 |
Mist rises from the rain forest near the Guatemalan
border.
Photograph by Tomasz Tomaszewski |
|
Click for Chiapas map.
Hear author Michael Parfit.
|
WE FLY INTO CHIAPAS, where a band of Maya Indian farmers, the
Zapatistas, led an uprising against the Mexican government in 1994. It’s
a journey of six hours from Mexico City in the small Cessna.
“One of the things about flying over rain forests is
the feeling of mystery,” Parfit said. “These mountains are so different
from the bare mountains of the north. You don’t see what’s going on on the
ground. You don’t see human impact. And knowing that there are rebels in
these hills makes it all the more mysterious. Here you have Indians who
reflect the nation’s romantic past, hiding out in this exotic
landscape—among
the jaguars and the pythons and the tall trees in the mists of the
south—and they are speaking for all of Mexico.
“The Zapatistas want better education, they want better
health care, things that strike a chord with the majority of Mexicans,
who are also poor. These young soldiers with rifles that they’ve carved out
of pieces of wood—they reflect the desire for more freedom, for more
democracy, for a stronger sense of being Mexican, which many Mexicans feel
that the North American Free Trade Agreement has deprived them of.
“I came down out of this quite violent weather—tossed
all over the place—and I had to land at the military base. There were
machine guns all around the runway; it felt like I had reached a war
zone.”
CLICK BELOW to follow the drama of Maya Indians and the land reforms
they have demanded, with these photo stories:
|
|
|
 |
 |
The Zapatistas wear ski masks to hide their identity, for they are still in conflict with the federal government. Peace negotiations could drag on for years.
|
 |
Since the rebellion in 1994, landless Indians
in Chiapas have invaded and occupied more than 1,500 privately owned ranches. Most vow to remain.
|
|
|
