Autonomy Building in Modern Indigenous Communities

MSc Thesis Rural Development Sociology

AUTONOMY BUILDING IN MODERN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES .

THE CASE OF THE AUTONOMOUS MUNICIPALITY IN SAN JUAN COPALA, MEXICO.

August, 2008

MSc programme

Management of Agroecological Knowledge and Social Change

Specialisation

Rural Development Sociology

Name of student

Víctor Manuel Mendoza García

Name of Supervisor(s)

Dr. Alberto Arce

Thesis code:

E0430

Contents

Presentation ...... 7

Introduction ...... 9

Chapter I

UNDERSTANDING THE COMMUNITY ...... 13

Geography and Population ...... 13

A Bit of History ...... 20

Chapter II

METHODOLOGY ...... 22

The Case Study ...... 22

Unity of Analysis ...... 22

Importance of the Case Study ...... 22

Research Questions ...... 23

Sampling ...... 23

Data Collection...... 24

Analysis of Data ...... 25

Chapter III

FROM VIOLENCE TO AUTONOMY; the Drama of the Triqui Society ...... 27

Triquis: a violent race? ...... 27

Chapter IV

LIFE CYCLE ...... 37

POLITICAL ORGANISATION ...... 46

Chapter V

THE TRANSNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF SAN JUAN COPALA ...... 52

Origin of the Diaspora ...... 52

The Path to the North ...... 54

Encounters of the Triqui Nation ...... 61

Chapter VI

THE EXTERNAL SITUATION ...... 66

Social movements ...... 69

Arenas for Autonomy ...... 73

CONCLUSIONS ...... 78

Glossary of abbreviations ...... 82

Bibliography ...... 83

Appendix I ...... 86

Presentation

The present is a case study of a very interesting indigenous community in Oaxaca Mexico. I have been working on indigenous communities for almost ten years since I graduated from college in Mexico City. The diversity of the indigenous cultures, their struggles, resistances and symbolic beliefs are embedded in their everyday life. It is wondering how many forms they found out to survive and make a living in this changing world. Development policies changes and adjust to the new theories and political establishment; so far the voice of the subjects of development has been ignored or repressed. However the indigenous communities has learnt to deal with the policies and incorporated official discourses in their cumulus of experiences and knowledge, which has been an important element in the evolution of their traditions.

After the demise of the cold war, ‘the end of the history’ and the idea of the world as a ‘global village’, drew a landscape of a non-differentiated society regulated for the ups and downs of the free market. The modern state-nations embody that idea in themselves since the binomial character of nation and state tends to legitimise the construction of bounded systems of homogenous situations which may be manipulated, shaped and re-designed according to a teleological ‘ideal’ about how the society ought be rather that understand how it is. Paradoxically, the modern communication, the wider access to technology and information produce the rough material to create contest proposal in multiple and unpredictable ways.

In Mexico, since the upraising of the rebellion of indigenous peoples in the southern state of Chiapas on January 1 of 1994 (the same day the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect), the indigenous peoples have been present in the political national agenda.. The upcoming years, indigenous peoples experienced intensification of the poverty on one hand and escalation of the repression of the state on the other. In their aim to resist, indigenous peoples and their political organisation has been seeking a way of self-determination and voice since the democratic system of political parties does not regard alternative ways of organisation apart of the established modes.

Oaxaca State in Mexico is one of the poorest of the country and plenty of conflicts. At the same time Oaxaca is considered a multicultural state since the number of the indigenous peoples that inhabit in the state many centuries before the Spaniards arrived. Every indigenous community has a big sense of identity which they continue until now. Isolated in their communities, indigenous peoples has been able to preserve most of their ancient traditions, beliefs, form of organisations and way of live. Most of them use their traditional methods to choose their local

authorities which govern under the principles of ‘ usos y costumbres’ which is the system of rules and regulations based in the tradition which is passed down from generation to generation.

Nowadays, the global policies concerning rural development go more into diversification of the economic activities in the rural areas such as rural tourism, and commoditisation of the rural life ‘packed’ in folklore which denies the importance of the food security in rural villages. Nevertheless, under uneven circumstances of the global market, communities have left behind the agriculture production and they have to survive by diverse ways.

The Triqui peoples are one more amongst the diverse indigenous groups in Oaxaca, but its history is a chronicle of marginalisation, discrimination and violence. Triquis lost the best part of their land and then they refuge in the mountains surrounded by other indigenous and non-indigenous communities who exploited and discriminated them for ages. Violence and political control has created a symbiosis that transformed the communitarian life in a sort of ‘lumpenindigenous’ groups without an own ideology and coercively controlled by their leaders.

The triqui region holds an official ranking of ‘high marginalisation’; as a consequence, Triqui communities are considered target groups for governmental social programs. Every year, new programs and projects are applied in the region without any improvement in quality of life of the Triquis; indeed they left the agriculture production many years ago. Hence, development policies seem not to have sense for Triquis who survive from the scarce remittances of migrants and from the even scarcer benefits that their leaders get from the government. Thus triqui leaders have become experts in the use of discourse and manipulation in order to effectively negotiate with the government.

This thesis pretends to identify the causes that led the violence and how it shapes the social life of Triquis taking in account that the Triqui peoples are a community that extends out of the Triqui homeland. Nevertheless, The Triqui peoples are not a passive entity; they experience social changes, assimilate and/or contest them. The recent proposal of the Triquis in order to create an autonomous municipality caught my attention as an interesting counter-tendency which in certain way draws an alternative way to do politics by claiming the right of self- determination as the base for development.

Introduction

“The first day of 2007, Oaxaca woke up with a new municipality: San Juan Copala. It is not another municipality amongst the 570 of this state; it is an autonomous one, like those that indigenous peoples are building in several parts of the country as a way to defend their rights and to construct their future”(F. López, 2007a).

The region of Copala in the state of Oaxaca Mexico is the homeland of the Triqui ethnic group. For non-Triquis, Copala represents a mysterious region where law and human rights do not exist. The popular stories about Triquis describe them as violent and a ‘semi-wild tribe’. People from outside the area are afraid to go into it: “ it is dangerous, they kill” people say. It is not strange that people have created this illusion, because this is the way that Triquis show themselves off. Like Krohn- Hansen says, violence can be 'horribly sensual and visible'(Krohn-Hansen, 1994). Indeed, Copala has a long history of internal violence. During the last decade it has mainly been between two antagonistic groups: the Movement of Unity and Triqui Struggles (MULT) and the Unity of Social Welfare of the Triqui Region (UBISORT); each group control one part of the region. Violence has been embedded in the people and transformed their habits, livelihoods and everyday life insofar as the region has turned from an agricultural based system into one whose economy is based upon both remittances from a number of migrants and governmental social programs reached through political organisation.

There is not a convincing explanation about the origin of the violence but as a matter of fact, it has been present over the course of the history of the Triquis. According to Malkki assumptions, there is interplay between history and violence; in other words, the spiral of violence is based on the production of ideas about past events and experienced and remembered violence; it means that violence has a revolving character(Krohn-Hansen, 1997). In actuality, in Copala the old affronts remain in the memory of the families and pass down from generation to generation; as a result, Triquis trigger a chain of vendettas which are not easy to stop. Nowadays violence is embedded with political struggles which make it visible as a spectacle of the mass media. Rupesinghe points out that modernity exacerbate violence and with all its paraphernalia excite the myths.

Riches, cited by Krohn Hansen (Krohn-Hansen, 1994), considers that violence can be suitable for practical and symbolic purposes, in other words violence “ can be effective, both as means of change and of dramatizing the importance of central cultural ideas. These sentences regard the instrumental application of violence in order to legitimize the social action. Riches suggest that the study of violence must cover the revision of the ‘dynamic triangle of violence’ comprised by perpetrator,

victim and witnesses in order to find out “ the potency of violence as action and image ”. In Copala the instrumental use of violence legitimises the power of the organisations in the territory; no wonder that political organisation has its origins in the defence of the historical territory of the Triquis; the local history illustrates the territorial conformation of the political organisations; communities and political organisations are overlapped in spatial patterns. It means that the influence of political organisations cover whole communities in a given territory. Like other examples described by López y Rivas, violence in Copala has been a form of relationship by having institutionalised as a mode of interlocution between the government and society (Gabriel & López y Rivas, 2005).

Violence has caused many people to leave the region on behalf of their own safety; and Triquis in exile have begun to question the political organisation and the violence. It is evident that the new generation of Triquis are looking forward a way to pacify the region and put an end to the vendettas among families. At the same time, in the region, a democratic faction from MULT separated and created the Independent Movement of Unity and Triqui Struggles (MULT-I). MULT-I embraced a progressive discourse and gained popularity amongst the indigenous and leftist organisations in Oaxaca. In 2006 MULT-I became member of an umbrella organisation called APPO (Popular Assembly of Peoples from Oaxaca); APPO is a large, popular social movement throughout Oaxaca; their main demand was the resignation of the repressor governor but on the other hand, APPO also proposed models of popular self-government. Under these circumstances, people from MULT- I and some from UBISORT, declared the inauguration of the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala (MASJC). Hence, the use of the discourse of autonomy has been leading changes in the social organisation of Copala and transforming the relationship with the state, the community in diaspora and the civil society in Mexico.

The present paper is organised in order to approach a wider perspective of the complexity of the violence in Copala as well as the formation of the autonomous municipality as the voice of Triqui peoples who claim their legitimate right of self- determination and peace. First of all, I start with a brief ethnography on Triqui peoples; next I want to present a re-construction of the violent social dramas that have happened repeatedly over the course of the time. The following chapters attempt to analyse the “triangle of violence”. In order to achieve that, I dissect the interpretation of the protagonist of the violence; however, this attempt is not easy; Violence in Copala is multifarious, MULT and UBISORT trigger oscillatory patterns of violence, at the same time they contest aggression with the same intensity and the same strategies; hence, they have to be treated as both perpetrators and victims. Nevertheless, in a wider context I discovered that while violence is the cause of the migration it disappears in the new settlements that Triqui peoples have built outside 10

their homeland; therefore Triqui violence is territorially bounded. In that sense my approach locates the vicious circle of the perpetration of violence in the social life of Copala and the victimized society in exile. Finally, I describe the external situation or “witnesses” (state and civil society) that have played a role in the violence or peace processes in Copala.

My point of analysis is the declaration of the MASJC which attempts to create a bottom-up way of political organisation; autonomy is a common issue in the language of the indigenous movement in Mexico, and comes together with the aim of self-development of the communities which are looking for spaces of participative democracy where their opinions and ways of organisation are taken into account. However, autonomy is seen as a process and a goal in itself. It can be said that indigenous peoples are building their autonomy in different ways and different rhythms, Triquis included. Nevertheless the population of San Juan Copala decided to put the autonomy in a statement. The Declaration of the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala is a document comprised of three parts, the first part is a summary of the exploitation and subjection that the Triqui people have suffered over the course of history; next, the document stresses the responsibility of the state, represented by the government and related political organisations, for the presence of violence, hunger, illness and illiteracy in the region. Symbolically the declaration of autonomy substantiates the inefficacy of the state to solve the needs of the population; it delegitimizes the state violence and legitimises traditional collective action to promote self-development and defend the principle of self- determination of the indigenous people.

In a broader sense Autonomy (Greek : Auto-Nomos - Nomos meaning "law") means one who gives oneself his/her own law (contributors) . López y Rivas quote Rene Kuper: “Autonomy is the political and legal arrangements that allow a public entity into a State, the right to behave independent from the direct influence of politic power, national or central” (Gabriel & López y Rivas, 2005). However, the concept of autonomy is interpreted and theorized in several ways and its scope has spread all over the world. The Mexican theorist about autonomy Gilberto López y Rivas described autonomy in 2004 as ‘a minor entity inside a major entity unique and sovereign’ (López y Rivas, 2004a). On the other hand, autonomy building also implies a strategy of resistance where the state is no longer accepted as the hegemonic power, such is the case of Zapatista caracoles where “good government” juntas 1 is the rebel contestation to the “bad government” from the state.

1 Councils of representatives of the communities which govern under the maxim of “command where obeying”.

The amount of experiences about autonomy building in Latin America has been so diverse that we must talk about autonomies rather than a single autonomy. Autonomies then, are processes of resistance by which peoples and ethnicities resume and strength their identities through claiming their culture, collective rights and self-governance. The range of interpretations about autonomies is a continuum that goes from the pacific exercise of regarded rights to attempts to radical and deep transformation of the state and society. López y Rivas affirms that autonomies do not exist per se rather they make sense during the modernity when the nation- states consolidates (Gabriel & López y Rivas, 2005). Hence, autonomies are modern processes that contest the attempting to create homogenous societies inside the modern states.

Chapter I

UNDERSTANDING THE COMMUNITY

Geography and Population

San Juan Copala San Juan Copala (SJC) is a small village in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico which is located in the southeast part of Mexico and is one of the 32 states of the Mexican Republic. Oaxaca has an array of traditions and customs based on its varied indigenous population. Sixteen indigenous groups inhabit the territory of Oaxaca and they represent 47.9 % of the whole population. Indigenous peoples keep many of their ancient traditions, including the forms of organisation, election of authorities and system of justice.

The Triqui people inhabit the western part of the state, and are surrounded by the second most important ethnic group in the state: Mixteco. The Triqui region is mainly divided into Highland and Lowland Triqui; both are well defined and have particularities that differentiate one from another. Each region has a ceremonial centre or Chuma a, which is also the economic centre of exchange because traditional markets takes place there. The Chuma a of the Highland Triqui Region is San Andrés Chicahuaxtla and San Juan Copala is the Lowland Triqui region’s Chuma a. These regions have local linguistic variants; however they can understand each other when they are talking.

Figure 1 Region of Copala (red dot) in the west of Oaxaca State (Google, 2008)

In the 2000 census, the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics (INEGI), registered 20,712 speakers of Triqui in all the country and 15,203 in the State of Oaxaca (INI & PNUD, 2002). However these figures do not take in account the varieties of the language. It is difficult to estimate the exact population of the Triquis from Copala, due to the mobility of the population and that the migration flows and destinations vary throughout the year, as a consequence a picture of the Triqui population in a given period is not accurate. Other reports focused on the population of Copala calculate 30,000 to 40,000 Triquis in Mexico and taking into account an estimation of 600 to 1,000 Triquis living in the United States. (Unknown, 2008)

Officially, the Triqui Region belongs to different municipalities; whereas San Martín Itunyoso is a municipality in itself, Chicahuaxtla belongs to the municipality of Putla de Guerrero and Copala 2 is divided amongst three municipalities, Santiago Juxtlahuaca, Constancia del Rosario and Mesones Hidalgo . San Juan Copala is on the edge of Santiago Juxtlahuaca which is the largest nearby city; people from Copala exchange goods in its local market and also most of the offices of representatives of the federal and local government are established there.

Copala occupied about 377.3 square km which are full of mountains with altitudes from 600 to 3000 metres. Temperature fluctuates from 20 to 25 degrees centigrade and it is classified as a semitropical zone. Mountains are covered by forest which makes it difficult to practice agriculture; however Triquis have domesticated and grown local varieties of corn for ages in hillsides and lower lands where some irrigation is possible.

Copala is comprised of 32 barrios. Barrio is the unity of agency and organisation that comes after family. Barrios are sparse over the Triqui territory and they are geared to maintain the area occupied and under control. Almost all barrios are connected by rough roads. Barrios are regular settlements from around 10 to 100 families and they share common elements such as: a well defined territory, communal lands, local authority, traditional organisation for public work and fiesta, and one predominant local leader.

Lewin (Lewin & Sandoval, 2007) explains that the conformation of barrios as well as the system of access to the land are determined by marriage systems; Triqui men choose their partner from a different parental group or lineage which are

2 It is important to mention that Copala is the name for the whole Lowland Triqui region, and San Juan Copala (SJC) is the name of the Chuma a , the most important village in the region. In this paper I will use the term Transnational Copala Community (TCC) to refer to the dispersed community that Triqui people from Copala have forged along the national Mexican territory and outside its borders.

conformed by patrilineal ancestry; that means that the residence of nuclear families establishes in the side of the father’s land. Women do not just change his residence but also their political affiliation. The structure of lineages forms clans of territorial organisation; in that sense, marriages occur between different lineages but usually in the same clan. Therefore the communal endogamy is subordinated to the linage exogamy. It is important to highlight that this organisation corresponds to the land distribution in the agricultural unities, which is different to the spatial organisation in the urban areas; for instance, in Copala the conflicts altered the lineage structure; hence, the old clan organisation does not exist anymore. The Triquis does not have a term in their language to refer at this structure spatial-parental; however they identified themselves for the geographical name of each one. The parental links between them make sense to the social unity; thus, the word in Triqui language tuvi´ refers to the relative, brother and neighbour.

Triqui family

Triqui Barrio organized on clan structure based on patrilineal lineage linkages

Triqui community settled down in to a territory which entails shared history and values around the belonging to the land and the defense of the communal territory over the course of the time

Figure 2 Pyramid of spatial -parental organisation of the Triqui territory

Origin Many theories exist about the origin of Triquis: Swadesh, Gay, Martínez, Ruíz and Olivares (S. E. Díaz, 2007); the most accepted identify them as a branch of the

otomanguean group which comprises Mixtecos, Cuicatecos and Amuzgos; they all share common linguistic traits. Although the origin and the time of settlement is unknown, many authors make references to a migration which took place before the Spaniards conquerors arrived in Mexico, there are dates about whether they are descended from Aztecs or Mixtecos because the route they followed to establish themselves in the actual Triqui region is not clear.

Triqui people call themselves Zi Shan what means “the original ones”. The word Triqui has a foggy origin; some authors refer a derogative use of the word “trique”, which means an object of low value. On the other hand, some authors argue that the word Triqui has an etymological composition of Mixteco roots and even from the Triqui language; in both case the meaning refers to particularities of the landscape of the inhabitants of the region (Díaz, 2007).

