Class and Ethnicity in the Canton of Cayambe: the Roots of Ecuador's Modern Indian Movement
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Class and Ethnicity in the Canton of Cayambe: The Roots of Ecuador's Modern Indian Movement by Marc Becker B.A., Bethel College, 1985 M.A., University of Kansas, 1990 Submitted to the Department of History and the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Chair) (Committee Members) Date Defended: Abstract Marc Becker, Ph.D. Department of History, 1997 University of Kansas My research examines changes in ideologies of class and ethnicity within rural movements for social change in Ecuador during the twentieth century. It explores how popular organizations engaged class analyses and ethnic identities in order to influence strategies of political mobilization among Indigenous and peasant peoples. Although recently ethnicity has come to dominate Indigenous political discourse, I have discovered that historically the rural masses defended their class interests, especially those related to material concerns such as land, wages, and work, even while embracing an ideology of ethnicity. Through the study of land tenure and political mobilization issues, this project examines the roles of leadership, institutions, economics, and class relations in order to understand the formation of class ideologies and ethnic politics in Ecuador. Although various Indigenous revolts occurred during the colonial period, these were localized and lacked a global vision for social change. In contrast, beginning in the 1920s Indian organizations emerged which understood that immediate and local solutions would not improve their situation, but rather that there must be fundamental structural changes in society. Moving from narrow, local revolts to broad organiza- tional efforts for structural change represented a profound ideological shift which marks the birth of Ecuador's modern Indian movement. An examination of how these early organizations and movements developed and operated elucidates the emergence of subsequent Indigenous organizations. This study utilizes a sequence of organizing efforts in the Canton of Cayambe in the northern Ecuadorian highlands from the formation of the first Indigenous sindicatos (peasant unions) in the 1920s to the promulgation of agrarian reform legislation in 1964 as a case study. This story reveals the demands of Indigenous movements, the organizational strategies which they implemented to achieve those demands, and the influence which this history had on the formation of Ecuador's modern Indian move- ment. It is the thesis of this study that Ecuador's Indigenous movement has its roots in leftist organizational efforts, and that its character must be understood as an integral part of that history. In fact, it is the nature and content of that relationship with the left which has led to Ecuador witnessing perhaps the strongest Indigenous movement in Latin America in the 1990s. ii Acknowledgments In the process of a project such as this one, a person naturally accumulates many debts. It is customary on this page to profusely acknowledge the assistance of everyone involved, but that is an inherently risky endeavor because inevitably someone is forgotten. In any case, let me make an attempt to fulfill this duty. My initial introduction to Ecuador came with Oregon State University's study abroad program in Quito during the summer of 1990. Marleen Haboud, my anthro- pology professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, introduced me to Indigenous politics in Ecuador and encouraged me to think critically about many of the themes which I develop in this dissertation. I returned to Ecuador for six months of preliminary dissertation research during 1993-1994 and for another year during 1995-1996. John and Ligia Simmons, friends in Lawrence, put me in contact with their family in Ecuador who assisted with my transition to that culture. In particular, Cristóbal Galarza graciously shared of his time. Cristóbal introduced me to Marco Maldonado who, together with his wife Nancy Pinos and family, openly welcomed me into their home in Cayambe. I am forever indebted to Marco for his assistance. Mercedes Prieto provided me with valuable material and assistance with this project. Antonio Crespi and the late Eduardo Estrella kindly provided me access to the Junta Central de Asistencia Pública archival collections. Likewise, Ramiro Avila capably assisted with materials in the Fondo Bonifaz at the Archivo Histórico del Banco Central del Ecuador. The Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) provided me with an institutional affiliation. I would also like to extend my appreciation to the many other people who helped me in Ecuador. I received a Summer Graduate School