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U.S.- Policy Bulletin

Issue 7 • July/August 2005

Building Civil Society Among Indigenous Migrants By Jonathan Fox and Gaspar Rivera-Salgado

The past and future of the Mexican nation can Two decades ago, the government aban- be seen in the waves of the tens of thousands of doned its previously on-again/off-again com- indigenous people who each year set out on mitment to make family farming economically their voyages to the north, as well as the many viable. Since the 1980s, peasant agriculture others who have already settled in countless became a target of welfare policy rather than communities within the . To production support, a shift that weakened the understand indigenous Mexican migrants in economic base of indigenous communities. This essay was excerpted the United States today requires a binational According to the Mexican government, pover- with permission from the lens, taking into account basic changes in the ty worsened in 30% of the predominantly book Indigenous Mexican way Mexico is increasingly recognized as a indigenous municipalities between 1990 and Migrants in the United States, nation of migrants, a society whose fate is inti- 2002.The long-term crisis of the peasant econ- edited by Jonathan Fox and mately linked with the economy and culture of omy has been exacerbated in recent years by Gaspar Rivera-Salgado.The the United States. But the specific indigenous the persistent collapse of the international price book is published by the migrant experience also requires recognizing of coffee—the principal cash crop for many of Centers for U.S.-Mexican that Mexico is a multiethnic society where Mexico’s indigenous farmers. Studies and Comparative basic questions of indigenous rights have made Since implementation of the North Immigration Studies at it onto the national agenda but remain funda- American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the UCSD (2004) and available mentally unresolved. government’s rural development strategy has from Lynne Rienner Mexico’s national indigenous population is been based on the assumption that a large pro- Publishers, www.reinner.com. the largest in the hemisphere, with approxi- portion of the rural poor would move either to mately one-quarter of the Indians in the the cities or to the United States. ’s as a whole. At least one-tenth of the urban Indian population is officially estimated Mexican population is of indigenous origin, at half a million in the Federal District and one according to the government’s relatively strict million in the greater metropolitan area. criterion of indigenous language use (though Both in the United States and in Mexico, the most recent national census allows for eth- indigenous migrants find themselves exclud- nic self-identification for the first time). Despite ed—economically, socially, and politically— five centuries of pressure to assimilate, at least both as migrants and as indigenous people.They one in ten reported that they speak work in ethnically segmented labor markets that an indigenous language in their household. relegate them to the bottom rungs. In the social The future projected by Mexico’s dominant sphere, in addition to the well-known set of economic model has little place for indigenous obstacles that confront cross-border migrants, peoples other than joining the urban and agro- especially those without documentation, they export workforce. Because the majority of also face entrenched racist attitudes and discrim- Mexico’s indigenous population depends on ination from other Mexicans as well as from the agriculture, their livelihood prospects are high- dominant society in the United States. ly sensitive to governmental policies toward In the civic-political arena, most cross- Mexico Institute that sector. border migrants are excluded from full citizen- US-Mexico Policy Bulletin • Issue 7

