Displaced People from Ejido Puebla, Municipality of Chenalhó, Chiapas: Between Abandonment and Sorrow.
Jesús Raúl Cruz Camacho y Jesús Antonio Pascual Álvarez*
“Upon displacement, many women became ill. They cried every day, they missed their homes, what they had left [ejido, Puebla]. But little by little they had to forget it, so as not to get so sick. I also, even though I am a man, I cried, I remembered my belongings and everything I left behind,” narrates a representative (names withheld at the request of the informants, May 21, 2025).
In 2016, 54 families from the Puebla ejido, in the municipality of Chenalhó, Chiapas, were forced to abandon their homes and land following a political conflict that occurred in May 2015, when they refused to vote for the Green Ecologist Party in the local elections. Since then, they have been living in conditions of forced displacement in a makeshift camp on the outskirts of San Cristóbal de Las Casas. This May 26 (2025) marked nine years since that expulsion.
Before the eviction, they had a stable quality of life, without as many shortages as they face today. The loss of their territory brought with it a drastic change in their lifestyle, limited access to food, loss of jobs and alterations in their eating habits, which has directly impacted their health. Currently, the number of families has increased to more than 65, totaling approximately 280 people of different ages. Their stories bear witness to a humanitarian crisis that remains largely invisible.
Under a tin roof that rattles with the first drops of May rains, two representatives of the camp welcome us with a restrained smile and looks that reflect uncertainty. Although much of the country is facing an extreme heat wave, in the mountains of Chiapas the air is cold and humid, a reminder that this place, more than a refuge, is a prolonged wait. In the distance, the storm clouds announce another rain, humidity and seepage that will seep into the walls, nylon and tile roofs. Despite this, small corn crops planted among the pines insist on surviving. “There we have land, coffee plantations. There we plant corn, beans, we work… So, well, it is better to go back,” says one of them.
Soon another member of the camp joins the meeting, somewhat suspicious of us, the visitors. A group of students from the Anthropology of Health course at El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), we seek to learn about their way of life and the impact that these years of overcrowding, uncertainty and threats have had on their physical and mental well-being.
When the roof leaks, fever rises
One of the informants, who is dressed in a red coat and black pants, speaks slowly, Spanish is not his mother tongue but Tsosil. Even so, he tries to explain that the most common diseases in the camp are flu, diarrhea and some serious ones, such as coronavirus, cancer and anemia, which have already claimed some lives. “The rain also gives us a lot of flu because it is very cold… the same in the dry season, because of the dust there are also more diseases,” he says.
This situation is not unrelated to the living conditions of the refugees in the ejido Puebla, according to the World Health Organization (2025) the environments of overcrowding, poverty and poor sanitation services are closely related to infectious diseases such as diarrhea, COVID-19 and tuberculosis. One of the representatives recalls how they experienced the pandemic in 2022.“The coronavirus hit us here because we are crowded together, and being indigenous people, sometimes we don’t respect the masks, we want to be all together in the place… from COVID nobody died, they held out. But soon after they got sick, two women died, children died, some young people died because there was no medical attention.”
At one end of the camp there is a building called the “little house of health,”which is attended by a nurse. However, although people are given primary care, the place does not have medicines or the necessary equipment for the treatment of diseases. In this regard, one of its representatives emphatically pointed out:
“We would like there to be better care, but there is not, even though we request that they bring medicines, we tell the nurses so they can request it too. And sometimes we say at the government meeting, but they just hear it and that’s it. There is no attention.”
From what the representatives said about the main ailments they face, it is clear to us that their living conditions are directly related to their health problems. Surviving in a camp that was designed to raise animals (chickens and rabbits) and now serves as a shelter for more than 60 families who live in piles, without fresh food, without land to cultivate, without medicine or timely medical attention, therein lies the cause of many of their illnesses and deaths.
Health in pause: one week to obtain medicines
In contexts of forced displacement, health is not only an absence of illness, it is the right to receive dignified, timely and relevant care which has been violated. In the case of this camp, the lack of coordination between health institutions and the community leaves people in a medical limbo.
