"We Want This Border To Disappear"

By Mary Ann Tenuto Sánchez
Chiapas Support Committee

October 26, 2006

As the hot desert sun began fading into a cool desert evening, the Other Campaign’s Karavana arrived in Rancho el Peñasco (Big Rock Ranch), Sonora, Mexico, between the towns of Santa Ana and Magdalena de Kino. The Quiché Biodiversity Center is located on the ranch and contains a hostel, a kitchen, an outdoor eating area and enough room to create a meeting space. A large bus contained the Karavana traveling with the Other Campaign on its tour of Northern Mexico. Subcomandante Marcos arrived in a van. He was accompanied by a personal security guard, indigenous leaders from the region and the National Indigenous Congress, as well as a survivor of the police terrorism in San Salvador Atenco.

The Karavana was immediately whisked into the hostel for dinner and emerged an hour later to participate in a sacred fire ceremony. The meeting with indigenous peoples of the Tohono-O’odham nation began around 7:00 in an outdoor manger for lambs, which are bred commercially on the ranch. One by one, traditional authorities and representatives of the different tribes, many of them were women, went to the head table, sat down next to Marcos, and talked about the problems they faced as indigenous peoples. The animals were either quite excited by the crowd of approximately 250 people or very upset for having their space taken over. Their “baas” were heard throughout the evening.

The US/Mexico border runs through the Tohono-O’odham lands and divides the people while border patrols damage the fragile desert ecology. Tribal members live on both sides and have different perspectives on immigration and solutions to the problems arising from this unnatural division. They asked Marcos to help them unite and, as each speaker finished, Marcos rose to shake hands with them, contributing to an atmosphere of warmth and friendship.

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