"There's a roadblock further up at Nuevo Momo'n, you'll never get through" warns one policeman. We decide to press on in the hope that we might be able to negotiate our way past what is probably a group of government supporters in league with the security forces. In the event we encounter only a handful of people who allow us proceed on our way peacefully enough, until the next military camp where we will again be filmed, photographed, hassled for identification and where our bags will again be rummaged through. Two of the Mexicans become extremely irate every time this happens, and get embroiled in endless historical arguments with the soldiers.
We travel back with a group of students who have been accompanying the people of Amador Herna'ndez in their stand-off. They're all a bit scruffy after a week in the jungle, but it's an impressive bunch nevertheless, with a profound comprehension of what is happening in their country and possessed of a gutsy determination to fight it. The truck arrives back in San Cristobal after further harassment by the Federal Army and the Immigration Police, and the students begin to take stock of what's been happening in their absence. It's an ugly scene after the intense solidarity they have recently witnessed with the indigenous people. State governor Roberto Albores Guille'n has been making inflammatory speeches to the effect that the Chiapans are tired of student agitators coming down from Mexico City and making trouble in their happy, peaceful society. It seems like he's been drumming up support for a lynching party.
Mariano Di'az, mayor of San Cristo'bal and member of the racist group Los Aute'nticos Coletos, has issued a 72-hour ultimatum to actress and human rights worker Ofelia Medina. She has three days to leave the city, or else...
Internationally renowned Chilean photographer Marco Igarte, sent to cover the region for the Associated Press agency, denounces that members of the Immigration police have spat at him and called him to an interview to explain his activities in the country. Meanwhile local reporters with those newspapers which back the Governor are ferried about by helicopter. The headlines in these rags are impressive, though their veracity is on a par with the ravings of the Sunday Sport. On Tuesday 24th there is a big demonstration against the roadworks, and three opposition deputies arrive to consider the situation. The army refuses to allow them access. Coils of barbed wire have been erected everywhere. "It's a lot of security for a private construction company building a minor road to receive" remarks one of the parliamentarians caustically. There is no helicopter for the journalists that day...
National left-wing daily La Jornada is selling well in the newspaper stalls. Somebody from the government is going round and buying up all the copies. Censorship? What censorship?
Human rights organisations around the country are raging at the Chiapan authorities for the flagrant lifting of constitutional guarantees such as the right to free transit around the national territory, freedom of the press and even personal safety. Other brigades of observers heading towards Amador Herna'ndez are indeed turned back, sometimes after receiving a sound beating and in the case of one woman, suffering severe sexual abuse. Government supporters are being whipped up into a frenzy against the Enemies of the Chiapan People. The PRI leaders' speeches have a faintly Yugoslavian flavour about them. Nobody knows how far this will go.
Demonstrations against the escalation of the conflict occur in the towns of San Cristo'bal, Ocosingo and Altamirano. In the latter two smaller towns the protests turn into a party, walls are painted and loud music is played. Nothing appears in the official media, but the point has been made. The only enemy of the people is in the governor's office. Ofelia Medina sips coffee in an open-air cafe' opposite the town hall in San Cristobal, calmly waiting for her ultimatum to elapse. Six o'clock comes and goes, the actress strolls nonchalantly around the park, and returns to Mexico City in her own time. The mayor's bluff has been called.
This sorry little pantomime - which may yet end in serious bloodshed - is clearly a manouevre on the part of the Governor to divide the opposition parties in the state. Both left- and right-wing political parties, as well as many independent groups, have been rallying around the figure of Pablo Salazar as a possible candidate in the elections for governorship next year. The PRI only managed to win the 1994 state elections by means of massive fraud and vote-buying, against a relatively inexperienced opposition candidate, so Salazar is a threat they are taking very seriously. There is also the danger of an opposition alliance in the elections for the Presidency. One hope of the ruling PRI party is that an escalation of the conflict in Chiapas would alienate the right-wing PAN from more left-wing parties which broadly support many of the EZLN's demands.
As I write this article news keeps pouring in... three inhabitants from the village of San Jose' La Esperanza have been illegally detained by Federal troops, two other villagers sustained bullet wounds after the army opened fire apparently in order to intimidate those present. The Commission for Harmony and Pacification decides to visit Chiapas to document the whole sorry mess... a peace camp in the community of Morelia, just half a mile from an Aguascalientes (where the EZLN holds meetings with civil society from Mexico and around the world) is closed down by government supporters threatening violence....
It's clear that the fuse has been lit for another social explosion here in Chiapas. The Federal and State governments clearly stand to gain by inducing a civil war between the indigenous communities and the people of Chiapas as a whole. The PRI is losing its stranglehold over Mexico, but there is still considerable scope for some final fireworks.