Beliefs The Triquis use legends to explain the origin of the things around such as animals, tools, utensils, clothes, and so on. Legends are tales charged of symbols and events that happened ‘long time ago’. The characters of legends are humanised representations of the sun and the moon which are brother and sister respectively and it is common that appear wise elders who orientates and corrects the misbehaviour of the sun and the moon. Triquis are very superstitious and the interpretation of dreams, in order to try to predict their future and luck, is an important issue into their daily life. Dreams interpretation has to do with the events of the family life and the success or fail in the community interactions. A highlight point is the relation that exists about dreaming weapons, murders, and other people bleeding with the personal achievements. According to Díaz, dreaming about knives means a healthy life for your offspring; dreaming guns means success for yourself and dreaming about kill someone means you will be lucky to hunt a deer (S. E. Díaz, 2007).

The religion in Copala is a mixture of ancient beliefs and Roman Catholic practices; rather than an acceptation of Catholic dogmas, there is a deification of the images that represent the saints. They believe that health, wealth, success and luck depend on the mood of the saints; thus they need to offer gifts, prayers and rituals to keep them contents. The traditional fiestas Figure 3 Catholic temple in San Juan Copal a

are holding on special dates when they worship a particular image; they are related to the agricultural calendar; for instance on 25 April they celebrates San Marcos day who is directly linked with the cult to the ancient god of thunder and rain; hence, celebration and rituals are geared towards having a good raining season. All the communities have a Catholic temple; it is in the centre of the barrios and is a material symbol of the united work and wealth of the community; however they also carried out ceremonies in caves and sacred places. Churches are public spaces where all members of the community have plenty freedom to practice their beliefs; the temple is dedicated to the Patron Saint of the barrio which is the most important deity amongst the local pantheon regardless the dogmatic Catholic hierarchy. The Triquis also regard the existence of evil spirits which inhabit the sacred places.

As in others indigenous communities the concept of health for the Triquis comprises the welfare of the body and the soul and their cure implies both the use of medicinal plants together with rituals. They attend shamanistic practices to recover their health; these involve rituals of divination and Catholic prayers. In recent years, regardless the enlarging of acceptation of modern medicine, they still consult their traditional healers for those illnesses that they attribute to supernatural origin or evilness.

Livelihood The economic system of indigenous peoples is based on production for subsistence, they kept an equilibrated balance between production and consumption; they produce what they need to survive and barter the surplus in the markets for products that they are not able to produce. The equilibrium in this system of production and consumption was broken when the exchange with the external world brought new products and created necessities that they did not have before. Incompatibility of the economics systems triggered deeper poverty in the region; on one hand, the products that mestizos 3 introduced in the region proceeded from factories (clothes, shoes, furniture, electric devices, etc.) which are made by capitalistic systems of production focused on profits and accumulation; on the other hand, the products that indigenous offered (crops and handcrafts) were made by subsistence systems of production. These uneven competitions increased the poverty and brought a sense of frustration that scaled up alcoholism, migration and lack of values. Therefore, this situation originated abuses from mestizos who bartering crops from the Triqui people for industrially elaborated products of much lower value.

3Non indigenous

The rugged territory of Copala has scarcity of optimum lands for the agriculture. However, they plant bananas and coffee in the warmer zones, and maize and beans in the lower and most temperate zones. Bananas and coffee became the most important crop and it was one of the reasons for why they were widely exploited by mestizos middle men who bought partially processed coffee at low prices.

The Triquis use to raise some animals, mainly chickens, turkeys and pigs at a domestic scale. Some of them have a few goats, sheep, and cattle and sell them rather than consuming them. Since the establishment of an office of the federal government to attend the indigenous peoples in the sixties, officials have tried to implement technical programs to improve their production such as introduction of agrochemicals, improved seeds or credits for agricultural machinery but with no success.

Today, people do prefer to avoid practicing open air activities such as agriculture and livestock because they have a fear of violence. Because of the number of migrants, people who remain in the community – children, women and the elderly- live by remittances and access to social programs. Women in Copala attend the local market in

Juxtlahuaca; they sell bananas, Figure 4 Landscape of San Juan Copala wild crops, fruits and vegetables that they grow or gather in the hillside.

Like all the indigenous peoples from Mesoamerica; the staple diet of Triquis is composed mainly by maize: tortillas and tamales (steamed maize dough with chilli sauce), beans, chilli and wild leaves. For special occasions and fiestas, they cook chilate which is a very hot beef broth; chicken broth is also common; although they raise pig, do not use them to eat but they rather sell them in the public market.

Recently the consumption of instant ramen noodles (sopa Maruchan™) has increased due probably to the cheap cost, the easiness of preparation, and the lack of agricultural production, together with the rise in the use of cash from remittances and Oportunidades 4 program. Ramen noodles have become a source of income for

4 In 1997 the government launched the social program named O portunidades (Opportunities). It is supposed to encourage individual development by achieving improvements in health, education and 18

Triqui women who sell them in fiestas together with traditional meals. It is noticeable how the Triqui women have transformed their old vaporeras 5 into water boilers; some of them no longer prepare tamales but noodles.

One of the most profitable economic activities for men in Copala is to drive a Figure 5 Taxi taxicab since there is no regular service of buses or other vehicles to go into town. It is very rare that foreign people go to Copala because of the fear of violence; even public taxis from the nearest cities do not used to enter into the region, some braver charge a lot of money for ‘special trips’ into Copala; the most leave the passenger at forks in the road to Copala, then the passenger has to switch into a taxi from MULT or UBISORT depend on the community of destiny; Triquis introduced fleets of taxis which transport people and commodities among the barrios and cities which created an effective way of income for males.

The Triqui women are well known within the handcraft markets because of their skills in weaving on “backstram looms”; the sale of handcrafts is an important income for women inside the community and everywhere they join the migrant males. This activity is not only to make an income; women weave their own traditional red huipiles whose design identifies them from each to another since each piece is unique. Women spent several months working daily to finish one huipil.

An important issue in the communities is the construction and maintenance of public infrastructure. The traditional organisation manages it by collective work –

food (Conditional Cash Transfer). Beneficiaries receive an amount of money which has to be spent on those issues, but beneficiaries have to prove to have managed certain official indicators (children’s grades, weight and size, and so on).

5 Big steam cookers used to made tamales, large cylindrical recipes of 20 litters have a grill pan inside where tamales are set to be cooked, under the grill pan they put water and then tamales are boiled with steam. Vaporeras have some holes at the level of the grill to drop the water in case it exceeds the level when boiling. Triqui women cover those holes to fill the vaporeras with water and boil it.

tequio - and cargo systems 6. The use and maintenance of the public buildings (school, church, town hall, gardens and so on) are administered by committees of citizens. The communities also possess public goods such as musical instruments, vehicles, and etc which are also entrusted to committees who are accountable for them.

A Bit of History

As it is mentioned before, the Triqui Figure 6 Triqui girls wearing the traditional huipil territory is formed by parental linkages that go further than the productive association of the land; the territory implies deep senses of belonging; no wonder the history of Triquis is a sequence of events that show their eager will to maintain and recover their territory. Although the origin of their settlement is unknown, there are reports about the struggles they had in order to preserve their lands. Villoro coined the term "refugee zones" (Villoro, 1996) to refer to the regions that indigenous occupied after the conquerors took the best lands for themselves. Within these regions, indigenous people could reproduce their culture and way of life, however since those are the worst regions they hardly could improve their agriculture and production practices and eventually these deficiencies exacerbated the poverty. Díaz groups three periods in defence of Triqui territory; the first was a dispute held among Spaniards caciques in 1735, the next are Triqui rebellions in 1832 and 1843 and the last in the seventies which is called “territorial reconstitution” (S. E. Díaz, 2007).

The available information shows that Triquis took part in the war for Independence in 1810 as members of the libertarian army; however after the end of the war, and declaration of Independence, Triquis did not see their aspirations of freedom achieved at all. To the contrary, parts of their lands were occupied by criollo 7 former combatants and these new lords became new oppressors for the Triqui people. Some historians call this period the second conquest (F. López, 2007b)

6 Cargos system is a ladder throughout indigenous communities train people to obtain experience in the public service for the community. Young people start with the lower level and simple tasks, once they managed it; move upward to the next cargo and so on until he is skilful enough to become authority. This systems is criticized arguing uneven gender relations and does not take in account the learnt skills and knowledge outside the community in formal education.

7 Criollo is the adjective used to name people form Spaniards parents but born in America

because the new elite in power continued and even worsened the relations of discrimination and exploitation toward the indigenous people. In the Triqui region took place the first rebellion against the independent government and it was led for a former triqui combatant of the war of Independence named Hilario Medina, best known as Hilarión ; He gathered support from Triquis from Copala and Mixtecos and was persecuted by the government until 1836 then he was apprehended and condemned to die. The episode of Hilarión becomes a myth in the local history of Copala who is seen as a local hero, insofar as the legend of Hilarión remains until now; he embodied the high values of the Triqui peoples: braver, rebel, combative indomitable and defender of the triqui rights. Another rebellion arose in 1842 led by Dionisio Arriaga and Domingo Santiago; Mixtecos soon joined the rebellion and it spread in all the west part of Oaxaca (F. López, 2007b). Finally in 1975 2,000 armed Triquis and their local authorities carried out a delimitation of their territory following the directions of the presidential resolution of 1973 this delimitation is respected and defended until now (S. E. Díaz, 2007).

An important date that remains in the collective memory of Triqui peoples is the year of 1948; at the time the municipality of San Juan Copala was abolished and the region of Copala spread amongst three municipalities governed by mestizos . The Declaration of the MASJC refers that the municipality existed for 120 years since 1826 when it was regarded by the independent government as a reward of the active participation of the Triquis in the war for independence from 1810 to 1821 (Unknown, 2007).

Chapter II

METHODOLOGY

The Case Study Due to its complexity, the present is an intrinsic case study and the objective is not to make generalisations; according to Punch, special cases can be studied in order to understand the complexities of the case in it as well in its context (Punch, 2005).

Unity of Analysis Copala is a community that has not defined boundaries or at least these do Figure 7. National Encounter of Autonomous not correspond to those established by Municipalities. San Juan Copala, Mexico. February 2008 the state. Although the Triquis identified their region and their own boundaries; in the practice the community is divided amongst three municipalities. This problem makes it impossible to find a systematic framework to categorise the population; for the case of Copala available data such as census and statistics identify the municipality as the unit of analysis and this data do not take into account the diversity of the population living in these municipalities. On the other hand, the mobility of the population is another element that complicates the construction of a frame of reference.

Therefore, in this particular case study, the unity of analysis is the social and spatial construction where the Triquis inhabit. First of all, it is the region of Copala in the state of Oaxaca which the Triquis recognize as their own territory, with boundaries established by tradition, experience and historical defence. In other words it is the physical space where Triquis experience their daily life. Secondly, the Triqui community involve the spatial transportation of people and customs to different parts outside the region of Copala where they re-group and reproduce their way of life and collective organisation and wherein they identify themselves as members of the Triqui collectively.

Importance of the Case Study The case of the Triqui autonomy building represents the making of a bottom-up solution to deal with an extreme situation of violence. It is also a result of the incapacity of the state to put an end to the conflicts in the community. However, the

origin of a discourse cannot be explained as something isolated, it is a consequence of a long process of learning and the sum of individual and collective experiences of the community, together with the influences from the outside.

Research Questions

General Research Question Is there any relation between the autonomy discourse and the escalation or de-escalation of violence in Copala?

Specific questions

• What are the dynamics of the Violence amongst the Triquis? • Is the diaspora of the Triquis a result of Violence? • What has been the role of the state in the perpetration, escalation or de-escalation of violence? • How the autonomy is affecting the life of the Triquis in Copala and the Triquis in diaspora?

Sampling The followed method was a purposeful stratified sampling.

Since my object of study is the Triqui community as a whole and because of time constrains to do my field research I decided to do an intensity sampling as it is described by Patton which allowed me to obtain the most information in the least time possible (Patton, 2002).

The first step of sampling was at the transnational community level. Wherever they group, the Triquis organise in political organisation with more or less the same structure. The first sample was among those groups that use or have some knowledge about autonomy discourse. Since autonomy is an important component of the language of the indigenous movement, I decided to search among the adherents to “La otra campaña”, led by the National Liberation Zapatista Army (EZLN) 8. I choose three organisations: MULT, MASJC 9 and FULT 10 .

The second stage in the stratified sampling was in order to go deeply into a more intense sample. I decided to spend most of the time in the MASJC to carry out

8 For more details about EZLN and La otra campaña see Chapter V

9 The MASJC is not properly an organisation; however it encompasses barrios from MULT-I and UBISORT so it is more interesting to treat the Municipality as a political organisation.

10 Front of Unity and Triqui Struggle, the political organisation of Triquis from Hermosillo Sonora, Mexico.

a deep research effort on the staggering events that happened there. The reason obeyed to the present situation of violence and peace, and the process of building autonomy which allowed me to observe many events in a single place and in a relatively short time.

Data Collection Qualitative research is based on the quality of the given information; however, the information from the people is expressed in different forms which vary from the position and knowledge of them. For this particular case study I decided to work on two types of information which shaped both the sources and the methods to obtain it: discourse and language.

Discourse: Foucault describes discourse as 'the general domain of all statements' and points out some of its features. Discourse refers to the unwritten rules and structures that make particular utterances and statements intelligible. Foucault mention that there is no simple relation between discourse and reality, and discourse has a double realm because is the mean of oppression and the mean of resistance and it is important to point out that discourse does not simply translate reality into words of language, rather discourse become the system which structures the way we perceive reality and interact within it (Mills, 2003). To obtain this information I used several sources and methods

Unstructured Interviews; I selected a number of actors involved into the process: Ø Local Leaders Ø Formal Authorities Ø Civil servants working in the area of study Ø Others (NGO’s representatives, academics, volunteers) Review of Ø Local and national newspapers Ø Manifest and pamphlets of the organisations Ø Interviews on radio and television Ø Virtual forums of discussion: Blogs and posts Direct observation and listening of: Ø Public speeches

Language Language refers to the daily speaking of the people, the values and understandings that they give to the words, and is a more accurate source to know the reality, language reflects the common sense of the people and is part of the collective knowledge and representation of the reality through the cumulus of vivid and learnt

experiences (Alberto Arce, 2000). Language evidences different realities and the way how different actors perceive the interactions and interface in a context. To obtain this information I applied:

Informal interviews ; informal chats with common people: taxi drivers, traders, owners of local shops, food sellers, visitors, pilgrims, peasants, and so on. Direct Observation of: § Meetings of authorities § Assembly § Public events: official ceremonies, fiesta, masses, religious rituals, etcetera. Participative Observation : I volunteered and took part in some events into and outside the community § The Encounter of Indigenous Peoples of America § The 1st anniversary of the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala § The traditional Fiesta of “Tata Chuz” in San Juan Copala held on February, 2008.

The hardest part was to acquire direct information from formal interviews; due to the atmosphere of violence, the people who live in San Juan Copala do not usually talk to strangers; moreover they are afraid to say revealing things or even to express their own opinion. Those who speak freely –authorities and leaders- often repeat elaborated discourses rather than tell real information. Besides the observation (direct and participative), I found out that in the relaxed atmosphere of fiestas, people like to talk much more, starting with an informal chat, and regardless of the trivial topics, people eventually come to politics and do not hesitant to express their opinion.

An important deficiency in my information was the lack of a gender perspective of the conflict in Copala; women just do not talk to strangers; many of them are not fluent in Spanish but mainly because of the strong social control of males. When a woman talks to a strange it is seen as a lack of respect for her husband. The point of view of women was missing in my field research and I was very careful to not make assumptions in that sense.

Analysis of Data Apparently the link between the leaders and their constituencies make a solid structure in the organisation; however there are intrinsic conflicts within the organisation that, over the course of time, challenge the old structures and trigger new ones. The political conflict must be understood as an interface where different

actor converges with different standpoints, perceptions of reality and social learning. I needed an analytical approach that takes into account those relationships and also the internalization and appropriation of external factors in the strength and evolving of the social action and even the realization of excluded minorities that can represent potential challenges and new social changes.

The approach I chose for the analysis of data is the actor-oriented approach (N. Long, 1989), (N. Long, 2001).

Chapter III

FROM VIOLENCE TO AUTONOMY; the Drama of the Triqui Society

Triquis: a violent race? “They call us a violent race, but we are not. Interest of caciques and factious groups, strangers to our community, are putting us to fight and to kill among ourselves...” Juan Albino. Vícam Sonora, Mexico. 2007.

Krohn-Hansen (Krohn-Hansen, 1994) debates the idea of studies that stand violence immerse in the genetic configuration of human beings, which is described as aggression. Nagengast (C. Nagengast, 1994) criticize the reification of violence as a category present or absent within a society. The study of violence by examination of its social roles uncovers possibilities to find it out within the discourses, practices and ideologies of daily life as well as to examine its importance in power bolstering and as a mean of the state to legitimise power. Elwert et al disapprove the psychologisation and culturalisation of violence (Elwert, Feuchtwang, & Neubert, 1999), they explain that violence is not a regression to atavistic instincts but a ‘narrowing of the available forms of actions and a strategic choice” ; violence is always channelled, so it can be analysed by analysing its social channels. This chapter will analyse the social construction of the violence through the dramatisation of symbols and actors. In the chapter VI, I will go deep into the role of the state and official discourse to legitimise itself through the use and manipulation of violent atmospheres.

Corbin, quoted by Krohn-Hansen, suggests that a good basis to understand violence is through the symbolical theories of Turner (Krohn-Hansen, 1994). Since these theories regard a dialectic relation between mental maps and the physical world, Corbin argues that violence needs a symbolical interpretation to understand it as a mental and physical phenomenon. In other words, physical violence harms and destroys the real world whereas mental violence threats mental maps and violates ideals and identities. In Copala, violence has destroyed severely the social fabric of the community but at the same time has opened a big gap in the non- material relations of the people and has created the idea that one group is right whereas the opposite one must be wrong.

In Oaxaca Triquis are deemed as an aggressive and gullible race at the same time, this imaginary construction obeys to the fact that long and old feuds exist between opposite groups; origin and continuity of violence is due to a series of intricate circumstances uneasy to identify. Written history make references to Figure 8 Violence and weapons are part of the Triqui daily life, in the the violence from the picture Triqui children with toy guns seventies on, however oral stories say that violence start many years ago, when guns were unknown by Triquis. The conflicts among powerful families and consequent murders were carried out with machetes, very bloody stories remains in the collective memory of Copala.