ship rights in either country. On the one hand, the the Mexican countryside, Mayans from Yucatán and U.S. government resists proposals to regularize the now leave to work in and , status of millions of workers. On the other hand, the Hñahñus and from central Mexico are com- Mexican government has yet to comply either with ing to the Midwest and Texas, and from the 1996 constitutional reform that recognized are settling in the area, followed migrants’ right to vote or with the 1996 San Andrés more recently by Hñahñus from neighboring Accords on Indigenous . Mixtecs and Nahuas are also coming to the Both in the United States and in Rights and Culture that United States from the state of . Mexico, indigenous migrants find promised a modest form The Mexican migrant population is also becom- of indigenous autono- ing increasingly multiethnic. Some Mexican indige- themselves excluded—economically, my. In the dominant nous peoples such as the P’urépechas of Michoacán socially, and politically—both as national political cul- and ’s Mixtecs and Zapotecs have many migrants and as indigenous people. ture, both indigenous decades of experience with migration to the United peoples and migrants States, dating back to the Bracero Program have long been seen, especially by Mexico City (1942–1964). Historically, however, most indigenous political elites, as less than full citizens—a powerful migrants went to large cities or agribusiness jobs historical inheritance that only began to change sub- within Mexico and until the 1980s their share of the stantially within Mexico by the mid-1990s. overall cross-border migrant population was relative- ly low. More recently, the indigenous proportion of Changing Patterns of Migration the Mexican migrant population has grown signifi- Historically, most Mexican migrants came primarily cantly, most notably in both urban and rural from rural communities in the central-western part California and increasingly in Texas, , New of the country. Over the past two decades, however, York,and Oregon. the Mexican migrant population has diversified dra- Whereas in the past most indigenous migration to matically, both socially and geographically. Their the United States was temporary, today the increased of origin now include a more diverse range risk and cost of crossing the border without docu- of states as well as large cities. For example, the Los ments has led more of these immigrants to settle in Angeles area now has federations of hometown asso- the United States long term.This is possible in part ciations from at least thirteen different Mexican because their networks have matured over the past states, and eleven statewide federations are active in two decades, particularly in the case of Oaxacan . Regions of migrant settlement in the migrants. Before the bracero program, out-migration United States are becoming similarly diverse— from the area began in the 1930s, with major desti- researchers recently found license plates from thirty- nations being , the sugarcane fields of seven different U.S. states just along the main road of Veracruz, and the outskirts of Mexico City. Later San Juan Mixtepec, Oaxaca. labor contractors supplying agribusinesses in the As the economic and social dynamics that northwestern state of began recruiting, espe- encourage migration spread more deeply throughout cially in the . These south-to-north

Jonathan Fox is a professor in the department of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center during 2004–2005.

Gaspar Rivera-Salgado is Director of the Transnational Communities Program at the New Americans Immigration 2 Museum Learning Center. US-Mexico Policy Bulletin • Issue 7

flows later extended to the Valley of San Quintín in By the early 1990s, an estimated 45,000 to 55,000 northern . By the early 1980s, indige- Mixtecs worked in agriculture in California’s Central nous migrants reached further north, to California, Valley, and 50,000 to 60,000 Zapotecs had settled in Oregon, and Washington. , mainly in the central neighborhoods of Early transnational migrants were able to regular- Koreatown, Pico-Union, and South-Central. The ize their status and settle in the United States follow- proportion of predominantly indigenous migrants ing the 1986 immigration policy reform (the from southern Mexico in California farm labor Immigration Reform and Control Act, or IRCA). In almost doubled during the 1990s, from 6.1% California, Oaxacans have long-established commu- (1993–1996) to 10.9% (1997–2000), spurring nities in the San Joaquin Valley,the Los Angeles met- researcher Edward Kissam to project that indigenous ropolitan area, and northern County. migrants will represent more than 20% of Within a relatively short California’s farm workers by 2010. More recently, the indigenous pro- time, these indigenous The parallel process of long-term settlement and portion of the Mexican migrant migrants went from geographic concentration has led to the creation of a population has grown significantly, invisibility to outsiders “critical mass” of indigenous Oaxacans, especially in to attracting media California.This has permitted the emergence of dis- most notably in both urban and rural attention and becoming tinctive forms of social organization and cultural California and increasingly in Texas, a subject of both aca- expression, especially among Mixtecs and Zapotecs. Florida, New York, and Oregon. demic research and pro- Their collective initiatives draw on ancestral cul- gressive activism. tural legacies to build new branches of their home The southern Mexican state of Oaxaca provides communities. Their public expressions range from an excellent case study of indigenous migration.The building civic political organizations to the public 80s saw the extensive incorporation of Zapotecs in celebration of religious holidays, tourna- urban services and Mixtecs in farm labor—often in ments involving dozens of teams, the regular mass the most difficult and lowest-paid jobs. The IRCA celebration of traditional Oaxacan music and dance reforms permitted millions of earlier migrants to reg- festivals such as the Guelaguetza, and the formation ularize their status, allowing them to move up in the of village-based bands, some of which return to play labor force, leaving open bottom rungs in the social in their hometown fiestas, as in the case of the ladder for newer indigenous migrants. Zapotec community of Zoogocho. Their cultural U.S. employers of low-wage workers have contin- and political projects also include the revival of tra- ued their long tradition of encouraging ethnic seg- ditional weaving workshops, the publication of bina- mentation in labor mar- tional newspapers, indigenous- and Spanish-lan- By the early 1990s, an estimated kets. As a conservative guage radio programs, and efforts to provide transla- 45,000 to 55,000 Mixtecs worked in scholar and farmer tion services and preserve indigenous languages, as agriculture in California’s Central summed up the well as the emergence of writers and visual artists employers’ view, “they with cross-border sensibilities. Valley, and 50,000 to 60,000 Zapotecs will tell you, ‘don’t had settled in Los Angeles bring anybody onto the New Organizations in a New Land cement crew who Indigenous migrants in the United States have devel- speaks English’ because the second generation will oped two main kinds of civil society organizations not work like the people from Oaxaca.” Indigenous over the years.The first are “hometown associations,” workers also sometimes use ethnic difference to for- known in Spanish as “organizaciones de pueblo,” “clubes tify their position in the labor market. As one de oriundos,” or “clubes sociales comunitarios.” They are informant reported to researcher Marta Guidi: “Of composed of migrants from specific communities course we speak Mixtec! [in the United States]. who come together mainly to support their commu- Sometimes we speak to each other in dialecto in front nity of origin, often by raising funds for local public of the [Chicano] contractor so that we can come to works such as road or bridge building, water systems, an agreement about our wages. And they get mad electrification, or public spaces— squares, 3 because they don’t understand us.” sports fields, schools, churches, or community halls. US-Mexico Policy Bulletin • Issue 7

