{"id":1258,"date":"2015-10-15T21:45:49","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T21:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/?p=1258"},"modified":"2015-10-15T21:45:49","modified_gmt":"2015-10-15T21:45:49","slug":"common-benefit-cotzal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/uncategorized-es\/common-benefit-cotzal\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Benefit: Cotzal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The municipality of San Juan Cotzal is
\nfound in the department of El Quiche, in
\nthe northeast of Guatemala. It forms part
\nof the \u201cIxil Triangle,\u201d along with Nebaj
\nand Chajul, whose habitants speak IXIL.
\nIt is found nestled in the Cuchumatanes
\nMountain Range, very close to several
\nimpressive waterfalls.
\nDespite having a fertile land for agricultural
\nproduction, many of Cotzal\u2019s inhabitants
\nsuffer from hard living conditions.
\nLand tenure issues were aggravated
\nduring the armed conflict, which had an
\nespecially cruel effect on the Ixil Triangle.
\nThe violence reached its peak between
\n1979 and 1983. The land of many people
\nwas repossessed, and they found
\nthemselves forced to work in coffee and
\nsugar plantations. Additionally, those
\nhorrible years left more than 1000 victims
\nin Cotzal, chiefly men who were tortured,
\ndisappeared and massacred.
\nIn order to try to rebuild the shattered
\neconomy of many families and, especially,
\nof the widowed and orphaned women,
\nan initiative has been taken by a group of
\nwomen weavers from Cotzal.
\nThis group of weavers was founded in
\n1986. At that time there were 5 women
\nthat, with a founding cooperative, were
\ndedicated to the production of weaving
\nwith back-strap looms. They began to
\nwork in order to try to free themselves
\nfrom social, political and economic destitution.
\nThey decided to create and sell
\nvarious colorful textile products in the
\nmarket. Additionally, they wanted to
\noffer other women the
\npossibility of uniting
\nas a group, in such a
\nway that other widows
\ncould find a medium
\nof sustainability. After
\nseveral years, the
\ngroup increased its
\nnumber of members
\nto 15 people, and
\ntoday it has reached
\n43 weavers, all united
\nin a common destiny.
\nEach weaver produces
\nhe r tr adi t ion a l
\nartisanal Ixil textiles
\nin her own house,
\nbut the project has a
\nheadquarters to conduct the group and
\ntraining activities. The cooperative pays
\nfor the women\u2019s weavings the moment
\nthat they deliver them, without waiting
\nfor sales, and also supplies them with the
\nbest quality thread, thanks to a common
\nfund. The cooperative also offers them
\nassistance with their healthcare if there
\nis a serious problem.
\nThe cooperative markets the women\u2019s
\nweaving both nationally and internationally.
\nTheir work can be found in stores
\nthat have the same principles of quality
\nand interdependent trade, such as
\nChikach in Guatemala City, Sue\u00f1o de Caf\u00e9
\nin Antigua, Al Natur and Caf\u00e9 RED in Xela.
\nWith the additional goal of increasing the
\nsales of the weavings, tourism services
\nare offered, all community-based and
\nsustainable. The part of the earnings
\nthat remains with the cooperative is
\nused for common benefit; for example,
\nto organize workshops and training for
\nthe women and girls.
\nThe women dream of having the power
\nto strengthen their activities and develop
\nother new ones, like a tree growing
\ntowards the sky. The women form
\nthe \u201croots\u201d of the tree and their textile
\nproduction is the \u201ctrunk\u201d. From this
\npoint, their plans can grow and \u201cbranch\u201d
\noff. The women dream of acquiring their
\nown property and building, where they
\ncan host a school to conduct training
\nactivities and to teach the young girls
\ntheir traditions, a store combined with
\na gallery to exhibit their work, and a
\nrestaurant-caf\u00e9 where they can serve
\ntypical food to visitors. With sufficient
\nrain and sun, and with the support of
\nthe Derossi Foundation, these dreams
\ncan come true. First, a building with
\ntraditional construction; then, a second
\nstructure with a kitchen and restaurant
\nwith a roof and walls. The cooperative
\nis waiting for help to make this dream a
\nreality.
\nWebsite: www.tejidoscotzal.org
\nemail: tejidoscotzal@gmail.org
\ntelephone: (502) 46.21.97.25<\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The municipality of San Juan Cotzal is found in the department of El Quiche, in the northeast of Guatemala. It forms part of the \u201cIxil Triangle,\u201d along with Nebaj and Chajul, whose habitants speak IXIL. It is found nestled in the Cuchumatanes Mountain Range, very close to several impressive waterfalls. Despite having a fertile land […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized-es"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1258"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1259,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258\/revisions\/1259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}