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Escucha aqu\u00ed: [podcast]https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/Audios\/pensamiento\/6mayo_comandanta-miriam.mp3[\/podcast]<\/p>\n
Mayo 7 de 2015<\/p>\n
Buenas noches, compa\u00f1eras y compa\u00f1eros.<\/p>\n
Yo tambi\u00e9n me toca platicarles un poco c\u00f3mo es la situaci\u00f3n de las mujeres antes de 1994.<\/p>\n
Desde la llegada de los conquistadores sufrimos la triste situaci\u00f3n de las mujeres. Nos despojaron nuestras tierras, nos quitaron nuestra lengua, nuestra cultura. Es as\u00ed donde entr\u00f3 la dominaci\u00f3n del caciquismo, terratenientes, entra la triple explotaci\u00f3n, humillaci\u00f3n, discriminaci\u00f3n, marginaci\u00f3n, maltrato, desigualdad.<\/p>\n
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Listen here: [podcast]https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/Audios\/pensamiento\/6mayo_comandanta-miriam.mp3[\/podcast]<\/p>\n
Good evening compa\u00f1eros<\/em> and compa\u00f1eras<\/em>.<\/p>\n I also have the chance to talk to you a bit about what the situation was for women prior to 1994.<\/p>\n Women suffered through a very sad situation since the arrival of the conquistadors. They stole our land and took our language, our culture. This is how the domination of caciquismo<\/em> [local despotism] and landowners came into being alongside a triple exploitation, humiliation, discrimination, marginalization, mistreatment, and inequality.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Porque los pinches patrones nos ten\u00eda como si fuera que somos el due\u00f1o de ellos, nos mandaba a hacer todo el trabajo en las haciendas, sin importar si tenemos hijos, maridos o si estamos enfermas. No nos pregunta si estamos enfermas, si no llegamos a trabajar manda su muchacho o el esclavo, a dejar el ma\u00edz enfrente de la cocina para que hici\u00e9ramos la tortilla para ellos.<\/p>\n Y as\u00ed pas\u00f3 mucho tiempo, trabajamos en la casa del patr\u00f3n. Molemos la sal porque la sal no era as\u00ed como ahora, la sal que viene as\u00ed fina, sino que la sal que antes usaban son grandes, son bolas grandes y lo ten\u00edan que moler las mujeres; y llegaban a moler la sal para el ganado, y a sacar la c\u00e1scara del caf\u00e9 cuando es tiempo de cosecha de caf\u00e9. Si entra a las 6 de la ma\u00f1ana, sale a las 5 de la tarde. Todo el d\u00eda tiene que dejar listo los bultos de caf\u00e9 que le toca hacer a una mujer.<\/p>\n Es as\u00ed que trabajaron las mujeres. As\u00ed trabajaron las mujeres con maltrato, con cargar el agua, y la miseria, o sea que le dan una paga miserable, s\u00f3lo le dan un pu\u00f1ito de sal o un pu\u00f1ito de caf\u00e9 molido, es el pago que le dan a las mujeres.<\/p>\n Y as\u00ed pasando los a\u00f1os que las mujeres sufr\u00edan, y cuando nosotros, cuando nosotras, a veces lloran nuestros hijos y amamantamos a nuestros hijos, nos gritan, nos burlan, nos insulta f\u00edsicamente, que no sabemos nada, que somos in\u00fatiles, estorbo para ellos. No nos respetan, nos usan como si fuera objeto.<\/p>\n Ellos hacen lo que le da la gana a una mujer, porque escogen a las mujeres bonitas o a las muchachas bonitas como su amante y dejar hijos por donde quiera, que no le importa qu\u00e9 sufren las mujeres, lo trata como si fuera animal con sus hijos que crecen sin padre.<\/p>\n Nos venden como si fu\u00e9ramos una mercanc\u00eda, todo esto en el tiempo del acasillamiento, nunca hubo descanso para nosotras.<\/p>\n Voy a platicar un poco del acasillamiento. Acasillamiento es que llegan en las haciendas o en el rancho, llegan con su familia y quedan ah\u00ed, y trabajan para el patr\u00f3n, porque los hombres son los que trabajan sembrar el caf\u00e9, limpiar el caf\u00e9, cosechar el caf\u00e9, limpiar el potrero, sembrar el zacate, todo eso, hacer la milpa, el frijolar, pero era para el patr\u00f3n; los hombres trabajan eso.