Acteal, Chiapas

3 10 2009

From Cedici we went to visit Las Abejas, an organization that works to support the indigenous rights and autonomy of indigenous and human rights of the people in Acteal.  We arrived in a very foggy highland and walked down into their village.  We congragated in a small cement auditorium that was actually the roof of a tomb where laid buried the bodies of the villagers that had been massacred by the Mexican Army.

We layed the staffs down on this tomb and sang songs and exchanged cultures with the people.

Check out this wonderful blog entry from one of our friends from CEDICI, Charlotzi

Staffs Laying on top of pine needles in Acteal with Las Abejas

Staffs Laying on top of pine needles in Acteal with Las Abejas

Arriving in Acteal, check out banner at top

Arriving in Acteal, check out banner at top





San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas

1 10 2009

What an ironic name que-no?  Anyways, this place is totally for tourist.  This must be the place everyone comes to when they say their going to Chiapas.  Fortunately we didn’t have to stay here.  We were lucky enough to stay at a really cool place that is a school for native people from the region.  It was so nice staying there.  The school has an acronym that I cant remember exactly, I think it’s CEDICI or something like that.  I will post more info on this later.  I didn’t take any pictures while I was there.  I’m not sure why and if I did I”m not sure what happened to them.  I’m sure some of the other runners have pictures from this.

The next day we would travel to Acteal, and I do have pictures from that.  I will probably have to post those later.  We would also go to Oventic on Saturday then back to CEDICI.  Stay tuned for some great pics from the few days I was in Chiapas!

For now I’ll leave you with this:

DSC01346





Tuxtla, Chiapas

1 10 2009

So we finally made it to the famous state of Chiapas.  Famous because anyone who knows anything about revolutionary movements has heard about the Zapatista uprising that took place in 1994.  Well first off, when you arrive in the state of Chiapas you probably arrive by plane or bus, so you don’t get a chance to enjoy the scenery as much.

The road to Chiapas was nuts!  It was so foggy and steep.  I could not see the hood of the van as I drove up a very steep hill.  The first place we arrived was the town of Tuxtla.

This is not what I imagined.  Tuxtla is basically like other cities in Mexico.  There is a main strip and they plenty of U.S. European and Asian based companies selling their products at fancy stores.

The town is very clean and modern.  I almost felt like I was in a smaller version of Guadalajara.

We arrived through the streets and carried the staffs toward the main plaza in Tuxtla.  It was really weird and awkard, every one was staring at us and I felt really out of place.  It was like we were being stared at because we were Indian, which I could understand in other metropolitan areas of the country, but here in Chiapas!?  So I ignored it as best as I could and just wanted to put the staffs down so we could leave this place.  There was really no one there to receive us.  So we were really there as just visitors.  I believe we had one or two contacts and we all went to there house after and ate a great dinner and slept in their nice house.

Something very strange happened that night, that I won’t mention here, but we are still in search of some answers to what happened that night.

DSC01348





Native American Art – Inspired by ceremony

1 10 2009





This Day, Juchitan de Zaragoza, Oax

29 09 2009

Things were  a bit hectic here.  I don’t remember the running for that day, but I remember us arriving in this area and not really having any contacts.  Luckily one of the runners had some contacts with the some of the teachers that had participated in the uprising in Oaxaca earlier that year.

They were able to find us a place to sleep.  It was a church in the middle of town.  When we arrived, it turns out the battery died on the Chenan Van, so me and Pablo had to go look for one.  Whoever could pitch in helped out to buy a new battery that was $100.00

I missed the food that we had that night so I went to the plaza and picked up some food.  It was kinda late but couldn’t really sleep, so I just chilled.

I eventually went to sleep on the floor with everyone else.  The next morning I got up and for some reason I decided to walk to the corner.  It was there that I found one of the runner’s bag.  It turns out that night he slept in the van and left the door open.  Someone walked by and snatched his bag while he was sleeping.  The sucky part is that he had his passport in there.  All I found was his bag and some other things, but no passport.

That was the beginning of worse things to happen that I won’t mention here, but let’s just say we were in for a big surprise when we arrived in Chiapas.

