Subcomandante Moisés and other indigenous people welcomed the Zapatista retinue that ended the journey started last May. Photo: Jair Cabrera Torres

By: Fernando Camacho Servín

Amid great expectation and a chaotic welcome, members of the Squadron 421 Zapatista delegation arrived last night at Terminal 1 of the Mexico City International Airport, after visiting some thirty European countries, where they exposed their struggle and got to know the different collectives of that continent.

Although Lufthansa Airlines Flight LH498, coming from the German city of Frankfurt, appeared “on time” on the airport screens and was programmed to arrive at 7 pm; in reality, however, it was almost 9 pm when the eight representatives of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN) arrived.

From 6 pm, various groups gathered in front of Gate E3, among them members of the Otomí community residing in Mexico City, as well as students, activists and sexual diversity groups, who waited for the Squadron 421 delegates amid slogans, shouts of support and resonances of the batucada. [1]

Due to the lateness of the arrival, Subcomandante Moisés –one of the Zapatista leaders who will travel to Europe next Monday, as part of the delegation called La Extemporánea– tried to dialogue with the police that guarded the gate for international arrivals in order to ease the exit of his compañeros.

Despite that, the EZLN representatives were taken through a different door than the one announced and immediately began to be followed by the civilian groups that were waiting for them and by the media, which generated shouts and shoves, in the midst of which the Zapatistas were escorted to get into an elevator and quickly leave the place.

As we reported in this daily newspaper, members of Squadron 421 set sail last May 3 from Isla Mujeres with the goal of reaching Europe across the Atlantic Ocean and touring Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Catalonia, Sardinia, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Slovenia, the Spanish State, Finland, France, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Basque Country, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

[1] Batucada is a sub-style of samba and refers to an African-influenced percussive style and is characterized by its repetitive style and fast pace.

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Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Sunday, September 12, 2021

https://www.jornada.com.mx/2021/09/12/politica/007n1pol

Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee