Alert in CHiapas

All main roads are blocked in CHiapas, which means roads around Tapachula, Comitan, San Cristobal, Ruxrla Ixtapa Palenque and many others..Chexk alerta Chiapas if you need alternative roads as many secondary roads are blocked as well. These blockages are indefinite..say the teacher´s union so it could get pretty basty before it is all over.
You can still go from Tuxtla to San Cristobal via the libre...
Not sure what is happening around the airport..

for those who speak Spanish you can register with www.alertachiapas and they will send you alternative routes to get around the blocked roads via whatsapp their whatsapp number is 961 243 7552.

The libre is still oben between San Cristobal and Tuxtla..so there are ways to get around but it is getting more difficult as their are long lines at the pumps .

Because the gas trucks are not let through the blocked roads, many places are running out of gas. Friends from communities outside of San Cristobal just call me to say there was no gas in their community and that San Cristobal was running very low.

The lines for gas are very long.

I imagine propane will be next, followed by masses of people out scrounging for wood to cook with.

Never mind the propane how are they going to deliver without gazoline for the rucks. One egg accoring to my cleaning lady is 50 pesos and food suppliesare running low as people are hoarding.
This morning I told a friend of mine ho lives out in the country past Sant Martha to stay at my house so he could continue working butit was too late he could not get out or enter San Cristobal as all the roads in his directions were blocked.
Wood can be had in Chamula if you have a truck to get it but without gas forget it..
I do not imagine he situation can last very long..When it happened in Paris in 68 the government fell and the same thing could happen.
People are really pissed off and someone just told me they hoped the electricity from the dams would be cut off..it is total insanity.

So the public is standing behind these teacher's?

yes they are, it is pretty amazing and God help you if you say anything against the teachers..
Today I started hearing some nasty coments about President Peña Nieto but nothing against the teachers..
Wait until ther is no delivery of potable water which should happen pretty fast if the gasoline trucks do not get through..that will be it,they will have riots..I cannot imagine it will last..but it is Chiapas so who knows.

There is a huge anti government sentiment in Chiapas so people have been taking the side of the teachers against the government no matter what...I wonder how long that will last.

My sense is that it's barely about the teachers anymore, they could be the plumbers, pilots, maids, whatever. It's now about the government - inequality, Ayotzinapa, disappearances, brutality, impunity, insecurity, etc etc etc. All the issues that have been brewing on the back burner for so long and maybe this time it will reach the tipping point. Long overdue.
Vamos a ver. Thanks for the reports, B.

Yes, Thanks. The best for you.

It is a union versus government epic battle and both the union and the government are manipulating the population. It is a sad state of affairs.

brigitte wrote:
It is a union versus government epic battle and both the union and the government are manipulating the  population. It is a sad state of affairs.

And the irony is this and the other unions are the spawn of the PRI and were controlled and manipulated to support the party and keep it in power for 70 years.

and they are all corrupt, government and union no matter what the party is..
Today the teachers announced they woud let private cars, public transportation and gasline trucks go through so I guess they want to paralize the businesses.. It is terrible to do that in the poorest state in the union where people live from one day to the other..

and they are all corrupt, government and unions no matter what the party is..
Today the teachers announced they would let private cars, public transportation and gas trucks go through so I guess they want to paralize the businesses.. It is terrible to do that in the poorest state in the union  where people live from one day to the other..all of that so the teachers have the right to strike..it is amazing that the masses do not see through that and turn against the union leaders .
I am sure the reforms need plenty of changes as well but throwing everyting out because some teachers got fired for not passing or taking the test and for striking more than 3 days is pretty outrageous.

Has there ever been any land reform in Chiapas, as in other Mexican states (ejidos)?

Or is land reform ongoing since NAFTA? (or 1994)

yes they have ejidos all te coffee plantations were broken into small plots.
They have ejidos and indigenous land and autonomous areas in the zapatista area.
The town of Tila has major conflicts because the center of town is a ejido( indigenous) and also the head of the municipality read mestizo..that was done back in the 18´s..now the ejido (read the indigenous) claim the center is theirs and the mestizo families who have lived in the center for generations but are not part of the ejido fear losing their land and business..
The mestizos there speak Chol like he indigenous but have bought their land and have deeds and the ejido is threatening to take it away..
So there you have he case of indigenous trying o kick out the mestizos like they did in Chenalho, Pantelho, San Andres and so on..It is all complicated and a big mess.
The maestro situation in the rural area is very bad, teachers often pay for pens and pencils boards etcc in order to teach they have internet classes via the tele segundaria in area where sometimes there is no signal  and so on and so forth..there is no good guy in the whole picture..
A total overhaul is needed but it is all caught up in poliics and corruption so it s pretty hopeless. WhHo knows if the funds from the Federal government and the State are given who knows who actually get them and so on and so forth.
Right now the government is giving funds for bathrooms in a community I work with. The government tells me one thing and on the surface it is a good program then I hear what happens on the ground. the local DIF ges involved and then it gets extremely muddy..anouncements are made in Tzeltal which are either misunderstood or the government program from Tuxtla is being taken over by the town government..I cannot figure it out and many people are telling me the   funds are being diverted..I do not know what the truth is talking to the people DIF and the Tuxtla government so how can anyone underand anything that is going on..
It is a whole jumble mess and I defy anyone to figure it out..

Thanks Brigitte, we still remember the locals planting corn on the steep hill sides beside the hyway, while the lush bottom land was empty, back in 1993.

They still do. Very often the lush bottom land is a flood plain so indigenous farmers stay way from it.
Zapatistas have taken over lots of land from mestizo farmers and are doing nohting with i..so there is no good guy. The more I know and the less I am inclined to take anyone´s side..from the distance things maybe clearer but from my point of view they are all humans and it is not pretty.. Everyone is fighting for he same share of the pie..meanwhile the few very rich families continue o own and run the state..

The eachers are now leetng through the gas truck that deliver to gas station,publc transports and private cars , the commercial trucks are still being held back.
I was hoping for a blow up so we could once and for all clear the air but the slow torture and destruction of business and tourism will go on until some agreement gets reached ...

Brigitte we have friends visiting that have planned a trip to San Cristobal but I suggested they should maybe reconsider that. They were planning on the whole month of August there...now I know things can change a lot by then so do you suggest they just watch the situation? I gave him this website to watch for your posts.