Mexico and the Caribbean Under Castro's Eyes
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STUDIES OF THE AMERICAS MEXICO AND THE CARIBBEAN UNDER CASTRO’S EYES A Journal of Decolonization, State Formation & Democratization Colin Clarke Studies of the Americas Series Editor Maxine Molyneux Institute of the Americas University College London London, UK The Studies of the Americas Series includes country specific, cross-disciplinary and comparative research on the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada, particularly in the areas of Politics, Economics, History, Anthropology, Sociology, Anthropology, Development, Gender, Social Policy and the Environment. The series publishes monographs, readers on specific themes and also welcomes proposals for edited collections, that allow exploration of a topic from several different disciplinary angles. This series is published in conjunction with University College London’s Institute of the Americas under the editorship of Professor Maxine Molyneux. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14462 Colin Clarke Mexico and the Caribbean Under Castro’s Eyes A Journal of Decolonization, State Formation and Democratization Colin Clarke School of Geography and the Environment University of Oxford Oxford, UK Studies of the Americas ISBN 978-3-319-77169-4 ISBN 978-3-319-77170-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77170-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018944422 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover image: pop_jop / Getty Images Cover design: Akihiro Nakayama Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To Elizabeth Thomas-Hope and Trevor Hope ALSO BY COLIN CLaRKE Jamaica in Maps Kingston, Jamaica: Urban Development and Social Change, 1692–1962 Caribbean Social Relations (editor) A Geography of the Third World (joint author) Geography and Ethnic Pluralism (joint editor) East Indians in a West Indian Town: San Fernando, Trinidad, 1930–1970 Cambio Social y Económico en Latinoamerica: Perspectivas Geográficas (joint editor) Politics, Security and Development in Small States (joint editor) South Asians Overseas: Migration and Ethnicity (joint editor) Society and Politics in the Caribbean (editor) Class, Ethnicity and Community in Southern Mexico: Oaxaca’s Peasantries Kingston, Jamaica: Urban Development and Social Change, 1692–2002 Decolonizing the Colonial City: Urbanization and Social Stratification in Kingston, Jamaica Post-Colonial Trinidad: An Ethnographic Journal (joint author) War’s Nomads: A Mobile Radar Unit in Pursuit of Rommel during the Western Desert Campaign, 1942–1943 (joint editor) Race, Class and the Politics of Decolonization: Jamaica Journals, 1961 and 1968 vii AcKNOWLEDGEMENTS The first three of my research journeys to Mexico in 1966, and to the Caribbean in 1968 and 1972, were funded by the Latin American Centre at Liverpool, where I was a member of staff. My research in Oaxaca, Mexico, in 1978 was supported by grants from the Nuffield and Astor Foundations, while my visit to Cuba in 1969 and to Trinidad in 1973 were paid for by the Latin American Centre, and the cost of my excursion to Barbuda in 1978 was covered by a bursary from the Geography Department at Liverpool. My wife, Gillian, generously bore the burden of childcare while I was away in 1966, 1968, and 1972, but in 1978 she and I had the pleasure of experiencing Mexico together with our two children for 6 out of the 20 weeks that I was there. I am grateful to David Lowenthal for prompting my 1968 journey from Haiti to Guyana; to the late Clifford Smith, Director of the Latin American Centre at Liverpool, for his support for my visits to the Caribbean in 1968 and 1972, and Cuba in 1969. It is a pleasure to record my thanks for the help I received on my travels from John Dickenson in Mexico, Barry Higman in Jamaica; Bryan Roberts in Cuba; María Teresa Gutiérrez de MacGregor and Raúl MacGregor in Mexico City; and Scott Cook, Michael Higgins, Miguel Bartolomé, and Alicia Barabas in Oaxaca. Without the support of Cecil Welte and his wife Patsy, my 1978 research in Oaxaca, which laid the foundations for my subsequent visits and book (2000), would have been far less successful. During my three visits to Trinidad I was assisted by numerous friends who were fully acknowledged in my previous book—Ena Scott-Jack, George Sammy, Bramadath Maharaj, Hansar Ramsamooj, and Frank Cleghorn (2010). ix x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to Ailsa Allen, Cartography and Graphics Officer in the School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford University, for draw- ing Figs. 