Las Abejas

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Las Abejas, or "The Bees," is a Catholic pacifist group formed in Chiapas in 1991 out of a familial property dispute that left one person killed, and another injured. When members of the community took the injured man to the nearest town for medical attention, they were accused of attacking him themselves and jailed. When family members realized what had happened, they began a pilgrimage on foot to San Cristóbal de Las Casas. Along the way, Christian pacifists in other villages joined them, and thus formed a group dedicated to peace, justice, and anti-neoliberalism. Las Abejas freed their companions and grew as an organization.

When the Zapatista uprising took place in 1994, Las Abejas stood in solidarity with the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional's (EZLN) ends and principles, but not their violent means. They paid a high price for their support however, when on December 22nd, 1997, forty-five of their members were massacred while praying in a church, in what's come to be known as the Acteal Massacre.