Journalist Edgard Garrido embarked on a trip to Mexico’s indigenous Maya region, and to his surprise, found a thriving Muslim community. In the southern state of Chiapas, hundreds of Tzotzil people (of Mayan origin) started converting to Islam in the late 1980s.
“People gave us a weird look when we converted, they thought we were terrorists and were scared of us,” says a local Muslim man named Mustafa. “But with the passage of time and our own actions, that opinion has changed.”
Though Muslims make up less than 1% of Mexico’s population (the country is predominantly Roman Catholic), a high number live in and around San Cristobal de las Casas, a mountainous city in Chiapas that blends both Maya and Spanish identity.
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