WEBVTT

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[sil.]

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[non-English narration]

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We are in a stage of evolution.

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In developing countries, the changes reach even
these small villages. It’s a transformation.

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The people are changing because
many times, working with the whole

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under machete all day long
doesn’t give much satisfaction.

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[non-English narration]

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It is necessary that man
seek a better life.

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[sil.]

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[music]

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[sil.]

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Life under plantation is really hard.
The problem is that

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we go with the children in
to rocks and is very hard

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and the sun is very strong.

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The truck only has a plank to sit on

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and it rocks and shakes and we don’t
get there until the next day.

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That’s how the children gets sick.

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When we get there, we’ll receive a sack
and rations and the people go to work.

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I make tortillas for the people

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and they all go down to the fields.

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During the political violence of the
1980s, over 400,000 Guatemalans,

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mostly Maya, fled to
Mexico and United States.

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The Peace Accords were signed in 1996.
But severe underemployment

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and the promise of better wages, led
to a dramatic increase in migration.

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Rather than a few months on plantations, many Todos
Santeros now remain in the United States for years.

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Over 36% of families in Guatemala

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no longer have a head of household.

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But Santiaga’s kitchen is
always a hub of activity.

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Her daughter Cristina is
married to a Swiss man, Roman.

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They have two daughters.

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Santiago also cares for
her nephew, 19-year-old

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(inaudible), her 5-year-old
grandson Glad Anderson, (ph)

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and 16-year-old Martha, another relative. All
have parents working in the United States.

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Somehow, Santiago keeps them
all together in her warm

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and inviting kitchen.

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In 2001, Santiago and Porfirio(ph) ran a popular
and lively hotel with a great view of the square.

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But when others offered more modern
lodgings, they decided to rebuild.

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The old structure was torn down
and construction began in 2007.

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In 2009, Porfirio(ph) proudly showed me

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the new hotel under construction.

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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In early 2009, the Todos Santeros
were still enjoying economic growth.

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Despite migration, the population
had grown from 12,000 in 1979

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to over 30,000.

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Todos Santos had become a commercial hub in

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the mountainous region of
north western Guatemala.

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Rather than hiking miles
through the mountains,

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people now bring their products to
Todos Santos in cars and trucks.

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[sil.]

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By early 2009, (inaudible) from
the United States to Guatemala,

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rose to over $4.2 billions a
year, exceeding the total volume

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of annual exports and income from tourism.

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At first, funds sent my migrants were
used for food and household necessities.

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But with time, the (inaudible)
became used to electronics,

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cell phones, cars, and
another luxury items.

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And eventually to build large
homes, similar to those found in

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the areas where migrants were working.
The cost of building materials rose

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as well as the price of land.
Todos Santos became part of

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the global economy.

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Outside the village center, people still
plant their corn in early February.

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I went to visit Benito, the
former school teacher.

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In 1979, he lived in his father’s family
compound, where we documented putting on

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the new roof.

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[non-English narration]

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For a better life, it’s not necessary perhaps that man
learned more, that he learned to better utilize the land,

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that he be better educated, that
all his children go to school

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because here in Todos Santos, the
majority of the people are illiterate.

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Benito has also built a new house,
which, like many others, remains empty.

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His wife explained that it was built for
one of their sons who lives in Florida.

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Benito’s son, Estuardo spent
eight years in United States.

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One of the changes possibly
due to absent fathers

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or outside influences, was the
growing violence among young men

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and the community’s response.

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So what the people did,
they found security crew.

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So everybody has to participate at night,

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especially, also the young people who are
here but together with the generation,

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all have been more mature. So it’s also to
work together with the young generation

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and not only against the
younger generation.

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And they prohibited to sell alcohol. So
that’s why Todos Santos is a dry town

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and most people are agree with that

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and see it way more
quiet, way more peaceful,

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less fights than before. At the
beginning, I was very skeptic.

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Dry town and you can’t do that, it’s not
really legal and you can manage that

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but now after two years,
I have to say actually,

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it’s a good idea. Most people agreed
that it’s safer and more tranquil now.

