Rebellions in Southern Mexico: the Search for a Political Economy of Dignity

View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by DSpace at VU Repression and Rebellions in Southern Mexico: The Search for a Political Economy of Dignity By Luis R. Matias Cruz Vrije Universiteit Under the mentorship of Dr. Bob Goudzwaard Dr. Bas de Gaay Fortman 2 Contents Preface 3 I. Introduction 7 II. Does Misery Instigate Armed Rebellions? 22 A. Reports on Poverty B. Why People Rebel: The Relevance of Perceived Economic Entitlements and Unfulfilled Expectations III. The Latent Conflict and the Zapatista Rebellion 73 A. Rebellion as a Response to the Imposition of New Economic and Political Arrangements B. The Zapatista Rebellion of 1994 IV. The Political Economy of Exclusion and Failure of Acquirement in the Mexican Context 155 A. Marginalization and Human Development B. Entitlement and Capabilities in Community Life in Southern Mexico V. Toward a Political Economy of Dignity: The Search for An Alternative to Exclusion and Acquirement Failure 222 A. Main Findings of the Zapatista Rebellion B. Human Development and the Building of Sustainable Livelihoods and Capabilities C. Toward a Political Economy of Dignity and the Building of an Alternative Economic Scenario for Chiapas and Southern Mexico D. The Political Economy of Dignity: The Search for An Alternative Scenario VI. Synthesis: Persisting Vicious Cycles and the Search for a Living Economy Scenario 294 Works Cited 318 3 Preface The Mexican southwest is known not only for having the greatest ecological diversity in the country, but also for its great cultural diversity. This region constitutes the undeniable indigenous face of Mexico, containing 74% of the entire country’s indigenous population. The Sierra Juárez, a range of tall, mountainous peaks tucked away to the north of the city of Oaxaca, is home to the Zapotecs, the “people of the clouds”. The Zapotecs have the single largest indigenous presence in the state of Oaxaca, but they are one of many indigenous peoples. For example the Mixe, according to their oral history, were the only indigenous people never conquered by the bearded Spaniard colonizers, since the area where they lived could not be found by explorers. My first conscious awareness of my Zapotec origin was that of living in the city of Oaxaca, speaking Spanish and listening to my parents and extended family speaking Zapotec and practicing Zapotec customs. Due to the rampant practice of discrimination against indigenous people and in a desire to protect his children and ensure their success in coping with the non-indigenous environment, my father prohibited the use of our native language. One of the many consequences was an ongoing rupture in inter- generational communication and transference of our cultural heritage due to the language barrier. During junior high school I had my first encounter with the social reality of my environment when my classmate Alejandro shared with me that he, like students and workers in other regions, was seriously considering joining a group of clandestine armed guerrillas in order to create the conditions for the construction of a more just and egalitarian society. According to Alejandro, education was insufficient to bring about true change, and a clandestine armed struggle was necessary. The slogans and writings that armed revolutionary groups wrote on walls throughout Oaxaca took on a new a deeper meaning for me. 4 My awareness and resulting interest in the generalized environment of threatened violence increased during my high school studies. I arrived at my campus one day only to find it surrounded by federal troops bearing high-powered arms and opening fire on the school with students and professors holed up inside. The reason for the military attack was that students, angry at the authoritarian attitude of the private bus companies and decrying the imposition of higher fares as unjust and arbitrary for the public at large, had taken over some privately-owned city buses as part of their demand that public fares be lowered. It was during that same year of high school that I also had my first contact with the fields of political science and economics. That experience helped begin my articulation of the environment of discrimination, social tension, and the contrasts between extreme poverty and wealth, and between indigenous and non-indigenous. A few years later I moved to Puebla, the state to the north of Oaxaca, and lived with my friend Miguel, a Oaxacan immigrant laborer. Miguel was a night-shift employee of the U.S. transnational company, Stanley. Though his one-bedroom house did not even have a living room, he opened the doors for me to stay in his home where he lived with his whole family. Because of this help I was able to begin my university studies in economics. Conversations with Miguel about his clandestine fight in the labor union to improve the unjust working conditions and salary spurred me on in my studies. The following year when I moved to Mexico City to continue my university studies, Lindy and Dinorah, a couple from the U. S. and Brazil respectively, offered me hospitality and housing without cost. They lived in one of the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Mexico City. I am indebted to them for their hospitality and support. It was through them that I met my wife, Ramona Ryan, to whom I am indebted for the interminable quantity of hours of review and editing of this doctoral thesis. 