In addition, community health practices, such as the use of traditional medicine, are often ignored or minimized. So here, illnesses are not only suffered in the body, they are prolonged in the wait for medicines and are suffered in silence, with lemongrass tea, with faith and with the certainty that the health system will arrive late.
“Sometimes a doctor comes, but even if he arrives, what is needed is medicine. He prescribes it here and we have to go to the pharmacy to buy it, otherwise he tells us ‘you know what? hold on, I will get it’. But it takes a week or eight days for him to bring it, and then the disease can’t wait”, mentions the representative.
In the absence of medical treatments, people do what they know, what they have done for generations in their community of origin, put their knowledge into practice, because the diseases do not wait, they are relieved with leaves, roots or infusions. “When we have a high fever we consume lemon and it helps for headaches and to reduce fever… another example is the ‘chilchagua,’ some big leaves, boil them and drink them for diarrhea”.
In fact, the WHO emphasizes that integrating traditional medicine into primary health care systems could help more people access health care and follow treatments.
When people are forced to leave their territory, as in the case of these families from the Puebla ejido, they also take with them their knowledge of what helps to alleviate certain health problems, draw on their own resources and make arrangements to resolve them in the best possible way. Thus, for example, they know the benefits of some medicinal plants and there are two midwives in the camp who have taken care of pregnant women. They combine the use of medicines and herbal medicine, they go to the hospital, but the women also receive care from the traditional midwives.
Nutrition: between deficiency and adaptation
The World Health Organization points out that being healthy does not only mean not being sick, but also feeling well physically, mentally and socially. To achieve this, nutrition is a key point. This implies not only eating enough, but also that food should be safe, nutritious and prepared under hygienic conditions. From the moment it is grown until it reaches the table, food goes through several processes that must be taken care of so as not to put people’s health at risk.
Food is not solely a biological need, but also a deeply social and cultural practice that cuts across the daily lives of all people. In reality, feeding oneself implies much more than ingesting nutrients: it is also related to how we live, what resources we have, with whom we share food and under what conditions we do so. In contexts of inequality and forced displacement, such as those experienced by many families in Chiapas, to talk about food is also to talk about rights, integral health and dignity. Therefore, when thinking about health, it is not enough to refer to the absence of disease, but to the possibility of leading a “good life” in which the body, mind and social relations can develop in balance. This includes access to nutritious and safe food (biological dimension), but also to a diet that respects culture, affections, identity and community ties (emotional and social dimension), as well as basic services, infrastructure, income and material conditions that make this possible (structural dimension).
The displaced have experienced a significant change in their diet. In the Puebla ejido, they used to grow corn, beans and coffee; the land was enough to live on. While in the camp they depend on small backyard gardens and sporadic support provided by Civil Protection. They said: “It gives us a little bit of beans and corn. Sometimes it is enough, sometimes not. Otherwise, we have to go out and look for work as bricklayers, laborers, or whatever comes up.”
The change in diet has also had effects on the health of displaced families; the lack of variety, quality and freshness of food compromises their nutrition, especially in children, the elderly and pregnant women. The representative stated: “When we first arrived here, one does get sick because of the change in food. Sometimes they send us sardines, but we have no choice but to eat them like this, with their flavors, even though we are not used to them.”
According to a CONEVAL report (2025), on Poverty and Indigenous Population in Mexico, the nutritional situation of people in rural areas is serious, and has not varied substantially in recent decades. Even the moderate and severe forms of chronic malnutrition have shown an increase. In this sense, malnutrition is not only a cruel punishment for the victims but also a hindrance to their overall development.
Likewise, specialists point out that low nutrition is followed by problems in schooling and, consequently, problems to have well-paid job opportunities, as well as abuse and exploitation in long working hours, child exploitation and high rates of discrimination.
