The acropolis of the ancient Mayan site Edzná, in southeastern Mexico, impresses with its grandeur in a hidden spot in the middle of the jungle. This place is one of the most visited in the Yucatan Peninsula and in the country. An important tourist attraction for the national, state and local economy.
Upon entering the archaeological site discovered in 1907, a sign that says: “As of 1986, a program with funds from the international community was promoted to employ Guatemalan refugees in maintenance, excavation and restoration work.”
Although exploration of the site began in 1928 and some excavation work continued 30 years later, the site was rehabilitated by the team from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in the mid-1980s, with the support of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (COMAR), and later with the European Union.
“It was a very long project that began in 1986 and ended almost in the year 2000. It was a project with several stages, (…) through which funds were generated for the archaeological restoration of different structures on the site. In this project that the archaeologist Antonio Benavides directed and continues to direct, different buildings on the site were explored and restored, and both Guatemalan refugees and Mexican workers participated in this process,” explains the director of the INAH Center in Campeche, Adriana Velázquez Morlet.
Guatemalan refugees participate in restoration work at the Edzná archaeological site in 1994.
civil war and migration
The Civil War in Guatemala in the early 1980s caused thousands of Guatemalans to flee their country. Starting in 1981, the massive arrival of Guatemalan refugees to Mexico began. It is estimated that around 46,000 Guatemalans took refuge in different settlements in the state of Chiapas, particularly in the municipalities of Las Margaritas, La Independencia, La Trinitaria and Frontera Comalapa. There are also reports of people who arrived in the municipalities of Maravilla Tenejapa, Marqués de Comilla and Benemérito de Las Américas.
This situation marked the beginning of the operations in Mexico of UNHCR and the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) at the end of 1982.
The Mexican Government, through COMAR and together with UNHCR, created some projects to generate sources of employment. Such was the case of the restoration of Edzná, where at its most active moment some 400 Guatemalans worked per month.
Guatemalan refugees participate in restoration work at the Edzná archaeological site in 1994.
“Since 1986, with the support of the international community, a process began that involved refugees in the rescue and recovery work of this archaeological site,” says Renée Cuijpers, deputy representative of UNHCR in Mexico, who worked in the office that this Agency had at that time in Campeche.
“The work began early in the morning and what we archaeologists did was assign a certain number of people to the exploration, that is, to work with a pick and shovel, with a wheelbarrow, with delicate implements also when some important element came out, such as a burial, like a vessel, like an offering. And this is how progress was made in the exploration and restoration of the various buildings that can be visited today in the archaeological zone of Edzná”, recalls Antonio Benavides, archaeologist of the aforementioned Center.
Luis Felicito Castro has spent half of his life in Mexico. He was 35 years old when he arrived in Chiapas in 1981. He participated in the restoration works of the Edzná archaeological site.
Enriching experience
Since the majority of Guatemalans were peasants and indigenous people, they did not speak Spanish. This situation created many challenges in explaining the tasks and specialized tools used for excavation and restoration work.
“It was a very innovative experience, very important. I think both the Mexicans adapted to working with the Guatemalans and the Guatemalans adapted to the Mexican way of working, so it was a very enriching experience that also allowed us to explore a large number of buildings on the site. Today around ten hectares of the archaeological settlement can be visited and a very good part of these buildings were explored in this very long work”, points out the director of the INAH Campeche Center.
Luis Castro, 76, is one of the few people who worked on the site who are still in the region. He was 35 years old when he fled Guatemala. Since he was an education promoter at that time, the farmer also took advantage of his vacations to work in Edzná.
“Masonry, gluing stones, arranging stones, gluing them and remodeling, as they say, but it has been a very, very special job, because it is something very showy. You have to maintain it and all that. So we work, ”he says.
“I feel calm because I did a very special job. It can be said that it is to give you a view of what the park is. I feel calm, I feel happy. Thanks to those who took us into account as Guatemalans to be able to work there as well”, added the man now a naturalized Mexican.
For Renée Cuijpers, this project was very important in the integration of Guatemalan refugees at the time, since they were trained, accompanied by experts and were able to participate in the restoration process.
“It is also a sample of the refugee community’s contribution to Mexico, since today this is obviously an extremely important site,” says the deputy representative of UNHCR Mexico.
Although the Guatemalan refugees were naturalized and are now Mexican, like the generations that were born in Mexico, the legacy of these people is still present and that experience continues, although not with refugees but with their children.
“What’s more, right now they are also working there in Edzná, because my son works there and they are working right now in those ruins,” concludes Luis Castro.
