Thread by @AmericanEgypt

1) The strike that has blocked roads to #ChichenItza, stopping the 7,000 tourists that arrive each day, continues. Yesterday locals from the surrounding communities set up blockades, snarling traffic and preventing admission to the archaeological zone. Why? Here's an explanation:

2/ Per this open letter the claims to be frome the commissioners of the farming cooperatives of Piste and Xcalacoop, communities on either side of Chichen, at issue is Marco Antonio Santos Ramirez, director of #ChichenItza for INAH, the federal agency in charge of the site.

3/ The letter charges Santos Ramirez with "abuse of power, usurpation of functions, curtailed our freedom of expression, even through social networks, and has prohibited access to the archaeological site to all who go against him or who criticizes some of his acts.

4/ "These bad practices have shifted to the towns around Chichen tza and about a month ago they began to be accompanied by elements of the national guard, to carry out their abuses of power in the area of the ejidos (lands held in common by locals for farming and other purposes).

5/ "We are aware that for a healthy coexistence it is necessary to comply with the norms and regulations, which we have complied with during the time we are working within the Archeological Zone, either as Tourist Guides, Artisans or visitors," the letter continues.

6/ The INAH director at #ChichenItza, the letter states, "has exceeded its jurisdiction wanting to impose its law in the ejidos of Piste, Xcalacop and the San Felipe." Guides who speak out are not hired at Chichen, it says.

7/ The vendors inside/out of #ChichenItza, "have received racist insults from the Director, belittling our dignity as persons, to the point of forbidding us to speak in Maya before their presence, for which we consider a violation of our rights, since Maya is
our mother tongue."

8/ The letter is signed "Ejidal Commissioner of Piste and Xcalacop" The solution, the letter states, is for the director of #ChichenItza to be dismissed. Per one news report this morning, INAH's director for all Yucatan has stated that no personnel changes will be made.