Day 60 in Mexico
I thought this might be a good time to talk a bit more about my host family. Who are Angeles and Fernando? After all, these people have invited me into their family and home for a year, it would seem fair that I should get to know a little bit about them. And so I have, mainly through our after dinner conversations, which can easily stretch an hour or more. There’s no two ways about it – they are a couple of characters, and their lives have been far crazier than I could have ever imagined when I originally got a description of them, or even when I first met them. I’ve already said a little bit about them, and for those of you who don’t remember, here’s a refresher – Fernando is a taxi driver. Angeles takes care of the house. They have three grown children, all of whom live in the same neighborhood and have families of their own. They have their family over for a late breakfast on Saturdays. They are very involved in their church, and often have meetings in the evenings regarding church events. However, this isn’t the half of it. When I mentioned that they’ve dedicated their lives to social justice, I didn’t realize exactly how literal that statement was. Let’s start with Fernando…
Fernando – taxi driver, father, life risking social activist, Zapatista, lucha libre fighter. I don’t know exactly how we got started on the topic (I don’t know how we start talking about half of the stuff we talk about) but one night Fernando proceeds to tell me about the time he went to Nicaragua. During their civil war. Apparently, during the war between the Contras and the Sandanistas in Nicaragua, Fernando went with a group from Mexico to cut the coffee plants during their harvest season in Nicaragua. He didn’t exactly explain why he went to do this; I think it was a way in which to assist the poor people of Nicaragua, who during the time of violence didn’t have time to attend to their crops. This was no small trip; he told me that it was so dangerous to go there during the war, he went figuring he had a 50-50 chance of coming back. His daughter got married a couple days before he left, just in case. Their priest called Angeles the “almost-widow.” As he was describing his trip, he told me how he was always armed with a gun and grenades while he was there, how they heard gunfire all around them, how one time he got lost and separated from his group and was wandering around by himself, trying to find them. He stayed there for a month and a half, until the coffee harvest was done. Just as I was thinking that how crazy he was for risking his life like that, Fernando launches into his next social justice story. He went down to Chiapas in 1994, right after the appearance of the ELZN (Zapatista National Liberation Army). For those of who don’t know, the Zapatistas are a guerrilla army that primarily fight for social justice and land rights for the indigenous people of Chiapas (Chiapas is one of the states in Mexico with the greatest indigenous population). This army is often at odds with the Mexican government and army, which have never been known to cater to the poor, indigenous populations, and Chiapas has experienced some turbulent and violent times because of this. The Zapatista leader is Subcomandante Marcos, whom Fernando (surprise, surprise) has been in meetings with. He went to Chiapas to help support the ELZN movement, to bring the people living in the mountains there supplies, and aid Subcomandante Marcos and the army in their (he said he was usually appointed as one of the watchmen, to make sure no one attacked Marcos or his men). So, there you have it. My host dad is a Zapatista.
His story doesn’t end there. He was also a lucha libre fighter in his spare time! Lucha libre is Mexican wrestling, where men in masks and costumes with crazy names wrestle in arenas. It’s more show that actual wrestling however, much like the WWE. Apparently this is what Fernando did on weekends for 20+ years, and Angeles would take the kids down to the arena to watch him. I thought it was interesting that there was a significant amount of lucha libre apparel and memorabilia in our house (like his mask, shown here), but just thought they were fans of the sport. Never would I have guessed Fernando was actually the one doing the wrestling. As Angeles put it for me, “He fought inside the ring, and fought outside of it for justice.” Which brings me to Angeles…
Angeles – mother, devout Catholic, tireless and fearless fighter for social justice. Though she didn’t accompany Fernando on his trip to war torn Nicaragua, she did go with him to Chiapas to help bring aid to the people in the mountains. This little woman has stood face to face with Subcomandante Marcos (she was describing how he was actually a pretty attractive guy, even though he always wears a black mask covering half his face) and has trekked through the mountains of Chiapas, sleeping on the ground and giving her clothes away as she went to lighten her load. She also told me that during the civil war in El Salvador, she and Fernando helped El Salvadorians fleeing their country to come to Mexico. They helped arrange places to stay for these refugees, but had to speak in code over the phone, in case the phone lines were tapped. And of course, she and Fernando both have marched and protested in many different demonstrations here in Mexico. There was recently a protest about the power company here, Luz y Fuerza. Angeles told me that it was going to happen, but that she doesn’t participate as much as she used to now that she’s older. The next day, the protest was shown on the news, and Fernando turned to Angeles and said, “We really should have been there.” She just nodded in agreement. Apparently age hasn’t slowed them down much. It should also be mentioned that they decided to tell me all these stories on the same night, back to back. All I could say is, “You guys are crazy.”
So, there you have it. I feel like I’m living with living Mexican history; they haven’t let Latin America’s turbulent times pass them by quietly, they have been involved the whole way, fighting to make their country a better and more just place. For those of you who would like some more background information about the social movements I mentioned above, here are some helpful links (they’re Wikipedia, but they’ll do):
Nicaraguan civil war: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras
Zapatista movement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapatista_Army_of_National_Liberation
Lucha libre: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucha_libre
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