'The Zapatistas a the best. Because they eat snake. They eat lion, and birds, like that one,' whispered the little girl. She had come running up with a fistful of woven bracelets, the minute we'd edged past our first soldiers into the square at San Cristóbal. Night had just fallen, and it was almost empty. The 'problems', as everyone called the war, were hurting the crafts lifeline of the Chamula Indians as well as the tourist industry: mass cancellations meant that when the last of the reporters had left, the town would he bankrupt. We bought our first bracelets, and asked the child which army she preferred. She squirmed before saying 'soldiers' and laughing at us.

LRB 10 February 1994 | PDF Download