America is foreseen. The control mechanisms of control, and political manipulation by power brokers results in the framing of the issues solely with the context of the “jurisprudence of oppression”: the legal systems of the colonizing states that will only allow for “comprehension” (read: comprehensive) in terms of the self affirming Doctrines of Dominion and racial profiling that place the European American power structures (both Anglo-American and Hispanic-American) in discriminatory positions of power and preference over the Nations and Pueblos of Indigenous Peoples, and our relatives – whether or not they may  be documented as “citizens” of one or the other republics that are themselves derivatives of a universally acknowledged illegal colonization of our continent, Abya Yala.

Tupac Enrique Acosta
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of the Indigenous Peoples
www.nahuacalli.org

I’m playing catch up right now as you can see.  So here are the places that I’ve was:

Comitan de Dominguez, Oct 7-8

Huetuetenango, Guatemala Oct 9

San Miguel Uspantan Oct 10

El Quiche, Guatemala Oct 10

Coban Libertad Oct 11

Tikal Oct 12

Nahuizalco, El Salvador Oct 15

From the Zapatista community in Morelia we hit the road towards the border and stayed the night in Comitan de Dominguez.  It was a nice school that we stayed in.  After crossing the border into Guatemala, we had no where to stay.  Luckily these people that saw us running down the road offered to find us a place to stay.  We ended up at a Fire Department and slept in a big hall they had there.

Snap, I just remembered from here we had to split the group up, because one of the vans broke down and needed to stay back and get repairs.  This is where Justin got a gun pulled out on him and they wanted his staff.  Somehow he got out of it without speaking any spanish!

We ended up in some small town with no where to stay and we had no idea where the other runners were at.  It was raining all night that night.  Finally Jose and the rest of the crew showed up and we got to stay in a motel.

From there we made it to Coban, where we stayed with an indigenous rights group.  There was really no where for us to sleep, so we had to cram in on this little piece of concrete that was covered from the rain.  My tent decided to fall apart that night, but it worked good enough to keep all the bugs out.

The next day we went to Tikal and I almost lost my passport!  Luckily someone found my bag back at the center and brought it to me at Tikal.  That day we joined with hundreds of others for Indigenous Peoples Day and practiced ceremony.  This was a great day.

The next day we made our way back to the city.  Again we didn’t have a place to sleep that night, but luckily these people saw us a stop light and decided to let us stay at there house.  It was crazy, they didn’t even know who we were and they let like 15 people stay at their house.

The next day we went back to Coban and stayed at some kind of halfway house for recovery addicts, I think?  I was so tired I just wanted to sleep.

From there we hit our next border, which always sucked.  Crossing borders was the biggest hassle and not having proper paper work didn’t help, but we made it across.

We were held up for so long at the border that we were not able to make it to our destination.  We ran to Nahuizalco, but drove to Izalco to sleep (Oct 16).

Tomorrow my story continues on our crazy trip across El Salvador.

After resting another day at CIDECI and going over to San Cristobal de las Casas to check out the plaza and artesenia, we headed to our next destination at Caracol IV, Morelia, Chiapas.  It was a good distance to get there, but we finally made it.  We traveled through Zapatista territory and beautiful country very rich soil.

We arrived at the Caracol, but there weren’t many people there.  Many were working the land or at a large gathering that was taking place that week.  It was good to be there and we even had Charlotzi and a few other runners join us for the day.

We left Acteal on our way to Oventic, Zapatista Caracol numero dos.  Before leaving we were presented with a very sacred item from the community at Acteal.  We added the item to the bundle of staffs that we will be carrying with us on our journey to Panama.  From there the item that is now a sacred staff will travel in a bundle to Alaska in 2012.  This staff will then travel North America all the way back to Chiapas to be returned to it’s home.  Along the way it will the carry the message of the people from Acteal and the massacre that occurred there due to the violent Mexican Army.

The community traveled with us in the back of a truck they obtained to join us in our journey down the mountain road that took us to Oventic.  It was great seeing the people carry the sacred staffs down the mountain roads with us on our journey.

Sign posted on road to Caracol

Once arriving at Oventic, we waited for the council to grant us permission to enter for the evening.  Once allowing us to enter we all gathered up and handed the sacred staff over to the Zapatistas who carried them into the community and into the big cabin they have built for the gatherings.

Mujeres with Staff from Mayan community

Once inside we listened to the Women Zapatista who was in charge read off their letter of solidarity and support of the Peace and Dignity Journey.

Comandante Ernesto Che Guevarra, Hero for the oppressed!!

After we hung out for awhile and checked out all of the cool murals painted on the buildings there.

Welcoming committee

stop the genocide
> NICAN TLACA (“NATIVE AMERICANS“) PROTEST ONGOING GENOCIDE AT HISTORIC SITE ON anti-COLUMBUS DAY
>
> Contact:
> Naui Huitzilipochtli nauiocelotl@yahoo.com
>
> WHEN: October 12th, Monday 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
>
> WHERE: San Juan Capistrano Mission, corner of Ortega Highway and Camino Capistrano
>
> WHO: Indigenous people and supporters .
>
> WHAT: Indigenous people revisit scene of crime of continuing genocide in 8th annual event
>
> WHY: Columbus Day was terminated as a national holiday in the 1990’s. Nevertheless this flagrant celebration continues to flourish within American culture and the private sector. Columbus Day signs and imagery pervade at this time of the year while “Native Americans” mourn his horrendous legacy. Locally, the Ajachamen people were brutalized by the Spanish mission system. The Ajachamen people continue to experience this torment as one of their sacred burial sites is being built upon as we speak, right next to the San Juan mission.
>
> SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Members of the NICAN TLACA community are offended by the perpetual honor given to Christopher Columbus, a man who initiated genocide against millions of Taino and Arawak people in the Carribean in the late 1400’s. Columbus and his subordinates systematically invaded islands and planted crosses and Spanish flags on them, declaring these lands as part of Spain. He believed that non-Christians and non-whites had no rights to claims of their ancestral lands, and instituted a system of slavery for purposes of collecting gold and other precious metals, as well as of stealing land. Tens of thousands were outright-murdered by Columbus’s men. Some were massacred, some were crucified upside down in groups of 13 to represent Jesus and the 12 apostles, some were driven off of cliffs to their deaths, all in the name of greed. * Today, this man is honored by many Americans as a hero. Today’s Native Americans see him as the initiator of the deaths of 95 million indigenous peoples throughout the Western hemisphere. In the 1700’s the Spanish created the California mission system as a way to subjugate California nations. Father Junipero Serra was in charge of this system and mostly resided locally at the San Juan Capistrano mission, where he committed atrocities against local Ajachamen people.** We acknowledge that both of these men are icons of the holocaust against our peoples.
>
>
> COLUMBUS DAY PROTEST
>
> * Stannard, David. American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World. New York: Oxford University, 1992.