<\/p>\n Pero aparte hay otra cosa que les puedo platicar, como el acasillamiento, aparte hay que le decimos mozo o esclavos, que de por s\u00ed siempre va a estar en la hacienda, mujeres y hombres. Pero esos hombres o mujeres que son esclavos o mozos, que quedan ah\u00ed en la hacienda, son hombres y mujeres que a veces no tienen familia. Llega una familia nada m\u00e1s a trabajar en esa hacienda y a veces enferman el pap\u00e1, la mam\u00e1, y muere, y quedan ni\u00f1os hu\u00e9rfanos y el patr\u00f3n lo toma esos ni\u00f1os y lo crecen ah\u00ed en la hacienda. \u00bfY qu\u00e9 hacen esos ni\u00f1os? No es porque lo adopta como hijo adoptivo sino como esclavo. Esos ni\u00f1os crecen y le da ese trabajo, si tiene mascota el patr\u00f3n, o sea tiene sus mascotas, el perro, el mono, cualquier cosa de animales, y le da de cuidar a su mozo, lo cuida. Donde va el mono ah\u00ed tiene que ir, ah\u00ed tiene que cuidar, tiene que ba\u00f1ar, tiene que limpiar donde duerme, as\u00ed pasa.<\/p>\n Ya despu\u00e9s, cuando hace fiesta el patr\u00f3n, como antes llegaban los curas en las haciendas grandes, y los patrones como lo bautizan sus hijos, o cumplea\u00f1os, o casamiento de sus hijas en las haciendas, le da casamiento los curas. Ya despu\u00e9s hacen convivios y esos mozos les dicen que cuidara la puerta mientras ellos est\u00e1n haciendo fiesta, conviviendo junto con sus compadres, sus amigos, todo eso, mientras el mozo cuida la puerta, no lo deja entrar ni un perro ah\u00ed donde se est\u00e1n conviviendo. Todo el d\u00eda tiene que estar, seg\u00fan cu\u00e1nto dura su fiesta de un patr\u00f3n.<\/p>\n Y la esclava son ellas que hacen la comida, que lavan los platos, que cuidan el hijo del patr\u00f3n o cuida sus hijos de sus amigos de los patrones.<\/p>\n As\u00ed vive la gente ah\u00ed en las haciendas, y no es porque le da de comer lo que comen tambi\u00e9n en el convivio, sino que tienen que tomar pozol si hay pozol, frijol si hay frijol, s\u00f3lo lo que comen ellos mientras ellos comen cosas buenas, pero con sus amigos.<\/p>\n Ya despu\u00e9s, cuando el patr\u00f3n quiere salir a una ciudad, de su hacienda a una ciudad que tiene que caminar 6 d\u00edas, y se va el mozo, o si tiene hijos los patrones, a veces tienen hijos pero son inv\u00e1lidos, el mozo tiene que cargar el hijo del patr\u00f3n a llevar a la ciudad. Y si vuelve a regresar en la hacienda la patrona tiene que ir otra vez el mozo all\u00e1 y traer otra vez a su hijo cargando.<\/p>\n Y como cosechan caf\u00e9, todo lo que cosechan en la hacienda, y ese mozo tiene que estar al tanto con las mulas, con los machos, no s\u00e9 si conocen los caballos, tienen que ensillar, desensillar su caballo del patr\u00f3n, orde\u00f1ar el ganado y llevar las cargas hasta en la ciudad donde vive el patr\u00f3n. Si vive en Comit\u00e1n tienen que ir a dejar hasta en Comit\u00e1n, sale en la hacienda y tiene que ir porque le dicen que son arrieros. Y as\u00ed sufrieron muchos hombres y mujeres esclavas en ese tiempo.<\/p>\n S\u00ed hay matas de \u00e1rboles frutales ah\u00ed dentro de la hacienda, si se trepan ah\u00ed a cortar dicen que no lo dejan cortar, lo tienen que bajar echando chicote, no s\u00e9 si saben, el l\u00e1tigo, le pegan, no puede cortar las frutas sin permiso del patr\u00f3n porque todo lo que cosecha lo lleva a la ciudad. Es as\u00ed que sufrieron los hombres y las mujeres.<\/p>\n Despu\u00e9s de tanto sufrimiento de las mujeres o la explotaci\u00f3n del acasillamiento, se dieron cuenta los hombres de c\u00f3mo los maltrataban a sus mujeres. Unos pensaron que mejor salir de la hacienda de acasillamiento. Uno por uno fueron saliendo y se refugiaron a las monta\u00f1as porque quedaron los cerros, o sea los finqueros no acapararon la tierra de los cerros, sino qued\u00f3, y ah\u00ed se fueron a refugiarse. Como que pensaron que es mejor salir para que no sigan sufriendo las mujeres en esa hacienda.