Author: Armando Chaguaceda

Behind the gates, masked individuals guard Oventic, one of the autonomous municipalities controlled by Zapatista rebels in southern Mexico. We find the tension floating in the air just as we get out of the van that took us to the entry of the Caracol II encampment, 20 minutes from San Cristóbal de las Casas.

I was in residence at the Ecumenical Research Department (DEI) in Costa Rica, when the study on civic participation that I was carrying out —by the force of circumstances— turned into passionate accompaniment of the social movement opposed to the signing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States.

I’ve spent these last weeks in a kind of “intellectual maquiladora,” gripped by work, bureaucratic reports and projects that never seem to become of anything. I sit here tired of sustaining a precarious balance between commitment and dreams; content with doing what I like, but sick of thinking about my people and my island.

Fulfilling an old dream, I recently visited an encampment of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil. Learning about the MST is to draw closer to one of the greatest, most expressive and most organic Latin American social movements.

The Juanes concert just ended and-feeling excited-I wanted to write “something.” Then I suddenly received an e-mail from a friend in Miami. She’s the same person who called me a “stuck in the mud leftist,” until she understood my activism was far removed from the ploys of the “socialist” bureaucracy.

They were all taken aback by the instant ideological shift (and exhaustive TV and radio play) of an artist whose career has been based on light pop tunes and tough guy disputes. The video and its author were not rejected for their politics, but for their politicking.

The reality of Honduras is more complex than reflected in desires and slogans. The junta has maintained – in the face of international pressure – the unity of the political upper-class and its institutions, the backing of the army and the support of broad sectors of the population.

At the beginning of the year, I warned of an eminent conservative shift as well as the gradual decline of progressive experiences, born out of the coordination of social protest and institutional reform that has typified the past decade in Latin America.

A look of suspicion was visible on the face of the park’s custodian when we explained that we were there as Latin Americans and free citizens. I’ll never forget his bewildered expression…

Looking at them reminds me of moments when images like these accompanied our doubt, anger, choices and hopes. I think of their reactions to the messages that these materials transmit, be they humdrum or suggestive.