5 The hospitality and information provided by NGOs who gave us access to their publications and selections from their libraries in Mexico City and Oaxaca, (MADERAS A.C., UCIZONI-Unión de Comunidades Indígenas de la Zona Norte, TRANSPARENCIA A.C., Alianza Cívica Nacional A.C.) were essential in helping to lay the foundation for this research. The assistance of Marina Pagés and Hieke of the Internacional Service for Peace (SIPAZ) in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas was invaluable. The same is true of visits to the Centro de Investigación Económica (CIEPAC A.C.), Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, and DESMI A.C., an organization that works with different communities, constructing an economy in harmony with the felt needs of these communities. These organizations are all located in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. In Oaxaca the help of Alicia Barabas of INAH (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia) was very helpful, as was the help of Jorge LoFredo, a specialist in guerrilla warfare in the region. The encouragement and friendship of Tom Offit and Howard Campbell kept me going when I was feeling discouraged. Also the suggestions of the director of CIESAS were very helpful. The staff and the library holdings of the Instituto Welte greatly facilitated this research. I am especially indebted to my promoters Professors Bas de Gaay Fortman and Bob Goudzwaard, and the other members of my examination committee: Professors Gaspar Rivera-Salgado, Marteen Jansen, Oscar Salemink and Dr. Wil Pansters. Special thanks are due to Wil who went all the way to Oaxaca in the summer of 2005 and spent an entire day with me discussing comments and corrections to the manuscript. The delicious food, hospitality and special attention that Bas and Ina provided me during my two stays in the Netherlands for intensive committee work on this dissertation was both extremely generous and deeply appreciated. Many, many thanks are due to Bob and Rini for their hospitality, affirmation, and especially to Bob who has been my supporter and encourager from the beginning. Together Bas and 6 Bob have provided me with the guidance needed throughout this work. The Free University of Amsterdam kindly covered the cost of my airline ticket to and from the Netherlands during the summer of 2005, and also the cost of the publication of this work, for which I am deeply appreciative. Baylor University facilitated my research through its excellent library staff and facilities. Finally, I thank my extended family for their support, and Hope Fellowship, a small Anabaptist community in Waco, for their support and encouragement. 7 Chapter I Introduction On January 1, 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Mexico, the U.S. and Canada entered into force. One hour later a group of armed indigenous men and women took over towns in Chiapas, the poorest state in Mexico. They called themselves Zapatistas, taking their name from Emiliano Zapata, a revolutionary peasant leader from southern Mexico.1 In 1994 approximately one thousand people identified themselves as part of the EZLN, the Zapatista Army for National Liberation. They seized five cities: San Cristóbal de las Casas, Ocosingo, Las Margaritas and Altamirano. The Zapatistas declared that the NAFTA agreement represented a final death sentence for themselves and their communities and was a national and international official declaration of exclusion--exclusion from competitive markets due to their lack of means to compete with Mexican or U.S. corporations. It also implied the continuation of exclusion from participating in the national economic plan and exclusion from being a contributing part of society and government. The Zapatista uprising in 1994 began what has become a peaceful civil movement nationwide whose presence has inspired other movements and changed the political map of contemporary Mexico through two important initiatives. First is the emergence of totally autonomous governing bodies in indigenous communities in Chiapas--juntas de buen gobierno (councils of good government), and second, the launching of “la otra campaña” (the other campaign) calling for the organization and mobilization of civil 1 Zapata fought for agrarian reform on behalf of peasants. He demanded that expropriated land be returned to communities, and that one third of hacienda landholdings be distributed among landless peasants. His assassination was ordered by President Venustiano Carranza in 1919.

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