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But other recent the harsh punishments
carried out by their own community members.

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It’s USA,

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United States.

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I was in United States eight year and half.
And why did you come back?

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Because the Negros stabbed me.
I was deportation

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Uh… after 12 months, we go.

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I’m going

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because the Negros just stopped me again.
(inaudible).

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Yeah. I come in this… uh… this country,

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the (inaudible). I was in the jail

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for 40 days.

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Yeah. This is bad, really bad.

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[music]

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I was eight year and half, eight
year and half in United States,

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the first time because my
wife is waiting for me.

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She is in Michigan with my son.
My son is born there.

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Because, I… I need to go back again.

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I need… Through the desert?

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Yeah. With (inaudible)?
Only me because in Mexico,

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it’s not a problem. It’s in the…
United States, it’s a problem.

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Because I’m going only… only.

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So I don’t have a problem
in Mexico, and Guatemala,

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don’t care what’s… I don’t have a problem.

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Okay. You too. Thank you. Thank you.

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You see my… my, my tattoo? USA.

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USA

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and the stars. Okay, see you.
See you next time.

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Okay.

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In 2010, over 29,000 Guatemalans

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were deported from the United States.
28,000 were deported from Mexico.

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Todos Santeros and other Mayans
borrow from $4000 to $6000

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for a Kouyate(ph) to bring
them across the border.

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Hundreds die of heat exhaustion, or captured for ransom
or are caught by immigration officers and sent home.

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Unable to pay off their debts
and with no means of work,

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many risked the trip back
to the United States alone.

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Other times,

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they return to Guatemala as victims of car
accidents, gang fights, or work injuries.

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But their loyalty and gratefulness

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to the United States remains strong.

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[sil.]

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By 2010, construction on
the new hotel had stopped.

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The price of rebar and other materials had
nearly tripled. And Santiaga and Porfirio

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were deeply debt.

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I asked Santiaga if her sons could help.

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Santiaga and Porfirio are
trying to sell some land

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but there are no buyers.

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Some men took their families to the United
States. After 13 years, (inaudible) father

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was laid off from his job at a chicken
processing factory in Alabama.

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They returned to their
newly built house in 2007.

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My life was so different in here. It was okay. It
was firm. I would never think being back here.

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Now my life here is different than then.

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I can’t make it like do things there, here.

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No, they’re different. What kind of things
did you do there that you can’t do here?

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Well, there, we like… I used to play.
I play,

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I talk with my friends or boys. They
talk to me but here, if we talk like,

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with a boy, every, all the girls here
thinks like you have something with him.

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I don’t know why the people
here thinks so bad. But there,

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if a friend, if you seen with him, it’s
because, it’s you’re friends there. But here,

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the people here think that you have
something with him. So you can’t…

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If you see some, a friend of you, I
just ignore him. I don’t talk to him.

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I’m not used to this place.
Whenever we go to school here,

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we have to go walking and then bus,

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pick you or mom takes you in car.

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Well, you told me you don’t like here, you
feel that much? No. I don’t like it. Why not?

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I don’t know. I just don’t like wind.

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Because it’s different? Because it’s, it’s
too heavy. It’s too heavy to… to wear.

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And if you go like in a walk so far, oh,

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you get so sweaty in it. It’s hot in there.
It’s like, if you wanna take it off.

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But it’s cold here now?

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Yeah. To me, it’s like, it’s okay with me. Because
I got used to it. It’s everyday like this.

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So for me, it’s hot. What
would you rather be wearing?

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Just like, like pants and shirts.

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That’s what I like to wear
but dad says, \"No, you need…

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No way, stop wearing that.\"
What’s your favorite color?

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My favorite color is sky blue.

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[sil.]

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My friends, sometimes I
call them to tell me how…

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if they’re okay, they tell me if I’m okay
too. Yeah, that’s the only way we talk,

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in cell phone.

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[sil.]