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4 and for curating the other maps (Figs. 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, and 1.10), originally drawn for me while I was a mem- ber of staff of the Department of Geography at Liverpool University. Additionally, Ailsa has prepared my colour slides—taken during the field- work—for publication as the plates of this book. I am grateful to my wife Gillian for her care in proofreading my text, and for the interest she has taken in my research and travels in Mexico and the Caribbean. It was a pleasure to share our experience of Oaxaca with our children, Aidan and Veronica. I have dedicated this book to Elizabeth Thomas-Hope and Trevor Hope—friends in the Cotswolds in England, and over the years, generous hosts in Jamaica. CONTENTS 1 Introduction: Mexico and the Caribbean 1 2 Mexico in 1966 45 3 The Caribbean in the Late 1960s 83 4 The Caribbean in the Early 1970s 143 5 Oaxaca, Mexico, and Barbuda in 1978 183 References 233 Index 239 xi ABBREVIaTIONS AID Aid for International Development (US) CARICOM Caribbean Community CARIFTA Caribbean Free Trade Area CDR Comité de la Defensa de la Revolución CHISS Centre Haïtien d’Investigation en Sciences Sociales COCEO Coalición de Obreros Campesinos y Estudiantes de Oaxaca CRUDEM Centre Rural de Développement de Milot DAAC Departemento de Asuntos Agrarios y Colonización FEO Federación Estudiantil Oaxaqueña FUCOPO Fusión Cívica de Organizaciones Productivas de Oaxaca INAH Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia INIT Instituto de Información y Turismo JLP Jamaica Labour Party NASA National Aeronautic and Space Administration (US) PAM People’s Action Movement PDP People’s Democratic Party PNM People’s National Movement PNP People’s National Party PRI Partido Revolucionario Institucional UABJO Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca UCL University College London UDC Urban Development Corporation xiii xiv Abbreviations UDI Unilateral Declaration of Independence UNAM Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México UPR University of Puerto Rico UWI University of the West Indies LIST OF FIGURES aND TaBLES Fig. 1.1 Southern Mexico: topography and place names 7 Fig. 1.2 Mexico and Caribbean societies: a typology 8 Fig. 1.3 The Greater Antilles: topography and place names 9 Fig. 1.4 The Lesser Antilles and Guyana: topography and place names 10 Fig. 1.5 The islands of the North-East Caribbean 12 Fig. 1.6 Anguilla 28 Fig. 1.7 Barbuda 30 Fig. 1.8 Oaxaca: regions and major towns 36 Fig. 1.9 Oaxaca: relief and main settlements 37 Fig. 1.10 Place names in the valley of Oaxaca (after Welte) 38 Plate 2.1 Plaza of the Three Cultures, Mexico City. In the foreground the excavated ruins of the Aztec settlement of Tlaltelolco; the Spanish colonial church located adjacent to, or over, them; and the modern Nonoalco-Tlaltelolco housing scheme in the background: an outstanding example of plural cultures expressed in the built environment 51 Plate 2.2 Chamula and Zinacantecan Tzotzil-speaking Indians outside the market in San Cristóbal de las Casas. San Cristóbal is a classic case of an administrative and market town dominating a subordinate rural Indian economy (internal colonialism) 68 Plate 2.3 Tepito Market, Mexico City—the thieves’ market, where one can buy today what was stolen yesterday. The illegal, informal sector is common in Mexican and Caribbean cities 79 Plate 3.1 Teeming peasant market: Kenscoff, Haiti. Peasant markets in the Caribbean had their origin in agricultural marketing by slaves who raised produce on the backlands of their owners’ plantations 89 xv xvi List of Figures and Tables Plate 3.2 Statue of Isabel la Católica (on right) to commemorate the joint sponsor of Columbus’s first voyage to the Caribbean, plus refurbished colonial housing in the historic core of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Santo Domingo was the first European settlement in the Americas 90 Plate 3.3 Town Hall, Fort-de-France, Martinique. A replica of French provincial civic architecture, befitting a former colony, now an incorporated département.