It is important to mention the particularities of the violence in Copala. Several sources refer different numbers of deaths between 1976 and 2000, more than 500 (F. López, 2007a), 300 from the side of MULT (B. F. López, 2008), and a number of women raped (Jarquín, 2007). Vendettas are carried out by ambush of selected targets; in ambushes the incidental companions also dead. In times of high crisis armed confrontation takes part in San Juan Copala; the opposite sides shot their guns from strategic positions in the hillsides that surround the urban area of San Juan Copala. According to Nagengast, violence exists from the standpoint of the victim whereas the perpetrator will claim the legitimacy of his act as a tactical pre- emption of the acts from the others which assume are illegitimacy (C. Nagengast, 1994). Triquis use this instrumental view to justify their vendettas as an act of justice. One of my informants told me the answer of a well known gunman when he tried to inquire whether the gunman had a sense of repentance at his elder age; the gunman said: “those people I killed got a punishment of god, because they wanted to kill me”.

The oscillating violence, described by Elwert, is possible as it is embedded in historical context (Elwert et al., 1999). To have a clear understanding about process of temporal events, communication and miscommunication within and among actors, Turner points out the inevitability of the study of symbols, signs, signals, and token both verbal and non verbal that people use to achieve individual and collective goals. He calls ‘Social dramas’ to the units of harmonic and disharmonic

processes, arising in social conflicts (V. Turner, 1974). Turner identifies four phases of public action which lead the progress of Social Drama.

Social drama starts with a breach of the normal situation. By symbols of dissidence, actors confront particular interests that no longer are shared by the whole group. Turner calls this a “symbolic trigger of confrontation of encounter”. Opposite Interfaces encounter release a crisis stage, and people involved clearly speak out about the conflict which cannot be ignored; there is an “escalation” of crisis. In this phase Turner places the liminal characteristics where the uncertainties and expectation of the conflict reveal a true state of affairs similar to a ritual of passage. The third phase is the redressive action which pretends to rearrange the normality of the social relations; redressive mechanisms or agreements lead to the last phase which can be either reintegration of disturbed social fabric or the social recognition and legitimisation of the division of the community. This approach can help to understand the complex conflict in Copala, since the conflicts are full of symbols and situations between conflictive and cyclical schisms along the history of Copala.

The recent history of conflicts and violence between Triquis of Copala can be grouped in four moments, which also illustrate four generations of actors whose interests and context change over the course of time. Each moment is an episode of a longer social drama which is situated in a defined “political field”. In this chapter I focus on the intrinsic events of the power relations inside the community of Copala; breaches and re-composition of the local actors and collective action. In the chapter VI I will analyse the external factors that lead to the perpetration of violence and the creation of the MASJC.

No one knows exactly how vendettas started; the origin could be related with the power of old Sí11 who attempted to achieve more power and the control of the Chuma a. As it is mentioned before, San Juan Copala was the ceremonial and trade centre of the low Triqui region; in the past, only mayordomos and authorities were allowed to live there and they hold privileges to trade in the local market. Eventually the Sí found out that living in Copala was the most effective way to gain economic and social benefits. On this way, powerful families disputed the control over the Chuma a and as a consequence rivalries arose insofar as they defended the possession of the territory even with their own life. At this stage the oral stories

11 Sí is the noun in the Triqui language to describe redoubtable persons who have enormous power and influence in the community. I will describe wider the importance of Sí in the next chapter.

make reference to old vendettas among powerful families which control the decision making in Copala, in Spanish they identify those people are caciques.

The oral stories about the escalation of violence are not clear in this point, the old Sí -caciques faded away but it is possible that once corrupted and sick of power the caciques do business with mestizos from Juxtlahuaca and Putla. Paulino Martínez Delia was a triqui teacher murdered in 1990 and one of the founders of MULT; he related in an interview carried out in 1986 that caciques were invaders of the lands belonging to Triqui people, but he does not discard treason from compañeros Triquis that sold natural resources and followed personal interests. “Caciques are not Triquis but they drive Triquis to create internal conflicts” (Besserer, 2007) . The discontinuity between oral stories and written history is interesting, especially the image of caciques. Mixtecos peoples have stories of ancient caciques compared to kings or señores 12 the tradition represents them as braves and progressives; people remember their military achievements fighting against Aztecs invaders and even Spaniards. There are also stories about tyrannical señores defeated by new leaders who demonstrate his bravery and legitimise their rights to create a new order. The legend of the origin of the Mixteco kingdom tells the victory of the indigenous warrior Dzahuindanda. He called the landlord of a huge valley to challenge him; since he did not found any person there but the sun; he shot his arrows to the sun until defeat; at the sunset, he realized that the sun looked red and bled in the horizon; Dzahuindanda declared himself victorious and with legitimate rights to occupy the region since he defeated the señor of the valley. Dzahuindanda could be seen as a local myth of the new brave knight who challenge and defeat the old system and establish a new one in a legitimate way.

The history narrated by the MULT leaders stresses the point that the organisation rebelled against the power of caciques and from that date the connotation of caciques is always negative and widely used in the political discourse of the MULT, the UBISORT and the MULTI to refer to those cruel and tyrannical leaders who drive the will of the people to attain individual benefits; in other words caciques are discursively present in the opposite group and are those who have to be defeated.

The historical analysis of López Bárcenas states that after the Mexican Revolution -from 1910 to 1920-, wealth people and politicians in the region encouraged the factions. On one hand, wealth people bought coffee and bananas at low prices and sold weapons to the Triquis dispute the internal power; thus, exploiters took the production of the Triquis and created dependence on safety. On the other hand governmental institutions dislocated the structure of indigenous

12 Landlords

government and imposed their own (B. F. López, 2008). The teacher Paulino (Besserer, 2007) mentioned that over the spam of 1948 to 1956 “ hubo un chingo de pleitos” (there were a lot of fights) produced by the relation with a lieutenant who sold weapons to Triquis (he does not explain why Triquis bought those weapons) and then charged them for the permission to have them. Triquis could not take it anymore so they ambushed the lieutenant; this event led to the fact that in 1956 the army bombarded the community of Cruz Chiquita as a punishment. The teacher Paulino continues: from 1964 to 1975 there was calm in the region and people started to organise and work together. This is the period of prosperity of the state when the National Indigenist Institute (INI) was the benefactor face of the state in the region (see chapter VI). This is also the period of blossoming of gestores 13 in number and importance.

The next stage in the chain of violence occurred in the seventies; at the time the organisations and gestores competed the resources from governmental programs, on one side those who were closer to the government institutions and the official party (PRI) an on the other hand those who were aware of the necessity of deep changes in the region. The most notable leader from that period was Luis Flores; he promoted the necessity of an organisation which represents the interest of the community and unifies the barrios according to the traditional government. His murder in 1976 was the milestone to configure the group schism in Copala.

The first attempt to self organisation was called El Club whose objectives promoted unification of the barrios, defence of the historical territory, and creation of cooperatives for trading coffee and bananas. Lately many of their leaders were murdered and other migrated to preserve their life. Meanwhile, the PRI bolstered factions by using resources of social programs in the region to attract sympathizers. The objective of PRI attempted to dismantle independent organisation; in 1978 PRI’s supporters promoted the establishment of an army squad in the region. In the middle time, those migrants who abandoned Copala fleeing from repression thought about the need to create an organisation of resistance; in November 8th of 1981 the MULT was born.

In the eighties, the MULT achieved support from many barrios; the MULT resumed the principles of El Club plus the cessation of repression and harassment against their members, and freedom for political prisoner. MULT became the most influential and powerful organisation in the region and widely recognized among the leftist movements in Oaxaca and Mexico City. Besides their own mobilisations, the

13 Gestores are those persons (usually teachers) that because of their fluency in Spanish obtain information about social programs and gather the requirements from the governmental offices, progressively a gestor can became a leader.

Triquis contingents from MULT have had a tradition to attend demonstrations and show solidarity with trade unionists, farmers, students, and so on. To counteract the power of MULT in Copala, in 1994 the PRI created the Unity of Social Welfare for the Triqui Region (UBISORT) (S. E. Díaz, 2007).

In a second stage of the activism of MULT, they focused on achieving infrastructure for development and productive projects. Under this situation the MULT learnt to bargain with the government; mobilisation was an important tool, but also the fact

Figure 9 San Juan Copala has been the ceremonial and that the communities in Copala political centre for Triquis exercise a ‘collective vote’; that means that because of the influence of the organisations, the entire constituency vote for the same party in elections. This has become the main asset that leaders use to negotiate with the government. The same strategy is used by UBISORT. During the last 10 years more or less, San Juan Copala was occupied for both groups the MULT and the UBISORT in relative calm; the strong division set two visions of development. Both organisations received incomes from the government which led the blossoming of two satellite communities aside of San Juan Copala and where the organisations concentrated their political power: El Rastrojo is the community empowered by the MULT; it has a high school and a road that connects with the city of Putla de Guerrero. La Sabana is the community controlled by the UBISORT; it has a secondary school with dormitory and a road that connects to the city of Santiago Juxtlahuaca. Both roads come to San Juan Copala but in practice they are private roads by use only of the organisation to which they belong. Free transit of strangers occurs at their own risk. Same happens with the children who cannot go to a contrary village to attend school.

Soon, leaders learnt that by having control over the population, they could also have control over the management of economic resources; hence, violence and development combined in a macabre equilibrium. When someone was killed, the group immediately blamed the others as the responsible and clamed justice. Justice

never came; instead, it gives an opportunity to the organisation to demand social programs as ‘compensation’. Later on they deliver ‘justice’ through vendettas; automatically, they provide arguments to the other organisation to get similar benefits. Like Krohn-Hansen properly assumes violent actions bridge communication gaps and set basis for understandings and negotiation in this case; mutilation and destruction are horribly sensual and visible (Krohn-Hansen, 1994) no wonder that Triquis have exhibited corpses of murder militants to catch the attention of authorities and media (Velez, 2007), and even to carry out the wake of a leader from the UBISORT on the middle of the road as a form of protest (Álvarez, 2008).

The third stage of the Triqui drama took place when the new leaders of the MULT changed the strategy and decided to take part in the local politics by constituting a political party. On November 10, 2003, the Popular Unity Party (PUP) gained its official register and took part in the elections of 2004 and used for the first time ever their collective vote to themselves. The results of the election made that PUP achieved a place in the local congress. The most visible young leader of MULT became deputy. The social base of the MULT disagreed on the fact that just leaders had benefits whereas communities could not see any benefit from the party. In practice, the leaders of MULT legitimised the role of the state as the maxim figure of power; they abandoned its ideology of grassroots self-governance and became part of the structural system of “democratic” government legitimised by universal suffrage.

The fourth stage is even more complex because of the variety of actors who took place, and the external and internal circumstances that shaped the conflict (In the next paragraphs I attempt to continue the narration of the social drama from the realm of the local events, and the profile of the actors involved; in the next chapters I will treat the same events from different perspectives).

The creation of PUP causes a backlash against the local leaders; some barrios pointed out that the benefits and power concentrated in a small group of corrupt leaders; meanwhile, bases of the MULT interpreted the creation of PUP as a treason of the leaders to the historical struggles of the MULT and their deceased; paraphrasing to López y Rivas, the struggle of indigenous is not in order to find someone to represent them, they seek a way to represent themselves (Gabriel & López y Rivas, 2005). Internal conflicts arose and the leaders repressed dissatisfied people to keep control of the situation. ‘T’, leader of an important barrio challenged the power of the Sí and the MULT leaders from El Rastrojo; he blamed them for the murder of his son; MULT leaders did not answer the demands of ‘T’ who asked a compensation and ‘justice’ for his deceased son. ‘T’ threatens to withdraw the support of his barrio. This event was the forerunner for the split of MULT. ‘T’ looked for support among other barrios and finally they decided to separate from the

MULT. In 2006 the new actor appeared in the region the Independent Movement of Unification and Triqui Struggle (MULT-I).

The upraising of a third actor challenges the typical unfold of the social drama; the MULT-I originated from a breach of the regular system of MULT which remained in the stage of crisis with the UBISORT. The MULT-I used the myth of Dzahuindanda against the MULT but at the same time, ‘T’ and other leaders searched support from historical rival barrios in the side of the UBISORT which seemed to forget the old rivalry on behalf of peace. As a result, some barrios joined the idea of MULT-I; however, they did not accept to be part of the organisation; the solution was the creation of a new political field where alliance was possible. MULT-I and some barrios created the MASJC; the first point of the Declaration of MASJC sentenced that it is integrated by communities and barrios which has broken or will break the subordination to the organisations of the government or those linked to them.

The Declaration of the MASJC recognise the original right of the Triqui peoples to be a Municipality and to have their own government which was granted since 1826 “due to their active participation in the war of Independence, under the command of José María Morelos y Pavón 14 ”. The ceremony of inauguration of the MASJC in January of 2007 called the attention of the press and social organisations in Mexico; the promoters exalted the values and traditions of the Triqui peoples. During the event they regard the position of the Council of Elderly as the maxim authority of the community; the public speech legitimised the self-determination right in the form of autonomy as a continuity of the example of the mythical Hilarión . The establishment of peace was the main task given by the Council of Elderly to the new authorities:

“You should govern according to the Triqui principles and listen to the peoples to keep holding the cargo; you will not be corrupt and you should seek the peace for all the Triqui Nation”

The Declaration of autonomy was an impending forerunner of more violence although some barrios left the UBISORT and bolstered the MASJC. The autonomous authorities managed to achieve peace at least in San Juan Copala. Like in the past, political control of the Chuma a was crucial to legitimize the social action of MASJC; after intense armed confrontation, the MULT-I and its allies expelled the members of the MULT who lived in San Juan Copala; they migrated to El Rastrojo and some went far away. The MASJC accomplished the control of the Chuma a and gained

14 Called “The Servant of the Nation”, priest Morelos ranked Generalissimo led the war of Independence from 1811 until his execution in 1815.

legitimisation as well, at the same time reinforce the image of pacifiers and ‘good guys’ among the public opinion, triqui population in Copala and Triquis in exile.

From this moment on, it was relatively peaceful in SJC; however the redressive action mentioned by Turner remains to be there until now, MULT and UBISORT continue their violent path to political success as usual evolving into something that seems a perennial stage of escalate of crisis. Arce identified the coexistence of life-worlds visible in fields of interface where the possibilities of solution are multiple: coexistence, clash, separation, mix or retreat into themselves (A Arce, 2000). The conclusion of the last stage of the drama confirms the multiplicity of possibilities of reconfiguration of the society during and after the interface.

On the other hand, the interventionism of the state played a crucial role in the perpetration of violence in a vicious circle. Interface with state and collective action produces a relationship of client-server or what Handelman calls bureaucratic affiliation (Handelman, 1979), where the material outputs of violence set the political field to bargain, and collective votes are the cash to pay the services from the state. The attempts of the state for social changes threaten and destroy the local structures and produced violent confrontations. Active participation of people in the decision making such as the consensus of the indigenous communities, create social forms that disembedding and re-embedding political factors in process of counter- development (A Arce, 2000); this process configures and reconfigures over the course of time; in this case the evolving process from El Club , the MULT, the MULT-I, to the MASJ are counter-tendencies that challenged and challenge the established domains.

López Bárcenas stands the contradictions between traditional indigenous organisation and the political organisation of indigenous (F. López, 2007b). It means that whereas the traditional structures of decision making are the basis for the collective action; on the other hand, political arenas and conflicts move away the objectives of those that originated the social organisation. In the Triqui society this phenomenon is observable by double construction of identity since the perspective of origin but also from the organisation where the household is incrusted. Next chapter deals with the configuration of the triqui individual as a family member but also as an individual actor of the constraining society of Copala.

The majority of scholars would accept that economics, culture, ecology and state-formation are the main factors influencing violence. However, a high grade of contextualisation limits the understanding to ‘structural violence’ and misses alternative paths of actions. Nevertheless, like Elster point out (Krohn-Hansen, 1994): regarding of structures and institutions should lead to talk about actors and

interactions. For example, it is common that journalist write about number of deceased from the MULT or from the UBISORT as a result of violent interfaces between antagonist groups; but in actuality, there are actors, lead by emotions, ideals, and feelings, who perpetrate the violence although their behaviour is shaped by a complexity of ‘legitimate’ and ‘illegitimate’ realities that in certain way make possible that an specific actor in a given moment pulls the trigger. Next chapter attempts to present a frame of these social actors and its relationship as a member of the community and a political organisation.

1975 El Club

1981 MULT

1994 2003 UBISORT PUP 2006 MULT-I

2007 MASJC

Figure 10 Genealogy of MASJ

Chapter IV

LIFE CYCLE Floriberto Díaz, indigenous anthropologist, sentenced that “ indigenous cannot be understood in isolation, but as members of a community. The community establish a series of relations between people and space and in second term between persons among themselves” . Díaz identified common elements of Indigenous communities: • Territorial space demarcated and defined by possession • Oral common history passed down from generation to generation • Own variation of the language, from which is founded the identity upon common language • Organisation that defines political, cultural, social, civil, economic and religious realms. • Communitarian system of deliver and administration of justice

Díaz stood that those elements lead us to the dynamic dimension of the community, which contains a subjacent and acting energy between human beings and the elements of nature. Díaz uses the term 'communality' to define the immanence of the community; in other words “it refers not just to the physical space and material existence of human beings but to the spiritual existence, ideological and ethic code and political, cultural, social, economic and civil behaviour” . Communality is defined by these elements: • Land, as mother and territory • Consensus in assembly for decision making • Gratis service, as exercise of authority • Collective work as a recreation act • Rites and ceremonies as expression of communal gift (Robles & Cardoso, 2007).

Znaniecki defined community as the social bound constructed by the consciousness and willingness of people whose existence is due to regulated social relations and organised social groups which develop their own cultural ideals and practice apart from organised group actions. This is what Turner calls ‘communitas’ or social anti-structure, the bonds of communities are anti-structural in the sense that they are neither shaped by norms nor by institutions nor abstract events and they occur outside of structural relationships (V. Turner, 1974).