The second kind of indigenous migrant associa- practices “Oaxacalifornia,” a transnationalized space tions includes coalition-building projects that draw that brings together their lives in California with their on hometown, “translocal” ties but bring people communities of origin more than 2,500 miles away. together from a broader, regional ethnogeographic sphere. Among Oaxacan migrants, the most consoli- Ethnic Identity and Collective Action dated coalitions include the Oaxacan Indigenous How does sustained migration and the emergence Binational Front (FIOB), the Oaxacan Regional of organizations of indigenous migrants influence Organization (ORO), the Union of Highland social and community identity, both in the United Communities of Oaxaca (UCSO), the Coalition of States and in Mexico? Indigenous Communities of Oaxaca (COCIO), the Like other migrants, indigenous Mexicans bring International Indigenous Network of Oaxaca with them a wide range of experiences with collec- (RIIO), and the recently formed Oaxacan tive action for community development, social jus- Federation of Indigenous Communities and tice, and political democratization, and these reper- Organizations in California (FOCOICA). toires influence their decisions about who to work Changing settlement patterns have also affected with and how to build their own organizations in organization. Not all migrants have formed satellite the United States. communities in the United States, which is a key pre- Racist discrimination and exclusion, both in condition for organizing along hometown lines, and northern Mexico and in the United States—though even fewer have formed not completely new for Oaxacan indigenous peo- Indigenous migrants in the United ethnic, regional, or pan- ple—was sharpened in the agricultural fields of States have developed two main ethnic organizations. Sinaloa, Baja California, and California’s San Joaquin kinds of civil society organizations Some indigenous Valley.Vividly represented by the widespread use of over the years. The first are “home- Mexican migrants derogatory terms such as “oaxaquitas” (little town associations,”...The second organize as members of Oaxacans) and “indios sucios” (dirty Indians), the ethnically mixed groups, racism they encountered intensified their sense of kind of indigenous migrant associa- whether along religious ethnic difference and generated a new, broader eth- tions includes coalition-building proj- lines, as in the case of nic identity that brings together migrants from ects that draw on hometown, New York’s Asociación communities that would not necessarily have shared “translocal” ties but bring people Tepeyac, or along class identities back in Oaxaca. “This experience of dis- together from a broader, regional lines, as in the case of crimination outside of Oaxaca was a major stimulus ethnogeographic sphere. Oregon’s Treeplanters for indigenous migrants to appropriate the labels— and Farmworkers of the Mixtec, Zapotec, and indígena—that formerly had Northwest (PCUN) or Florida’s Coalition of only been used by linguists, anthropologists, and Immokolee Workers (CIW). government officials, and to put them to work in Indigenous migrant organizations also vary in organizing along ethnic lines,” states researcher terms of their degree of interest in collaboration Michael Kearney. with other organizations of migrants or U.S.-focused The newly appropriated ethnic identities that civic and social organizations. In L.A., for example, emerged in the process of migration created new the Oaxacan organizations work closely both with opportunities for collective action that were other Mexican organizations and with trade unions expressed in a diverse array of civic and political and civil rights organizations on issues such as access organizations in the United States and northern to drivers’ licenses for undocumented workers. Mexico. These organizations differed from those in Whatever the type, indigenous migrant organiza- the communities of origin, where cross-community tions open up spaces to create and re-create social solidarity was often blocked by persistent legacies of identities. In the case of Oaxacans in California, they intervillage conflict. Kearney argues that workers have done this by institutionalizing collective prac- from communities that might have been rivals in tices in which they are recognized as Oaxacans and as Oaxaca came to develop a sense of solidarity indigenous people. Academics have termed the real through their shared experiences of class and racial 4 and imagined space in which they develop these oppression as migrants.

