January 03, 2003
More Rancho Es News

More on Rancho Esmeralda aftermath, from Glen and Ellen:

Yesterday Glen was called personally by Luis Pedrero, the State Secretary of Tourism. He called to say that he was working on our situation, that he had talked personally with the governor, Pablo Salazar, about the situation. And that they would make finding a solution to our problem a priority early next week when the holiday period ends. This is the first time we have been contacted directly by an upper level state government official and it is the direct result of the very supportive and effective effort that has been made by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico. Todd Haskell, Consul, was sent to Chiapas last Monday. He visited the ranch and then returned to the state capital where he met with state officials to press our case.

On the down side, two of our staff met with the Zapatista leader of our neighboring community yesterday. He indicated that the lack of a blockage on the road was simply the result of the Zapatista members of the community having gone to San Cristobal to participate in the demonstration there on January 1st. He indicated that the community would be meeting soon and that they would be returning to their previous position of blockading all tourism entering on the road. He reiterated the threat of invasion, when least expected. And he threatened the personal safety of our ranch manager, Valentin Perez.

So we are very anxious to see how this will play out in the next few days. We are still very much on a 24-hour a day watch which is wearing and exhausting. We can only hope that some reasonable solution can be found to end this conflict in the coming days.

If you know anyone in government or the press that you could call and express concern and ask for help, please call them. Thanks again for everything.

Ellen and Glen

Posted by Dave at January 03, 2003 05:07 PM