Fellowship, Pearson Fellowship, University of Kansas Dissertation Fellowship, and five (three summers and two years) Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) graduate fellowships which funded this work. I also received a two-year award from the Social Science Research Council of an SSRC-MacArthur Foundation Fellowship on Peace and Security in a Changing World. This award allowed me to greatly expand and deepen this dissertation project, including a year as a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and an Intern at the South and Meso American Indian Rights Center (SAIIC), in Oakland, California. In particular, I would like to thank Nilo Cayuqueo who made that an exceptionally valuable experience. Back in Kansas, Elizabeth Kuznesof capably directed the dissertation. Charles Stansifer, Anton Rosenthal, John Hoopes, and William Tuttle all graciously sat on my iii committee and provided me with helpful feedback. Finally, thanks also go to Cheryl and Koosa. iv For Shelley Solo los obreros y campesinos irán hasta el fin A.C. Sandino Huaranca, huaranca, tucuncapac ticramushami Tupac Amaru v Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................... ii List of Tables, Figures, and Maps ...................................... v I. Introduction: Class Ideologies and Ethnic Politics in Ecuadorian Peasant and Indigenous Movements .............................................. 1 Part One: History and Economics II. Historic and Social Origins of Revolt in Ecuador ........................ 31 A. Regionalism in Ecuadorian history B. The formation of ethnic and group identity in Ecuador 1. Coast 2. Amazon 3. Highlands III. Culture and Ethnicity in the Canton of Cayambe ....................... 57 A. Cayambe-Caranqui period B. Inka occupation C. Spanish colonial period D. Nineteenth-century political economy IV. Land Tenure Patterns and Rural Economies in Cayambe ................. 89 A. Encomiendas and haciendas B. Service tenancy and the huasipungo C. Demographics and agricultural censuses V. Public Space, Private Space: A Tale of Two Haciendas .................. 116 A. Pesillo hacienda 1. Asistencia Pública 2. Reforms of the Asistencia Pública program B. Guachalá hacienda Part Two: Organization and Protest VI. Una Revolución Comunista Indígena: Rural Protest Movements in Cayambe 149 A. A brief history of the Ecuadorian Left vi B. Early peasant organizations in Cayambe 1. Juan Montalvo 2. Pesillo 3. 1930-1931 strike 4. Primer Congreso de Organizaciones Campesinas (1931) 5. Conferencia de Cabecillas Indígenas (1934) VII. Federación Ecuatoriana de Indios: Class and Ethnicity in a Twentieth-Century Peasant Movement ............................................... 205 A. Labor unions and working-class struggles B. Governmental policies and legislative reforms 1. Ley de Comunas (1937) 2. Codigo del Trabajo (1938) C. Federación Ecuatoriana de Indios (1944) D. Ethnicity in a peasant movement? VIII. Una Granja Colectiva Comunista: Proletarian Pressure for Agrarian Reform 249 A. Guachalá 1. Pitaná (1954) 2. Peasant syndicates on other private haciendas B. Pesillo 1. Working conditions 2. Land rights 3. Bilingual education C. 1961 march Part Three: Ethnicity and Nationalism IX. Ethnic Organizational Strategies in Peasant Movements ................ 294 A. Economic realities of agrarian reform B. Citizenship and constitutional reforms C. Emergence of ethnic-based Indian federations 1. Amazonian federations 2. Peasant-Indigenous organizations in the highlands X. Conclusion: Indigenous Versus Leftist Perspectives on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Class .......................................................... 324 Appendix I: Population of Cayambe by Parroquia (1950-1990) .............. 334 Appendix II: Agrarian Property in Relation to Population and Area (1941, 1943) 335 Bibliography .................................................... 336 vii List of Tables, Figures and Maps Table 1: Rural/Urban and Sierra/Coastal Population of Ecuador, 1950-1990 ..... 36 Table 2: Indigenous Ethnic Groups in Ecuador ........................... 41 Table 3: Ethnic Composition of Ecuador (1942) .......................... 43 Table 4: Population of Cayambe (1938-1990) ........................... 110 Table 5: Land Distribution in Cayambe (1974) ........................... 114 Table 6: State of Asistencia Pública Haciendas, December 31, 1929 ........... 120 Table 7: Asistencia Pública Haciendas in Cayambe ........................ 125 Table 8: Profit Increase in Sucres With Direct Administration (1946) .......... 132 Table 9: Land distribution in the Parroquia of Cangahua (1984) .............. 136 Table 10: Number of Workers on Guachalá Hacienda (1763-1892) ........... 139 Table 11: Peasant Cost of Living Index, 1771-1995 ......................