From his standpoint, Norman Long acknowledge that community is a social actor and explain his assumption through three connotations that lead social practice; a) coalition for the actions: actor that under certain circumstances share 37

values, interest, perceptions and pursue together courses of social action; b) ‘heterogeneous actor-network’: mixture of human, technical, material and textual elements; c) unitary acting whole full of images, representation and categorisations of things, people and institutions (Norman Long, 2000).

In that sense we can talk about a ‘social life’ which is experienced within the communities. Hence, social life is multidimensional and comprises interpersonal and networks relationships. Whether indigenous life should be understood regarding its communitarian embedded character it is an issue of discussion to understand the relationship between the external structures and interfaces encounter provides elements that impact inside the community with different intensity and therefore have to be taken in account to understand the complexities of the social change. In that sense indigenous community should be understood as a sum of individual actors that through the exercise of consensus experience social action.

Since triqui children born, they are part of the community; identity is formed not just by the kinship but also for the birth place and the political organisation. Household is the first contact with the society; Hollenbach wrote: Children are desired, and families tend to be large; babies are breast-fed until the mother learns she is pregnant again, at which point the baby is abruptly weaned to a diet consisting largely of corn (Hollenbach, 1992). Because of the precarious health facilities, families used to have as much kids as possible based on a probabilistic logic that not all of them will survive longer than 5 years, till now communities with scarce health services follow the same rule; however the situation has been changed. Health services and family planning programs arrived at the communities not at the same rate and intensity; as a result, grown population is uneven; whereas some communities welcomed planning programs, some reject them and just accept the therapeutic services.

Hollenback continues: Babies and young children are indulged considerably because it is considered bad to let them cry. Once they reach school age, however, they are expected to obey and to help in household tasks. Ridicule is an important technique used to enforce compliance with societal norms... children accompany the parent of the same sex and learn skills by observation and imitation . Education of Triqui children comes from family and school. Triquis consider necessary and positive the formal education in the school; boys and girls attend the school without restrictions from the parents, moreover they consider an obligation to send children to school. Parents are deep involved in the scholar issues through parental committees which took care of the necessities of the school and also watch the behaviour of teachers. Parental committees are part of the system of cargos ;

committee members has a high accountability to the community so they don’t hesitant to accuse misbehaviour of teacher (usually alcoholism and lateness in high degree, above what they consider normal and tolerable), and even ask removal of those ‘bad’ teachers; the situation is more relaxed when teachers are Triquis, in this case, they bear misconduct of teachers regarding their social duties with the community as causing of their misconduct which is tolerated; nevertheless because of their lack of skills parents don’t pay attention to the contents of the education.

The Triqui region is not attractive for teachers at all; those who remain in the community for a long time are rare since they look forward to being moved somewhere else. As a consequence, Triqui teachers do not have problems to work in their hometowns. Teachers are very influential persons in the community since they are fluently in Spanish they eventually become gestores and/or local leaders. Teachers always gain respect from the community; however as members of the group they have to observe the rules and accomplish their tasks such as be authorities and held cargos.

Almost all barrios in Copala have a preschool and elementary school, some of them under the mode of educación inicial indígena (initial indigenous education) which is non-schooling education for children under 4 years old, and it is imparted by community fellows who accomplished their secondary school and by this way obtain a grant to continue their studies in high school. Bigger barrios have tele- secondary school wherein students take broadcasted lessons with support of an advisor teacher; only the biggest barrios have secondary school like San Juan Copala. Only El Rastrojo in the side of MULT has a high school campus.

Most of teenager Triquis leave formal education behind after they graduate from secondary school then is time to think about marriage. For males it is time to migrate and save some money to afford the expenses of a new household; women have to learn at home about domestic issues and she has to be able to weave her own huipil . A few youngsters who continue studying have to leave the community to Oaxaca or Mexico City, depending on where their relatives are. Although there is a high school in El Rastrojo, parents complain about its low quality insofar as the leaders of MULT force parents to send their children, otherwise they fine them with excessive amount of money. Despite of all difficulties, in the last decade a few numbers from a new generation of Triquis have been graduated from University.

Triqui children grew up within an unpleasant atmosphere where the violence is present everywhere at every time. Social life is embedded with the political conflict insofar as Triqui children grew up as member of a group and regarding the existence of an opposite otherness which is ‘the wrong’. Rivalries are observed also in school where boys reproduce adult’s conflicts; in SJC teacher report a number of

street fights among kids belonged to one and another group. Future of youngsters are not so optimist; migration bring them an attractive image through the stories of those who come back; they link the adventure in the North with success which mean dollars, trucks, electric devices, good clothes and ostentatious use of gold accessories. However young Triquis start to question the community system and challenge the values and traditions. During an informal interview with a smart young triqui, he relates the difficulties that implies be a young triqui:

“Violence won’t finish, vendettas are very deep in the families and no one wants to forgive the past injuries’ . He drank his beer and breathed deeply: ‘you know, what is missing here is love; if I marry a woman from the other group I’ll be forced to respect her family, I won’t be able to kill her relatives, but how? I can’t even talk to them (to the girls) , is forbidden”. He laughed and drank again: “Moreover I haven’t gone to the North (the US) , I couldn’t pass, I tried but the migra 15 trapped me and they kick me off, how can I get a woman? I’m not able to afford the cost. I write poems”. He laughed again: “that’s why I’m not coming to the dance tonight; women won’t dance with me, they don’t care about poems; they would love me if I got dollars, but I don’t want to leave my town again’. I think our traditions are wrong; they suck; we must learn to do things in a different way, if I marry a woman and we love each other, I won’t be thinking about kill people...”

Triquis have strong endogamy practices. Courtship is long and expensive and it is mainly a matter for parents to arrange. In the old days, the parents of the groom offered aguardiente 16 and tobacco to the bride’s family and usually it took several meetings until the family finally approved the marriage. At the last meeting all the relatives together decide the form and the expenses for the wedding.

Nowadays the system of a series of visits remains but the negotiation has changed drastically because of migration. Male teenagers who go to work in the USA and decide that is time to get married come back to their hometowns. There is a popular belief that people who come back from the US have succeeded and accumulated a good amount of dollars. As a consequence, brides’ families ask (charge?) a high amount of money to make a deal. Rates varies according to age and status of the woman; to give an idea it is popularly commented about those who have paid about 70,000 pesos (€4,700) for a young virgin female whereas a mature single mother has been ranked at 5,000 pesos (about €300). This situation creates a competition between males to demonstrate who is able to afford such expenses.

15 Popular name that migrants use to refer to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service police.

16 Strong alcoholic beverage made by distilling sugar cane

This has become an issue among outsiders, human rights watchers and feminists, who argue that it is a form of trade with women; however male Triquis defend their practice as a part of their own culture like Hollenback wrote: ‘ The bride price contributes to the stability of marriage, but divorces and separations are not infrequent. Some couples elope, but such marriages tend to be unstable because they lack the backing of the extended family’ (Hollenbach, 1992).

Family is the basic institution of Triqui society, and the householder is the representative of the domestic unity. As a formal member of the community, the householder takes part in collective issues but he involves the whole family to carry them out properly. Collective action start within the family that seek from attend a political demonstration to manage a fiesta, householder allocate a role to each member of the family. Social action is building in a ‘harmonic’ process which Turner calls ‘social enterprises’ (V. Turner, 1974)

The process to achieve social goals is visible in the collective work called Tequio ; Díaz describes tequio not just as a collective work but as a transforming energy where the individual combine personal and familiar interest with those of the community without a expecting a wage for his or her contribution. The success of tequio depends on the importance of the goal for the community and also on the ability of authorities to call people to attend it. Governmental programs have capitalized the work of the community in form of tequio where it is considered to have an input of the community in the building of social infrastructure; combination of tequio plus government financial resources has made possible most of the public buildings, infrastructure and roads in indigenous communities.

The tequio is also a form of accountability in upward level; when people join the collective work they get information about the using of the economic resources in detail. The tequio represents the human capital of the community and it also hints the capability of the organisations; under the atmosphere of violence the tequio is not a safe practice insofar as in San Juan Copala there is not a concentric urbanisation like in other barrios. For instance, in the past decade, the MULT built an auditorium in its side whereas UBISORT built a market building in its own side. Nowadays the council of the MASJC are building a wall in the perimeter of the town- hall.

Apart of material achievements, it is important for indigenous peoples to keep in order the spirituality of the community. Fiestas are the way how social enterprises balance the material with the non-material identities, and reinforce the community harmony by doing the process properly. Current fiestas are a combination between catholic practices and ancient believes and traditions; catholic church has adopted a tolerant attitude and the role of priest are limited only to the catholic services, the rest of the events during fiesta are taking in combined way for the mayordomos and the authorities, the first concern about religious issues and the latest for civil and social activities.

The Triquis celebrate several fiestas throughout the year; all barrios have their own fiesta on a certain date, but the most important ones take place in San Juan Copala:

The third Friday of Lent, Figure 11 Images of fiesta in San Juan Copala, (February, 2008) they celebrate Rne cuanun in honour of an image of Jesus Christ that they call Tata Chu 17 . Triquis from all barrios and even Mixtecos, Amuzgos, Tacuates and mestizos join this fiesta. Besides the Catholic celebration, the fiesta is surrounded by many elements of Triquis’ beliefs 18 . In addition to visiting the Catholic temple of Tata Chu, pilgrims visit the sacred cave

17 Tata Chu is a deformation of the Spanish name of “Padre Jesús”. Tata Chu is recognized not just in Copala but in many communities of Mixtecos, Amuzgos and Tacuates as a very miraculous image.

18 Together with mass and celebrations, Catholic services, inside the church shamans and traditional healers have plenty of freedom to practice their rituals and therapies, soul cleansings and reading of cards, maize and hands. Conservative Catholics are shocking for this mixture of elements, but on the other hand dozens of pilgrims travel long distances to find health for their bodies and soul in the fiesta of Tata Chu.

and rock; there they make offerings and petitions to “ el dueño del lugar” 19 . They represent graphically their desires drawing them -cars, houses, money, cattle, and etcetera- on the wall with chalk or building small houses with rocks and branches on the floor. Despite of the conflicts the number of pilgrimages do not decrease, faith is bigger than fear, a Tacuate woman told to me: -we came with faith to see Tata Chu, they say that is dangerous to come here, but we believe that if you come in peace and with faith, Tata Chu will not let you to suffer anything bad-. Lent is a special time for Triquis; probably it is due to the relation of this period with the season of planting, insofar as every Friday of Lent there is fiesta in other barrios.

On September 29, Triquis worship the Archangel San Miguel, this celebration coincides with the season of harvesting. This fiesta is carried out in the entire region but the most important takes place in San Miguel Copala.

Figure 12 Image of the sacred cave and the draws on the wall

The Day of Dead November 1 and 2 is an important date in the indigenous calendar, this Catholic celebration coincides with the ancient date of cult to the dead ancestors. They believe that on this date deceased relatives come to visit them; Triquis do not visit the cemeteries in these days, but rather set an offering in their houses adorned with marigolds or cempaxóchitl flowers ( Tagetes erecta), special food, fruits and beverages; at the end of the fiesta, they share the meals.

Another important date is New Year's Day. During the New Year’s Eve, the Triquis carry out the exchange of authorities; the ceremony represents the end of a period and the start of a new one, by which the cycle of death and live, day and night is complete. The Triqui believe that at the end of every year their past mistakes or crimes are forgotten. As a result, the last few days in December are considered the best time to kill your enemy.

19 El dueño del lugar is the indigenous representation of the one who owns the earth and from whom they ask permission and blessing.

Fiestas have changed over time and adjusted to the current circumstances. Whereas they preserve the symbols on the other hand, violence and political conflicts has been influenced changes in the form of organisation of fiestas. Nowadays mayordomos do not have any influence in the decision making of the authorities. Even some practices were abandoned; in the past after the fiesta of Tata Chuz, mayordomos used to take the figure of Jesus Christ to the sacred rock, there they washed the image with water from the sacred cave; due to violence now they no longer practice this ritual. Since the sacred rock is on the territory of MULT, those mayordomos who are members of UBISORT do not feel safe to go there. Last decade, UBISORT and MULT shared the space of the church, and during fiestas there was a peace de facto , mayordomos could be nominated from one or another group; however people don’t feel free to go from one side to another to join the fiesta. In periods of crisis only a few amount of traders attempted to come to SJC, also happen with the social events, it became difficult to find musicians and basketball teams brave enough to play in SJC.

This year accomplish one since the authorities of the MASJC pacified the town. They sized his success through the number of visitors in the fiesta; the main street is so crowded than even the procession of Tata Chu toughened to find a way into the number of stalls: clothes, agriculture tools, illegal copies of music CDs and DVD films, etcetera, on the other side of the street women sold food, fruits, handcrafts, bananas and tobacco leaves.. People are losing fear to come to Copala: the autonomous president told. Another strategy for catch people to fiesta is the basketball tournament, this year the prizes were from 15,000 pesos (€965) for the first prize to 2,000 pesos (€130) for the 5 th placed; after many years there was women tournament as well. Fiesta occurred in peace, next days, people commented proudly: ‘ there wasn’t little dead (muertito) in our fiesta this year’. Next week a couple of members of UBISORT died in an ambush.

Who dies go to a new and better life , Triquis say. When somebody dies they are dressed with his or her best clothes, and provided with food, utensils to drink water, money and jewellery. There neither silence nor prayers during the wake; Triquis play music, talk loudly and drink beer and aguardiente . According to Díaz, when someone is killed; the family curses the murderers and ask the corpse take them away (Díaz). Nine days after the burial, they hold a ceremony called raising the cross which must be carried out to assist in the passage of the soul to heaven. There is, however, a belief that murder victims cannot go to heaven.

Triquis are involved in the social and political organisation of their family and community during their life cycle. People are not only identified by their birth place but also for the social organisation they belong, Turner mentions that loyal and

obligation is a heavy duty that goes even against their own personal preferences (V. Turner, 1974).

Too Young to Know; Too Young to Die (The Youth in Copala)

On April 7, 2008 two young women died in an ambush, they held a cargo in the MASJC; their job was the operation of the communitarian radio: Radio Copala. ‘The voice that breaks the silence’ is its slogan. Days before they broadcasted a new spot: ‘they say that we are too young to know; we say that we are too young to die’. It makes a clear allusion to the critics from the old leaders who argue that people involved in the MASJC is too young, inexperienced and stupid because they do not know how hard has been the historical defence of the territory and the relation with the government.

The process of learning inside the tradition of Triquis seems that never ends; however, formal education, scientific knowledge and myriad of experiences of migrants from outside the community provided of new skills to the youth that challenge the wisdom of elderly. Mead quoted by Arce, noticed the counterpoint that the children’s world forms against the adults’ world (A Arce, 2000). In actuality, young people firmly supported the declaration of autonomy. As they say, this inclusive process could be a chance to experience voice and participate actively in the achievement of peace in Copala.

Old organisation grew up in close relationship with the government; it could be in good or bad terms but government has been the only interlocutor that they had to negotiate and to get benefits. Nowadays social policies have been changed and the state is no longer able to accomplish the demands of the population. Young people do not recognise the state as a benefactor; they grew up in an atmosphere where the government causes more problems than solutions. Moreover, young people have more access to the massive media and personal experiences of migration outside the community; in other words their interpretation of reality is different.

For young people violence is everywhere in Copala and they learnt to live immersed in its; however the origin is so far and foggy insofar as violence is a non- sense for the youth. Nevertheless, they creatively have opened subtle ways of communication even amongst opposite groups. The experience of the community radio is an example; operators of Radio Copala are not older than 25 years. They broadcast popular music combined with greetings and short messages; something that seems an innocent activity caught the attention of the old leaders. A common message could be like this: “This song is a token for Rosa from Copala, from the part

of his secret love who lives in El Rastrojo20”; outside the house of Radio Copala, youngsters run freely bringing pieces of papers with such ‘subversives’ messages of secret loves. Since the land and the roads are unsafe and despite of the censure of the older, young Triquis use technology to appropriate the air and transmit feelings and opinions.

POLITICAL ORGANISATION Community life cannot be understood without taking into account political participation. Through hard lessons of their own history, the Triquis have learnt that being together is the only way to hold control of their territory. Political organization is a very dynamic and interesting process; it is a series of constant changes in power relations, however agency within the community varies between individual actors and collective action.

Perhaps one of the hardest question to be answered is about who rules in Copala, and it is also an issue that has been modified over time. First ethnographies about Triquis (Cordero, 1977), (Huerta, 1981), described the old traditional way of organisation and pointed out several actors and their positions in the decision making process of the communities, those mentioned positions are:

Principales: They are persons that because of their age, experience or skills have achieved the respect into their communities; they have a very active role in the decision making and functioning of the community. At the top of their career they usually become formal authorities. Older principales are always consulted by younger authorities and eventually become members of the Elderly Council. Formal authorities: They are persons who hold the legal representation of the community during a period of time such as municipal presidents and municipal agents. In indigenous communities, only those who have served in all cargos 21 in a gradual scale can become an authority. Election of authorities is held in popular assemblies.

20 El Rastrojo is a community under control of MULT, after the inauguration of the MASJC people from MULT left San Juan Copala and moves to El Rastrojo. They cannot come back because is too risky.

21 The Cargos system is a ladder through which indigenous communities train people to obtain experience in the public service for the community. Young people start with the lower level and simple tasks, once they managed it, move upward to the next cargo and so on until he is skillful enough to become authority. This systems is criticized arguing uneven gender relations and that it does not take into account the learnt skills and knowledge acquired outside the community in formal education.

Mayordomos: They are chosen to hold the religious fiestas, to take care of the religious issues, maintaining of the church and sacred places and spend money on the celebration of fiestas (meals, drinks, music, flowers and fireworks). The cargo for Mayordomo lasts one year, but in practice they are three 22 ; they had an important voice in the community issues and in the past their families and those of the authorities were the only ones who were allowed to live in the Chuma a and also had privileges to trade in the local market in order to be able to afford the expenses of communal fiestas. Council of Elders: It is composed of wise men that have succeeded in all their cargos. The Council takes part in important issues for the whole community usually related to conflicts with other towns and those attributed to supernatural origins such as epidemics or droughts.

