Mi abuelo [English translation]

Benito Juárez said

"Porfirio Díaz knew it,

Obregón and Zapata presumed it,

Juchitán is a good soldier

with San Vicente1as its guide".

On my left I carry the bridle

and on my right the machete

and in my chest only a cry:

"come, sons of Napoleon;

I am a Zapoteco and I am brave!".

That's why I can't stop singing

about what happens to my people,

the poor claim justice

and the fieldworker land

because he is the one who works on it.

My grandfather killed frenchmen

and my father killed federal soldiers (x2)

and I only inherited

a jacal2 and three nopales. (x2)

My grandfather was a Juarista3

and my father was a Zapatista4 , (x2)

and I was always in a foreign land

even though I was an agrarian. (x2)

My grandfather and my father

died for justice, (x2)

I think that Lady

doesn't just come to see the jacales. (x2)

They buried my grandfather

in a pot made from black clay5, (x2)

my father was buried in a petate

but not alongside his people. (x2)

In the fields the fieldworker

is once again heard crying out: (x2)

"the land should belong

to those who work it". [x4]

1. the patron saint of Juchitán.2. an adobe-style housing structure historically found throughout parts of the southwestern United States and Mexico.3. a follower (and believer of their ideology) and or soldier supporting Benito Juárez4. a follower (and believer of their ideology) and or soldier supporting Emiliano Zapata5. a style of pottery from Oaxaca, Mexico, distinguished by its color, sheen and unique designs.

• Artist:Mario López