Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84So as not to sully its own image, the Mexican army had created eleven paramilitary groups in different areas of Chiapas. The one in Los Altos de Chiapas was called The Red Mask. Its strategy was to enlist unemployed men by offer- ing them a clandestine training. It succeeded in recruiting both Protestants and Catholics. The Red Mask had already chosen to target Las Abejas, a pacifist civil society that had formed in 1992 in response to the ideal of social commitment preached by Samuel Ruíz García, bishop of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas, and guided by the light of the Word of God. While rejecting the violence of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), Las Abejas did stand in solidarity with EZLN’s demands for justice in the uprising on January 1, 1994. Likewise, they participated in the peace talks with the federal government at San Andres. Although the Mexican govern- ment signed agreements at the peace talks, they never actually acted on their promises. All this has left the community with three open wounds. The first wound against the pacifist indig- enous –the 1997 massacre–remains open because the perpetrators still live in impunity. There has been no reconciliation between the victims and the perpetrators. Around eighty of the accused have been released because of a revision in the legal process, leaving no deter- mination as to their guilt. Their release was like rubbing salt into the wound. The second wound, division, has lacerated the heart of the community. It is a living wound that divides the members of Las Abejas to this day. Some of these members betrayed the cause by aligning themselves with the state government, which took advantage of the poverty of the population. The government tried to take control of the coffee cooperative, offering subsidies in exchange for abandon- ment of the cause. This government policy persists to this day. Another division was recently caused by those who felt entitled to hand-outs because of their victimization. In their weakness, some of these people verbally attacked those non- indigenous who had supported them. The third wound was unconsciously caused by those of us who supported the Chiapas indigenous. After the massacre and through these two decades, innumerable groups have come in solidarity from both inside and outside Mexico to visit the site of these terrible happenings. They not only offered material help, but also built relationships with Las Abejas. They considered themselves a “human shield” against aggressions in the “low inten- sity war.” Human rights defenders, church groups, and non-government organizations  Plough Quarterly • Summer  A child from Acteal marches in support of the forty-three Mexican students kidnapped from Ayotzinapa, Mexico (2014). Photograph courtesy of NetoRules