Word: tzotzil
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...deep in the cloud forest of southern Mexico, as 15 members of the town council of San Andres Sakamch'en, bedecked in ribboned sombreros and crimson tunics, welcomed a gaggle of nosy tourists. Tzotzil Indians who have broken off from the Mexican government, they patiently answered questions about their village of rutted streets and shuttered shops, donning ski masks and bandannas only when it came to picture taking. "As indigenous people, we are threatened and exploited," said council president Lucas Hernandez Ruiz. "We are happy you have come from afar to witness our resistance...
...Right now what is causing the most damage in our community is the presence of the Mexican army," said Lorenza Gomez Gonzalez. Gonzalez, a displaced Tzotzil woman from Chiapas, also blamed the Mexican army for bringing drug addiction, alcoholism and prostitution into her town...
...remind Mexicans of their nagging social troubles. Just before Christmas, it was the massacre of 45 men, women and children who are said to have been sympathizers of the state's Zapatista guerrillas. The perpetrators: gunmen allegedly loyal to the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (P.R.I.). Last week groups of Tzotzil Maya Indians dressed in colorful garb and carrying religious images were nervously returning to the village of Acteal, where the slaughter took place. "We came back because this is where we're from," said survivor Diego Perez, 32, blinking back tears as he recalled how his father, brother and aunt...
Residents are slowly starting to return to Acteal, the small Chiapas village where 45 Tzotzil Indians were massacred last week by supporters of Mexico's ruling party. Even as the survivors of the massacre struggle to rebuild their lives, TIME Latin America Bureau Chief Tim Padgett says "the tragedy in that remote little corner of Mexico may result in profound changes throughout the country...
...Andres Larrainzar, one of the rebel- infiltrated towns where the army withdrew its troops last week, residents consider both sides equally repressive. ``We just want to live in peace,'' says Miguel Lopez Gomez, an elder in the local church who wears the traditional wool tunic of the Tzotzil Indians. ``We want to work, pray, feed our families. We don't want any confrontations here...