San Cristobal de Las Casas: Street Art and Activism

As you can see, there is something to look at on every street of San Cristobal de Las Casas. Colorful houses, flowers, trees, cactuses, murals, papel picado, etc. Many of the murals and street art depict local culture and the struggles of different social, environmental, and political movements. Immigration, feminism, justice for missing people, the right to essential resources like water, the right to dignified work conditions, etc. The messages in some of the murals say, "No one is illegal", "120 thousand disappeared migrants", "Yes to dignified work!", "Machsimo off, affection on", "the companies steal our water", etc. The candlelight picture is a vigil for those killed in the genocide in Palestine. There is a lot of activism and many organized social movements in San Cristobal, which makes it an exciting and inspiring place to be.

Chiapas has some of the highest rates of coke consumption in the world. The first bottle shows the average global consumption of coke annually per person, the second bottle US average consumption, then the Mexican average consumption, and finally Chiapas' average consumption! Annually, the average resident of Chiapas consumes 821.25 liters of coke which comes out to 3,285 cups of coke! The mural asks, "If your body is 70% water, then what percent of coke does your body have?"

The poster with the Jaguar raising its fist connects the local Zapatista movement for autonomous rights of their territory to the Palestinian movement and their right for autonomy of their territory. The local Zapatista movement in Chiapas rose up against the Mexican military in the 90's to defend their territory and gained a lot of international recognition and solidarity. Peace accords were made between the indigenous Zapatistas and the Mexican government, and many global solidarity groups came to San Cristobal de Las Casas to witness and support the indigenous struggle for autonomy of their territories. This organized, indigenous resistance in the region of Chiapas has cultivated the current presence of social, environmental, and political movements. The Zapatistas haven't only focused on their local rights to land, territory, and autonomy, but rather they also have connected to other global struggles such as Palestinian, Ukrainian, and Kurdish rights.

You can see colorful artisanal tapestries, light shining through the mountains surrounding the city, many VMW beetles, and lots of small family-run stores. There are many, many more murals and messages around the city. After spending months in San Cristobal, I still run into new art and details around the city that I've never seen before. I try to walk down different streets every time I go out so that I can see it all.