Las Cafeteras, a Zapatista-inspired band, speaks on upbringings

Las Cafeteras is a Chicano nine-piece band from East Los Angeles (L.A.). Founding member of the group, Hector Flores, sat down with The Gateway at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival (EFMF) to chat about their Zapatista–inspired philosophy, their beginning, and what folk music is. 

The Zapatistas, or the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, is a militant group in Mexico, started by Emiliano Zapata. The group fights for Indigenous rights in Mexico and controls municipalities in Chiapas, Mexico, that it claims are autonomous. In these towns, Indigenous people have rights and representation, and they operate within a specific set of guidelines inspired by Indigenous practices.

Las Cafeteras learned these teachings and adopted them during their time at the Eastside Cafe in L.A., which is “inspired by the Zapatista Movement.”

Coming onto stage for their set at EFMF, the band all had pink masks on, covering their face. This move acts as tribute to the Zapatistas, as the group wears bandanas to cover their faces.

There’s two sides of the coin when it comes to the masks. “We have masked men kidnapping mothers and kids in L.A., and we have superheroes who wear masks. There’s a lot at play,” Flores said. 

The Zapatista philosophy is alive and well in Las Cafeteras’ music

“It’s about a political approach to making music. Our Zapatista ideology is to create a world where many worlds exist. It’s to create music that makes people feel connected to one another, music that’s about solidarity, beyond borders and identity,” Flores explained. 

The goal for the band is to bring together people of all backgrounds.

“If people from different communities, incomes, backgrounds, and countries can dance on the dancefloor together, it can work after the dance floor. It becomes a microcosm of what we want to see,” Flores said. He attributes this to Zapatista teachings. 

The band also looks to uplift and highlight their female members, but also women in general. The band’s outfits are pink and black, with the pink is to represent women, as is the band’s name. Las Cafeteras isn’t the band’s original name.

“We use language to sort of take a jab at misogyny and patriarchy. When we were students, we would play everywhere. Streets, marches, protests, fights, funerals, everything. One time, someone asked us our name after a set, and we didn’t have one. But since they knew we were from the cafe, they called us Los Cafeteros,” Flores explained. 

Because the name’s masculine form “isolated the women in the crew,” they decided to change the name to the feminized version, Las Cafeteras, to represent them. 

The band also makes sure that each member is the same distance from the front of the stage in order to make sure everyone is seen equally. “Other bands might have a lead singer the whole set, and that’s cool, but for us, we came up in a very horizontal, Zapatista inspired space. Everybody plays, everybody sings, and that’s just how we approach music. It’s collective work. That’s how we want in society so that’s what we do on stage. It’s in practice,” Flores explained. 

Flores spoke on his views about the American government

In practicing what they want to see in the world, there is a sense of indirect protest against the American government. “We want to build a world where many worlds exist. And that is in stark contrast with [Donald] Trump’s America,” Flores said. 

He added that there’s some things the U.S. (United States) can learn from Canada. While he recognizes Canada’s actions against Indigenous peoples, he commended Canada for reconciliation efforts. “Canadian First Nations people really pushed for that process here [in Canada]. They put themselves on the line, they were vulnerable, and, at times, even martyred. In the U.S., we’re not there yet. So we look to Canada when it comes to that.” 

He said that with Trump’s threats of annexing Canada, Trump would not care for Canada’s Indigenous Peoples, and only wants Canada in order scrape the country clean of resources. Flores said the band stands united with Canadians against Trump. 

“We see what’s happening, He’s trying to manipulate the conversation, but he wants raw Canadian resources. He doesn’t care about Indigenous territories. We are in solidarity with those fighting back against him.” 

And with the band’s range of sounds including everything from “808s, beats, and Kendrick Lamar,” Flores said this fits into the folk genre. “Folk is storytelling. I was at a panel with Ani DiFranco, and she was asked who she thought the folk artist of our time was, and she said Kendrick Lamar. Which is dope because a lot of folk artists wouldn’t see him as a folk musician.” 

Las Cafetera’s most recent release, A Night in Nepantla, can be found on all streaming platforms.