The Zapatistas arrive in Europe by boat 47 days after crossing the Atlantic Ocean

A delegation of seven Zapatistas In May he embarked on a voyage across the Atlantic Already in Europe after 47 days of travel. Fighters of the Zabatista Army (EZLN) for national liberation arrived on the shores of the Azores Islands in Portugal this Friday and are expected to land in the port of Waikoloa (Galicia) in the next few days. There they will embark on an international tour of more than 20 countries. Accompanying them are the ship’s five crew members, a journalist and an independent photographer recording a documentary, and someone with “support” for the procession. They are all “in good health,” EZLN said in a statement.

The crew saw the first lights of the Portuguese islands this early Friday morning. On May 2, they sailed for almost 50 days from Isla Mujeres in Quintana Roo to Europe. The goal was to finish An inverted journey The conquerors who invaded the American continent 500 years ago did so across the Atlantic. “You have to fight for life, organize, defend, but stay together,” said Subcommandant Moises, the movement’s first indigenous leader, from the dock that day. The group departed a few days ago from the Chiapas Mountains in southeastern Mexico and waited to travel. On the boat Mountain, A German flag boat built in 1903. According to the Japatistas, “a mountain journey against the grain of history”.

They first reached Cuba and then entered the high seas, excluding the Bahamas. In the early morning of June 11, they saw the highest part of File Island Portuguese archipelago, Cabeno Cordo. A speedboat approached from the port officer Mountain He pointed out to the crew where to anchor the ship. Soon, the passengers were taken ashore for testing for COVID-19 and returned to the ship while they waited for results. The treatment, EZLN promises in a statement, is one of “grace and respect”. In the same letter, it is read that the rest of the passengers on the team are “animated and happy without fights, rumors, or fights”.

According to sources close to Zapatistas, a visit to Waikoloa port is scheduled for the weekend. Different political-social groups organize to get them on the beaches of Galicia. In addition to France, Denmark, Serbia or Ukraine, the delegation will travel to Madrid, the Basque Country and Catalonia. Part of the purpose of the tour, according to EZLN, is to share “mutual stories, pain, anger, achievements and failures”. Reads one of the reports published before the start of the expedition “to embrace the rebels on the European continent and to hear and learn their stories, geography, calendars and ways.”

The schedule is not defined, but the movement expects to arrive in Madrid on August 13, which coincides with the fall of Tenochidlan 500 years ago. There they will address the “Spanish people.” “Do not threaten, insult, insult or demand, Don’t apologize to us …”, They warned when announcing the tour in October 2020. This statement contradicts the request of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to apologize for the wrongdoings committed by the King and Church of Spain during the victory. The movement concludes: “Enough playing with the distant past to justify, rhetoric and hypocrisy, present crimes.”

Since departure, information about the trip has been communicated through the EZLN website, and the signatures on the letters were formerly known as Deputy Commandant Marcos. Marcos was at the head of the rebels from the beginning, covering his face with a black ski mask carrying weapons under the administration of Carlos Salinas de Cordari (PRI). EZLN was able to highlight the inequalities in which the majority of the country’s indigenous people lived nearly three decades ago. In 2014, Marcos changed his identity in public He received the name of Sub-Commandant Caleno, and commanded Sub-Commandant Moises.

Beyond the published reports, the protagonists say little about this journey. There are seven on board Mountain: Lupita, 19 years old; Carolina, 26; Jimena, 25; Yuli, 37; Bernal, 57; Felipe, 49, and Marijos, 39. Four women, two men and one person of no gender: Force 421. Volunteers preparing for the trip six months in advance have already begun its European chapter.

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