Day 6: San Cristobal de las Casas and Acteal, Chiapas, Mexico

TONS of new pictures below!

Yesterday we went to visit a human rights organization whose name escapes me at the moment. They gave us some good info and directed us to a few other offices. After stopping by one other office, we took their advice and caught a taxi to Acteal, a little mountain village adjacent to a Zapatista Autonomous Zone in the mountains a couple of hours from the safe, colonial, touristy feeling of San Cristobal:






We were dropped off in the middle of a small mountain road surrounded by trees and some small huts. The taxi driver said that if we give him 70 pesos, he would come back for us at 5:30 pm. We couldn´t imagine a lot of taxis driving up and down this isolated road in the middle of nowhere, so we agreed and paid him.

The taxi left and, as if to prove that we were stuck in some corny hollywood movie, a man in white robes and a sombrero appeared out of nowhere, and led us exactly where we wanted to go.




The main office of the organization that is leading this village was located at the bottom of some winding steps, hidden amongst several rundown shanty houses that the people of this village call home. As we walked down the steps, a few strangely deformed chickens ran in front of us. Never really got an explanation for the chickens, but the man did explain to us that in 1997 a group of para-militaries gathered 45 of the local villagers, mainly women and youth, into a room which he brought us to, and, unprovoked, killed them all. My understanding of his explanation is that this happened because they are Catholics, although this seems incomplete. They have turned the room into a memorial, with pictures of the victims, paintings, and other honorary expressions, including some Catholic symbols. Suffice it to say, this was a sad room to stand in.

These links are both outdated by a few years, but are generally quite informative:

Here is info on the Acteal Massacre.

Here is more info on the Acteal Massacre.

He brought us to the office, where we met "el presidente". He was kind enough to grant us an interview. Up until this moment, we were under the impression that this village was part of the militant Zapatista Autonomous Zone. We were right about one thing: this village is autonomous. But Acteal is far from militant. In fact, they are self-declared pacifists. They believe strongly that the fight for indigenous rights should be a fight of peace. All they want is the freeedom to work the land, have drinkable water, be healthy, and not be required to give up everything they have for nothing. They also want justice for the people who slaughtered them mercilessly.

We wished him the best, and asked if it would be ok to visit a couple families, to see how they live, to see what day-to-day life is like for them. He asked someone
to guide us and introduce us to some families.


The families didn´t speak any Spanish, just their indigenous language, so the guide translated for me, and I translated for Susanna. Tough to say if the conversations that occured went at all the way I thought they did, but there seemed to be a general understanding. Basically, these people are extremely poor, quite sick, and have no help from anyone. They live in unsanitary huts, and are forced to be self-sufficient. They asked us to please get the word out about them so that maybe another country, or some international group can bring them aid, because the Mexican government doesn´t care about them at all, and has provided nothing in the way of aid.

We gave them the small amount of money that we could afford and went to the meeting spot we agreed on with the taxi driver. It was getting a little late, and we became a little concerned. While talking to the people of Acteal, we realized that they have an hour difference from the standard time of the area, and we began to wonder which time the taxi driver went by.

Eventually the driver showed up. He got out of the car and said that we owed him more money. We did not take this well, as we already had a clear agreement about the cost of the trip, but we were in sticky situation because not many cars come through the area. I pointed out that not only had we previously agreed on an amount of money, but that there were now more people in the car and less room available. He opened the door to show me that there was enough room, and Susanna and I jumped in the cab. We told him that if he insisted on charging more that we will simply get out of the car and catch another ride as soon as he returned the money we already gave him for the return trip. At this point he submitted, and we had a nice ride back to San Cristobal.

In the meantime the election rigamarole continues. Obrador has now asked the people to hit the streets, and there is supposed to be a big rally in Mexico City today. We are to far away to check it out, but here in Chiapas, the general attitude seems to be, "who cares?", at least among the indigenous. It seems that none of the candidates talk at all about in indigenous rights. They all ignore the needs of these people, who are the ones who need the most support in this time of repession and corporate exploitation. None of them talk about the political prisoners, the massacres, the stealing of land, the repression. The closest they can do is talk about "the poor", but this is about much more than just poverty, this is not just a class issue. These people are disregarded because of who they are, they are not treated the way people should be treated, and they are fighting for something different, something meaningful.