<\/p>\n Ya despu\u00e9s cuando ya est\u00e1n en las monta\u00f1as algunos pas\u00f3 mucho tiempo as\u00ed, y despu\u00e9s se dieron cuenta que es mejor juntarse y formar una comunidad, y as\u00ed volvieron a regresar en las monta\u00f1as. Se juntaron, platicaron y lo formaron una comunidad donde pueden vivir. As\u00ed formaron la comunidad.<\/p>\n Pero otra vez cuando ya est\u00e1n en las comunidades, como el patr\u00f3n, o sea el acasillado trae otra idea, como lo trataron con el patr\u00f3n los hombres, como que traen arrasando malas ideas tambi\u00e9n los hombres, y aplica dentro de la casa como el patroncito de la casa. No es cierto que se liber\u00f3 las mujeres sino que ya son los hombres que fueron el patroncito de la casa.<\/p>\n Y otra vez las mujeres quedaron en la casa como si fuera c\u00e1rcel, que no salen otra vez las mujeres, quedaron ah\u00ed encerradas otra vez.<\/p>\n Ya cuando nacen ni\u00f1as no somos bienvenidas en este mundo, porque somos mujeres, porque naci\u00f3 una ni\u00f1a, o sea como que no nos quiere. Pero si nace un var\u00f3n todav\u00eda festejan todav\u00eda los hombres, contentos se ponen porque son hombres. O sea, trae una mala costumbre de los patrones. As\u00ed pas\u00f3 mucho tiempo. Despu\u00e9s, como nacen las mujeres, es que como son in\u00fatiles las mujeres y si nace el ni\u00f1o ellos pueden hacer todo el trabajo.<\/p>\n Pero lo bueno, lo que hicieron, es que no perdieron para formar la comunidad, empezaron a nombrar sus representantes de la comunidad, y empezaron a hacer reuniones, convivieron juntos. Lo bueno es que no le quitaron esa idea, no le quitaron sino que vinieron otra vez. Los patrones y la conquista quisieron desaparecer su cultura, pero se equivocaron porque s\u00ed pudieron formar su comunidad.<\/p>\n Tambi\u00e9n los hombres porque es el que manda en la casa y las mujeres es el que obedece lo que dice el hombre. Y si te dice que vas a casar, es que vas a casar, o sea no te va a preguntar si quieres casar con el hombre que te viene a pedir, porque el pap\u00e1 ya tom\u00f3 el trago, o sea ya tom\u00f3 antes el trago y te obliga a mandar con el hombre que no quieres.<\/p>\n Es as\u00ed como venimos sufriendo otra vez con los esposos, porque nos dicen que las mujeres s\u00f3lo sirven para la cocina, s\u00f3lo sirve para atender el esposo, s\u00f3lo sirve para cuidar los hijos, y como los hombres de por s\u00ed no abrazan a sus hijos, o sea no apoyan a las mujeres, sino que s\u00f3lo te da tu hijo y qu\u00e9 le importa c\u00f3mo lo vas a crecer tu hijo. Y como -voy a hablar en la realidad como pas\u00f3 durante a\u00f1os- a veces las mujeres decimos que cada a\u00f1o nace un beb\u00e9, cada a\u00f1o y medio nace un beb\u00e9, o sea como estaturitas crecen los ni\u00f1os, de un a\u00f1o, al a\u00f1o y medio ya est\u00e1 otro, as\u00ed, escaloncito crecen los ni\u00f1os. Pero el pap\u00e1 no le importa si est\u00e1 sufriendo la mujer porque la mujer tiene que cargar le\u00f1a, tiene que hacer milpa, tiene que asear la casa, tiene que barrer, cuidar los animales, tiene que lavar la ropa, tienen que cuidar el ni\u00f1o, el pa\u00f1al, todo eso, todo es trabajo de mujeres.<\/p>\n Por eso decimos que sufrimos la triple explotaci\u00f3n de la mujer, porque la mujer tiene que estar a las tres o cuatro de la ma\u00f1ana en la cocina, dependiendo cu\u00e1ntas horas lleva para ir a trabajar el trabajadero de los hombres, tienen que levantar temprano para hacer el pozol, el caf\u00e9, el desayuno del hombre. El hombre se va a trabajar, regresa en la tarde el hombre, quiere que ya est\u00e1 cargado su agua, servido su agua donde va a ba\u00f1ar; ba\u00f1a el hombre, sale a pasear, a jugar, la mujer queda otra vez en la casa todo el d\u00eda, hasta en la noche como esta hora no ha dormido todav\u00eda la mujer, hasta las 8 duerme la mujer.