The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) will begin on May 3 a reverse journey to the one that the conquerors who invaded the American continent made more than 500 years ago across the Atlantic. A group of seven Zapatistas left this Monday from the mountains of the State of Chiapas, in southern Mexico, to Isla Mujeres, in Quintana Roo. From there, they hope to set sail in cayuco next Monday. The delegation expects to reach the coasts of Galicia, in Spain, in mid-June. It is a "journey through life," as reported by the organization on Monday in a statement signed by Subcomandante Galeano, formerly known as Subcomandante Marcos. In the same writing, a Mayan legend is evoked according to which Ixchel, goddess of love and fertility, said: “From the east came death and slavery.May life and freedom sail to the east tomorrow in the words of my bones and blood ”.
The squad is made up of seven people, all Mexicans and descendants of the Mayans, who "share pain and anger with other indigenous peoples on this side of the ocean," as reported by the EZLN through its website. The members of that delegation that this Monday began the journey will arrive "at the latest" on Friday at Isla Mujeres and will board the boat in which they will embark on the trip to Europe,
La Montaña.
They will stay on the ship for "two or three days" before setting sail. On board, they will carry three other cayucos that have been carved and painted by members of the political and military movement that arose in Chiapas in 1994, during the Government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, and revealed the inequalities in which most of the people lived. the country's indigenous population.
The entourage that will travel —Lupita, 19 years old;
Carolina, 26;
Ximena, 25;
Yuli, 37;
Bernal, 57;
Darío, 47, and Marijose, 39— have spent the last 15 days in isolation, as reported by the EZLN, to make sure that none of the seven members is infected with covid-19.
During those two weeks, they have lived in a replica of the boat and have prepared for the “hard sea voyage”.
The volunteers who applied to travel were "more than 20", according to the organization, but only seven had passports.
Finally, the group has been called "Squad 421" because it is made up of four women, two men and a person who does not identify himself as a man or a woman.
Zapatistas work on the construction of one of the boats.EZLN
The trip "has a lot of challenge and no reproach," read a statement. When they announced the trip around the world, last October, they assured that they would speak "to the Spanish people." "Not to threaten, insult or reproach, or demand, not to ask for forgiveness ... Enough of playing with the distant past to justify, with demagoguery and hypocrisy, current crimes," said the movement in a letter, which from its origins has been defined as feminist and anti-capitalist. The statement confronted the request that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador made in 2019, when he demanded that the King of Spain and the Church apologize for the abuses committed during the conquest.
“The delegation received the mandate from the Zapatista peoples to take our thoughts, that is, our hearts, far away. Not only to embrace those who rebel and resist on the European continent, but also to listen and learn from their stories, geographies, calendars and ways ”. The objective is to reach the coasts of Vigo, in Galicia, in "six or eight weeks". Once there, the Zapatistas contemplate two scenarios: whether they receive authorization to disembark or not. If the second situation occurs, they are "ready" to unfold a large blanket that says "Awake!" "We will wait to see if someone reads the message and then as long to see if, in effect, wakes up, and the same to see if he does something," reads its website. If that does not happen, they have four canoes with oars, they say: "We will begin our return."
If they manage to disembark, they have affirmed, "there will be a party, dance, songs, and cumbias."
The first person to land will be Marijose, according to the statement, who has experience in canoeing and boat and "speaks Spanish fluently."
In addition to visiting Spain, the squad hopes to visit a score of countries, including Germany, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, among others.
"On both sides of the ocean, a brief message will flood the entire electromagnetic spectrum, cyberspace and an echo will be in hearts," concludes the statement released this Monday, which goes to humor on several occasions: "The invasion has begun."
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