While the incident at Acteal seems to have higher casualty numbers than others in recent months, it is only one more episode in a long story which was first recorded in the early 16th century by Fray Bartolom‚ de Las Casas in his work "Las L grimas de los Indios" [the tears of the Indians]. Anyone wishing to understand the story could start here ezln.org ....at the bottom of this page is a link to "The Southeast in Two Winds", a transcript of a speech by el Subcomandante, in both English and spanish. [btw; "Ya Basta!" means "Enough Already" -- not what you thought, right -g-]
If you travel in Chiapas [and I recommend it] never get caught alone without witnesses by the state police, no norteamericano could imagine the depravity of the undisciplined highly-armed louts from far-away towns. Avoid contact. I once went to a baseball game with 3000 other people and got tear-gassed and shot at by six teen-agers in black uniforms. Two dead, one a baby. The crowd then looted the Palacio de Gobierno, one and a half million $US damage. It didn't make internacional news, there were only a few lines in Tabasco Hoy the next day about "drunks rioting" -- it wasn't like that, I was there and saw it.
The peso crisis of Dec 94 had very little to do with unrest in Chiapas, it was used as a red herring, an excuse. What really happened was that there was an election in that Noviember, and the PRI cooked the books a little more than usual. I believe The Economist commented on that fact as early as August or September. M‚xico now has a currency board, which while still paper and not gold, is at least a diversificacion of paper -g-
There are many old gold and silver coins buried on the ranchos of rural M‚xico, they know what holds value over time...... cheers ....... marcos |
