I’m back in Philadelphia for a few days. I arrived this past Thursday after flying American Airlines from Mexico City to Philadelphia. On Monday I headed up to New York City to check out the Zapatista Mural in East Harlem, better known as El Barrio.
El Barrio, also known as East Harlem or Spanish Harlem, is located between 96th and 125th Streets, Fifth Avenue and the East River. The neighborhood is one of the largest predominantly Latino communties in New York City and home to a growing Mexican immigrant population. Spanish is widely spoken, bodegas and Mexican groceries line the streets alongside shops offering money transfer services and airline tickets to Mexico and tamal vendors set up shop on the sidewalks. It rained the day I visited and I didn’t get the chance to explore the neighborhood as thoroughly as I would have liked, but I did manage to locate El Mural Zapatista, a large mural dedicated to the Zapatista movement which originated in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) is a leftist revolutionary group based in Chiapas, Mexico. The group’s leader and spokesperson is the masked Subcomandante Marcos. The Zapatistas launched their revolution — planned to coincide with the initiation of NAFTA – on January 1, 1994. Since declaring war against the Mexican government, their revolution has been largely non-violent. Travelers to Chiapas are unlikely to encounter any problems related to the group and travel throughout the region is generally unaffected aside from the occassional paying of two entry fees to access an area or attraction within Zapatista territory — one to the Mexican government and one to the EZLN. There are murals depicting images of Subcomandante Marcos, Emiliano Zapata and Che Guevara in many of the villages throughout southern Chiapas.
The text of the NYC mural is written in both Spanish and English and reads as follows:
Behind our black mask. Behind our armed voice. Behind our unnamable name. Behind what you see of us. Behind this we are you. Behind this we are the same simple and ordinary men and women that are repeated in all races, painted in all colors, speak in all languages and live in all places. Behind this we are you. Brothers and sisters from all over the world, welcome to this corner of the world where we are all equal because we are different. Welcome to the search for life and the struggle against death.
Here are a few more photos:
Democracia! Libertad! Justicia!
The masked image of Subcomandante Marcos
Indigenous communities in Chiapas
El Barrio can be reached by taking the 6 subway line uptown to 116th St. station. El Mural Zapatista is located at 117th St. and 2nd Ave. El Museo del Barrio (1230 Fifth Avenue), a museum of Latin American and Caribbean art and culture, is New York’s leading Latino cultural institution and worth a visit if you’re in the neighborhood.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, fascinating mural!
I went on a school trip to Chiapas a few years ago. On our bus ride out of San Cristobal, there was a huge traffic jam because of EZLN demonstrations. As we drove by, we saw hundreds of people in their masks along the side of the road. Everything seemed surprisingly peaceful.
This is awesome. I’ve never been to Spanish Harlem, but I’d love to make the trip. Thanks for sharing this with us and taking us along on your Mexican adventures! As a Mexican-American living in New England, I sincerely appreciate your writing.
Thanks for the kind comment Eve, I’m glad you’re enjoying it!