While there may not be more Acteals in which scores of people are killed, there will certainly be continued ambushes by paramilitary groups like that which attacked the caravan of Bishop Samuel Ruiz in early November. What the Zapatistas will do in response is still not clear. What is clear is that the Zapatistas and other groups see national and international publicity as their main defensive weapon. In every community we visited, the people and their leaders were glad to see us. They rely, perhaps too much so, on the view that nothing bad will happen if international observers are nearby.
Many autonomous communities have peace camps set up in between the villages and the army.
Sponsored by the Fray Bartolome Center for Human Rights in San Cristobal, peace camps usually consist of two or three volunteers from another country staying in front of the villages for a period of two to three weeks. After they leave, another group replaces them. Helping to tell their story to the world, especially to people in the U.S., is the reason we were able to see and hear so much. I'll never forget hearing the translation of the 7 year old Mayan girl from Acteal who carried her younger sister on her back as she spoke to us. She spoke Tzotzil, her native language, and thanked us for coming, as she told of her parents and another sibling being killed.