Juchitan de Zaragoza

Juchitan de Zaragoza





Turtles Reclaim Their Place in the Ecosystem

27 09 2009
little turtle

little turtle

As I mentioned in the previous post I will be doing post that tell you where I was on the Peace and Dignity Journey on this day in 2008.  If your wondering why there is a shot of a turtle again, it’s because they are so cool!!!

Seriously, it was because we stayed at this beach for a three days, I’m not sure if the beach we stayed at was called Ventanilla or Puerto Escondido.  I believe the near by town was Puerto Escondido, but the place where stayed was Ventanilla.  It was about 10 miles down the road.  It was actually a place where people work on preserving the natural habitat, so that was cool.  You could check out the animals native to that environment in a nature preserve they had set up.  The baby turtles were just one project that they had to try and save the lives of as many sea turtles that they could.





Great New Idea- This Day in PDJ 2008

26 09 2009

I’m not sure why I didn’t think of this sooner!  As I was checking out a link that wordpress had posted for my blog, I read an old posting I had did while I was on the Journey.

I noticed that my blog posting while on the run did not sufficiently cover my daily movements across the continent.  It especially lacked visual images.  The reasons for this are many, but mainly because I did not have access to technology or didn’t have the time to sit down at a computer with internet access.  We were running remember?!

So starting today, I will be posting images and memories of where I was “this day on the journey”.

On September 26, 2008 I was in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca.  We were sleeping on a beach, and had no Peace and Dignity money left over, all the food and other cost were coming out of our own pocket, so if you didn’t have money you didn’t eat.  Obviously we didn’t let anyone starve so we would pitch in for food.  I believe we actually had a little PDJ money left so we bought some food for everyone.  We also had to pay for the place we were camping at.  We didn’t have a host community, due to the heavy rains redirecting our route.

We were on our own pretty much.  It was a beautiful place that we were able to find and we had a great time off on our rest days at the beach.

Here is a pic from those days

Releasing the baby turtles into the ocean after the hatching by conservation project

Releasing the baby turtles into the ocean after the hatching by conservation project





Indigenous Movement in Nicaragua

26 09 2009

This is an article a contact sent me from Nicaragua.  It is only in spanish, no translation provided.

Indígenas emplazan a gobierno

Ortega

* Señalan a procurador de Derechos Humanos, Omar Cabezas, de poseer centenares de manzanas de tierra en territorio de Sutiaba, pero éste responde con estridente carcajada

Ramón H. Potosme

END – 21:38 – 25/09/2009

Un viejo regordete y retorcido ceibo acompañó a indígenas del Pacífico centro y Norte en la ceremonia que invocaba a la madre naturaleza y al gran creador, donde pidieron por las cosechas y las lluvias. Ahí al vapor del incienso y el ocote quemaron los malos deseos e invocaron a los espíritus ancestrales, según explicó el líder espiritual de Totogalpa previo a una conferencia de prensa donde denunció el abandono de este gobierno.

Los representantes de los pueblos originarios denunciaron el “tiangue” que hace la Intendencia de la Propiedad con sus propiedades comunales entregándoselas a desmovilizados del Ejército y de la Resistencia Nicaragüense. Y el irrespeto a las costumbres de parte de las alcaldías sandinistas a las que acusan de imponer autoridades indígenas desde la comuna.

Una procuraduría sin reales

Por su parte, el procurador de Derechos Indígenas, Aminadad Rodríguez, adscrito a la Procuraduría de Derechos Humanos, denunció las anomalías y el abandono en que tiene el gobierno a los indígenas del Pacífico, pues dicha instancia creada en agosto de 2008 resulta decorativa al no tener ni un centavo de presupuesto.

Pese a ello, Rodríguez señaló que han hecho acompañamiento a las denuncias de los pueblos de Veracruz del Zapotal, Virgen del Hato, en el Viejo Chinandega, de la Comunidad Indígena de Matagalpa, y del pueblo indígena de Litelpaneca, a quienes les han robado sus tierras mediante la titulación a terceros, cambiando el estado de propiedad comunal a propiedad privada.

