By: Elio Henríquez, Correspondent

San Cristóbal de las Casas

Members of various organizations adhering to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandón Jungle held a traditional Maya ceremony to demand an end to the war against support bases of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN).

“This is a global action that is taking place not only here in San Cristobal, but in the world. These are actions that we have begun to ask for an end to the war against the support bases of the EZLN,” said a woman who spoke.

The Maya altar was placed yesterday at 7 p.m. next to the Cathedral of San Cristobal, where banners were hung to demand that the aggressions against the Zapatistas be stopped.

“This is a ceremony to call for peace, nationally and locally, to ask for an end to the war,” they reiterated in the presence of about 40 people who lit white and colored candles and did a ritual directing themselves towards the four cardinal points.

They added: “From the worldview of the ancestral peoples, this altar symbolizes the energy we want to stop this war and harassment against the Zapatista bases.”

The demonstrators recalled that from June 19 to 22, the Regional Organization of Ocosingo Coffee Growers “carried out new coordinated attacks in three Zapatista communities: Emiliano Zapata, San Isidro and Moisés y Gandhi,” located in the official municipality of Ocosingo.

“Attacks range from the burning of plots to gunfire for three days, accounting for 800 shots of different calibers,” they explained and recalled that on May 22 the indigenous man Jorge López Sántiz almost lost his life from a bullet wound.

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada, Monday, July 17, 2023, https://www.jornada.com.mx/2023/07/17/estados/031n1est and Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee