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

A delegation of seven Zapatistas who In May he began a transatlantic voyage Already in Europe after 47 days of travel. Militiamen of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) arrived Friday on the coast of the Azores in Portugal, and they hope to disembark in the next few days in the port of Vigo (Galicia). There they will begin an international tour of more than 20 countries. Alongside them, the ship’s five-man crew, a freelance journalist and photographer recording a documentary, and a person from the “support” of the procession also travel. They are all “in very good health,” EZLN said in a statement.

The crew saw the first lights of the Portuguese islands early Friday. They had been traveling by sea for nearly 50 days since leaving Isla Mujeres, in Quintana Roo, on May 2, for Europe. The goal was to complete reverse trip More than 500 years ago, the conquistadors who invaded the American continent crossed the Atlantic Ocean. “You have to fight for life, to organize, to defend, but together,” said Subcomandante Moisés, the movement’s first local leader, that day from the dock. The band had left from the Chiapas Mountains, in southeastern Mexico, a few days earlier and was waiting to set sail On board the sailboats the mountain, a German flag boat built in 1903. “A mountain sailing against history,” according to the Zapatista definition.

They reached Cuba first, then avoided the Bahamas and set out on the high seas. In the early morning of June 11, they saw the highest area of ​​Faial Island in Portuguese Archipelago, Capiso Gordo. A speedboat approached the port authority the mountain He showed the crew where the ship was anchored. Soon after, the travelers were taken ashore for COVID-19 testing and back on the ship while they were waiting for the results. In a statement, EZLN confirmed that the treatment was one of “kindness and respect.” In the same letter, it is read that the squad and the rest of the passengers are “lively and happy, without quarrels, gossip or fights.”

According to sources close to the Zapatistas, the arrival in the port of Vigo is scheduled for the end of the week. Various political and social groups are organized to go to receive them on the coasts of Galicia. The delegation will visit Madrid, the Basque Country and Catalonia, in addition to a number of countries such as France, Denmark, Serbia and Ukraine. Part of the tour’s goal, according to EZLN, is to share “mutual stories, pain, anger, accomplishments, and failures.” One of the statements issued before the start of the trip reads: “To embrace those on the European continent who rebel and resist, as well as to hear and learn from their stories, geographies, calendars, and ways.”

The timeline has not been specified, but the movement expects it to reach Madrid on August 13, the date coinciding with the fall of Tenochtitlan 500 years ago. There they will address the “Spanish people”. Not to threaten, insult, blame or demand, Don’t ask us for forgiveness…”, they warned when they announced the tour in October 2020. The statement went against the request of the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, that the King of Spain and the Church apologize for the violations committed during the conquest. The movement continued: “Enough playing with the distant past to justify current crimes with demagogy and hypocrisy.” “.

Since departure, information about the flight has been sent through the EZLN website and the writings have been signed by Subcomandante Galeano, formerly known as Subcomandante Marcos. Marcos was from the beginning at the head of the rebels, his face covered with a black ski mask that took up arms in the Department of Carlos Salinas de Gortari (PRI). EZLN has been able to highlight the inequality in which the majority of the country’s indigenous people have lived for nearly three decades. in 2014, Marcus changed his identity publicly He took the name Subcomandante Galeano, and gave command to Subcomandante Moisés.

Other than the released statements, the protagonists have said little about this trip. There are seven on board the mountain: Lupita, 19 years old; Carolina, 26 years old; Jimena, 25 years old; Yuli, 37; Bernal, 57; Felipe, 49, and Marigos, 39. Four women, two men and one person who knows no gender: Squad 421. Volunteers have prepared for six months for this journey that has already begun its European chapter.

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