GUADALUPE VAZQUEZ LUNA

 GUADALUPE VAZQUEZ LUNA

Guadalupe Vázquez Luna, also known as Lupita, is an activist from Mexico and part of the Tsotsil community, representing the Alto-Centro region in Chiapas as a member of the Indigenous Council of Government. She is also the first Tsotsil woman to receive a baton from the Las Abejas, a Mayan Christian activist group. She is a survivor of the Acteal massacre, which killed her mother, father, five brothers, grandmother, and uncle. She advocates for solutions to issues such as violence, forced disappearances, and other human rights violations. She encourages others to collaborate and join forces, especially as the government fails to protect indigenous communities. Lupita’s experience is filled with political violence and discrimination as she engages in activism as an indigenous woman. 

Political violence changed Lupita’s life at 10 years old, when the Acteal massacre occurred. Prior to the Acteal massacre, she remembers a relatively happy childhood, growing up surrounded by nature and her father retelling stories of their enslaved ancestors. Still, her community was not ignorant of the conflicts and was aware that paramilitary groups were training nearby. When they started burning indigenous houses, they lived in constant fear but did not retaliate with violence. Her father, a prominent moral leader, had strong faith and encouraged the community to fast and pray, even when the paramilitary men arrived. It was while they were praying that the paramilitary men began shooting on December 22. Lupita witnessed her mother dying and had to be prodded by her father to run for her life. In total, she lost nine family members, including both her parents. At a young age, Lupita had the responsibility of raising her younger sisters. She recalls that it “was a strong change in my life because after the massacre, I had to stop being me…the little girl became a woman who had to look over her sisters.” Lupita’s life has never been the same since the massacre.

Like other violence against indigenous communities, justice has not been served; those responsible for the Acteal massacre were released from jail. Since that day, she has continued to fight for justice for the victims of the massacre and worked to keep the memory alive. She frequently shares her testimony at remembrance ceremonies, rallies, and other gatherings. Her testimony was included in a report to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for a pending resolution. Her testimony reveals how political violence continues against indigenous communities and the government fails to take responsibility. However this is not the end of indigenous plight as they face discrimination in other aspects of life such as education. 

Lupita also sheds light on the limits of education for indigenous women, reflecting on her own experience. After the massacre, their whole community was displaced and there was no school in the community. When a school did open, she sent her younger sisters. Eventually one of her brothers asked her if she wanted to continue with school and she did, finishing primary and secondary school, and eventually enrolling in a preparatory school on a scholarship. She said she faced machismo along the way, as her brother initially did not grant her consent for reasons relating to marriage. She persisted, but it was difficult. While the scholarship paid for tuition and board, there was not enough money for food and transportation. She lived alone and her grades dropped, so she left.  Her example demonstrates how indigenous women’s access to education is limited due to both family-culture and institutional discrimination. Education was not the only place where Lupita encountered machismo, propelling her to fight against it.

Even though Lupita strongly identifies as a mother, she also works to defy subscribed gender roles. She has worked with the Zapatistas, a left-wing militant group, to challenge “traditional women’s roles dictating the laws of etiquette, marriage and submissiveness.” This is also evident in her own life. At 19, she met a man and had two children with him, going against the tradition of asking her brothers’ permission for marriage. She continued with her activism, which people questioned because they kept her away from her duties at home. Eventually Lupita and her partner separated as she said he was drunk and jealous.

Today, Lupita is a prominent activist for the indigenous community advocating for a variety of causes such as ending political violence, providing indigenous women access to education, and challenging machismo. Her activism reflects the various forms of discrimination indigenous women face. She also defends land preservation as, like other indigenous communities, “megaprojects” take over their land and resources without consultation. Lupita blames the government for selling their land and resources for wealth, like water, gold, oil, petroleum, and other mining activities. As a council member, she believes her purpose is to bring light to long-standing problems because “the government is not interested in solving them or putting an end to them.” To raise awareness, she talks with indigenous communities and shares her own experiences and experiences of others with the council. As the government fails to protect indigenous communities, she encourages indigenous people to collectively organize as “one tree is easy to knock down but the crowded tree is not so easy.” Lupita is an example of a resilient woman who recognizes the various struggles that indigenous communities face regarding political violence, education, machismo, and land preservation. Amid tremendous difficulties and discrimination, Lupita continues to call for change while challenging the societal and political order of indigenous women.

Taken from: https://cowlatinamerica.voices.wooster.edu/2020/05/05/resilient-voices-21st-century-indigenous-women-activism-in-latin-america/