Arrival in Dallas, and it is a beautiful sunny day outside. I have a six-hour layover, and I dream of going to a park to relax and enjoy life. But I am trapped in a modern industrial wasteland. There are no green spaces, and no public transit to take me some place where I might find some refugee. In this car dependent culture, I cannot even walk outside from one terminal to another. The only option the information desk manages to offer is to go through security into the airport where there are stores, restaurants, and the like. Nothing for those of us just looking for fresh air during a break in a trip.

Somehow I’ve gotten way behind on events of the last couple days, so here is a quick recap:


Thursday, March 29

I travel back to Tecpan with the Hemispheric Council meeting of the Americas Social Forum (ASF). My first days had beautiful clear blue skies, but now it is cloudy. We try to point out the volcanos to Luciano, but everything is clouded in. Víctor tells us that one in ten buses is robbed in Guatemala. That seems to be an impossibly high statistic. Víctor says that he has been robbed three times. On average, 26 people are killed every day. At this rate, Víctor says, Guatemala is quickly surpassing the 200,000 people killed in the 1980s genocide. The level of violence is such that I never feel as if I can relax.

We arrive in Tecpan and I thought we would meet at Iximché, the site of the Indigenous summit. Instead, we stop at a hotel by the Panamerican Highway for our morning meeting. We begin to discuss details of the next ASF. Magdalena lays out the current status of the organizational plan. The forum is planned for next June, but exact dates and location have still not been determined. There is concern that meeting too near other events would diminish attendance. We decide to continue discussions informally and virtually, and to try to reach an agreement in the next month.

After lunch, we travel up to Iximché for the presentation of the final conclusions of the Indigenous summit. One representative from each of the 24 countries present is given three minutes to make specific and concrete proposals. Instead, most take advantage of the time to make long rhetoric declarations. The moderator is caught in a thankless and increasingly hostile position of trying to reign people in. Only two women speak for their countries. An Aymara woman keeps getting skipped over in the line because a Quechua man from Bolivia has already spoken. Finally, at the end, she insists on having her say.


Several specific proposals are laid out, including to establish regional coordinating committees in Central and North America, and to set up a Continental Coordinating Body to continue the work of coordinating Indigenous struggles. Delegates then decide to hold the next Indigenous summit on the border of Chile, Peru, and Bolivia in 2009. The coordinating committee is planned to be based in Chile to help organize the event. Blanca Chancoso then reads the Declaration of Iximché. It is a strong statement that condemns Bush’s militaristic and imperialistic policies, and calls for respect for human rights, territory, and self-determination. Several delegates make proposals for additional points, such as the decriminalization of coca leaves, and the declaration is approved.

I had originally planned to spend the night in Tecpan and return to Guatemala City the next morning with the rest of the delegates from the Cumbre. The ASF meetings, however, will continue the next morning at Hotel San Carlos in the city and I am convinced to return with the group. On the way, the group decides to take a detour to Antigua for supper. I am exhausted and fall asleep in the van, and can hardly keep myself up through dinner. It later becomes a joke that I got drunk on a 7-Up.


Friday, March 30

In the morning, we continue our discussions of the ASF, and specifically support for the United States Social Forum (USSF) that will be held in Atlanta at the end of June. The Hemispheric Council is dedicated to supporting the Atlanta forum. We then continue with discussions of a plan of action for the next ASF.

In the afternoon we join the Indigenous march to Guatemala City’s main plaza. I don’t think I’ve been here since 1985 when I accompanied a GAM march. At that time, sharp shooters were positioned on top of the national palace. This time, I don’t notice any.

Delegates present the final revised version of the Declaration of Iximché. Organizers had hoped that Evo Morales, Bolivia’s Indigenous president, would be present, but pressing issues kept him close to home. Instead, he sent a letter declaring his support for the process underway at the summit. Representatives from various organizations made statements, closing with Ma Los Angeles and Francisca greeting the summit in the name of the ASF.

In the dimming light, organizers launch three hot air balloons. As people disperse, people dance in a circle as the summit’s theme song blasts on the sound system. An almost full moon hangs over the national palace. The week-long summit ends on a high note. The meeting seems to have built a lot of positive energy.

Saturday, March 31

On these extra days, I am always torn. Do I take advantage of the free time to write up reports so that my life is not so crazy on my return home? Or do I take advantage of time in country to do things that I could not otherwise have done? My original plan was to go to Antigua, but we had already gone there Thursday nite and I feared that I would just get bored hanging out there all day with not much to do. Susan and I had talked about climbing the Agua volcano, but in the end she had other commitments and when it appeared that it would be cloudy on Saturday I didn’t that option. Saturday, however, dawned bright and beautiful, and I kicked myself for not being on the volcano. I could still go to Antigua, but the hassle and danger didn’t seem to make it worth it. Instead, I stayed in the hotel’s garden to catch up on email. I went to Guatemala City’s central market for a bit, but it was anti-climatic. Having traveled so much, the handcrafts hardly seem novel any more and all the venders were clearly businesses not operating in a fair trade model. I then had lunch with Diego, and then spent the rest of the day in the hotel catching up on more email. And so the day was over, and I seemed to have little to show for it...