This political system has changed. Caciques have been deemed as powerful and cruel persons who kept a strict control over Triqui lands and persons. Caciques are also confused with leaders or principales or these conceptual terms have been used interchangeably which is not always right. Díaz makes a brilliant description about Sí :

Sí are persons who looks like both caciques and principales, to be a Sí it is not important to be elder, everyone who has the ability to solve conflicts, mediate between them and deliver justice can become Sí . Sí and caciques are alike because of the wealth they can achieve from their hierarchical position; Sí can use violence to defend their families and barrios and make alliances to defend the integrity of Triqui territory or if their lives are in risk.

Among the Sí exists a hierarchical distinction achieved by relevant actions; usually they start being Sí of their own barrios by doing actions of defence. The higher aspiration of Sí is to rule as many barrios as possible and this desire is linked to the wish to concentrate wider political power. (Díaz)

Sí is seen as synonym of leader, though it is not always true. Sí use to be in a safe place without leave his territory; he does not show him in public; his decision making is at home where them, other Sí and leaders hold sort of conclaves to decide the future of the communities. Leaders are public persons who bargain with the government at the same time that are accountable to the grassroots level; a leader can be a Sí , cacique or both at the same time, otherwise leaders obey the will of Sí and publicly exercise his voice; leaders move relatively autonomously but always

22 Three mayordomos are responsible to carry out the fiestas, they call them incoming, current and retiring, although there is only one who held the title each year, in fact three of them have to spent almost the same amount of money and the responsibilities are shared.

defend the interest of Sí at least until something changes the balance of power relationship. In brief, because of their public activities leaders are the sine qua non that makes collective action possible and they vie each other to become Sí or to defeat another Sí.

Everyone in Copala knows that the “ mero mero lider” (the real leader) of the MULT lives in El Rastrojo at few kilometres from San Juan Copala; people said, in a frightened tone, that Don “O” and his brothers held secret meetings in their house in El Rastrojo to plan the strategies of the MULT; then they communicate the decision to Sr. ‘P’ in Oaxaca City and ‘R’. True or not, Don ‘O’ holds the respect and regards of his community; he is what Díaz S . calls a Sí; he hasn’t left the community but never appears in public. In contrast, Sr. ‘P’ and ‘R’ are true leaders they lead the demonstrations, appears in public, and tell speeches to the press; in other words, they are very active politically, and public persons. Sr. ‘P’ is not Triqui so he is hardly deemed manipulator, murderer, and liar by Triquis. ‘R’ is triqui but he does not live in his town since many years ago; probably he does not feel safe there. These men are powerful and have strong influence in the decision making of the communities of the MULT; but they cannot achieve the position of a Sí; it is a ranking that has to do also with the family and tradition.

The ephemeral life of leader is determined by accountability; this refers to the process of holding actors responsible for their actions. According to Fox, accountability is multidirectional: vertical refers to the relations between civil society and state that might be in both senses upward and downward whereas horizontal accountability refers to a process along a surface of institutions within the state, At this flat level there is also collective internal accountability that is about the relations among members of the same group which support each other and share responsibilities as a whole, Fox suggests the term ‘lateral’ to refer at this particular kind of accountability (J. Fox, 1996).

Elwert et al sentenced that: ‘ the social incorporation of violence is one of ‘accountability’ which has to replace violence itself as the currency of negotiation; it build bridges between fight leaders and talk leaders, in which collective suffering can be recognised’ (Elwert et al., 1999) The structure of power relationships inside the Triqui collective agency reveals that a system of accountability coexistences in fragile equilibrium which is easily broken. This makes a cycle that goes forward and adjusts itself over time and using violence to start a new cycle. Díaz argued that an indigenous community cannot be seen as individuals separated from territory and the idea of indigenous people without land is simply impossible (Robles & Cardoso, 2007). In practice the community can be seen as a sum of individual actors

exercising strong lateral accountability because of the crucial importance to protect the territory and others shared interests.

In a recent study Fox properly assumes that some communities just do not work out with conventional authorities and government relationships -such is the case of Copala- and they created their own “autonomous scaled-up counterweights” and local accountable institutions (J. A. Fox, 2007). The first level of upward accountability lies in the local leader. In a typical case when a leader starts his career his community trusts him, and he is highly accountable to them; however a leader sometimes needs the support of a local or regional Sí which make him automatically accountable from above; the leader then has to be able to keep a balance of accountability in both downwards and upwards directions.

As a second stage, when conflict arises leader is at a crossroads, they have to decide between to be loyal to Sí or to community. It is a tough decision taking into account that what is at risk is the life of leader. The decision is shaped by the strength of the accountability relations; at least two scenarios are possible: a) the leader becomes more accountable to Sí and less to community; in this case the lateral accountability becomes less strong and a new leader can emerge; b) the leader becomes more accountable to community and less accountable to Sí; in this case lateral accountability relaxes and collective loyalty increase to protect the

Loyalty to Sí,

A) B) C)

Vertical accountability

Lateral accountability, loyalty to community

Figure 13 Diagram of conflict; social arrangement of leader, Sí and community The dashed line represent the position of the leader and the triangles the lateral accountability among the community; in A) th e balance between the position of leader, SÍ and the community is in equilibrium and the leader is sustained by the community's loyalty; In B) the leader tends to be closer to the Sï, he loses the loyalty of the community and the lateral accountability bec omes stronger and wider; emergence of a new leader is feasible; In C) the leader is close to the community and becomes part of the lateral accountability and is protected by the community.

leader’s life.

A third stage is possible in a leader's career and it is observed when a leader reaches a public position that sets him in the position to bargain with the state. Government strives to bewitch leaders; this situation always creates a relation of inverse proportionality between the accountability to government and community. This is the highest position of risk for leaders, because of incompatibilities –Triquis say: “ no se puede servir a Dios y al Diablo” 23 -. Leaders who choose to be loyal to the people can be murdered by instruction of government; on the other hand co-opted leaders are killed by disappointed colleagues or new emerging leaders who want to take his place. Leaders in this stage are very careful insofar as they move outside the community to safer places like Oaxaca City. Nevertheless those leaders who have lost support and loyalty from the people have no other resource than using violence to preserve their power, no matter how much it costs in money and lives; this violent behaviour is the same for those Sí that tends to be more like the caciques.

‘R’ and ‘T’ started his political career as members of MULT, ‘R’ studied outside the community so he became fluent in Spanish; his skills helped him to be closer to the Sí of El Rastrojo. ‘T’ forged his career through cargo systems and being a gestor. As a natural leader he achieved respect and trust from his barrio; ‘T’ kept a good relation with the Sí of El Rastrojo and provided support of his barrio to him. ‘R’ holds a strategic position as the spokesman of the MULT and he became an influential element for the Sí and the old leaders in Oaxaca City, he was loyal to Sí and also to Sr. ‘P’ in Oaxaca City insofar as it is said that both planed the creation of the PUP. Sr. ‘P’ rewards him being congressman for the PUP. Meanwhile, after ‘T’ lost his son in an ambush, the relationship with the Sí in El Rastrojo was impossible. The support of his community and the loyalty he put on them made possible that ‘T’s barrio followed him in the creation of a new political organisation: MULT-I. Neither ‘R’ nor ‘T’ hold an easy position; on one hand, ‘R’ does not live in his community anymore, and has widely supported by the official system; on the other hand ‘T’ continues living in his barrio; probably he did not expect that the separation from MULT led the situation to a declaration of political autonomy in the MASJC. At the moment he is an important person in the MASJC’s political structure; however he must be loyal to the community regardless that the democratic process impairs his power; otherwise he would not have safety anymore.

In briefly, Triqui life is completely embedded in political affairs. Triquis exercise political voice individually but the collective consensus determines the nature of the collective action which they follow even against their individual interest and believes. During escalation of violence, the Triquis must decide

23 ‘ You cannot serve God and the Devil’

between to be loyal to the family or to the community because it is their own life which is in risk. Decision to migrate is an individual one insofar as at times of crisis people leave the town behind at night and secret. Exit is the resource against violence and extreme situations, when the life inside the community cannot be safe and secure anymore.

Chapter V

THE TRANSNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF SAN JUAN COPALA It is important to take in account the high mobility of the Triqui people to get a complete picture of them. Copala ranks among the highest migration flows regions according to official statistics. This phenomenon produces an extended community that cannot be understood without acknowledge all the parts that comprises the territories occupied by Triquis and their dynamics. Copala should be seen as a transnational community. This chapter refers to the composition of the transnational community and its peculiarities, and try to explain how migration trigger complex processes of reinforcement of the identity and differentiation, however this parallel process leads to unexpected constructions and transformation of local realities that directly or indirectly affect the Triqui life.

Origin of the Diaspora The Triqui community has a strong migratory outflow and they make reference the violence and poverty as the main reasons of the diaspora; however, Triquis of Copala remain closely knit. Far from home, they learnt to be united to face new local challenges. The migration in the Mixteca region is classified in two different types: permanent and temporal. There is also a relation between environmental factors such as rate of erosion and type of migration; whereas people from highly eroded zones tends to migrate in permanent way to the big cities in Mexico and the United States and search for urban employees, people from low eroded zones (like Copala) used to cultivate crops and then migrate in temporal way to large farms in the states of the north of Mexico such as Sonora and Baja California. However, this assumption does not fit for the permanent migration of Triquis. In Copala migration is a concomitant output of violence.

Migration is commonly seen as an act of abandonment and translated as lack of loyalty to the community. Fox point out that migration is also an individual choice of loyalty to family or self-preservation (Fox, 2007). To support these assumptions he describes the relations between migrant civil society as a political user of voice and exit and the role of the sentiment of loyalty as mediator between the self-safety and sense of cultural belonging: one first step acknowledge that some migrant are engaged with collective action and secondly most migrations implies a collective action in the usage of extended networks of social capital empowered by loyalty and trust. Finally migrants express loyalty when send remittances back home.

In this picture presented by Fox, Triqui migration is an atypical case. Migration of Triquis from Copala is linked directly or indirectly with violence: losing a

householder, fleeing from revenges or the justice, and the inability to work due to injuries or simply fear are some of the causes of migration. Nevertheless migration is a well organised system. Political voice is a common practice among Triquis; that is a part of their making of collective agency. Although public voice is expressed by leaders, his success and support from the community depend on the degree that people feel well represented by him. Otherwise, the leader no longer will live among the community or he will be eliminated; however loyalty is part of an individualistic agency that is shaped by kinship and individual conveniences. Firstly, belonging to a group depends on the geographical situation of the community because safety and strategic cooperation for defending of territory are important factors to maintain life; however the community as a collective actor can turn its favour to another organisation or leader.

The migration of Triquis is most of the times in one way. It is common that the people who leave lose their land and rights in the community, this factor together with lack of family links make unattractive the idea to come back but strength the eager to build a new community somewhere else. The Triquis exercise political voice in a participative way to rebuild the social fabric of their community in diaspora. New home will forge new community that eventually will replace the community in Copala and from these communities Triquis start new patterns of migration. During my field work in La Nueva San Juan Copala in Sonora, I witnessed a case of a person who was deep in debts -after he managed the organisation of the local fiesta- and how his situations was handle during a popular assembly in the presence of the traditional authorities and staff of the National Commission for Development of Indigenous Peoples (CDI). This man was mayordomo and also the treasurer of a formal committee which obtained resources from CDI to run the expenses of the fiesta; at the time (2 months after the fiesta took place) he had not present all the proofs of the expenses. The local leader told me that that the man's wife was very sick so people mumbled that he took the money to afford the cost of medicines and to pay the bill of physicians; this situation was never mentioned in the assembly; at the end the participants set a deadline to the man presents the bills or the money which was missing. The decision to set a deadline was not a trivial issue; after a large discussion, the attendants of the assembly took into account the dates when the man could find a job in the US, and how long it will take to gather the money; surprisingly the decision contained the solution in itself: the man has to go to the US to gather money and come back to pay his debt with the community. I was wondering if the man decides to stay in the US and forget his debts; the leader gave me the answer: He cannot do such a thing, his family and house are here, he won’t go anywhere, for sure he will come back . As the same way it happens in

Copala, people who are deep in debts, because they have to afford a compromiso 24 , they go to the US as the only possible way to gather money in relative short time. Apart from paying debts, Triquis from La Nueva San Juan Copala migrate to build their houses in la colonia or gather money to buy a car. In this way, La Nueva San Juan Copala is also replacing to San Juan Copala Oaxaca as the destiny of remittances.

The Path to the North There are two types of migration that the Triquis follow; one of them is the one that they do to afford compromisos which is a temporal migration. Usually only men go to work in the US for one or two years and most of then come back although for only short periods; they send remittances home to pay debts or to save them and afford high expenses in the future. Because of the difficulties to cross the border illegally, it is difficult that the Triquis travel with their wives and children, though there are exceptions. The routes they follow vary according to the family network; sometimes they pass to the communities in Sonora and Baja California to work for a season while they gather enough money to cross the border. Phoenix Ca. is the point of distribution, from there the Triquis move to the different destinies in the US where they can find a job (París, 2003). Since 1997 and because of the escalation of the security in the border, the crossing preferences moved to the east from Nuevo Laredo Tamauipas (Mexico) to Laredo Texas (US); once there, they move to the east coast of the US. One the other hand there is the permanent migration; in this case complete families leave the village behind to establish in the new settlements in the cities -Oaxaca, Mexico City- or in the agricultural fields of Sinaloa, Sonora and Baja California; once they settle down, they hardly will come back.

Parallel to political organisation Triqui people keep strong family networks which constitute the backbone of the migration system. The Triquis move along localities relying on a network of family links. Using family networks, the Triquis move collectively along well defined routes through Mexico and the US (París, 2003); this network also connect the migrant with the labour market and the political organisation. Family networking is very active and available whenever they need it 25 .

24 When they hold an important assignment in the community such as to be mayordomo, manage a religious celebration or something that implies an important expense of money.

25 During my field research I experienced the rapid organisation of Triqui network. When I travelled from Hermosillo to Tijuana, and because my informants knew that it was my first staying in Tijuana, they provide me with phone numbers and addresses of their contacts there. They asked me my mobile number so the Triquis in Tijuana called me almost immediately I arrive to the city.

Triqui migrant regroup outside Copala; hence, the physical domain of barrios are rebuilt in different spaces where they remain closely knit but they incorporate new elements to their language of territoriality and belonging: El predio 26 in Mexico City (Díaz, 2007), La colonia 27 in the agriculture fields of the north states of Mexico (Camargo, 2006), and the apartment in Greenfield California (Johnston, 2004). These are all new forms of settlements which are becoming the new domains where Triquis and their organisations join their abilities and capacities to make a difference.

Although the decision to migrate is an individual choice, the destination of migrants is determined by the family network that the migrant knows beforehand. Evidently, Triquis are constantly engaged in individual and collective action 28 ; however since loyalty is a collective matters and exit is an individual act of agency, individual loyalty toward the collective actor is not common. On the other hand, once Triqui migrants are in the community of destination they are automatically incorporated into the local organisation and eventually become loyal to a new community. ‘Ci’ is a labourer in the agricultural fields of Sonora; he lives there with his brother and his own family; he came in the nineties when ‘J’ a leader of the MULT commissioned him in the north in to do propaganda in favour of the MULT. The Triquis in Sonora did not accept him and rejected everything that has to do with the MULT ‘Ci’ suffer an attack and like he says: “ I had to defend” . ‘Ci’ was condemned and sentenced to prison. Then he asked the support of MULT to get his freedom but they denied it. ‘Ci’ narrates that he got support and assistance from an organisation of Sonora and he got free six months later. This experience broke all kind of relationship with MULT and he advocated empowering the new organisation in Sonora, the FULT.

26 Predio is a ground in the urban area where Triqui group built sheds where the families live in overcrowded rooms.

27 La colonia is an urban neighbourhood with regular public services, in the past they were agricultural fields which were taken by the labourers throughout social struggles or by negotiations between leaders, landlords and government.

28 There are cases of exiled Triquis who took part actively in the local organisations and after migration could organize their paisanos in the new settlements and create new organisations.

Greenfield

San Quintín

Figure 14 Migration routes and networking from Oaxaca to the North of Mexico and the United States.

Triqui people who have born in these new settlements speak Triqui language, reproduce Triqui traditions and behave as Triqui despite the fact that some of them have never been in Copala. In this way Triquis built and re-built their identities and become a transnational community. However there are some crucial differences with typical transnational communities and one of the reasons is the fact that they leave their community by fear rather than poverty. One of the main points of difference is the fact that the Triquis regard their new community as their “new homes”.

The Mixteco’s region is highly eroded thus Mixtecos migrate in order to make a living since their homeland is very poor. Mixtec identity is re-defined in the North where the Mixtecos faced discrimination and exploitation (Carole Nagengast & Kearney, 1990). Mixtecos in the North organise clubs and social networks that strength the relationship with their hometown by sending remittances and voice back home. They regard their local authorities and are active part in the decision making of the community of origin. The impact of the remittances can be observed in the large houses that Mixtecos migrants build in their hometowns although they are empty most of the time. The ideal of Mixtecos is to gather a good amount of money 56

to have a pleasant retirement time at home; when someone dies, Mixtecos use to expend loads of money to send the body back home to be buried there. In contrast, Triquis tend to create new communities in the destiny communities rather than improve the community of origin.

Overcrowding is a common issue in the new settlements; the Triquis have access to facilities for attention of their health since they are living into urban areas or near to them; however the health institutions does not have specific programs for the attention of Triquis according to their habits; which do happen in Copala where there are programs of health education and family planning services focus on indigenous communities. As a result big families appears in predios and colonias; the leader of La Nueva San Juan Copala (I will call him 'C') has twelve children; he follows the idea from Copala where they use to have as many children as possible. He explained: “My mother in Copala had ten chamacos 29 but we only survive four, here in La colonia, all of them are healthy. My brother (he lives in la colonia as well) has six children too; the problem is that we have to work very hard to raise them...”

