Published 2005-03-01T00:00:00Z”/>

Mandy TrilckStaff Writer

Members of the community brought medical and educational supplies and donations to the Chico Peace in Justice Center Monday night to show support for the poor of Chiapas, a state in Mexico.

Chico was one of many stops for the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization Pastors for Peace. The bus started its route in Washington and will meet up with nine others in Texas to make the trek to Chiapas. The group has been running caravans to the area since 1995, after a brief war there left indigenous groups without access to basic resources.

The caravan’s mechanic, bus driver and route speaker Rick Fellows, said the caravan is an important way to show the Mexican government that the world is paying attention.

There’s people out here that are going to have a stink about it if something happens in these places where people are trying to stand up for themselves, Fellows said.

The conflict in Chiapas began when a constitutional article protecting indigenous lands was amended to make property ownership similar to American and Canadian systems. This forced traditional farmers to have to compete with mechanized agriculture in order to keep their land.

Fellows said the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement pressured the Mexican government to amend this constitutional article.

The signing of NAFTA was a death knell for indigenous corn growers, Fellows said.It’s really a form of genocide.

In 1994 the Zapatista Army of National Liberation took control of four local centers of government in Chiapas. Though the conflict only lasted 13 days and resulted in an accord to protect indigenous people, the military remains in the area. In some places the ratio is three civilians to one military member. Fellows said this presence has prevented people in the communities from doing things like walk to their farms or travel between towns.

There are a lot of people not able to live in their communities because of threats of violence, he said.

Seeing results in the places the caravan reaches is satisfying, Fellows said. When the caravans arrive the warehouses are usually empty, and they fill them with food and supplies. They also donate vehicles like trucks and farm tractors.

It doesn’t do justice to list the ways you can actually see concrete changes, Fellows said.

Although the main purpose of the caravan is to provide relief and not religion to the peoples of Chiapas, faith plays a part in why some members get involved. Alfred Dale, a former Methodist pastor, said public service has been an essential part of religious practice for him and his family.

If you don’t do it, your faith is nothing, Dale said. It’s about helping the poor, period. It’s not an intellectual thing.

Aleah Pierce, a home-schooled high school student, said she came to the event because she needs to learn more about what’s going on in the world.

The majority of people who do care don’t get the information they need, Pierce said.

She said she likes what the caravan is doing for the people in Chiapas.

I don’t think it’s going to help a ton, but it’s getting things going the right direction.

Members of Chico’s Zapatista Solidarity Group also attended the event. Maria Gonzales Johnson, a member and Chico State alumna, said the group seeks to raise money for people in Chiapas and raise awareness about issues.

We don’t want to focus on just the specific group, Johnson said. We want to make it a global issue, as it affects all indigenous groups in basically the same ways.

Mandy Trilck can be reached at [email protected]