Summary
Sometimes the cola racket can get ugly, as it did in the community of Mitzitón, where the richest and most powerful cacique, José Santíz, controlled both the local PRI governing council and the only store. The Coca-Cola company gave him a refrigerator, chairs, tables and other gifts in exchange for selling a minimum amount. Santíz, in turn, forced other members of the council to raise the money to buy cases of Coke from him each month; otherwise, he said, he would close the much-needed store. "For us it was very difficult...to be giving money for this devil's soft drink," said one council member. In 2000, some community members organized against the Coke-cacique nexus; in response, thugs burned down one family's home and threatened others. About 60 families permanently fled the area.
Chiapas being the locus of the world's first revolution against neoliberalism, boycott initiators had expected that that revolution's proponents would be strong constituents. In fact, the Zapatistas continue to be heavy consumers of Coca-Cola overall, though some autonomous communities have taken on the campaign. Subcomandante Marcos himself is a Coca-Cola drinker, claims Eduardo Sánchez, an exasperated Zapatista boycott organizer. Still, Sánchez is unable to hide his grin as he repeats what Marcos is reported to have said: "We have a way to get rid of Coke. We will drink every last bottle."Nevertheless, the boycott is growing steadily in Chiapas and, to a lesser degree, Mexico. Down the road past [Chamula] one sees, for the first time in miles, something other than ads for Coke or Pepsi-a painted sign advertising Mexican product Big Cola, which is not connected to caciques, the PRI or religious ritual. Two years ago, the store owner's son convinced his father to switch from Coke. Coca-Cola reps showed up at the shop and told the owner that Big Cola was making people sick. The reps also told the owner that if he would give them his three Big Cola trucks, they would give him five Coca-Cola trucks in exchange. Big Cola remains.See the full content of this document
Extract
Cola Wars
Thousands of candles flicker in the dim chamber. The air is thick with the smoke from copal incense. On the altar, men in black wool tunics and white knee-length pants play solemn music on drums and gourds. Below them, a score of Tzotzil Indians chant in small circles on the pine needle-covered floor. In the center of each circle are candles, eggs, copal and pox-fermented corn mash-in an old glass container, stopped with a corn cob. And next to the pox i...
See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
