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.