San Diego, Jan 31, 2001 – The California organization “Schools for Chiapas” announced on Wednesday that its members
plan to join rebel leader Subcommander Marcos and an Indian delegation for their upcoming march on Mexico City.
San Diego, Jan 31, 2001 – The California organization “Schools for Chiapas” announced on Wednesday that its members
plan to join rebel leader Subcommander Marcos and an Indian delegation for their upcoming march on Mexico City.
The San Diego-based group said that a “bus for the schools of Chiapas” is to leave on Feb. 1 from the north end of San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge on an 8,000-mile journey to link up with Marcos, who leads the Zapatista National
Liberation Army (EZLN) rebels in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas.
Coordinator Libby Navarro said that the principal aim of the trip “is to accompany in our bus the EZLN delegation that will march from Chiapas to the capital to demand fulfillment of the accords signed regarding respect for the Indians.”
But, in fact, the journey has a dual purpose, as “on the way to Chiapas we’re going to collect scholastic material and voluntary donations for the Mayan communities and we’re going to film messages from California schoolchildren intended
for the children at three Indian schools in Chiapas,” said Navarro.
“Once in Chiapas, we will deliver the educational materials and other donations and we will join the delegation of Subcommander Marcos and 23 Indian leaders to accompany them on that trip to the Mexican capital, where they will hold
talks with Mexican government officials,” she added.
The materials are destined for three Indian schools that members of the California organization built during previous visits to the region over the last three years.
Among the items donated are a complete mechanical workshop, computers and other electronic devices, and doors for one school that has been operating without them.
There is also thought of providing musical instruments and sports equipment for the schools, whose curriculums include programs designed for Maya Indian children.
About 50 people are set to travel on the “Schools for Chiapas” bus, “including California journalists, international
peace observers and the members of an alternative communication team from the state of Michoacan,” Navarro said.
The trip will feature stops at 20 schools in the United
States and another 20 in Mexico before arriving at Los Altos de Chiapas.
The bus will roll south through California for 11 days before turning east to follow the U.S.-Mexican border to El Paso, where it is to cross into Mexico on Feb. 12, and will pass through the states of Chihuahua, Torreon, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, Guanajuato, Queretero, Tlaxcala and Oaxaca en route to
Chiapas.
On Feb. 23, the California contingent will join Marcos and the delegation representing Mexico’s indigenous peoples as they begin their march to Mexico City, where they plan to arrive on March 11.
The “Schools for Chiapas” bus is scheduled to return to California in mid-March, after the EZLN meetings with Mexican officials.
Author:
News Service: Chiapas95 newslist
URL: http://www.efe.es
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