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Published on 01/26/1998 All articles from this issue

Los Altos benefit for Chiapas residents raises more than $4,000

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Town Crier Staff Report

A Jan. 18 benefit for humanitarian efforts in Chiapas, Mexico by the manager of Estrellita Restaurant in Los Altos netted more than $4,000.

Carla Charraga said the money raised will go to two agencies helping out in that tormented Mexican state: Caritas, run by the Catholic Church Diocese of San Cristobal; and Global Exchange, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting human rights in Mexico.

"I was really touched (by the support)," Charraga said of the benefit, which featured speakers and video clips of the situation in Chiapas. Charraga said the event drew 136 guests.

"It was really amazing how many people showed up," she said. "Some people who couldn't come sent checks anyway."

Charraga organized the benefit after hearing of the Dec. 22 massacre of 45 people, mostly women and children.

The massacre apparently occurred at the hands of local paramilitaries and with little or no opposition from the authorities. The incident and the international uproar that ensued triggered the resignation of Chiapas governor Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro.

"There's a big struggle between the owners of the land and the indigenous communities there," Charraga said prior to the benefit. "It's not like a civil war - it's a civil rights issue similar to the south in the 1960s."

She said the Mayan Indians in Chiapas are looked down upon as second-class citizens and are living in poverty.

Global Exchange offers a witness program, Charraga said, in which human rights observers are put in place to avert possible atrocities.

She said some 10,000 refugees have left their villages in the wake of the December massacre and funding from the Estrellita benefit will also go to such basic supplies as food and medicine to help those refugees.

The Jan. 18 benefit featured a performance by the Los Altos High School Folkloric Dancers, and music by the trio, "Los Romanticos de la Bahia."

For more information on Chiapas or upcoming events, call Charraga at 941-8976.