Living With Zapatistas


He was one of twelve children, raised by their mother in Mexico City. Having evaded military conscription, he has spent the last five years working, without pay, as the only teacher to the Zapatista children in La Union. They were evicted from the other school following a dispute with the neighbouring political group.


But despite obvious divides within the village - separate schools, churches and effectively separate shops (one Zapatista owned, one PRI), there was no sign of conflict or even a single problematic incident.


Enrique explained that they had been living peacefully, without trouble from within or from the government, for some time. He believed that observers are now needed more in other less fashionable places, such as villages in the state of Oaxaca, which lie over commercially desirable untapped natural resources, and where violent Human Rights violations have become a daily occurrence. Nevertheless, we stayed in La Union - happy to observe, whether as a deterrent for trouble or not.


The next person we met was Manuel, the unofficial head of the Zapatista families. Perhaps in his forties, with a tanned round face and a solid build, he had an air of solemn authority, and the moustache to match--a horizontal black monolith striped across his top lip. After shaking our hands gently, as is the custom, Manuel invited us to sit beside him on a bench overlooking the river, and never uttered another word.


About forty years ago, many poorly paid indigenous Mexicans began to escape the oppressive conditions of the farms where they worked, to found their own villages with fruit trees and livestock, where they could cultivate their own crops. Some settled along the banks of a narrow, shallow river in La Selva (the forest). This is where La Union lies.


An area of maybe half a square mile, spanning both sides of the river, and surrounded by woodland and crop-fields grown on deforested patches, La Union is dotted with wooden shacks and their glinting corrugated tin-roofs. A few buildings are painted blue or red, and several bear the iconic portraits of historical revolutionaries.


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