Jeanne Simonelli, Erin McCulley, and Rachel SimonelliBishop Samuel Ruiz. We are astounded that he will see us. Don Sam-
uel, as he is known, took over as Bishop in San Cristóbal in 1960 ,
gradually “awakening” into social consciousness through his inter-
action with the Maya people. We’d heard him in prep-course videos,
responding to accusations of preaching Marxist liberation ideology,
as he took on the role as negotiator and intermediary in the attempt
to forge and implement peace accords between the Zapatistas and the
government in Chiapas. He countered the accusations against him by
saying that hunger is not ideology. Hunger is hunger. Desperation is
desperation. This we are learning.
In the curia next to the cathedral, we wait for Bishop Ruiz, sitting
in a circle of chairs, saving the big bench for him. Paintings of past
bishops look out above us, Bartolome de las Casas, others. Kate pokes
me in the ribs. There’s a familiar face staring down from a portrait
next to the door.
“Isn’t that Raul Julia?” she asks. I think of the final scene in a movie
about El Salvador where actor Raul Julia played the role of the arch-
bishop of that country, torn by brutal civil war in the 1980 s. Bishop
Romero, too, “awakened” through his interactions with the poor, and
for this he was murdered in front of the altar, larger than life. We are
thinking of this when the door opens and in walks a little old Mediter-
ranean man, well-worn jacket buttoned against San Cristóbal morn-
ings, flat wool worker’s cap covering his head. We shift nervously and
I begin in Spanish, introducing the group, saying that we’ve been trav-
eling and that we studied Chiapas for a full semester before we came
and he answers in English that perhaps we can teach him something
and I swallow and keep my mouth shut after that.
Comfortable laughter, and a question from Erin,
“Can you tell us a little about the situation in Chiapas?”
Don Samuel smiles. “Ah,” he begins.
The government is optimistic, without reason. In the last four
years, life has gotten worse in Chiapas. Yet we have darkness with
light inside, and that light is the hope. They build a fortification of
intimidation around the people, intensifying the divisions within
the community to create the impression that it is the people who