Javier Silverio Balderas, cultural promoter and member of the Taller Leñateros project, died

The lawyer and cultural promoter Javier Silverio Balderas Castillo, linked to the Taller Leñateros publishing project, based in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, died yesterday, his son, Iyari Balderas Cruz, reported on his Instagram account.

“Today we say goodbye to a man who dedicated his life to walking alongside people. My father was not only a lawyer. He was a defender of the territory, of the communities, of the native peoples and of those who often had no voice in the face of injustice,” he wrote without disclosing the causes of death.

“From a very young age he understood that the law had to be put at the service of the people. That is why he toured communities, accompanied agrarian struggles, defended environmental causes and worked so that justice reached those who needed it most. His life was one of commitment, dignity and deep love for his country and its people.”

In addition to his legal work, Balderas Castillo maintained for decades a close relationship with the cultural work developed by the Leñateros collective, a space where art, literature and indigenous knowledge come together around the artisanal production of paper and the production of object books.

The project emerged in 1975 and “brings together Tsotsil and Tseltal creators” who transform recycled materials and natural fibers into papers with unique textures and colors. With flowers, leaves, cane and other plant materials they make paper that is later used to print silkscreens, engravings and texts.

In interviews with this newspaper, Balderas explained that the cooperative is made up of fifteen people dedicated to different editorial jobs and that the creative work begins with the manufacture of paper from newspapers, magazines and other discarded materials, converted into rough sheets, never identical to each other.

From this process, more than twenty titles emerged, considered pieces of art in themselves. Among the best known is Spells and drunkenness (1997), a volume that brings together songs and knowledge of Mayan women with Spanish versions of the poet Ámbar Past, a central figure in the history of this cultural initiative.

The editorial production also gave rise to publications such as Heart Dictionary y Dreams and spells from my mother’s womb, in addition to the artisan magazine La Jícara, whose issues combined poems, engravings, facsimiles of old newspapers and various graphic materials.

For almost five decades, this creative space has also functioned as a learning place for young people from communities in the Altos de Chiapas interested in papermaking, screen printing, bookbinding and engraving.

“We are art workers,” said Balderas when explaining the meaning of a job that seeks to produce graphic work without cutting down trees and through the use of natural materials (La Jornada, 8/27/22).

That effort was recognized in 2021 with the National Award for Arts and Literature in the category of Popular Arts and Traditions.

The family reported that this Saturday at 10 a.m. friends and collaborators gathered at the wake 6 on Revolución Avenue, in the San Juan Mixcoac neighborhood, in Mexico City, to say goodbye to his remains.