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Hound Dog

Mar 12, 2009, 9:48 AM

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Son Hechos, No Palabras

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It is characteristic of places, such as the state of Chiapas, occupying the bottom economic rung of a given political ladder comprised, figuratively, of marginally more financially blessed political jurisdictions, that community leaders speak publicly in heroic slogans of the serious mindset and bright future of the community suffering from some financial and social deprivation. It is also typical of the inhabitants of such a region, if they enjoy the liberties of free expression, to make light of this "heroic" but phony public posturing with slogans of their own. In Chiapas, the official slogan for the community is "Son Hechos, No Palabras" to posit the notion that, in Chiapas, we are doers not idle talkers. The locals enjoy repeating a contrary slogan in derision, "Ni Hechos, Ni Palabras" which I needn´t translate but which. suffice it to say, is repeated often with much relish and irony.

When we are resident in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, we try to watch the local news on television each morning to keep up with community happenings and this is especially true now that the local municipal potable water authority has decided to cut off the community´s water supply because, they contend, a large number of municipal water users are not paying their annual fees for access to that water supply. The authority more specifically is blaming a large number of indigenous citizens who often live in the surrounding hillside ghettos for not paying their required water access fees and many in that community are, in turn, blaming the water authority for delivering non-potable and turbid water to their barrios and we, as observers, really don´t know who, if anyone, is telling it truly like it is so we watch this urban drama unfold out of curiosity as to when we can expect normal delivery of our allotment of municipal water to resume - not to take sides which would be futile to say the least. We have found that, especially in Chiapas, discerning the truth of any community dispute is difficult if not impossible so we await resolution by others and bide our time since there is nothing we can do except refill our cistern if it empties with the available water trucks offered by the local fire department.

Since we have taken to watching the local Chiapas news more intensly than normally would be the case under the usual circumatances, we have noticed some things that might generallly escape our attention. One is that the local Chiapas news producers prefer to report on relatively inane events not likely to stir up trouble among the various political, social and economic factions of the community whose civility toward each other would be sorely tested in the event some sort of social inequity is perceived to be occurring. Consequently, the news normally broadcast is somewhat insipid to say the least. Since the availability of municipal water to all factions in the community is a sensitive issue, the local news channel prefers not to touch on the issue at all but concetrate on such things as economic development, progress among agricultural interests and non-controversial boosterism among local politicos. Advertisements interspersed among these soft news segments tend to touch upon such subjects as birth control techniques (quite explicit around here), alcoholism, child and spousal abuse mitigation and local industrial development. In order to ascertain the actual progress or lack of progress regarding recommencement of municipal water delivery, we have to circulate in the streets and inquire of neighbors as to what the local tom-toms tell them. So far the local grapevine tells us nothing about the ultimate disposition of this community wide problem except that the municipal water authority is saying that water will not be delivered again for at least two weeks so it seems to be a good time for a road trip since there is nothing else to be done.

POSTSCRIPT:
My neighbors just informed me that the water dispute has been resolved as of last night (municipal water is only delivered at night in San Cristóbal) and our aljibe should be full as of this morning. Cancel the road trip. Much ado about nothing as usual thank God.

(This post was edited by Hound Dog on Mar 12, 2009, 9:58 AM)

Hound Dog

Mar 12, 2009, 1:52 PM

Post #2 of 7 (2977 views)

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Re: [Hound Dog] Son Hechos, No Palabras

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FOLLOW-UP TO "SON HECHOS, NO PALABRAS" POST:
This is a follow-up to my previous post informing the reader that the municipal water supply of San Cristóbal was turned off last Friday in response, according to municipal authorities, to the fact that some municipal water supply users were not paying their annual water bills. Well, as of yesterday, the municipality ordered the water turned back on a day after word came down that one could buy water from the local fire department trucks which carry up to 5,000 liters of water to refill residential aljibes. It seems that, once city fathers heard that firetrucks were selling what might be non-potable water to city residents to fill their aljibes and other cisterns for residential use, they immediately ordered that this practice be halted and potable city water supplied residents as the non-potable water supplied by an arm of the municipality might be dangerous to consumers and precipitate various diseases which might reach epidemic proportions.

Now I hear the city says it will publish the names of non-paying customers as opposed to cutting off municipal water to all users.

So much that happens in Chiapas is not what seems to be happening. One learns to just relax and go with the flow the way the locals do. In fact, except for the fact that we have been told that no water was being supplied our aljibe at night, I´m not sure if any of this actually happened at all. Living down here does that to you.

