Chincultic

On Saturday, July 19, 2008, Nancy and I were on a mission trip in Southern Mexico. We were staying in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. On this day our group drove south and visited an archaeological site near Comitan. The site is called "Chincultic" and since it is a Mayan word it is sometimes spelled Chinkultick - and different variations. The day we visited it was raining like the dickens.



You can imagine how surprised I was to read that on Friday, October 2, 2008 that six Mayan villagers were killed by the state police at that same site! It turns out that there is a Mayan village near the site and that the villagers had taken over, evicted the administrative personnel from the site, (allowing the archaeologists to stay), and then set up their own way to charge tourists to enter the site. The tourists were charged a reduced rate, and the villagers said that they were going to use the money to improve the roads and other civic purposes. Improvements they had been asking for from the state to no avail.



Well, the state police were sent in to break this up and the villagers resisted. Lots of people were wounded and six were shot and killed. Five state police officers are being held in the case. (If you google "Chincultic" in "news" you can get the Associated Press coverage.)







I think that this points up just how tense the situation remains in Chiapas between the government and the indigenous people. Also, since the villagers were armed with sticks, rocks and machettes and the police with guns it emphasizes the disparity between the indigenous and the agents of the state. Apparently the villagers disarmed the police and negotiated to return the firearms in exchange for villagers who had been arrested. The exchange was made, according to the news.