US-Mexico Policy Bulletin • Issue 7

The resulting pan-Mixtec, pan-Zapotec, and later, Guelaguetza festivals of music and dance are among panindigenous Oaxacan identities made possible the most important Oaxacan cultural events, and broader pan-ethnic organizing among migrants for there are now five annual Guelaguetzas in California, the first time.This interpretation has been confirmed beginning in Los Angeles in 1987. The Guelagetza by recent developments within the Oaxacan festivals were first celebrated by the Oaxacan Indigenous Binational Front (FIOB). In early 2005, Regional Organization (ORO). Since 2002 in response to the increased ethnic diversity among FOCOICA has celebrated a Guelaguetza in the Los its membership, the FIOB changed its name to the Angeles Sports Arena, cosponsored by the Oaxaca Indigenous Front of Binational Organizations. The state government, local trade unions, and the FIOB’s newly-elected binational leadership council Spanish-language media that draws between six and includes speakers of five different Mexican languages ten thousand people. The event also promotes (Mixtec, Zapotec, Mixe, P’urépecha, and Spanish). Oaxacan imports. Due to the cultural, political, and language differ- Sports competitions also serve to unify the ences between groups of Mexicans, efforts to com- migrant community of Oaxacans in California. One municate or build coalitions among these groups of the most important basketball tournaments is the must take these differ- Los Angeles “Juárez Cup,”organized by the Union of The newly appropriated ethnic iden- ences into account. Highland Communities of Oaxaca each March for tities that emerged in the process of Advocacy efforts by U.S. the past six years. Some sixty-five teams participate, groups on behalf of representing more than forty Oaxacan communities. migration created new opportunities indigenous migrants face Some Mixtecs and Zapotecs in California also for collective action that were major challenges in terms play a pre-Columbian ball game,“Mixtec ball”The expressed in a diverse array of civic of building trust and resurgence of this game among immigrants is cul- and political organizations in the cross-cultural communi- turally important because the number of players of United States and northern Mexico. cation. Various incipient the game has decreased in Oaxaca as appropriate cross-sectoral coalition- open spaces have disappeared. As many as twelve building efforts have not coalesced, leading to some different teams meet in an annual statewide tourna- skepticism as well as suggesting the need for greater ment in Los Angeles.As in the case of many other mutual understanding to facilitate the process of Oaxacan migrant cultural activities—dances, finding the common ground needed to sustain bal- music, food—Mixtec ball has generated a demand anced multicultural coalitions. for traditional equipment, creating jobs for the arti- These insights about how migration and racism sans back home who make the gloves and balls. influence collective identities provide an important More recently,public religious celebrations have context for understanding the transnational migrant begun to play an important role among indigenous experience. Migrants are framed here as social actors migrants in California. Events organized lately rather than passive victims or faceless flows of amor- include a dance held to raise money for major phous masses. In contrast to idealized views of repairs to the community’s church in Yalalag, a migrants, whether as “heroes” or “pochos,” what’s drive to get two local “martyrs” declared “saints,” needed is a focus on their efforts to create new lives, and fiestas to honor local virgins and patron saints. to build their own organizations, and above all to Through social, civic, cultural, and religious represent themselves in building an indigenous events migrant organizations serve to construct mul- migrant civil society that can help them face the tiple identities. First, they reinforce collective prac- challenges of the future. tices that affirm broader ethnic identities emerging from the migrant experience. