In June, almost two months since 12 evangelical Christian families – 49 people in all – were allowed to return to the village of Buenavista Bawitz in the southern state of Chiapas, the families say that all is ‘completely calm’.
The families returned to the village after five years of exile imposed by village elders and authorities for leaving the ‘traditionalist’ church (which blends aspects of indigenous paganism and popular Catholicism). During those years several children were born, while older ones had been at school in the nearest major city, Comitán. Some will continue to go to school there, 30km from home, for the remainder of the school year, before their parents decide whether to re-enrol them at the village school, which, unlike the city school, conducts lessons in the local language, Tojolabal, and not Spanish.
The adults will have to contribute a mandatory annual fee (580 pesos, around £24, per family) to the village’s traditional festivals, a condition of their return.
