The relocation of communities within the Montes Azules Bioreserve continues with relative calm.  In mid-November two non-Zapatista communities broke off negotiations with the government, with accusations of corruption, discontent over the poor quality land they were to be given and how that land had been purchased. 

The seven Zapatista communities that will be concentrated into one community outside the Bioreserve are preparing and raising money.  It is likely in coming months that there will be a call for international civil society to accompany the relocation process. 

Twenty two communities, some within the Bioreserve and others in the surrounding jungle (including the Caracol la Realidad), have reported damage to crops, livestock and human health from flyover fumigation planes.  In 1998, communities successfully rallied to halt Moscamed from allegedly dropping pesticides to control mosquito and insect populations.  Since then the company has continued its operations across the Guatemalan border. 

Communities have reported damage to crops (from corn to mangos), and an increase in illness among children and livestock.  They have witnessed boxes of snakes, rats, larvas, reptiles, and parasitic worms that get under the skin of animals and humans, being loaded onto and dropped from the planes.  They are appealing to President Fox and Govenor Salazar to stop the fumigation once and for all.  See La Jordana (in Spanish), for more.

And speaking of overflights... 

Conservation International has been one of the big players in building pressure to remove populations from Montes Azules.  CI's Mexico site reveals a history of funding surveillance flights over the jungle during the past five years. Programs include micro-lending, population control (sometimes euphemistically referred to as "reproductive health"), and receiving funding from U.S. companies such as USAID, Packard Foundation, and Mattel. 

Conservation International’s corporate support network includes McDonalds, Disney Company, Gap, Starbucks, United Airlines, Ford Motor Company.  Whether these companies are interested in the Selva Lacandona, or only seek to give the appearance of being environmentally friendly, could be debated.  CI's description of natural areas throughout the world as devoid of political boundaries or history, without recognizing the people who inhabit these regions, is dangerous and increasingly popular trend.