Notas sobre religión y conflicto en Chiapas

Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to establish explanations about the context of emergence of the first islamic indigenous community in the state of Chiapas. This phenomenon has to be seen in relation to the vulnerable conditions of life of the indigenous communities, enforced by the absence of state authorities capable of protecting their members from the violence executed by farming and cattle-breeding landowners. At the same time acceptable life standards cannot be guaranteed to the communities, and the government is not able to give them access to the facilities of economic and social development. Further, the legal acknowledgement of their traditional mores and customary law does not achieve solutions for their problems marked by discrimination and marginalization.