<\/p>\n Y es as\u00ed que venimos sufriendo mucho. No le importa al hombre si est\u00e1s enfermo, c\u00f3mo te sientes, no te pregunta y as\u00ed pas\u00f3. As\u00ed vivieron en realidad, as\u00ed vivieron las mujeres, nosotros no echamos mentira porque lo vivieron.<\/p>\n Ya despu\u00e9s cuando vas en una iglesia o un centro ceremonial donde hacen fiesta van tambi\u00e9n las mujeres, a veces va, pero con la cabeza agachada. O sea no debes levantar tu cabeza, tienes que caminar as\u00ed agachada, ni voltear en los lados, tapar la cabeza con el rebozo as\u00ed, como que as\u00ed queda tu carita ah\u00ed.<\/p>\n As\u00ed pas\u00f3 mucho tiempo que lo tra\u00eda arrastrando el hombre esas malas ideas, esas malas ense\u00f1anzas. As\u00ed pas\u00f3, compa\u00f1eros. Como que no somos nada. Como que s\u00f3lo los hombres s\u00ed pueden ser autoridades, pueden salir en las calles y pueden participar.<\/p>\n No hab\u00eda escuela. En algunas comunidades hubo escuela despu\u00e9s pero tampoco no fuimos a la escuela porque somos mujeres, no nos dejan ir a la escuela porque si nos vamos a la escuela nos dicen que s\u00f3lo vamos a buscar marido ah\u00ed, y mejor aprender a trabajar en la cocina porque de por s\u00ed vamos a tener marido y tenemos que aprender todo c\u00f3mo atender un esposo.<\/p>\n Y cuando nos pega, cuando nos insulta nuestro esposo, no podemos reclamar. Y si pedimos auxilio con otras instituciones del mal gobierno son los m\u00e1s peores, porque apoyan a los hombres, les dan m\u00e1s raz\u00f3n a los hombres y nosotros quedamos calladas, humilladas, avergonzada por ser mujer.<\/p>\n No tuvimos el derecho en la reuni\u00f3n de participar, que nos dicen que somos una tonta, in\u00fatil, que no servimos para nada. Nos dejan en la casa. No tuvimos la libertad.<\/p>\n Y no hay atenci\u00f3n a la salud, aunque hab\u00eda cl\u00ednicas, hospitales del mal gobierno, o sea como que no nos atiende porque no sabemos hablar la castilla, y a veces nos regresamos y muchas mujeres y ni\u00f1os mueren de enfermedades curables porque de por s\u00ed no somos nada para ellos, porque nos discriminan porque somos ind\u00edgenas, nos dicen que somos indios pata rajada, que no podemos entrar en las cl\u00ednicas, en los hospitales, porque no nos dejan, s\u00f3lo le dan atenci\u00f3n a otra gente que son de dinero.<\/p>\n Todo esto sufrimos en carne propia. Nunca tuvimos la oportunidad de decir lo que sentimos por muchos a\u00f1os, por la ense\u00f1anza de los conquistadores y de los malos gobiernos.<\/p>\n Es todo, compa\u00f1eros. Contin\u00faa la otra compa.<\/p>\n The fucking bosses had us as if they were our owners; they sent us to do all the work on the haciendas, without caring if we had children, husbands, or if we were sick. They never asked if we were sick; if we didn\u2019t make it to work, they sent their servant or slave to leave the corn in front of the kitchen so that we would make tortillas for them.<\/p>\n Much time passed like this, with us working in the bosses\u2019 house. We ground the salt because the salt then was not the same as it is now, now it comes finely ground. The salt we used before came in large balls, and we women had to grind it. Women also ground the salt for the livestock, and shelled coffee when it was coffee harvest time. If we started at 6 in the morning, we finished at 5 in the evening. Women had to keep preparing the bags of coffee throughout the whole day.