Roberto Barrio

It was late, not sure how late, but it was totally dark. There was a raging thunder and lightening storm which had knocked out the electricity and the wind was threatening our meagre candle. The pounding rain was making a deafening sound on the corrugated tin roof. Every half hour or so a guard on his rounds shined his flash light into our space, he was checking to make sure no paramilitary thugs have jumped the fence and were messing with us.
It was our first night in Roberto Barrio, Chiapas, Mexico.

I travelled to Chiapas to meet and work along side the Zapatistas. I had read their declarations and essays about their resistance to the forces of neo-liberalism but wanted to learn more about what life ‘on the ground’ was like.

I joined a small delegation of like minded people organized by the San Diego group Schools for Chiapas. We met up in San Cristobal de las Casas, a beautiful colonial town that seems to be a hub for Mexican tourism. Roberto Barrio was our third stop on the two week trip and was the community that had experienced the most oppression from the surrounding paramilitary. The organizers sat us down the night before we headed to Roberto for a serious talk. They explained the situation in the area and told us that under no circumstances were we to go anywhere alone or leave the gated area where we would be staying. We had already spent one and a half weeks meeting and working with Zapatistas in the highlands but those are peaceful communities where Zapatistas and government supporters work side by side. This threat of conflict was new to us but sadly a daily occurrence for the residents of Roberto and many other communities.

Roberto Barrio is one of five Zapatista caracoles; a guarded civilian centre that functions as a safe place for Zapatistas to gather. There are offices of the Good Government (the Zapatista Government that is, not the bad Mexican one), a women’s co-operative store, a dentist, several classrooms and other school buildings, and the place we frequented the most, a small restaurant serving delicious rice and beans. Some families live in the caracole. They are internally displaced people who can not move back to their land due to threats of violence or the destruction of their homes. Living in the caracole is a temporary measure until they can find a community to move into but it’s a safe haven until then.

The Zapatista vision is based on ideals of justice, peace, liberty and democracy and also living in harmony with the earth. Al Gore’s slide presentation would be old news to these folks. Being mainly subsistence farmers, the Zapatistas know first hand the damage chemical fertilizers, pesticides and GMO seeds can do to the environment and are taking steps, independent of the government, to stem the environment’s deterioration.

As well as the people working in agriculture, we met with about 25 women from the women’s co-op (Co-operativa de Mujeres Compañera Lucha) and talked about their history, structure and struggles. The beautiful black bags they embroider with vibrant flowers are sold in a small store outside the gates of the caracole but it’s far from being a tourist destination which means the sales are very low and the women have little revenue coming in to buy basic necessities. Working in the communal structure the Zapatistas have established, is the only way these families can share enough of their resources to continue ‘la Lucha’ (the Fight).

My two weeks in Chiapas gave me a glimpse of the Zapatista way of life and some of the forces trying to end it. It was a beautiful, inspiring and challenging trip that I encourage anyone with a desire for social change to take.