By Andrew Kurowski
The week of January 9 this year, the center for human rights in Tapachula, Fray Matias de Cordoba AC, organized five, three-person brigades to visit Tapachula and its surrounding areas which were most drastically affected by hurricane Stan more than three months ago on October 4. I, along with two other members of the Chiapas Peace House, had the opportunity to participate in these brigades, thanks to contacts that exist between the Peace House and Fray Matias.
The Fray Matias center has traditionally involved itself with human rights issues that pertain to the many Central American migrants that live and work in the area. However, given the dire circumstances that many residents of the area have found themselves in as they attempt to reconstruct their lives after the hurricane, Fray Matias has made an effort to investigate the extent to which the Mexican government has fulfilled its obligations to the victims are entitled to as Mexican citizens. Unfortunately, the suspicion that hurricane aid has been insufficient was only been affirmed as a result of the brigades. What follows is an account of my own experience visiting the communities of Mazatán and Huehuetán, each about a half-hour drive outside of Tapachula.
In the center of Mazatán it is hardly noticeable that 3 months ago it was a virtual ocean. One has to really look hard to see the lines that the floodwaters left on the buildings, about a meter above the ground. However, as you leave the center on the dirt roads towards the more rural areas and get closer to the river, the damage is more obvious. Entire fields are covered with a dusty, dirt layer left behind by the flood. These fields no longer produce crops, probably because of the poor nutritive make-up of the dirt.
Some of the homes are now back to normal other than the awkward mounds of dirt scattered around the yard, the result of days of arduous shoveling out of the homes. Nonetheless there are just as many homes, which still have not been rehabited. They remain buried in mud, sometimes up to two meters. Kitchen stoves are covered, electrical appliances smashed and scattered about, bathroom areas inaccessible. Most of the owners of these homes are staying with relatives. This is 3 months after the hurricane passed through and many still have not yet managed to re-inhabit their own homes. Furthermore, they are receiving no governmental help to do so.
As we talked with the people sitting in plastic chairs in their humble homes or patios, they expressed to us a deep feeling of abandonment by the government. In various different homes we heard the same story: “Government representatives have arrived and performed surveys. They told us they would send help to clear out the mud, re-compensate for our loss of crops, etc. But nothing has been done.” There were even cases in which the people had not been alerted before the hurricane hit.
In Huehuetán it was the same story. The center had not been damaged badly, but after traveling an hour and a half by foot, first on a dirt road, and later on a hilly, rocky, jungle path, we came to understand the situation of the families who live in the small community of La Estrella. For them, this arduous walk is the only communication they have with the municipality. Since the hurricane destroyed the road that had previously connected them, they are forced to walk this long distance in order to communicate with the outside world. One can imagine that under these circumstances it is easy for the government to overlook them. Still, they have shown great ambition in demanding that the government reconstruct the road they depend on to transport their coffee, the source of their sustenance. Nonetheless, the municipal government has given them only broken promises that they will send engineers and machines to reconstruct the road.
The testimonies that these people gave us, both in Mazatán and Huehuetan, spoke clearly to the fact that they have been ignored by people in power. There is a sad reality to this that isn’t difficult to understand. Those who have been most hurt by the hurricane are those who were already less privileged. Because of their underprivileged status, it is easy for the government to neglect them. First, this is because some are not aware that the government has a constitutional duty to meet their basic human rights such as the right to humanitarian aid in the aftermath of a catastrophic event. Secondly, if they do act to demand their rights, it costs them a great deal of effort. It is not easy walk to the center of the municipality several times a week to discuss legal matters with government representatives when one’s most pressing concern is feeding his or her family. And unfortunately, when one does manage to do so, he/she is simply given another promise that will go un-fulfilled. This is the reality of their situation.
To close on a bright note, I will say that the spirit of the people we spoke with, people who have suffered an incredible catastrophic event and been left to themselves to re-build their lives, remains positive. I think they were very glad to see us, to be visited by people interested in their well-being. Among themselves, they help each other greatly, sharing what they have in a feeling of community. They told us stories of 300 people taking shelter from the floods in the home of one community member on a small hill. In the aftermath, those whose homes were destroyed have stayed in homes of friends or family members. The way they treated us was extremely generous, many families feeding us on a number of occasions: warm tortillas, frijoles, and fresh fruits. Despite their difficult circumstances, their faces were always ready to break into an innocent smile.
Fray Matias will now compile the many recordings, photos, and documentation we helped collect into a report that will be sent to organizations and individuals from the “Red de Emergencia de Chiapas.” It is our hope that as others are informed of the dire situation of our compañeros living in and around Tapachula a grassroots effort may be formed that will help them re-build their lives.