(This post was edited by Hound Dog on Mar 12, 2009, 1:59 PM)

raferguson

Mar 12, 2009, 6:02 PM

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Re: [Hound Dog] Son Hechos, No Palabras

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I understand that non-payment of water bills is common, even among the well to do. As part of Mexico's "impunidad" (impunity), you continue to get water, whether you pay the bill or not.

A lot of this goes on in Mexico, people doing things that are patently wrong or illegal, such as seizing land, with zero consequences. The politicians don't want to make anybody unhappy, or have any trouble, so they don't go after the offenders. Mexico is not a society of laws. This is not unique to Mexico, of course.

Richard

http://www.fergusonsculpture.com

Hound Dog

Mar 12, 2009, 6:24 PM

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Re: [raferguson] Son Hechos, No Palabras

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Richard:

The way the municipal water people got around the "impunity" rule is that they claimed that CFE turned off their electricity for non payment of their utility bill which they claimed they had had not paid because they lacked the funds to pay since they had not been paid by their customers and therefore it was not they who were denying access to water but they who were victims since they lacked the capacity to deliver water without required electricity. This seems to have been a charade but we were still without water for a time and this dance could have taken place anywhere where functionaries play games with each other which is everywhere as we know.

I told the story about this incident because I found it amusing and also because nobody ever posts anything under the Southern Mexico Forum and I thought this story would perhaps give the forum a much needed shot in the arm.

(This post was edited by Hound Dog on Mar 12, 2009, 6:34 PM)

RickS

Mar 13, 2009, 6:16 AM

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Re: [Hound Dog] Son Hechos, No Palabras

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Well, that "shot in the arm" brings back memories of the quality of stories that Hound Dog is capable of contributing..... outstanding writing IMHO. The literary dog is much preferred to the attack dog!

So 'shoot' us again Sir Dog.

Hound Dog

Mar 13, 2009, 6:56 AM

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Re: [Hound Dog] Son Hechos, No Palabras

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Well, further clarification seems to be called for and it´s too late to edit my previous comments regarding the drama surrounding the shutting off of the municipal water supply in San Cristóbal.

Much of what we heard through the community grapevine and eventually to some extent on the local news channel was only a partial story as we suspected might be the case. It seems that, as of yesterday, demonstrations were said to have taken place in centro as some citizens became fed up over the shutting off of the municipal water supply and, whether or not that had anything to do with action by the city authorities, the city did indeed turn back on the water supply indicating, or so we heard, that some of the biggest offenders who had not paid their water bills were reported to have been actually hotels and wealthy property owners and landlords some of whom were reputed to have been collecting utility costs from tenants but not forwarding those fees to utility providers. The city now says it will deliver water to all but publish the names of those not paying their water bills in an effort to shame them into paying.

We can´t vouch for the veracity of what we heard through the grapevine but rumors that some of the most flagrant abusers not paying their water bills were hotels and well-to-do property owners would be in keeping with Richard´s comment that that is not an unusual occurrence in Mexico in general. It seems that it is also not unusual to try to shame water users into paying their past due bills by publishing their names locally for all to see. I remember the practice of publishing the names of those in the Deep South in the United States back in the 1940s and 50s of my youth when failure to pay one´s rightful obligations was considered shameful and publicly exposing their failure to meet their obligations was an effective collection tool if applied against responsible citizens. That technique might be less effective in the U.S. nowadays but I am told that publishing the names of slackers not paying legal obligations remains a powerful deterrent to non payment of bills in rural Mexico today and will probably result in the collection of a substantial portion of those obligations in short order.

There are about 130,000 people living in San Cristóbal these days and about half or more of them are indigenous while most of the rest are mestizos and these folks tend to be deferential to authority up to a point as one would expect in a civil society but it is not a good idea to refuse municipal water service to these citizens for too long a period of time. I´m pleased they solved this delimma at least for now.

As one of our neighbors here told us yesterday, "We tend to be quiet and respectful of authority around here but you don´t want to push us to the wall."

We´ve lived in Mexico for about eight years now and Chiapas for about two of those years. If we apply ourselves, some day we may understand our adopted social environment. We have a long way to go but are intrigued by the challenge and living in Chiapas is not boring..

(This post was edited by Hound Dog on Mar 13, 2009, 6:59 AM)

Hound Dog

Mar 13, 2009, 7:07 AM

Post #7 of 7 (2912 views)

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Re: [RickS] Son Hechos, No Palabras

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Well, thanks, Rick. That impetuous and nasty attack dawg was a youthful 60 year old since buried by the elderly 67 year old other dawg. For some of us it may take longer than others but eventually one must cast aside adolescent rancor. I promise not to be too nice, however.