Diana Manzo

Diana Manzo has been a Zapotec reporter since 2005. Social critic and dreamer, she likes to read and tell stories that generate harmony and peace. Her biggest dream is to continue learning and writing about women, the environment, migration and indigenous culture.

Chimalapas forest

Community Foresters Unite to Save Biodiversity Hotspot

As part of Mexico’s world-renowned community forestry model for sustainability, the example of the Chimalapas shines. It has produced important results in conservation of a natural biosphere considered one of the most important lungs of Mexico.

April 27, 2022

Chimalapas: Building community to save a forest

The municipality of San Miguel Chimalapa, located here, contains the largest section of virgin tropical evergreen cloud forest, according to Conabio, the Mexican biodiversity commission. Yet its 6,470-member Zoque population, descended from the Mayan Empire, is heir to a painful history.

April 12, 2022

Zapotec farmer

Zapalote Chico, The Corn that Fights Transgenics and the People Defending It

Rosario del Carmen Carrasco, a young campesina, serves as president of the “Xhuba Binii” group. She has cultivated more than 20 hectares of zapalote chico. Rosario inherited her love of the countryside from her father, and although she graduated as an engineer, she has practiced agriculture her whole life.

September 12, 2019