Institutional neglect, a case left undiagnosed
For nine years, despite the large number of requests, the authorities have barely responded. Although meetings were held in January and early May of this year, only promises were heard, but so far their requests have not been managed. “Not one official from the new government has approached. The previous ones, at least, came to see how we were doing, but the current ones have not… we have asked them to support us with sheets of sheet metal because water enters the houses”, the informants state.
The government has failed to prevent displacement due to its unwillingness to resolve the conflict, disarm and punish aggressor groups, as well as to guarantee basic rights during forced exile. Precarious conditions in the camp, with no drainage, leaking roofs and no possibility to produce food, deeply affect the physical and emotional health of the displaced families. Informants confess that at first both women and men cried and suffered from depression over leaving their homes, belongings, memories and traditions. “We said better to forget it, because crying day after day makes you sick. It is better to bear it, there is no other way,” they confided.
On the other hand, teachers come to teach primary and secondary school children, young people cannot afford the privilege of studying a university degree because it demands a great economic expense. Instead, they decide to get married and thereby add new families, so far approximately 65, who need food, work and sustenance. “There are young people who already formed families during the displacement, so for one house we cannot live 10 or 12 people… we presented that to the Secretary, but he said -well, we will see.” They pointed out with a certain resignation.
Their stories raise questions, forcing us to look at what is normally ignored. Human rights, health, food and housing are still a privilege in many parts of Mexico, and that institutional silence in the face of suffering is not neutral: it is complicity.
Returning home, the remedy for recovery
Return in contexts of forced displacement implies much more than moving people from one place to another. It requires guaranteeing adequate and dignified conditions that allow access to basic services such as drinking water, drainage, adequate housing, medical care, security, access roads and environmental conditions that do not put life at risk. These are not favors, they are rights in terms of public health.
However, the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (2023) warns that, in Mexico, and especially in states such as Chiapas, Guerrero and Michoacán, internal displacement due to political, religious or territorial conflicts often remain invisible or with inoperative institutional follow-up. There are no comprehensive return programs with a focus on health. At most, there are governmental promises, but promises do not cure or nourish. “We are going to return because that is where our home is, our plots, coffee plantations and land. So that’s where it is,” say community representatives.
The informants state that the National Housing Commission (CONAVI) has built some houses, but not as many as are needed; others are still missing because they are not taking into account the new families that have been started. They also claim that the houses that have been built lack electricity, water and drainage. “We have also requested, as all the coffee plantations there have turned into mountains and there is nothing at the moment, to make an agreement so that they give us some food or something to plant… These are the points we want to discuss with the government, but they do not invite us”.
Nine years after the forced eviction from the Puebla ejido in Chenalhó, the displaced families are still waiting for a solution that is not limited to “relocating” them, but that guarantees that they will live with dignity. Because return is not only to return to the land of origin, for those who have been displaced; to return without minimum conditions is to return to precariousness, illness and risk. “We can return, but we do need guarantees for life, because the armed group is there… Long before we asked for disarmament, we asked for punishment of the guilty, but no, the government does not take us into account,” they emphasized.
Human rights in general, as well as the right to health, are legislated in the Mexican Constitution and in international treaties, however, in the refugee camps, these rights hardly count. What the families demand is not a privilege, it is to be able to live and return to their own land in a healthy way, as an act of social justice.
By way of closing
This work sought to make visible, from a real perspective, how forced displacement not only deprives people of their territory, but also profoundly transforms their nutrition, their access to medical services and their physical and emotional well-being. By listening to the voices of those who resist in the midst of institutional abandonment, we intend to contribute to the understanding of health as a phenomenon inseparable from the social, cultural and political conditions that are part of everyday life.
We thank the representatives of the displaced families for opening this space to their story and telling us about the harsh situation of life and injustice in which they find themselves. We echo their legitimate demand: that the government authorities comply with the agreements made and guarantee, without further delay, their safe, respectful and dignified return.
* This work is the result of the Anthropology of Health Course organized by the Master of Science in Natural Resources and Rural Development of the Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Unidad San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas.
Original text published in Chiapas Paralelo on June 1st, 2025.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.