At the same way that in Copala, It is a priority that children in la colonia attend the school; In La Nueva, ‘C’ proudly showed me the Figure 15Family of C in La Nueva San Juan Copala Sonora elementary school “ Nueva Creación Comunidad Triquis ”; it is one of their main achievements as gestor. “Now, we are searching bilingual teachers like in Oaxaca”, he said; “we want they teach our children in Triqui”. The school is another field where Triquis reproduce their organisation; they have a parental committee as well; the school and the social practices around tie even more the permanence in the community, like ‘C’ said: “even if I want to go back to Copala I cannot go, my children are in the school here, I cannot move my family...; alone? No, I cannot; who is going to cook for me?”

Kearney regard ethnicity as a social construction formed from the interface of material conditions, history, the structure of the political economy, and social practice (Carole Nagengast & Kearney, 1990), it implies the construction of a dual ethnicity by double definition; the one that Triquis get from themselves and the one

29 children

that they get from the outsiders. During my visit to Sonora people from the surroundings have a foggy idea about who are Triquis, they identified them for the red huipiles that women wear and their barefoot children; on the other hand, a civil servant from the National Commission for Development of Indigenous Pueblos (CDI) defined Triquis as: hard workers, well organised, cooperatives and with a strong sense of community and collective life; I asked: violent? , to which he rapidly answered: “no. I have heard those stories from Oaxaca which seems to me like an exaggeration; here these people are very friendly .” The Triquis redesign their identities on the basis of the defined ethnicity as Triquis in first instance and the reflected image that they receive from the external word. Kearney argues that ethnicity is not ontological given but a social construction on the interface of material conditions (Carole Nagengast & Kearney, 1990). Like the Mixtecos described by Nagengast; Triquis in the diaspora ‘defined their own reality in a highly contested struggle over the meaning of ethnicity’. This ethnicity and the reproduction of their forms of political organisation help them to resist the new challenges of their new settlements.

The local struggles that the Triquis face in the new localities have been crucial to thick their identity. In the beginning of the diaspora, in the eighties and nineties, when the first families of Triquis came to the agriculture fields in Sonora and Baja California they lived in camps surrounded by the agriculture fields, the conditions were very poor with neither electricity nor water suppliers nor health facilities; their life there was very hard. However, through social organisation and strong leadership, they achieve improvements in their quality of life over the course of time. First, they obtained the ground to built their houses, later they sought government support for construction inputs; then they started claims for electricity, water facilities and drainage. Nowadays the main demand is paving the streets. Camargo (Camargo, 2006) describes how these struggles encouraged the participation and organisation of Triquis; this process strengths the original identity but also incorporate new elements that identify themselves as Triquis but acquires the particularities from the places where they settle down and reorganise themselves; they are Triquis from Sonora, Baja California, etcetera. However, the first sense of belonging is always to be Triquis 30 no matter if they live within more complex societies. Trough their actions they defined the boundaries of their private spaces and where they allow themselves to be and feel part of the Triqui group.

30 Talking to the leader of “La Nueva San Juan Copala” in Miguel Alemán, Sonora, I asked him about where their kids were born. He answered to me proudly; -they were born all here in “La colonia”. –so they’re “Sonorenses”, I assumed. He turned serious and thought for a moment, finally laughing out loudly he said: -Oh yes they are, they are Sonorenses, right? He agreed.

Against all the odds, in the new communities the Triquis live in peace; even though rival family re- encounter in the North, they cooperate and forget the past, Camargo describes the act of families that beg pardon and apologize for aggressions and mistakes from the past. When the Triquis are questioned about the discontinuity of violence they use to say: We do have enough problems here, why should we bring back those from Oaxaca? The new communities regard the chance to build something new with optimism, based on their own knowledge and values, but taking into account the particularities of the new context. Triqui migrants are well known for their ability to organise and lead struggles of indigenous labourers in the North. Whereas other ethnic groups organise to send back remittances and support in the community of origin, Triquis worry about the new local conditions, the ‘here and now’. The possibility to return is far from being real and the only opportunity to build a home is in their new localities.

Nowadays, Triquis in the North not only need electricity and water, they are building their spaces according to their experiential learning; for instance the “Colonia La Nueva San Juan Copala” in Sonora has in the middle a small town Figure 16 Facade of the town hall of the Colonia La Nueva San Juan Copala hall and in front they are building a church, between them there is a basketball court. This distribution of the public space is the same that in the Triqui barrios in Oaxaca; colonias are somehow the transnational reproduction of the use of space based on their living experience in Oaxaca. According to the leader, the next step for the colonia is to have their own cemetery and this firmly marks a clear difference with other migrant groups to whom it is crucial to be buried in the birth place (Brandes, 2001).

In contrast with the definition of hyperspace (Kearney, 1996), what Triquis do is an act of regrouping of the social action; they transport this item to new spaces. These new spaces are domains where the relations of power are re- structured separately from the original community. The element of territoriality is crucial for the integration of the indigenous community and appears again in the diaspora in the form of predio, colonia, and apartment . Upon the new territories the Triquis re-design their identities and experience the process of organisation in both 59

traditional and political way; they combine individual learned experiences with the social action; an example is the experience of 'JS' who was a founder member of the MULT. He had a quarrel with other leader so he left Copala for self safety; once he was in San Quintín Valley Figure 17 Triqui women selling handcrafts in Mexico City in Baja California, he form the Independent Movement Unity and Indigenous Struggles (MIULI), because of his social activism, ‘JS’ was in jail in Oaxaca and also in Baja California 31 .

People create new social environments through combination of elements of modernity and tradition. Strathern, cited by Arce, mentioned that diverse modernities are linked by ‘partial connections’ (A Arce & Long, 2000); it means that these social constructed spaces are interconnected but never fully integrated. This explains that the Triquis in diaspora construct modern spaces in different places but at the same time, subtle partial connections interlink them as a whole community. For example, the Triqui women are well identified by his traditional red huipil; wherever they are they weave their huipiles in the same way; however the circumstances around the making of huipiles change in every place: Triquis in Mexico City go by metro to the thread shop and come back to his post in the streets of the centre where she weave until the evening when a group of men come to help women to retire the post and come back to the predio. Women in “La Nueva” organise to buy threads; men go to Hermosillo and come back home to spread the threads; women weave at home during low work season in the agricultural fields.

In Mexico City the unit of collective action is el predio it is comprised by several families that live together; the main source of income is by selling handcrafts. The largest predios are of members of MULT and there are some predios that claim to be independents. Each predio has a leader and gestor; through the social mobilisation they have achieved some benefits, like the legal property of their predios, licenses and best places to sell their handcrafts.

Miguel Alemán is a town that is part of the municipality of Hermosillo, the capital city of the border State of Sonora. The Colonia “La Nueva San Juan Copala”32

31 Personal interview with ‘J’, Vícam Sonora, 2007.

32 New San Juan Copala 60

is settled there. The colonia was founded in the nineties and until now is in process of urbanisation. The source of income is almost totally from the wages in the agricultural fields of the valley of Sonora. In the morning the labourers are transported in vans from the colonia to the field and return in the evening. The property of the land is administered by a traditional authority which held an official representation given by the governor of Sonora. The election of the authorities is held in popular assembly and based on the cargo system as the same way as in Copala. Each household has a land where they built their houses, however they don’t held property rights, when someone leaves the community, The Traditional Authority decides over the land.

In the new spatial constructions Triquis has learned the best way to be effective in order to achieve the benefits for the population; they have been the promoters of their own development. Evidently what keeps them connected is the starting point; even though most of them have built a new life, the point of reference will be always the place where they all belong, the region of Copala in Oaxaca. Wherever, they are not hesitant to express their opinion about the current situation according to their own understanding of the reality. For instance, one young Triqui who lives in Tijuana said -after the army took control of Tijuana City over the drug dealers, the city became quieter and safety-. He suggested that the army restore the peace in Copala 33 . Evidently this opinion is far from being a feasible solution to the conflict; however it responds to a different understanding of the reality of a member of the same community.

Encounters of the Triqui Nation One of the paradoxes of globalisation is that which at the same time that mobilisation of peoples and commodities are bigger and faster, information and counter-tendencies move as well at the same rate. As a result there is an escalation of networks and ‘social causes’ that resist and contest the dominant system. An example is the EZLN which created a ‘virtual community’ in the Internet. The strategy of Zapatistas of using the cyberspace, gathers support, informs and mobilises people on his favour. Coming back to the idea of Strathern (A Arce & Long, 2000), despite of the distance ‘partial connections’ still exist and appears in quite spontaneous situations where identity re-encounter and open channels to communication and language.

33 Personal communication from Laura Velasco, researcher of El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana.

Alonso wrote an example about how an encounter of indigenous, black and popular movements in Managua on October, 1992, generated a broader contestant movement (Alonso, 1994). On October, 2007, in Sonora Mexico, the EZLN and the National Indigenous Council (CNI) called to the “Encounter of the Indigenous Peoples of America”. The event was held in the Indigenous community of Vícam (one of the towns of the Yaqui tribe). The encounter brought together more than 1,500 people, 570 delegates from 67 indigenous peoples from 12 countries (Bellinghausen, 2007). Triqui delegates also attended the encounter: delegates of MULT from Copala and Mexico City, members of the Autonomous Council of San Juan Copala, ‘C’ leader of La Nueva San Juan Copala in Sonora and ‘JS’ leader of the MIULI in Baja California. All of them shared the sense of belonging to the Triqui peoples, being members of CNI, and adherents to “la otra campaña” . They never planned to get together in Vícam; however their particular realities still connected in

Figure 18 The Encounter of Indigenous Peoples of America certain edges. Those men have been forged in multiple realities, they and their communities have generated language and discourse; in different spaces they re- created a territory for their peoples which all of them acknowledge.

Regardless their differences and conflicts, the organisers of the encounter did not make any distinction; every ethnic group had the floor to speech for certain time. The logistic of the event managed to call to the stage at the delegates regarding their ethnic group, nation or tribe:

- “Tlapaneco, Triqui, Tzeltal and Tzotzil peoples be ready to take the floor”

Suddenly one of the most memorable episodes of the Encounter in Vícam took place: the encounter of the Triquis. They join together in the stage:

-“The Triqui peoples has the floor...”

Starting from the oldest man, ‘JS’ opened his speech sharing his happiness to be there beside his brothers Triquis. They all talked about their own places, their conflicts and struggles, the difficulties of being Triqui inside and outside Copala; at the end the representative of MULT summarized the arguments: ‘It is the government who make us fight and kill one against another’ .

In the backstage, these leaders and powerful men discussed about Copala, the autonomy and the violence. They talked in Triqui language, with respect, in peace. ‘JS’ migrant in Baja California declared about the Triqui conclave: “ We need to sit and talk; even animals get together; why should not we? The problem is that we listen more to the government and it creates many problems. It is like a disease, like a plague; but we must seek a way to finish it but for doing this we need to talk all of us. The Autonomous Municipality is a serious process that deserves all our support and we will do that ” (F. López, 2007c).

The encounter in Vícam brings together different discourses and languages. At least 67 languages were spoken in Vícam; every language brings content, an idea of reality, a strategy and something else to share.

Despite of its long feuds, it is evident that Triqui peoples have many things in common, common history, shared traditions, and similar symbolic language but above all, they regard themselves as members of a larger community that extends further than Copala. López y Rivas points out that belonging sense and will are the elements of nation (Gabriel & López y Rivas, 2005). Bakhtin quoted by Alonso, describes the elements of epic nationalism: national epic past, national tradition and epic distance separating the epic world from contemporary reality (Alonso, 1994). Nagengast sentenced that Nations is subjective constructed and members materialize the nation trough sense of commonality and collective will (C. Nagengast, 1994). In the case of indigenous peoples, nationalism is embedded in daily life, rites and myths.

In contrast, modern nation-states ‘built’ the sense of nationalism towards coercion and manipulation ‘sometimes taking pre-existing cultures and turning them into nations, sometimes inventing them, and often obliterating pre-existent cultures’ (C. Nagengast, 1994). Mexican state glorifies its indigenous past and produces the image of the epic origin of the mexicanity. Mexican nationalism is spread everywhere in the movies, religion, folklore, and so on. In aim to produce a homogenous nation, state relegates the traces of the past to museums. This idea is incompatible with the multiculturalism of the indigenous peoples. The Triquis have resisted the assimilation of the national culture at the same time that encourages and transport the Triqui nation to modernity. 63

As a matter of fact, the encounter in Vícam was a collective show of resistance movements all over the American Continent. As Nagengast argues, there is an increasing appropriation and incorporation of montages of diverse cultural forms into local resistance movements (C. Nagengast, 1994) at the same time that these movements increasingly mobilise people in terms of self-determination as it is considered an universal right in the Article One of the covenant of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR):

All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right, they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

Díaz (Robles & Cardoso, 2007) pointed out that right to self-determination implies the right to be Nations and nationalities and the way to materialise that right is in form of autonomy. López y Rivas says that autonomy builds relations in a given territory which are differentiated from the other social groups, but into the frame of a National-State (Gabriel & López y Rivas, 2005). The Declaration of the MASJC contents the aim of the building the Triqui Nation inside the Mexican State. The basic elements are the regarding of the historical Triqui territory bounded by the collective memory, tradition and historical defence; no more, no less. Next, they pointed out the necessity of self-determination without intervention of the state and its institutions (political parties) in order to achieve pace and development. Last but not least is the fact that they do not violent the administrative structure of the state since they adjust their traditional organisation to fit in the figure of Municipality which is the base of the Mexican state and the first level of governance. To be a municipality means to hold the same rights that the National Constitution grants for them.

In practice, language of Triquis does not limit the idea of Nation to the territory of Copala, the strong symbolic ties that they have with their brothers in diaspora necessarily bring a supra-spatial perspective of the idea of Nation and it is not exclusive of the promoters of Autonomy. On one hand the MULT contested the creation of the MASJC with series of mobilisation of its bases in order to proof that they held legitimate voice as representatives of the Triqui Nation. They created a collective instance of decision making named ‘Supreme Political Communitarian Council” and in its manifest they acknowledge that in the MULT participates a general population of 20,000 inhabitants distributed in 20 communities and Mexico City, San Quintín Valley and other parts in Mexico. On the other hand, in the public speech in the first anniversary of the MASJC, the Mayor of San Juan Copala, declares that the Triqui Nation is all over the national territory: “We, brother and sister Triquis are in many parts, but we feel happy when we meet each other and talk in our language, but we feel sad also because of the wounds of our land. We know that

as the same way we organise here to resist against the government; our brothers do the same in Hermosillo, Maneadero, San Luis Potosí, Mexico City and more. Who knows? Someday we can have not only one, but many Triqui Municipalities over the National Territory and be strong, and support each other as brothers that we are...” 34

These examples illustrate that the nationalism of Triquis does not limit the homeland territory in Copala; rather they acknowledge that the expansion of their community combined the appropriation of the territories that they occupy where the symbolic reconstruction of the nationalism remains and blossom. Alonso argues that nationalism attempts to reconcile the perspective of place with the perspective of ‘relative space’ proposed by the globalisation (Alonso, 1994) and quotes Harvey who mentions that globalisation and resurgence of ‘aetheticized nationalism’ empower social movements in place but they are disempowered when organising over space. However, Alonso cites Kearney who concludes that ´ transnational communities...escape the power of the nation state to inform their sense of collective identity’. Hence, the transnational community of Copala expand its nationalism throughout the bounded nation-state -and even further- challenging the spatial matrix of the unique culture. Moreover, while they built their territories based on identity, they show themselves and their organisations in the new spaces; by doing this they contradict the idea of the homogeneous society in each place they settle down. Furthermore, there is not a Triqui social movement but social movements with particularities and different realities which preserve identical features and points of coincidence that in combination with activity in social networking produce unpredictable encounters just as it happened in Vícam.

In summary, the processes of unbounded nations and nationalisms challenge the idea of the homogenous modern state-nation and it comes together with the mobility of the people. If nowadays mobility of people has been escalated by the global markets and flows of labour, we should not forget that the ‘first nations’ of North America experienced seasonal migrations regulated by natural phenomena; the deepest believe behind this is that territory (mother land for Triquis) is the mean to achieve self-determination but never the end.

34 Words of the Mayor of the MASJC; February

Chapter VI

THE EXTERNAL SITUATION As it is mentioned before, Krohn-Hansen regards the term violence as ‘context- dependent’ and especially the statements about violence are statements about legitimacy (Krohn-Hansen, 1994). To understand the role of the state in the perpetration of violence, it is important to acknowledge the idea of state like a ‘message of domination’ (Alonso, 1994); Abrams cited by Alonso pointed out the dominant and unified character of the modern state as a constructor of an homogenous society; hence state entails an historical process of assimilation, legitimisation and moral regulation constructed and contested over the course of time. These assumptions provide an analytical framework that allows understanding the nature of the state as a powerful regulator of the society.

For Kearney, indigenous peoples have been treated as objects for development projects rather than subjects that have played an active role in their own past and have a voice in their present and future. A population whose problems require to be solved by the institutions of the wider society without realizing that they face problems as a result of structural and historical process (Carole Nagengast & Kearney, 1990). On the other hand, indigenous peoples have their own history, experiences and understandings about development. Contrasting and sometimes conflicting social worlds produced separated bodies of knowledge whose incompatibilities exacerbate the differences, leading to a misunderstanding of social worlds and legitimisation of each body of knowledge (Alberto Arce & Long, 1992). In this chapter I analyze the interface and the construction of those social worlds and the influences that they have had on the Triqui community and on the configuration and upraising of the MASJ.

Nagengast points out that the main goal of the state-nation is the creation of an illusion of a united and homogenous society within a narrow ethnic and political range (C. Nagengast, 1994). The construction of this social agreement creates consensus about what is and what is not legitimate; however when consensus fails and the power of state is challenged, state evidences its repressive face, Nagengast quoted Claestres who sentenced: ‘The refusal of multiplicity, the dread of difference –ethnocidal violence- is the very essence of the state’.

Since the establishment of the Mexican republic, the government has applied a number of policies regarding indigenous peoples. Evolution of policies can be grouped in three periods that overlap along Post-revolutionary Mexican history: 1) Land reform, 2) Indigenism and 3) Neoliberalism. Parallel, in the communities

discourse making has transited in a gradual way and at different speed from individualistic approaches of basic demands -health, land, education, and etc- to more elaborated collective demands -territory, self-determination, and autonomy-. In other words, the struggles of the indigenous have evolved from the defence of individual human right to collective rights of peoples.