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[music]

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There are Todos Santeros living
all over the United States,

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in Sarasota, Detroit, Seattle,

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Oakland, Atlanta, Palm Beach.
(inaudible) daughter works in

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the Guatemalan embassy in Washington DC.
But Todos Santos is not a dying town.

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Many continue their struggle
for a better life right here.

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[sil.]

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Cristina and her husband
Roman have nearly completed

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their part of the hotel.

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Roman and Cristina also have
a house outside the town.

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I came here to Todos
Santos maybe 15 years ago

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working for doctors (inaudible)
for two years. During this time,

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I falled in love with Cristina.

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And I have a luxury life here. A simple
life, which is difficult to do in Europe,

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in Switzerland, where I come from.
But it’s…

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it’s a good life I would say. I can
work a little bit in a corn field,

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sometimes I do hiking, foreigners in the
mountains. I have time to be around the kids.

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I don’t need a car. Anywhere I want to
go, there are public transportation.

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And so that’s really, that’s
a luxury life for me.

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Making money in Todos Santos
is kind of difficult.

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But you also don’t need much money. But the
money I need, I get sometimes from hikes,

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sometime from renting a room,

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and my wife, she works as, that helps
a lot. She works in the store,

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and so together, we can manage it somehow

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that we can get the money we need.
In 15 years in Todos Santos

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actually I’ve seen quite a few changes. I mean, first
of all, the traffic. There is way more traffic.

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And with the traffic comes
the road, a way more road.

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Now wherever you wanna go, you can go by
road, not like before where you had to walk.

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There are now a lot of huge houses
from money coming from the States.

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And beside that, we have still
the traditional small houses

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with two rooms with maybe a
family with 10, 12 people.

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So the difference between rich
and poor raised actually.

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For the children, the life
is a little bit special

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compared to the kids from here because they’re living
two cultures. They have first of all the Mayan culture,

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they speak the Mayan language.
On other side,

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they have for sure has a European culture,
from, from the visitors we get here

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and from me for sure. But where
they want to live later,

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who knows. I mean, to live in
a mountain village somewhere,

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it’s not always something interesting for the
younger generation. But the kids they can be

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live where ever they want, when they get… when
they grow. I guess we as parents should uh…

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try to keep the doors open for them

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and not to try that they have
the same priorities than…

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than we have.

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[sil.]

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Benito is enjoying being a grandfather

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and also changed his kind of work.

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Later, I discovered that
Santiaga was involved

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in even more activities.

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Of all her many activities, I asked
Santiaga which she liked best.

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Speaking of trees,

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I ran into (inaudible) who
is also building in town.

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In 1979, he was working in the
government plant nursery.

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What I do is, I go to the mountains
to gather seeds, prepare the land,

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plant them and care for them.

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I also work with the people to make
terraces, so that they conserve the land,

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the little they have.

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I think migration will continue
always because in the cotton fields,

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they can earn some money. If
people want to plant their corn,

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potatos, other crops, they
have to buy fertilizers.

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So they go to solve some of their problems.

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The people leave.

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I went to visit him the next day at his home in the
valley. After chatting with his wife (inaudible),

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I asked about their grown
children who are professionals.

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Now that he’s elder, Desiderio has hired
someone to help him plant his corn.

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[sil.]

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Desiderio is always busy but I
asked him to show me his garden.

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[sil.]

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It was hard giving up.

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[sil.]

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When Desiderio finally sat down,
I asked him a basic question,

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what he thought about the continuing
migration out of the village.

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Since people want to live better
they must look for better work

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there is or there isn’t but at least
they must go and look in these places.

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That’s what’s happening. But
in the future, especially

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the youth with their studies they’re not
going to want to work with a hoe as I do

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like their fathers like
the older people, right?

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So these people, when they’ve studied,
some have gone to university,

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if they find work here, good if
not, they have to look elsewhere.

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That’s what I think.
Every human being wants

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better things for himself, right?
And for his family, too.

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That’s what I think. That’s it.

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
[sil.]

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:35.000
[music]

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:50.000
[music]