A Bee in Exile

Alonzo has two houses. One house has been charred and looted. It stands only as a skeletal monument to Alonzo's former life in Los Chorros. His other house is built of unpainted cinder blocks. It is one room with a zinc roof and minimal furnishings. As of today, neither of these houses is completely home.

Alonzo and his family are just a few of the many "desplazados," Indigenous people that have been forced from their land in the Chenalho region of Chiapas, Mexico. On September 14th of 1997, three months before the massacre at Acteal, Alonzo was forced to be separated from his family and home because, as a member of Las Abejas (a group of Christians committed to non-violent resistance), Alonzo refused to seek out and kill members of the Zapatistas (EZLN) in his community.

Eleven members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams delegation gathered in Alonzo's cinder block house to hear him recount his tales of both hope and terror, from the past several years of his life.

When asked why he and Las Abejas are committed to nonviolent resistance, he said that it was because they had read the word of God and learned about their rights. When asked why they specifically chose the path of non-violence, his answer began simply, "we read the word of God."

There is little clarity as to when Alonzo's family will be able to safely return and redevelop their land in Los Chorros. Not only has the presence of Mexican military and paramilitary groups compromised the stability of the region, but, as Alonzo noted, especially with state elections coming up this August, the Mexican Government would likely use the opportunity of a return at this time to appear as though it had honored agreements that in fact it has not.

There is a profound hope wrought throughout Alonzo's stories, less in the stories he shares or in the bleakness of the situation

he recounts than in the strength of his voice, the courage with which he admits his suffering, and the perseverance in his ongoing refusal to take up arms against those who have exiled the bees and others like them from their land.

Alonzo's Dream, a new video portraying the story of the ongoing struggle of the displaced in Chiapas, is available through Daniele Lacourse, 5371 Esplanade, Montreal, QC, H2T 2Z8 Canada, tel: 514-273-7136; fax: 514-273-8280; email altercine@ca.tc.