Land Reform refers to the distribution of “latifundia” that belonged to ‘hacendados’ after the success of Mexican revolution. As an agrarian revolution, Mexican revolution had more impacts in areas where haciendas were established like in the central valleys and the north of Mexico. Since indigenous lived in refugee zones with low production, they didn't join the revolution in massive ways like the campesinos –peasants- in the North and in the southwest. Land reform attempted to treat all population in rural areas as campesinos with very few distinction among indigenous and peasants; however land reform regarded the right of collective property for indigenous peoples in the form of communal lands. Nevertheless, policies for development focused on socialization of agricultural production together with subsidies, mechanization of agriculture and infrastructure. In the refugee zones indigenous people obtained fertilizers and crops from the government. This practice soon crated nets of corruption and looked at the indigenous as a big constituency easy to influence and a sure provider of votes in an incipient democracy.

The aim in the beginnings of Indigenism was to incorporate indigenous communities into the Mexican nation-states, transforming them into Mexican citizens. Indigenism, according to López y Rivas, try to delete the cultural diversities out of the national societies and incorporate the indigenous to the employing sectors as well in the cities as in the countryside (Gabriel & López y Rivas, 2005). These policies were empowered by the Indigenistas theories from official anthropologists that created Indigenism as the scientific approach to convert Indians into Mexicans; and as a result the National Indigenist Institute (INI) was created. This official institution was a benefactor agency whose realm was to provide material benefits to Indigenous peoples focused in infrastructure –constructing schools, hospitals, roads and urban facilities-35 . Indigenous cultures were seen as something undesirable, something to be diminished in order to obtain the goal of development. In order to derive benefits from the government indigenous learnt how to follow the rules and manuals of the state’s policies. These situations encouraged the emergence and importance of local “ gestores” -people who were able to read and understand Spanish, to apply for resources, to fill forms, and gestionar 36 in the cities.

35 Personal communication

36 To visit government offices in order to obtain information about social programs and eventually apply for them.

Eventually, teachers in the Triqui communities became gestores and gradually many of them become influential persons in the communities and transformed into leaders.

After the ratification of 169 Convention of International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 1989, Mexican government established new policies in the aim of a “new relationship between the state and indigenous peoples”. The social programs of INI were redesigned and transferred to the indigenous communities to encourage active participation and allow them to create their own rules; on the other hand macroeconomic policies such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Mexico, Canada and the US stress the contradiction and incompatibilities between capitalist and traditional ways of production. In the economic sector, the most important program has been “ Fondos Regionales de Solidaridad ” (FRS) – Regional Solidarity Founds- which attempts to create regional micro financial organisms operated by the indigenous by imitating the structure of traditional organisation; FRS are governed by an assembly of partners who nominates a manager council; microcredit is then assigned to local organisations approved by the assembly that accomplish the internal rules. Far from being a model of integrationist development, most of the productive projects failed. Instead of development it has produced debts, corruption, divisionism and migration. Productive projects failed because of lack of skills and knowledge, natural and ecological limits of productivity, and desertion for emigration but above all for the unfeasibly economic design of projects where under NAFTA conditions, small farmers with higher costs of production compete directly with those larger farmers from the US. It was starting the era of the transformations suggested by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in developing countries to put the global market as ‘the epitome of natural regulation and transparency’ (Alberto Arce, 2003).

The ratification of the 169 Convention of ILO produced changes in the federal law; National Constitution of the Mexican United States regards in the 2nd Article the existence of Indigenous peoples and recognises the multicultural character of the Mexican Nation which based on their indigenous people. In 1990, the Constitution of the State of Oaxaca, regards the right of self-determination of the indigenous peoples expressed as autonomy for self-government and use of territory and natural resources.

In 2002, due to a series of neo-liberal reforms in the structure of the public administration, INI became National Commission for Development of Indigenous Peoples (CDI). Its function now focuses on the coordination of federal and local ministries for attention of indigenous affairs; the general feeling within the communities is that CDI no longer solves the necessities of communities. In other words CDI took over the role of local gestores, the voice of indigenous peoples

decreased in the operation of governmental programs and with very few economical resources, the services of the CDI are not attractive for the communities any more.

In Copala, the INI started to operate in 1973, with a staff of 70 to 80 persons including administrative and technical workers. The INI had its own budget and worked with relative autonomy from another ministries; its room for manoeuvre was wide, so the INI built schools, roads and clinics and at the same time it provided inputs and technical assistance for productive projects and the procedure for financiation was at simple as to bring a letter signed by the local authorities; these situation encouraged the number and importance of local gestores who found a fertile soil to increase their achievements. Gradually, policies changed; the budget of the INI became lower and lower insofar as in 2002 the staff was only 12 persons and the operation of the programs much more complicated. Triquis learned that the best way to obtain resources was the social pressure, so the political organisation became the fundamental piece to set an interface with the government. In the nineties the strongest gestores turned into leaders and the social action was the key to open the government vaults.

Long (2001) explain that the global era brought a problem of governmentality. The conditional policies from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund applied in developing countries challenged and redefined the sovereignty and the monopoly of power. The concept of sovereignty is gradually eroded, the unitary state as a powerful centralised agency is being challenged by sub-national forms (Rupesinghe, 1994). Under this situation, a new global political economy generated a whole range of conditions and socio-political responses even at local levels. This process led to the apparition of new struggles for space and power in local and/or global scenarios. In the second part of this chapter I contrast the action of the governmental policies with the counter-tendencies that emerged.

Social movements From the standpoint of the contestant movements, the local understandings and knowledge ‘filter the effect of externally generated policies’ as soon as they appear in the re-organisation of social life (Alberto Arce, 2003). As it is mentioned above the indigenous discourses have been transiting from individual to collective demands, and it is usually reflecting of policies from either above or beside through intra- community (transnational communities) or inter-community (networking of political and civil organisations). It is important to mention that this process is not progressive neither unidirectional but it is shaped by the conjunctures and power relationship within a given scenario in space and time.

Under paternalistic policies, indigenous people created discourses to fit this system. Indigenous peoples demanded basic facilities and government provided

them; power relationships were build vertically and the success depended upon the social force from grassroots level and the ability of leaders to gather support from below.

This idea of the benefactor state sticks deeply in the communities which makes it difficult for the new policies to be embraced by the communities. In the case of the FRS, people hardly understood the level of responsibility and accountability that the program transferred to the local organisation and many organisations were formed in order to fit the program or in order to achieve the official goals in the program 37 . Organisations and manager councils could not bear the responsibilities and became dependents of the INI staff or in some cases the professional staffs of FRS led the organisation.

After the end of the cold war and the notion of a hegemonic system ruling the world, alter-globalisation movements and its various and heterogenic tendencies jumped upon the global arena challenging the established order. Among several and diverse discourses, autonomy building arises with great eagerness and sympathies around the world. Since the end of the seventies, it has been a world- wide movement of indigenous struggles for cultural and social autonomy, political recognition and territorial and collective rights (T. Turner, 2006). Indigenous peoples started to coin their own discourses from below, perhaps Oaxaca has been developing a more elaborated discourse and has held a deep debate about implications of autonomous governance (Gabriel & López y Rivas, 2005). Even before the arising of Zapatista movement in Chiapas, intellectual indigenous people from Oaxaca set apart the indigenous struggles from those of labour workers and peasant (campesinos) organisations, some examples are the Assembly of Mixe Authorities (ASAM) created by Floriberto Díaz (Mixe anthropologist), the Indigenous and Popular Council of Oaxaca (CIPO) leaded by the Mixteco teacher Raúl Gatica; the MULT itself in the period under the leading of the Triqui teacher Paulino Martínez Delia and the work of the Zapoteco biologist Aldo González in the Union of Organisations from the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca (UNOSJO). Also relevant in this respect is the theoretical work of the Mixteco lawyer Francisco López Bárcenas. These approaches pointed out the necessity of new discourses from below and disagreed with the language of development of the non-indigenous intellectuals.

37 In 1998, the new operational regulations of FRS sentenced that at least 30% of microcredit had to be assigned to women organisations. Because of lack of organized women, due to serious unevenness in gender relations, staffs of INI “created” groups by making lists of applicants and in most of the cases women barely understood the regulations in Spanish. Money was widely ‘administered’ by men and the result was a number of debtor women ( Personal observation ).

In January 1 st of 1994 upraised an armed indigenous movement led by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico. EZLN is comprised mainly of indigenous. Neo-zapatismo is seen as an anti- systemic movement and its demands refer to the right of indigenous people to self determination, territory, practicing of their own culture and autonomy. Ideas of neo- zapatismo rapidly spread among the indigenous communities and were deeply embraced. The maxim mandar obedeciendo (to command while obeying) regards the way of governance of indigenous wherein assemblies decide how authorities have to act and deliver justice.

In February 16 of 1996, after a dialogue between the Mexican Government representatives, Commanders of EZLN and representatives of diverse sectors of civil society, EZLN and Mexican Government signed the Acuerdos de San Andrés Larrainzar (San Andres Accords) which granted autonomy, recognition and rights to the culture of indigenous peoples. The Federal government however ignored the Accords and it was until 2001 that the congress approved a series of reforms on indigenous rights. New law recognizes the right of indigenous people to exercise autonomy, self-government practices and preferential use of their Natural Resources. In practice, there is an antinomy among federal laws and secondary laws; whereas the federal law grants rights, secondary laws deny the right or make it non executable since the indigenous community as a legal subject does not exist. For example, federal law establishes the right of indigenous people to have their own media and broadcast in their natives tongues but once the community attempt to use this right they have to deal with the Law of Telecommunication which does not recognize “indigenous community” as a subject who can own a license to broadcast, in that sense, the community is not able to exercise this right as such.

In actuality, government and reactionary sectors of the society see autonomy as an attempt to break the national unity. What they claim to be national ‘harmony’ is in fact a state of repression that stifles the freedom of self-organisation and the right of self-determination. The words of the minister of Governance to justify the repression of a group of indigenous that declared the autonomy of their community in 2004, was clear in that sense: "the federal government will not allow the establishment of new forms of governance by an individual or group that disagree with the constitutional authority and pretend to put it aside " (López y Rivas, 2004b).

Meanwhile, in 2006 the EZLN launched La otra campaña, based in the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle (EZLN, 2005). This is the political proposal led by the EZLN which attempts to transform deeply the capitalist state in a pacific way and with a participative democracy where all voices are taken in account; construction of local autonomies and alliances between indigenous and all minorities and exploited sectors of the society are the backbone of the proposal together with “the Sixth”,

EZLN called to join the campaign and become adherents by registration in their website, MULT and MULT-I are adherents to “ La otra”.

Oaxaca is governed by an old oligarchy of members of the PRI that are sustained by corruption practices where all political parties take part. However, the governor of Oaxaca holds the support of the federal government since the political alliance between PRI and the President’s party –PAN (National Action Party) - is crucial for keeping the questioned legitimacy of the President 38 . In the current administration, repression and violation of human rights has been the way of the government to calm the scaling up of social movements throughout the state; students, indigenous popular organisations and teachers movements have revolted with more strength in the last years.

The morning of June 14, 2006 the governor of Oaxaca ordered a violent repression of the sit-in that the state teacher’s union staged as part of their claims for improvements on the salaries and quality of the infrastructure for education. This episode changed the nature of the movement, unifying large numbers of Oaxacans citizens who all disagree with the governor policies. The teacher’s union attempted to draw all this support together, creating the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO). Rapidly many grassroots organisations, socialist groups and citizen collectives (MULT-I inclusive) joined the APPO (Esteva, 2007). Since its creation until the massive repression of November 25 and 26, APPO took control over Oaxaca City, creating an atmosphere of struggle and resistance that made it impossible for the government to work normally. APPO attempted to create a popular government with the direct participation of the citizens; without a formal leadership or homogeneous ideologies, APPO in the practice established spaces of discussion and decision making in the very bottom level. APPO in essence is a popular assembly; delegations from diverse collectives and organisations that take part into APPO attend the assembly and they together make the consensus that will be carried out. The horizontal democracy in APPO is similar to the system of decision making used by indigenous peoples in their communities.

The recently created MULT-I found in the APPO structure a perfect opportunity for blossoming, tie links with indigenous and leftist organisations and gain sympathy from other sectors. MULT-I scaled up its popularity due to APPO support and its active participation within the movement. Some sources told that UBISORT participated with APPO, later the leaders denied the note. The relation between MULT-I and APPO was evident insofar as members of APPO organised the

38 The national election of 2006 has been questioned by the series of irregularities and the possibility of fraud. People doubt of the real triumph of the official candidate. See: Aparicio (Aparicio, 2006), Klesner (Klesner, 2007) and Webmane (Webmane, 2007).

installation ceremony of the MASJ. The event was seen as a triumph of APPO (Osorno, 2007) and this conjuncture caught the attention of local and international press; San Juan Copala became more visible than ever before.

The document of declaration of the MASJC comprises three parts: justification, framework and declaration of autonomy. It is interesting that they used the legal framework in order to validate their declaration of autonomy, in progressive top-down order they make reference to the rights granted in: the International Human Rights, the Political Constitution of the Mexican United States and the Political Constitution of the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca. Whereas Zapatistas in Chiapas started their process of autonomy through a declaration of war against the Mexican State, the Triquis regard the juridical framework of the Mexican State and reaffirm their intention to be included in them being recognized as members of a collective action with a common history. They stress the point that in order to cope with their historical problems, it is necessary to be constituted as a political subject with juridical personality and capacity to self-representation and freedom in their decision making.

Paradoxically the Declaration of MASJC is a document that states an interface encounter where both social worlds: indigenous and government converges. By legitimising the juridical structure of the state they legitimise themselves and their movement regardless the official recognition of MASJC. In spite of the wider debate about what and how autonomy looks like and which is the best path to achieve it, the document is powerful in itself. The content was the touchstone and gimmick actant that leads the encounter of diverse arenas which are actually shaping the true autonomy in San Juan Copala.

Arenas for Autonomy Long (N. Long, 2001) points out that globalisation triggers conditions for socio- political contest at different levels; at the same time people join movements what they perceive against pressing problems. The Triquis have known how to use their discourse in order to forge alliances with those sectors of the civil society who favour the causes of the Triquis in a given moment and sometimes just moved by impulse without a deeper analysis of the situation and the consequences of their intervention. Triquis know well how to manipulate the public image around them, to attract the support of outsiders, and create a negative opinion of their enemies.

On July, 2007 two girls from El Rastrojo (daughters of a leader) were kidnapped; promptly the MULT declared that ‘T’ and the president of the MASJC was responsible for the crime. The MULT started a big campaign stating that the MASJC and his allies took the women as hostages; hence, they created an image of the MASJC as enemy and violator of women’s rights. Suddenly this discourse caught

the attention of feminists who did not doubt to favour the MULT (no matters that in the communities of the MULT women’s rights are continuously violated on behalf of the “the culture”, and the male leaders do nothing to change it). Feminists soon joined the demonstrations of the MULT and wrote their opinion in newspapers; moreover, they were not hesitant to naively paraphrase the discourse of the leaders claiming the apprehension of ‘T’ and the president of the MASJC. A Triqui woman was the main public actor who pursued the campaign for the liberation of the kidnapped girls. I thought that she was a sort of she-leader that finally provides a voice to the Triqui women and I attempted to interview her; however, even though she accepted the interview, she rejected to answer my questions and advised me to talk to her uncle –an old leader of the MULT-: “you must talk to my uncle; he knows much better about that”. I understood that the MULT tried to transport the problem from a political to a gender arena; and so they did it. Talking to a feminist, I asked her if she was aware of the political implications of taking a part in the Triqui conflict; she answered that it was a male conflict and what they (feminists) were doing is to give a voice to the women.

On April, 2008 two girls of the MASJC were murdered; the spokesman declared that it had been a crime of state perpetrated by the MULT since the work of the journalists threatened the power of the local ‘caciques’ and the government. It is not my purpose to debate whether the girls were journalists or not, but the use of the adjective in the declarations of the MASJC attracted the attention of the journalist’s guild and soon media was flooded with notes about the murdered journalists; notes were from propagandistic notes against the paramilitary gunmen from the MULT (mentioning names and witnesses) to more serious declarations like the one of Köichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO: “Killing journalists is a heinous crime which harms the whole of society as it undermines the democratic right of citizens to hold informed debate and make informed political choices ” (UNESCO, 2008). The murdered girls won the posthumous National Prize of Journalism 2007. In the awards ceremony held in the Finest Arts Palace in Mexico City, the spokesman of the MASJC claimed justice and the intervention of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) to find the murderers. These events cause in practice an unintentional division of opinion in the civil society like those feminists that openly supported the movement of MULT could not make strong declaration (as they use to do) about the murdered journalist; probably it was not due to lack of interest but because their close relation with the MULT put them in a knife-edge that compromise their voice and set a link of loyalty that they could not predict before. Epifanio Díaz (Triqui), warns about the risk of an ephemeral interventionism in the political arena in Copala; he judged that ‘civil society’ escalate violence in the region, since they unconditionally support some of the groups without to seek for dialogue and mediation between the parts (E. Díaz, 2008).

As a matter of fact, the MASJC, through its discourse of autonomy, caught the sympathy of ‘autonomy builders’ and set an ‘ideal arena’ where their opinions are very welcome in the process of Triqui autonomy building. There is no doubt that the active participation of the MULT-I within APPO was a springboard that the autonomists used to capitalise the external bolstering and achieve their objectives. The MASJC attempts to get support outside the government’s institutions; one year after the declaration of the MASJC, the president informed: "Three months after the constitution of the Autonomous Municipality, we went to manage support with non- governmental institutions. We signed an agreement with the University of Mexico City...With the Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM-X) we agreed to start in February a specialisation course for our teachers about education and autonomy; in August the classes of the intercultural high school will start, also with the support of the UAM-X”.

