¡Ya basta!

A little indigenous girl with plaits is approaching a mestizo Mexican with a brown hat. She has a bag full of onions carrying on her tiny shoulder. The bag bigger than she is. The girl spent all day in the market square trying to sell these onions. This elderly man is her another target. She is telling the price. Like as usual, she is not expecting that the goods would be sold for an amount offered the first time. Remember? Bargain! Both sides know it. But the man is not going to bargain with her. He is setting the price by himself, grabbing the onions, leaving her some pesos and walking away. He doesn’t care about her. He doesn’t want to hear what she is trying to say. Behind his back already.

Few years ago stories like this one were more common. 

Somebody had to say “enough”. ¡Ya basta! Somebody had to scream it. By the end of the day it was more than a scream.  

Jesus, my local friend, said that many people, on both sides, gave their lives in turmoil started in the middle of nineties. “But it was worth the present situation of Native Americans”. Better situation, relatively better.

It started in Chiapas, a state where almost a half of population is indigenous. At the same time one of the poorest regions in Mexico.

On  January 1, 1994 Zapatistas took over part of San Cristobal. A city named after Bartolomé de Las Casas, a Spanish priest who defended the rights of indigenous Americans.

 During 12-day struggle 145 lives were taken, according to government figures. More died in years of clashes between rebel supporters and paramilitary groups, many people were displaced.

It was The Zapatista Liberation Army (EZLN) who screamed in behalf of the Native Americans. Now regarded by many a symbol of the struggle for social justice, the EZLN has become an independent political organization not tied to any party. 

 

 

They claim that the life standard of the indigenous should be improved - this is said to be their main goal. Actually, the native still live mostly on the least productive land in the state.

The reasons of rebellion were politics conducted by the Mexican government over health care and education. The state’s indigenous residents still suffer high rates of illiteracy, malnutrition and infant mortality. The organization pointed that the government is partly responsible for that. Zapatistas were also protesting against land distribution. Land rich in oil and gas reserves. They were demanding getting more representatives of their communities in the government. 

 

In January 1994 it became clear that this historical mistreatment won’t be tolerated. At least certain part of society won’t keep silence. The debate started. Some accords were signed, some promises were made… Yet, people were dying. Still. They fought in the forest, in the jungle…

It was the next president, Vicente Fox, who had promised to solve "the Zapatista conflict" in 15 minutes. It took more of his time, but some progress toward peaceful coexistence has been made.

Probably the situation of the Native Americans is getting better now… At least the locals say so.

Still, you can hear stories about chasing out tourists or detaining them. Once Zapatistas have loudly denounced the expansion of ecotourism in Chiapas. They see the improvement of infrastructure in some virgin areas as being at odds with the government’s stated goal of preserving the rainforest. Some view this as a nonmilitary means to make inroads into autonomous EZLN communities.

One Polish girl working in a San Cristo hostel told me a story about other two girls who were coming back from a trip. They finally arrived in a village on their way to the city. The last bus had already gone. The village occurred to be Zapatistas’ settlement. The leaders of the community did everything to get transport for them since they didn’t want foreigners to stay there. Nothing bad happened to the girls. On the contrary, now they tell stories about happy and self-sufficient people they had chance to observe in that village. 

 

  

 

The same Polish girl from the hostel was kidding that if you want to see Zapatistas’ place, just let them kidnap you:).

On the way to the jungle, when we finally left San Cristobal, I was noticed some settlements with signs and images of Zapatistas saying that the place belongs to them.

Some locals were warning us that the road connecting San Cristo with the jungle could be dangerous because of the rebels’ groups. Some said that we should be rather more afraid of military checkpoints. It often happens to see armed soldiers with big trucks on the back of the road. 

Nobody kidnapped us, though. Nor checked us. 

The little girl with the bag full of onions approached me and Alfredo. Alfredo is a mestizo Mexican, born in San Cristo. He thanked the girl politely. She didn’t give up offering lower and lower prices, convincing “maybe your mother will use them, maybe your grandmother”. He thanked her gently after every attempt. He used all sweet words applying to a little girl, in which Spanish is quite rich. “Gracias niña, chiquita, chica, chiquitica…”. We didn’t need onions as we were going to Chamula. It was Alfredo who told me on the way stories about discriminating indigenous people. He says that it is not so bad anymore. The government pays more attention to them, there are some efforts to preserve the original culture. It is even more common for people from these communities to get higher education and move to the city. His mother even hires one indigenous woman who is an economist. Alfredo stands, though, that it is still hard for them to get higher positions. The problem is not only from the one side that was supposed to be privileged. The Native Americans still bear inside a feeling of humility, a feeling preventing them from competing with those who used to set the rules. 

Some links:

www.sipaz.org

www.chiapas.indymedia.org