San Cristóbal de las Casas and San Juan Chamula maintain a strong indigenous identity. On market day, many indigenous people from rural areas come into San Cristóbal to buy and sell mostly items for everyday use such as fruit, vegetables, animals, cloth, consumer goods and tools. San Juan Chamula is considered to be a center of indigenous culture, especially its elaborate festivals of Carnival and Day of Saint John. It was common for politicians, especially during Institutional Revolutionary Party's dominance to visit here during election campaigns and dress in indigenous clothing and carry a carved walking stick, a traditional sign of power. Relations between the indigenous ethnic groups is complicated. While there has been inter-ethnic political activism such as that promoted by the Diocese of Chiapas in the 1970s and the Zapatista movement in the 1990s, there has been inter-indigenous conflict as well. Much of this has been based on religion, pitting those of the traditional Catholic/indigenous beliefs who support the traditional power structure against Protestants, Evangelicals and Word of God Catholics (directly allied with the Diocese) who tend to oppose it. This is particularly significant problem among the Tzeltals and Tzotzils. Starting in the 1970s, traditional leaders in San Juan Chamula began expelling dissidents from their homes and land, amounting to about 20,000 indigenous forced to leave over a thirty-year period. It continues to be a serious social problem although authorities downplay it.Hidalgo, p. 105. Recently there has been political, social and ethnic conflict between the Tzotzil who are more urbanized and have a significant number of Protestant practitioners and the Tzeltal who are predominantly Catholic and live in smaller farming communities. Many Protestant Tzotzil have accused the Tzeltal of ethnic discrimination and intimidation due to their religious beliefs and the Tzeltal have in return accused the Tzotzil of singling them out for discrimination.
San Cristóbal de las Casas and San Juan Chamula maintain a strong indigenous identity. On market day, many indigenous people from rural areas come into San Cristóbal to buy and sell mostly items for everyday use such as fruit, vegetables, animals, cloth, consumer goods and tools. San Juan Chamula is considered to be a center of indigenous culture, especially its elaborate festivals of Carnival and Day of Saint John. It was common for politicians, especially during Institutional Revolutionary Party's dominance to visit here during election campaigns and dress in indigenous clothing and carry a carved walking stick, a traditional sign of power. Relations between the indigenous ethnic groups is complicated. While there has been inter-ethnic political activism such as that promoted by the Diocese of Chiapas in the 1970s and the Zapatista movement in the 1990s, there has been inter-indigenous conflict as well. Much of this has been based on religion, pitting those of the traditional Catholic/indigenous beliefs who support the traditional power structure against Protestants, Evangelicals and Word of God Catholics (directly allied with the Diocese) who tend to oppose it. This is particularly significant problem among the Tzeltals and Tzotzils. Starting in the 1970s, traditional leaders in San Juan Chamula began expelling dissidents from their homes and land, amounting to about 20,000 indigenous forced to leave over a thirty-year period. It continues to be a serious social problem although authorities downplay it.Hidalgo, p. 105. Recently there has been political, social and ethnic conflict between the Tzotzil who are more urbanized and have a significant number of Protestant practitioners and the Tzeltal who are predominantly Catholic and live in smaller farming communities. Many Protestant Tzotzil have accused the Tzeltal of ethnic discrimination and intimidation due to their religious beliefs and the Tzeltal have in return accused the Tzotzil of singling them out for discrimination.