<\/p>\n This is how the women worked. Women were mistreated in their work, carrying water and all of that and paid miserably; they were only given a little handful of salt or a handful of ground coffee, that was the payment given to the women.<\/p>\n Years passed and women suffered like this. And when our babies cried and we nursed them, we were yelled at, made fun of, insulted physically; they said that we didn\u2019t know anything, that we were useless, that we were a bother to them. They didn\u2019t respect us and they used us as if we were objects.<\/p>\n They did whatever they wanted to a woman; they chose the pretty women or the pretty girls as their lovers, and left children all over the place; they didn\u2019t care that the women suffered, they treated them like animals, with their children growing up without a father.<\/p>\n They sold us as if we were commodities during the acasillamiento<\/em>[i]<\/strong><\/em><\/a>; there was never rest for us women.<\/p>\n I\u2019m going to talk a little bit about the acasillamiento<\/em>. Acasillamiento<\/em> refers to when people go to the haciendas or ranches with their families and stay there and work for the boss. The men were the ones who did the work of planting coffee, cleaning the coffee fields, harvesting the coffee, clearing the pastures, planting the grass, all this work, taking care of the corn and bean fields. The men did this work for the boss.<\/p>\n Apart from this, there is another thing I could tell you about the acasillamiento<\/em>, which are the mozos<\/em> or slaves there, men and women who are always going to live on the hacienda. Those men or women that are slaves or mozos<\/em>, who live at the hacienda, are men and women that sometimes don\u2019t have family. For example, a family comes just to work on the hacienda, and sometimes the dad and mom get sick and die and the children are orphaned. The boss takes these children and raises them on the hacienda. And what do these children do? Its not like the bosses adopt them as an adoptive child, but rather as a slave. Those children grow and this is the work they are given: if the boss has a pet, or pets, such as a dog, a monkey, or some kind of animal, the boss has the mozo<\/em> take care of it, care for the animal. Wherever the monkey goes, that\u2019s where the child is; they have to take care of it, bathe it, clean where it sleeps. That\u2019s how it works.<\/p>\n Later, when the boss has a party\u2014because before the priests would come to the large haciendas of the bosses and baptize their children, or for a birthday, or to perform a marriage ceremony for his daughters\u2014and afterwards they would have parties and tell the mozos<\/em> to guard the door. They would have the mozo<\/em> watch the door while they were celebrating with their colleagues and friends. The mozo<\/em> guards the door, he can\u2019t let even a dog come into where they are partying, and he has to be there all day, for as long as the boss\u2019s party keeps going.<\/p>\n And the women slaves were the ones who made the food, washed the dishes, and took care of the boss\u2019s son, or the children of the boss\u2019s friends.<\/p>\n That is how the people on the haciendas lived, and they didn\u2019t get to eat what was eaten at the gatherings; they had to drink pozol<\/em>[ii]<\/strong><\/em><\/a> if there was pozol<\/em>, eat beans if there were beans. That was all they ate, meanwhile the boss ate the good stuff, but with his friends.<\/p>\n Later, when the boss wanted to go to the city, from his hacienda to a city that is, say, a 6-day walk, the mozo<\/em> would go along. If the boss had children\u2014sometimes the children are disabled\u2014the mozo<\/em> had to carry the boss\u2019s child to the city. And if the boss\u2019s wife came to the hacienda, the mozo<\/em> goes again and carries the child back again.