Agua Azul and the Zapatista Territory

On our final day with the little Mexican rental car, we left Misol Ha, drove through Zapatista country to visit El Parque de Agua Azul, and return to San Cristobal.

Agua Azul featured a long walk next to a river with a series of beautiful cascades and pools. Almost the entire walk was accompanied by little restaurants, and booths selling souvenirs, sliced fruits, textiles, etc. Not exactly a wilderness experience... And because of the recent rains, the agua was not azul - but more of a murky brown-green.

Some will remember the Zapatista Uprising that began on January 1, 1994 in Chiapas. Commandante Marcos was the movement's charismatic, media-savvy spokesperson who helped garner international attention for months. The goals of the armed uprising by mostly indigenous Mayan people here in the mountains of Chiapas was the pursuit of basic human rights: food, housing, land, heath care, increased political autonomy and access the economic pie; ultimately a re-making of democracy in Mexico by establishing a new civil society where all the people of Mexico were active, empowered participants, not the heavily entrenched parties. The movement's leaders hoped their activities would trigger similar uprisings all over Mexico. While there was significant popular support for the Zapatista's goals and there was/is broad discontent with the political and economic system in Mexico, the uprising did not spread. There was no national appetite for armed revolution.

The 1994 uprising took over San Cristobal and a number of other smaller communities. The conflict drew international attention (something the Mexican elite are very sensitive to) and created a dialogue for many months, but the government did a good job of defusing the situation by making promises and starting "talks" with the Zapatistas. As talks replaced the armed uprising, media attention faded, and in the end, very little appears to have changed. I have not quite been able to figure out exactly where Marcos is today.

When one visits Chiapas, it is easy to see why this movement originated here. There is indeed tremendous poverty and inequality. Today, I have the impression that Zapatista organizing and activities continue, though it is not particularly visible or impactful at this point.

The main falls of Agua Azul.

The family at the falls. Liesl scratching bug bites on her legs - lots of scratching bug bites in Mexico.

We walked the trail until it ended; there was a defunct cable crossing structure on the bank of the river. The cart is behind the cement base.

This was a roadside sign on our way back to San Cristobal. "You are in Zapatista territory in rebellion. Here, the local community is in control. The government obeys."

Mountainous tropical landscape.

One of the key demands of the Zapatistas was land redistribution. Land resources have been dominated by people of Spanish/European descent (and their ancestors) since the Conquest 500 years ago. The original inhabitants have very little access to land. Over the last century or so, very small land redistributions have occurred, and some recently, in response to the Zapatista demands. These new communities and lands given to indigenous people are often called 'ejidos'. We saw a number of these signs in travels through Chiapas. From what I understand, these lands are often small in size, in the mountainous areas, not prime growing lands, and far from markets. Better than nothing, perhaps, but it is hard to see how this could address the larger set of issues...