Autonomous Banking System in Chiapas

Since the Zapatista movement first rose up in 1994, declaring "Enough!" to the systems of colonialism and neoliberalism that were destroying the culture and livelihoods of indigenous people around the world, they have been hard at work building alternatives in the territory they control in Chiapas, Mexico. Without accepting money or services from the Mexican government, the Zapatistas have built autonomous education, health, and justice systems in communities around the state, as well as fair trade cooperatives that produce everything from shoes to coffee to clothing. Now they're expanding their project of autonomy once again with a new banking system.

The autonomous bank, called the Autonomous Zapatista People's Bank, or Banapaz for its initials in Spanish, grew out of the need in the Zapatista communities for credit. Although Zapatista health centers provide basic health care to all members of the Zapatista communities free of charge, they don't have the facilities to do complex surgeries or deal with certain emergencies. In those cases, patients travel to nearby cities in ambulances to be treated in public hospitals, where they often rack up crippling hospital bills. At the same time, young people from Zapatista communities were increasingly traveling to other parts of Mexico or the US to look for work, and sending back remittances to their families. As some families in the communities had increasing access to cash, they were loaning it to families in debt at exorbitant rates of interest. The local elected officials decided to deal with these budding loan sharks by creating their own, community run bank. Funded by an initial donation, interest from loans, and revenue from Zapatista taxes on road construction in their territory, Banapaz makes loans to community members at a rate of 2% interest per month for loans to cover medical costs, and 5% for loans to cooperative businesses.

Although Banapaz is the first Zapatista bank, it will surely not be the last, as the Zapatistas continue to build a world where many other worlds are possible.

Read more about Banapaz in Spanish on the Desiformemonos Blog.