<\/p>\n And when they harvested coffee, in any harvest on the hacienda, the mozo<\/em> had to be tending to the mules. I don\u2019t know if you know about horses, but the mozo<\/em> had to saddle and unsaddle the boss\u2019s horse, herd the cattle, and take the loads to the city where the boss lives. If he lives in Comit\u00e1n the mozo<\/em> had to go all the way to Comit\u00e1n. He had to leave the hacienda and go as the mule-driver. This is how many enslaved men and women suffered during that time.<\/p>\n If there are fruit tree orchards inside the hacienda and one of them climbed up to pick some fruit, the bosses wouldn\u2019t let them. They got them down by whipping them, I don\u2019t know if you know how the lash works; they would hit them with it. They can\u2019t pick fruit without the boss\u2019s permission because the entire harvest was to be taken to the city. This is how the men and women suffered.<\/p>\n After so much suffering by women and the exploitation during the acasillamiento<\/em>, the men started realizing how their women were being mistreated. Some thought it better to leave the hacienda. One by one they started leaving and taking refuge in the mountains because these hill lands were not claimed by the plantation owners. So they took refuge there. They thought it better to leave so that the women would not continue to suffer on the hacienda.<\/p>\n After awhile in the mountains\u2014and many spent a long time there\u2014they realized that it was better to join together and form a community, and that\u2019s how they came to live that way. They got together, talked, and formed a community where they could live. That is how they formed the community.<\/p>\n But again, once they were living in the communities, those ideas that came from the boss or the acasillado<\/em> were brought in. It\u2019s as if the men drug these bad ideas along with them and applied them inside the house. They acted like the little boss of the house. It\u2019s not true that the women were liberated then, because the men became the little bosses of the house.<\/p>\n And once again the women stayed at home as if it was a jail. Women didn\u2019t go out; they were shut in their houses once again.<\/p>\n When girls are born, we are not welcomed into the world because we are women; when a little girl was born, it is as if we were not loved. But if a boy was born, the men celebrated and were content because they are men. They brought this bad custom from the bosses. That\u2019s how it was for a long time. When girls were born they acted as if women were useless, and if a boy was born, as if they could do all of the work.<\/p>\n But one good thing they did was that they did not lose the memory of how to form a community; they began to name community representatives and hold meetings and gatherings together. It was good that this idea was not lost, it wasn\u2019t taken away and it came to life again. The bosses and the conquest wanted to make this culture disappear, but the bosses were wrong, because the people could still form their community.<\/p>\n Another thing is that the man gives the orders in the house and the women obey what he says. And if he tells you that you\u2019re going to get married, you have get married. He\u2019s not going to ask you if you want to get married to the man who came to ask for your hand; your father already accepted the liquor they offered, he drank it already and this obligates you to go with this man that you do not love.