Cabezas tiene su “estepa verde”
Róger Montoya, Presidente de la Coordinadora Adiact-Agateyte, señaló que el mismo Omar Cabezas, Procurador de Derechos Humanos, posee 200 manzanas de tierra en territorio de la comunidad indígena de Sutiaba, por lo que lo llamó a defender y usar su cargo en beneficio de los comunitarios. Cabezas al ser consultado sobre el señalamiento respondió: “Juajuajuajuajua…”, ocho segundos después: “…Juajua, ahí después hablamos”, y acto seguido colgó el auricular de su teléfono.

Mientras, el subprocurador Adolfo Jarquín Ortel ignora el tema y dijo que de ello se encargaba el procurador especial, o sea, Rodríguez, a cuyo cargo han dejado como la cenicienta.

Mientras José Benito Basilio Pérez, Presidente del pueblo indígena de Litelpaneca, en el departamento de Madriz, señaló que la Intendencia de la Propiedad tituló a los desmovilizados del Ejército, y que pese a que recibieron un fallo a su favor del Tribunal de Apelaciones de Estelí, en la Corte Suprema de Justicia no les han resuelto nada y se disponen a titular contra toda ley.

Basilio Pérez señaló que este comportamiento contradice el discurso del gobierno, que señala su respeto y apoyo a los pueblos originarios, pero considera que en la práctica los pueblos del Pacífico y del mismo Caribe, como el caso de la comunidad mayangna de Awas Tingni, se ven despojados de sus territorios tradicionales.

En Veracruz del Zapotal y en El Viejo los alcaldes, según los líderes, impusieron gente afín e incluso a miembros de los Consejos del Poder Ciudadano, CPC, que desvirtúan la tradición en dichos pueblos. Estuvieron presentes miembros de la etnia Chorotega, Matagalpa, Nahoa y Sutiaba. Todos ellos perdieron su lengua madre hace más de 100 años, excepto la matagalpa, pues hace una década murieron los últimos hablantes. Pero conservan la unidad territorial a través de los títulos reales de propiedad otorgados por el Rey de España, que son internacionalmente válidos.

Ley favorable la duermen en la Asamblea

En ese sentido reclamaron la aprobación de la Ley de Pueblos Indígenas del Pacífico Centro y Norte que tiene más de cinco años de haber sido dictaminada y redictaminada sin consenso alguno. En la Asamblea Nacional es evidente la resistencia de la bancada liberal, que ha manifestado temor al reconocimiento de los títulos reales.

“En el nombre de ahau (gran señor en náhuatl) te agradecemos por la lluvia y por los alimentos, para que sigamos existiendo y que nos respeten como pueblos indígenas que somos, aquí hay algo de esa bravura que nos heredaron nuestros abuelos, Adiact, Mosunse, Nicarao, Diriangén y Agateyte”, señaló Pérez al final de la ceremonia.





Gathering of Secwepemc and Okanagan Nation

22 09 2009

FinalPoster





Men’s Gathering

13 09 2009

I just returned from the 11th annual Izcalli Hombres con Palabra Men’s Gathering and I must say it was an incredible weekend.  I don’t think I could fit the entire experience here on this little posting on this blog, but I will say something.

It was amazing to see the amount of brotherhood that took place over the weekend.  So many brown faces sitting in a circle in solidarity and in peace.  It is truly amazing that we could get so many young people together, when every non-profit agency that I have ever worked for has always had a hard time getting young men of color to show up to anything.

I don’t think the problem is with the youth, I think it is a societal problem and most non-profits reflect the problems that they are trying to eradicate.  Izcalli on the other hand has taken a different approach, that I won’t get into here.

I will just say that it takes a lot of work, dedication and trust.  To all my spiritual brothers that attended this weekends mens gathering, thank you!  Thank you for all that you gave this weekend and for all that you will continue to give for years to come.

I am truly blessed to have been able to participate in two spiritual gatherings two weekends in a row.  Looking forward to seeing all the relatives this sunday for a run.