Demonstration against the Chiapas massacre
by Sondra Ball
I have just returned from the demonstration at the Mexican consulate in 
Philadelphia, January 9th.  About 75 people showed up from various 
groups.  Several people spoke briefly about the issue.  A young student 
from Mexico read the names of the murdered Mayan Indians aloud. I 
noticed several  people had tears in their eyes as the names rolled 
beautifully on and on, with a pause after each name, greeted by a shout 
of "presente" from the crowd.
I brought 100 copies of the list of names, and gave them out to people. 
 I suggested that they bring the names to their churches, synagogues, 
youth groups, and community centers; and hold vigils there during the 
next week or two.  I told them one way of holding the vigil might be to 
light 45 candles, one for each murder victim, and call the name of each 
victim aloud.  A man from the Maryknoll Missions was so impressed by 
this idea that he has decided to look at doing a vigil in a Catholic 
Church in the area, open to everyone to attend.  Since the people were 
shot in, or fleeing from, the Catholic chapel in Chiapas, I feel this is 
an appropriate gesture.
I was impressed by the support the undercover cops showed us. They came 
up and introduced themselves to Mitch (who was very active in getting 
this to happen) and me, and informed us they were behind us in this, and 
hoped we would do something persuasive.  They suggested that we do 
periodic vigils in front of the consulate until something did change.   
Some of us left the street vigil early and went up to meet with the 
consul, or as it turned out, the deputy consul, since the consul is in 
Mexico.  We handed her a letter we had already read outside to the folks 
there; and sat around a table to talk with her.  In our group were three 
people very familiar with Chiapas: a young college student from there, 
and a man and a woman who had been working with the Indians in the area, 
and had come back, in one case only about three days ago.  When the 
deputy consul suggested things were not as bad as they were being 
presented, the three were there to say, "We've been in Chiapas, and we 
know things are very, very bad."  To be fair to the deputy consul, 
however, she did meet and talk with us.  She could have just taken the 
letter and walked away.
Anyway, as I said before, out of this vigil has come the idea of many 
small vigils held in churches, synagogues, youth groups, community 
centers, etc., in which the murdered Mayan Indians are prayed for, and 
remembered.   Below is a list of the 45 murder victims.  I suggest you 
print it out and use it with your own group.  We must not allow this 
atrocity to be forgotten. 
Names of the people murdered in Chiapas;
 ALONZO VASQUEZ GOMEZ
LORENZO GOMEZ PEREZ
MARIA LUNA MENDEZ
VERONICA PEREZ OYALTE
ROSA VASQUEZ LUNA
SEBASTIEN GOMEZ PEREZ
VERONICA VASQUEZ LUNA
DANIEL GOMEZ PEREZ
MICAELA VASQUEZ LUNA
PABLINA HERNANDEZ VASQUEZ
JUANA VASQUEZ LUNA
ROSELIA GOMEZ HERNANDEZ
JUANA LUNA VAZQUEZ
GRACIELA GOMEZ HERNANDEZ
MARIA JIMENEZ LUNA
GUADALUPE GOMEZ HERNANDEZ
SUSANA JIMEMEZ LUNA
MARIA RUIZ OYALTE
MIGUEL JIMEMEZ PEREZ
CATALINA VASQUEZ PEREZ
MARCELA LUNA RUIZ
CATALINA LUNA RUIZ
ALEJANDRO LUNA RUIZ
MANUELA PACIENCIA MORENO
JAIME LUNA RUIZ
MARGARITA GOMEZ PACIENCIA
REGINA LUNA PEREZ
ROSA GOMEZ PEREZ
ROSELIA LUNA PEREZ
DOIDA RUIZ GOMEZ
IGNACIO PUKUJ LUNA
AUGUSTIN RUIZ GOMEZ
MICAELA PUKUJ LUNA
ROSA PEREZ PEREZ
VICTORIO VASQUEZ GOMEZ
MANUEL VASQUEZ PEREZ
AUGUSTIN GOMEZ RUIZ
JUANA VASQUEZ PEREZ
JUANA PEREZ PEREZ
JOSEFA VASQUEZ PEREZ
JUAN CARLOS LUNA PEREZ
MARCELA CAPOTE VASQUEZ
MARCELA VASQUEZ VASQUEZ
MARCELA CAPOTE RUIZ
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