<\/p>\n This is how we came to suffer once again with our husbands because they told us that women are only useful in the kitchen, or to take care of their husbands, or to take care of the children. The men didn\u2019t hold their children; they didn\u2019t support the women. They only gave you the child, and then who cares how the child is raised. And\u2014I\u2019m going to talk about how it really was for years\u2014we women often say that a baby was born every year, every year and a half, growing up like a little staircase, every year or year and a half there is another one. But the father didn\u2019t care if his wife was suffering because she had to carry firewood, plant the cornfield, clean the house, sweep, take care of the animals, wash the clothes, take care of the children, change the diapers, and all of that. All of that was women\u2019s work.<\/p>\n This is why we say that we suffered triple exploitation as women. Women had to be awake and in the kitchen at 3 or 4 in the morning, depending on how much time the men needed to get to their fields. The women had to get up early to make pozol<\/em>, coffee, and breakfast for the men. The men go to work, and when they come back in the afternoon they want the water for their bath to have been carried up to the house already and be ready for them to bathe. The men bathe and then leave the house to walk around, to play, and the women are once again stuck at home the whole day, until the night\u2014around this time right now\u2014the women are still awake; they don\u2019t go to sleep until 8.<\/p>\n So we were really suffering. The men didn\u2019t care if you were sick, or how you felt, they didn\u2019t ask\u2014that\u2019s just how it was. That is how women really lived; we\u2019re not lying because that is how we lived.<\/p>\n When you would go to church or a ceremonial center for a festival, and women did go sometimes, you had to lower your head. You couldn\u2019t raise your head, you had to walk with your head bowed, without turning to the sides, and covering your head with the rebozo<\/em> [shawl] like this, so that just your face shows.<\/p>\n A lot of time went by like this, during which men dragged along these bad ideas, these bad learnings. That is how it happened, compa\u00f1eros<\/em>. As if we were nothing. As if only the men could be authorities, only the men could go into the street and participate.<\/p>\n There was no school. Later on in some communities there was school, but we didn\u2019t go because we were women; they didn\u2019t let us go to school because if we went they\u2019d say that we only went to school to find a husband. And that it was better to learn to work in the kitchen because if we were indeed going to have a husband, we needed to learn how to take care of him.<\/p>\n And when our husband hit us, when he insulted us, we couldn\u2019t complain. If we asked for help from the other institutions of the bad government they were much worse because they defended the men, and said the men are right; and so we remained silent, humiliated, and embarrassed at being women.<\/p>\n We didn\u2019t have the right to come to meetings to participate, and they said that we were stupid, useless, and that we weren\u2019t worth anything. They left us at home. We did not have freedom.<\/p>\n There was no health care. Even where there were clinics and hospitals that belonged to the bad government, they wouldn\u2019t see us because we didn\u2019t know how to speak Spanish. And sometimes we had to return to our homes, and many women and children died of curable diseases; we weren\u2019t worth anything to them, and they discriminated against us because we were indigenous. They said that we were just dirty barefoot indians, and we couldn\u2019t enter the clinics or hospitals. They wouldn\u2019t let us, they only took care of people with money.<\/p>\n All this we suffered in our own flesh. We never had the opportunity to say what we felt for many years, because of the teachings of the conquistadores and the bad governments.<\/p>\n That is all, compa\u00f1eros<\/em>. Another compa<\/em> will continue.<\/p>\n