Yo, Jan Nimmo, Glasgow, Escocia, quiero saber dónde está Abelardo Vázquez Peniten. Digital Collage: Jan Nimmo ©
Like many small towns in Guerrero that you might Google, you’ll find photos of landscapes, the town square, the church and amazing images of the local fiestas with the tlacololeros ready to do battle with jaguars. But these pictures are regularly punctuated with awful images that are difficult for the viewer; of cadavers, the victims of violence, sometimes sprawled on the ground, alone, or sometimes surrounded by a semi-circle of speechless townsfolk. I don’t pretend to know much of the circumstances of these random images that haunt me but I know that it is the context in which many ordinary campesino families live; indigenous campesino people whose life is a struggle to survive from day one. They are people who will no doubt dream of their children’s lot being better than theirs. So this is why the Normalista Rural Schools are so important. They are training young people from these small towns who will then, in turn, go back to teach in their own communities. Often they will become bilingual teachers. As educators these students are a threat to corrupt authorities, the police and insidious violent criminal gangs, like Guerreros Unidos, who have influence over the authorities. It is of no interest to any of these parties, or politicians further up the pecking order, to have the poor and the marginalised gaining more power over their lives.
Abelardo Vázquez Peniten, from Atliaca, is one of the Normalista students who dreams of making things better for his community. But he has been missing since the 26th Sept. 14, along with 42 of his fellow students from the Rural School in Ayotzinapa, who were forcibly disappeared by police and gangsters.
Abelardo, “El Abe”, is described by his fellow students as quiet, respectful and serious. He loves books and football. He is bilingual.
He used to help his Dad, who is a builder. His dad says he hopes that Abelardo is ok, that he’ll be home soon, but that the family are tired, sad, desperate, angry and still waiting for answers.
I have used some text in this portrait of Abelardo, from a song called Memories of Atliaca by Héctor Cárdenas Bello. This is a song about homesickness for Altliaca. (My English translation of the excerpt in the collage follows the Spanish). Wherever Abelardo is I’m sure he is missing his family and Atliaca, as his family and hometown miss him.
Recuerdos de Atliaca *
Ese lugarcito que se llama Atliaca,
reposa tranquilo, quietud sin igual,
me gusta es bonito, recuerdos de Atliaca
la paz de su iglesia que huele a copal
Sus calles derechas de viejo empedrado
evocan la historia que la vio nacer,
con casas de adobe, de palma y tejado,
recuerdos de Atliaca, quisiera volver
De mis ojos brota como manantial
el llanto que moja, tristeza es mi mal,
música de viento, canciones de Atliaca,
que triste me siento, quiero retornar
En mi pensamiento tus fiestas tus danzas,
tus viejas costumbres que me hacen llorar,
Pozo de Oztotempan la fe de tu pueblo
milagro de lluvia, ofrenda al creador
Deja que yo sienta el calor de tu suelo,
será mi consuelo cantarte mi amor,
recuerdos de Atliaca, dialecto canción
a la indita guapa de buen corazón
Tus nobles mujeres, todas de rebozo,
fieles al esposo al que saben amar
tus hombres valientes, a veces pacientes
saben defenderse, saben respetar
Esas tejerías de suelo tan rojo,
que mi llanto moja, ya no voy a ver
tus amaneceres que pinta la aurora,
es mi alma que llora que quiere volver
Caminos veredas, adiós ya me voy,
que lejos te quedas, mi canto te doy,
otle many villa, otle ya mi voy
ni mis caliva teva-ye vino canción
* Canción inédita de Héctor Cárdenas Bello
Memories of Atliaca (extract)
My wet tears gush from my eyes like a spring
I am sad to the core,
Music of the wind, songs of Atliaca,
How sad I am, I want to go back
In my mind I see your fiestas and your dances
your ancient customs, and it brings me to tears
The well at Oztotempan, the faith of your people
Miracle of rain, shrine to the Creator.
Let me feel the warmth of your soil
It will console me to sing to you, my love.
* Canción inédita de Héctor Cárdenas Bello
Jan Nimmo 9th of April 2015
Jan Nimmo 