Another woman who was beaten by the paramilitaries explains why their struggle to save the forest is so important.
The companera gives her eyewitness account.
"From where will our children get their water?"
Dolores from CIPO-RFM inspects the damage to the forest.
Translated from Zapatec to Spanish by Elisabet Perez Cruz then from Spanish to English by Zinco:
“All we want is for our compañeros to be freed. They are innocent they have done nothing wrong. The compañeros have done nothing. When they were taken to SMA they were beaten and tortured. They were even tortured with chillis*. We just want our compañeros to be free because they are innocent. I think sometimes that I am ignorant because I do not speak Spanish but I am thinking why the local govenor is giving permission to the people of San Miguel to come and destroy our forest. I listen to the news on the radio, they are saying that we should not destroy the forest. They say that we should defend it because in the forest they are animals there are birds there are all kinds of animals.
I don’t understand the government says these kind of things then they are the ones who sanction its destruction. If the government destroys all this then where are we going to get our water from? From where will our children take the water? We don’t the government to give permission to San Miguel to destroy the forest. Where are we going to gather our food from? From where are going to gather the wood to cook the tortillas to feed our children so they can grow? Thankyou CIPO-RFM who has come to support and help us organize to defend ourselves. So the people of San Miguel cannot destroy our forest. Thankyou very much.”
*This is a particularly unpleasant torture technique favoured by paramilitaries who place chilli seeds in the eyes (and other sensitive areas) of their victims.
Images and words © the authors. Please contact to reproduce.
guy@guysmallman.com
jasonnparkinson@googlemail.com
“All we want is for our compañeros to be freed. They are innocent they have done nothing wrong. The compañeros have done nothing. When they were taken to SMA they were beaten and tortured. They were even tortured with chillis*. We just want our compañeros to be free because they are innocent. I think sometimes that I am ignorant because I do not speak Spanish but I am thinking why the local govenor is giving permission to the people of San Miguel to come and destroy our forest. I listen to the news on the radio, they are saying that we should not destroy the forest. They say that we should defend it because in the forest they are animals there are birds there are all kinds of animals.
I don’t understand the government says these kind of things then they are the ones who sanction its destruction. If the government destroys all this then where are we going to get our water from? From where will our children take the water? We don’t the government to give permission to San Miguel to destroy the forest. Where are we going to gather our food from? From where are going to gather the wood to cook the tortillas to feed our children so they can grow? Thankyou CIPO-RFM who has come to support and help us organize to defend ourselves. So the people of San Miguel cannot destroy our forest. Thankyou very much.”
*This is a particularly unpleasant torture technique favoured by paramilitaries who place chilli seeds in the eyes (and other sensitive areas) of their victims.
Images and words © the authors. Please contact to reproduce.
guy@guysmallman.com jasonnparkinson@googlemail.com 
