Entre 1867 y 1869 se vivió en Los Altos de Chiapas la rebelión de los indios chamulas contra los ladinos de San Cristóbal de Las Casas conocida como Guerra de Castas. Según la historia oficial, los indígenas crucificaron el Viernes Santo de 1868 a un niño de dicha comunidad tsotsil. Este hecho puede compararse con la “leyenda de sangre” imputada a los judíos, y su transferencia a los indios suscita preguntarse si se trata de un suceso aislado, o si responde a una lógica que vincula al indio salvaje con el judío como el asesino del Hijo de Dios.
Between 1867 and 1869 in the Chiapas Highlands of Mexico, indigenous people of the Tsotsil Mayan municipality of Chamula rebelled against the mixed-blood “ladinos” of the town of San Cristobal de Las Casas. According to “official history”, the indigenous people were accused of crucifying a child from Chamula on Holy Friday, 1868. This accusation may be compared with the “blood libel,” which was blamed on the Jews. In both cases, a child was said to be sacrificed through a ritual crime imitating the Passion of Christ, in which the spilled blood was consumed. The transference of the blood libel against the Jews to the indigenous people of Mexico begs us to ask whether the latter event as an isolated occurrence or a response to a more elaborate system of thought linking the “savage Indian” with the Jew, assassin of the Son of God.