On one hand the MASJC attempts a ‘relative autonomy’ (Gasparello, 2008). The president of the MASJC –peasant and former member of the UBISORT and PRI- says that they do not want to break the relationship with the government, moreover they claim the federal resources that the government delivers to each municipality according to law. However I found out that there is no consensus about this issue. On the other hand, the municipal secretary – teacher, former member of MULT and activist of APPO- told me that they pursue to create a new way to do politics without the intervention of the government, since it has not solved their demands; “we want to manage our own natural resources according to our tradition and culture, we want to carry out projects that the communities demand, not the ones that the government wants for us”.

Indeed, the former communities from the UBISORT did not totally agree to name the municipality ‘autonomous’; in their opinion ‘Municipality of San Juan Copala’ was enough, and according to my informants, this debate still continues. However, it was the adjective ‘autonomous’ which attracted the attention of the sectors that actually joined the process of the MASJC, and incorporated the actors of the MASJC in multiples arenas that otherwise could not be possible. I asked to one of the researches I interviewed if he would be interested anyway if the Triquis declared just a ‘Municipality’, without ‘Autonomous’; he said that probably, in that case, he would not even know about them.

In actuality, not just Copala but most of the indigenous communities from Oaxaca are on the path to build their autonomy in several ways without having the wide attention of support that the Triquis have. For instance, a group of Zapoteco communities named ‘ pueblos mancomunados’ joined together to exploit their

natural resources through the establishment of communitarian enterprises managed according to their traditional organisation. They implemented the sustainable use of their forest, posses a sawmill, and a plant of bottled natural water. One of its assessors told me: “we created some employees there; now we are working on an education system according to the indigenous customs, we are also training the traditional healers to develop a system of preventive health; once we cover three aspects: incomes, education and health, then we are going to be able to end our relationship with the government and be autonomous”. On the other hand, by interviewing other social organisations that participate inside APPO, such as the Indigenous Popular Council of Oaxaca – Ricardo Flores Magón (CIPO-RFM), I found out that their idea about autonomy has to do with the right to preserve their ancient ways of living, social organisation, fiestas, customs, election systems, etc. They say that what they want is not to take the political power but to create a new collective way of governance different and apart from the state.

As a matter of fact, the word autonomy does not have an equivalent in Triqui language and as far as I was informed during interviews with other indigenous persons, there is no translation in their native languages (Mixteco, Zapoteco, and Mixe). However everyone has a way to explain to the people what autonomy means. As a result autonomy is understood in several ways and shapes according to the diversity of languages and ideas. Arce (A Arce, 2000) describes that certain processes are never fully controllable, and their internal rearrangements take precedence over externalities. These events give sense to the study of multiple modernities. He calls these processes as mutants and this recognises the intensity, rapidity and self-organising properties of much contemporary social change. In that sense, the particular and suddenly apparition of the autonomy discourse in the struggles of Triquis responds to a complex mixture of interpretations of the reality and the combination of tradition and modernity. The autonomy in Copala fits the concept of mutant well since the political discourse of the Triquis has been nourished by the accumulative experiences of generations of Triquis in the region and those experiences from the diverse realities of the communities in the diaspora.

According to Floriberto Diaz, autonomy of indigenous peoples is not contrary to the conception of nation, but it re-shape the idea of nationality, in a perspective of heterogeneous composition (Robles & Cardoso, 2007). He also pointed out that the discussion about autonomy should not come from theoretical dissertations since the academic proposals have not come to reality in the concrete daily life of the communities; hence autonomy should be constructed in a social and political process. These assumptions are now taken in account for the studies about autonomy, this year there was a seminar about indigenous autonomy in the UAM; the indigenous autonomy builders join together with the expertise theoretical academic autonomist. The earliest talked about their experiences and how they 76

contest their particular realities in various ways and different one to another. The latest concluded that there is not a single rule or theory to understand the autonomy so in actuality what we have are autonomies.

Figure 19 Gilberto López y Rivas and the Secretary of the MASJC in the seminar about autonomy in the UAM-I

CONCLUSIONS

The study of the case of the Triquis from Copala evinces the complexity of violence, its multifarious origin and the role of involved actors. In the realm of discourse, the violence of the Triquis is seen as power struggles among two political groups whose ideals are opposing, incompatible and irreconcilable. These assumptions created a political field to legitimize the violence; hence, people -inside and outside the region- do believe that one of the groups is right whereas as a consequence the other has to be wrong. In practice violence has multiple forms and challenges the idea of the collective actor; in one hand the violence seems perpetrated by social constructed apparatuses which act in consensus and homogeneity of thoughts (called MULT and UBISORT) and in perpetual antagonism; however the agency of individual actors creates an array of possibilities inside the conflict: excisions, alliances, negotiation, and exit; as a result the escalation or de-escalation of the conflicts have multiple paths and depends on individual agencies that later become collective as long as the lateral accountability allow that.

An extreme of the violence as an instrument of legitimacy is the socially constructed image that deems Triquis as a ‘violent race’ which is impossible to control. An example is the answer of the ministry of Justice in Oaxaca to women who required a deep investigation about the disappearance of two women in the region; the ministry told them that since there is no safety in the region he could not risk a command of polices going into the region; thus, the state denies its responsibility and blames the Triquis for the absence of justice in the region. The idea of a ‘violent region’ makes sense if it is seen as a political arena commanded by the state (By state I mean the ethnocidal structure comprised by government, institutions and policies) where Triquis resist, contest or become part of the violence. Over the course of time Triquis reacted in several ways: they adopted, embodied, embraced, rejected and contested official policies at the same time that they diversify the relations and the interface with the state.

The leader of MULT in Mexico City declared “ it is the government who makes us fight”; however it is not the structure of the state who perpetrates the violence in an overt way; the state bolsters the political field; hence violence is possible. Nevertheless materialization or escape from violence can be a very individual action. Triquis in exile have broken the myth of the ‘violent race’; it does not mean that the state as a perpetrating structure of violence vanished but the forms change and the way how Triquis contest too.

In the case of Triquis from Copala migration is concomitant of violence; the particular migration of Triquis does not fit into the metaphor of flows or waves of

migrants that spill to the north as an effect of a given cause; rather Triqui migration is an issue of loyalty which mediate the choice between safety and collective accountability. In exile, Triquis embrace the idea of a new home and the opportunity to create something new, occupy new territories and reaffirm their own identity. In the new communities Triquis regroup and reshape their identity on the base of their own ethnicity. However, the transnational community of Copala reshapes the idea of territory in diverse and decentralized spaces that do not follow the hierarchical structure with the original community; their new structures respond to the new necessities and adapt to the local circumstances.

The dispersion of the Triqui community along transnational spaces challenged the traditional organisation at the same time that encourages the collective creativity to face the new problems that the new realities brought. Triquis faced the modernity constructing multiple realities in different spaces where they combined the learning process with tradition and practical experience; the result is a diverse re-constructed ethnicity that stresses the importance of the symbolic elements as the ‘partial connections’ that support the continuity of the extended identity through the space and time.

The Triqui political organisation is a contesting one and it is shaped by the political context in a given space; whereas in Oaxaca they deal with the oligarchy of the repressor state, in the agricultural fields in Sonora, as farm labourers, they face the symbolical violence of capitalism where the state and government are led by the free market regulations.

The attempts of the state to create a homogeneous society have failed; either it is because of the lack of capability of the bureaucratic system or due to the resistance (conscious or unconscious) of the indigenous peoples (or both). Nowadays, indigenous peoples hold the example of the diversity within the Mexican nation-state. Over the course of time, they have been influenced by established policies but also they have created counter-tendencies to provide them an effective voice in the political arena. Autonomy is one of them. Through the discourse of autonomy; Indigenous peoples try to legitimise the right of self-determination and to be able to exist in the wider Mexican society without losing their indigenous identity. Nevertheless, having the monopoly of democracy, the Mexican state sets the only frame under which democracy is possible: the political parties. On one hand MULT joined the political system of parties through the creation of their own party; eventually it appeared to be the millstone that brought their loss of legitimacy and their breakage. On the other hand the proposal of Autonomy tries to open a political space where alternative participatory democracy can be possible since the system of parliamentary representation has not taken in account the main demands of the indigenous populations.

The Zapatistas coined the slogan “never more Mexico without us”. The intention behind this is to acknowledge the diversity of realities contented in the Mexican state, this multiplicity of realities is inevitable, since there is no homogeneous paradigm leading the nationalistic approach. Floriberto Díaz said that the lag of the indigenous communities is relative since “ all together are entering to the new century at the same time ”(Robles & Cardoso, 2007).

The Declaration of the MASJC acknowledges the possibility of the Triqui Nation to coexist together and into the Mexican Nation and observing the conditions of the national laws. A highlighted point is that the idea of an extended Triqui nation escape from the notion of bounded nations and involves the entire Mexican territory in an attempt to consider not just the community inhabiting the historical territory of Copala but also the community in exile. Paradoxically the idea of an extended Triqui Nation appears in the political discourse of the promoters of the autonomous Municipality and in that of its detractors although the concept and the form of the nation vary among them.

On one hand, the MULT considers a hierarchical vertical constitution of a centralized Triqui Nation commanded since the Chumá a of San Juan Copala; its assumption reflects its own idea of a structured nation-state which is consequent with its strategy to be part of the system running elections through his own political party. The discourse of MULT evidences the cumulated experience through the long relationship with the paternalistic and coercive state. On the other hand the idea of a Nation in the MASJC is inclusive, regards the importance of the community in diaspora, and respects the self-determination of the community in the different spaces.

Autonomy is a long process that indigenous communities have carried out for decades even without a clear definition of what it means. They interpret autonomy as their rights to exists and to keep being what they have been since centuries ago. Nowadays the complexity of the modernity brings together new elements that combine with tradition. In the case of Triqui peoples they merge they own experiences acquired from multiple realities and local knowledge to create something what they call autonomy; but at the same time they are re-shaping the understanding of academics about how autonomy looks like. I came to use the term of mutant autonomy to describe the modern process that is leading the social changes into the Triqui peoples.

The major challenge for the promoters of the autonomy is the eradication of violence from the Triqui region; however, as they properly say, peacemaking implies the compromise of all the stakeholders and it will not appear automatically by signing an agreement; it is a process that entails the breakage of the vicious circle

state-depending which is the biggest task. On one hand, the MULT and its PUP are already enclosed into the state structures of ‘democracy’ which automatically turn them into controllable subjects from the state. On the other hand, the promoters of the MASJC and his discourse of peace moves with relatively freedom from the state; but it is interesting to point out that the use of discourse of pacification make them accountable to the social network around them that is bolstering the process of autonomy.

Nevertheless, the pacification process is more than an issue of political accountability to state or to civil society. In actuality the violent process is deep inside the culture and daily life of Triqui peoples; many times vendettas has nothing to do with political affairs –although they later transforms it in symbolic capital to negotiate with the government- but with individual revenges. As a matter of fact, violence is perpetrated by individual actors who respond to external and very individual inputs. Hence, pacification implies deeper changes in the national state; but at the same time, it lays in the will and capability of Triquis to forgive; at the same way that their brothers in the north do that. The question that remains is whether the bounded oscillating violence in Copala depends on the relation with the state or is embedded in the symbolical process of legitimisation of the Triqui leaderships. As long as the authorities of the MASJC keep themselves out of the influence of the government, its organisations, and institutions, it will be possible to glimpse an answer.

Overall, indigenous peoples have faced the oppression of the state, the attempting of integration to a society that negates their existence and the pressures of the market; however, they have resisted and contested in multiple ways. Autonomy is one more of their strategies and each community gives a different meaning at the process. Autonomy cannot be seen as the solution itself but it contains the basic elements for the construction of the self-development according to the own cultures, values and principles of the communities. At the same time this process aware the possibility of a real multicultural state.

Glossary of abbreviations APPO Popular Assembly of Oaxacan Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Peoples Oaxaca

CDI National Commission for Comisión Nacional para el Development of Indigenous Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas Peoples

EZLN Zapatista Army of National Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Liberation Nacional

FULT United Front of Triqui Struggle Frente Unido de Lucha Triqui

IMF International Monetary Fund

INI National Indigenist Institute Instituto Nacional Indigenista

MASJC Autonomous Municipality of San Municipio Autónomo de San Juan Juan Copala Copala

MULT Movement of Unity and Triqui Movimiento de Unificación y Lucha Struggles Triqui

MULT-I Independent Movement of Unity Movimiento de Unificación y Lucha and Triqui Struggles Triqui Independiente

PAN National Action Party Partido Acción Nacional

PRI Revolutionary Institutional Party Partido Revolucionario Institucional

PUP Popular Unity Party Partido Unidad Popular

SJC San Juan Copala San Juan Copala

UAM-I Autonomous Metropolitan Universidad Autónoma University campus Iztapalapa Metropolitana campus Iztapalapa

UAM-X Autonomous Metropolitan Universidad Autónoma University campus Xochimilco Metropolitana campus Xochimilco

UBISORT Unity of Social Welfare of The Unidad de Bienestar Social de la Triqui Region Región Triqui

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Appendix I

The Declaration of the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala

Declaración

del municipio autónomo

de San Juan Copala

Considerando

1. Que el pueblo triqui ha sido sometido históricamente: primero por los conquistadores europeos y después por la clase política que asumió el poder cuando México se convirtió en un país independiente.

2. Que este sometimiento continúa en la actualidad y se manifiesta de muchas maneras: a. En el despojo de más de la mitad de nuestro territorio, que hoy se encuentra como propiedad privada en manos de mestizos adinerados, muchos de ellos descendientes de los conquistadores españoles. b. La destrucción del gobierno triqui, consumado por la desaparición del municipio constitucional de San Juan Copala, por decreto de la Cuarenta Legislatura del estado en diciembre de 1948, con lo cual se arrebató a nuestro pueblo su propio gobierno, que se había ganado desde el año de 1826, con su activa participación en las guerras de independencia, bajo las órdenes de José María Morelos y Pavón. c. La división del pueblo triqui y el reparto de sus comunidades entre los municipios mestizos de Santiago Juxtlahuaca, Putla de Guerrero y Constancia del Rosario, en donde sus habitantes hemos sido discriminados, excluidos y explotados.

3. Que en la actualidad la subordinación del pueblo triqui se ha acentuado, impulsada desde el gobierno o por organizaciones afines a él, lo cual da como resultado que en la región predomine:

a. La violencia, generada por la impunidad con que actúan las bandas delictivas y la falta de justicia porque entre los Ministerios Públicos y Jueces predomina la corrupción.

b. El hambre, por la ausencia de un programa alimentario que asegure la alimentación de los habitantes de las comunidades. c. Proliferación de enfermedades, por carecer de programas que las prevengan o las atiendan. d. Analfabetismo, por carecer de un sistema de educación que responda a las necesidades del pueblo y valore la cultura triqui.

4. Que para superar el sometimiento político, económico, cultural y social al que han condenado al pueblo triqui el Estado y sus políticos, es necesario que éste se constituya como sujeto político, con personalidad y capacidad para autorepresentarse y tomar libremente las decisiones sobre su futuro.

5. Que el derecho internacional reconoce el derecho de los pueblos indígenas a la libre determinación en un régimen de autonomía, mismo que les da derecho a:

* Establecer libremente su condición política y proveer a su desarrollo económico, social y cultural.

* Gozar plenamente de los derechos humanos y libertades fundamentales, sin obstáculos ni discriminación.

* Salvaguardar las personas, las instituciones, los bienes, el trabajo, las culturas y el medio ambiente.

* Proteger sus valores y prácticas sociales, culturales, religiosas y espirituales.

* Respetar la integridad de los valores, prácticas e instituciones.

* Decidir sus prioridades para su desarrollo.

6. Que la Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos reconoce y garantiza el derecho de los pueblos y las comunidades indígenas a la libre determinación y, en consecuencia:

* Decidir sus formas internas de convivencia y organización social, económica, política y cultural.

* Aplicar sus propios sistemas normativos en la regulación y solución de sus conflictos internos.

* Elegir de acuerdo con sus normas, procedimientos y prácticas tradicionales, a las autoridades o representantes para el ejercicio de sus formas propias de gobierno

interno, garantizando la participación de las mujeres en condiciones de equidad frente a los varones.

* Preservar y enriquecer sus lenguas, conocimientos y todos los elementos que constituyan su cultura e identidad.

* Conservar y mejorar el hábitat y preservar la integridad de sus tierras.

* Acceder al uso y disfrute preferente de los recursos naturales de los lugares que habitan y ocupan las comunidades, salvo aquéllos que corresponden a las áreas estratégicas, en términos de esta Constitución.

7. Que la Constitución Política del Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca establece

El derecho a la libre determinación de los pueblos y comunidades indígenas se expresa como autonomía, en tanto partes integrantes del estado de Oaxaca, en el marco jurídico vigente; por tanto dichos pueblos y comunidades tienen personalidad jurídica de derecho público y gozan de derechos sociales.

Por todo lo anterior, las comunidades y barrios de la región triqui baja dan a conocer a la sociedad mexicana e internacional, la siguiente

Declaración

Primero. A partir del día primero de enero del año 2007 ha quedado constituido el municipio autónomo de San Juan Copala, integrado por todas las comunidades y barrios que han roto o en el futuro rompan la subordinación a las organizaciones del gobierno o ligadas a él.

Segundo. Las autoridades del municipio autónomo de San Juan Copala son aquéllas que las comunidades y barrios que integran el municipio autónomo han elegido libremente, a las cuales ha dado posesión el Consejo de Ancianos. Estas autoridades podrán ser destituidas en cualquier momento si atentan contra la voluntad del pueblo o se subordinan a las políticas del gobierno.

Tercero. Como consecuencia de lo anterior, se desconoce el Consejo Municipal electo por el gobierno del estado desde el año de 1993, así como cualquier otra autoridad que no sea electa de manera legítima por las comunidades y barrios.

Cuarto. Las autoridades del municipio autónomo de San Juan Copala sujetarán sus actos a los usos y costumbres del pueblo triqui y, en lo que éstos no prevean forma de conducirse, a las leyes del Estado mexicano.

Quinto. Las autoridades del municipio autónomo de San Juan Copala representarán a las comunidades y barrios hacia el exterior del municipio, respetando siempre la voluntad de sus ciudadanos y el respeto de la cultura triqui.

San Juan Copala, el día 20 de enero del 2007