Militarization

We are in the small VW bug traveling to Tziscao – Jorge, my professor, at the wheel and me in the passenger seat with my seat-belt on like a good gringa. On the road after the city of Comitan, Jorge starts telling me about how, during the height of the Zapatista uprising, that whole area was controlled by the Zapatistas. The smooth, paved highway we were driving over was new, he tells me, constructed by the government so the army troops could pursue the Zapatistas through the region more easily. Now, the Zapatista presence in the region is still felt (for example, we pass an autonomous clinic along the side of the road), however the uprising in the region has been effectively squashed, and the government has regained control over the territory.


Even with this regained control, the presence of the military in the region is distinctly felt. This continued presence is considered by many as an intimidation tactic and a method to maintain the campesino population “under control.” Increased militarization has in fact proliferated all over Chiapas. It’s common to see trucks filled with soldiers tooling through the streets of San Cristóbal. I have seen, at the least, six different military installations along the side of the road in my travels in Chiapas. One was located right next to San José Pohló, a Zapatista community in the caracol of Oventic. When I was in San Andrés, the town where accords were signed between the Zapatistas and the Mexican government, I stumbled upon a military installation, complete with armed guards and barbed wire, at the crest of a hill on the edge of the town. The government military is, literally, “always watching.”

As a testament to this militarization, soon after Jorge tells me about the Zapatistas and the history of the region, we get pulled over at a road-side check point. Jorge tells me not to say anything, that he’ll do the talking. Without giving any explanation, the men in army fatigues make us get out of the car and inspect the interior. Jorge tells them where we are heading. I am struck by how vulnerable I feel, even with a fairly firm belief that, considering the U.S. passport in my pocket and the ECOSUR logo on the car, I won’t be taken advantage of in this situation. I can only imagine what a person in a more marginalized position would feel.

At last, we’re given the go-ahead and we continue along our way. Jorge is fuming. “The Constitution of this nation says that all Mexicans have the right to freely move throughout the country!” Nevertheless, these types of roadblocks and checkpoints are fairly common now, throughout Chiapas – serving as a strategy of intimidation of the indigenous population, in blatant violation of the Constitution of Mexico.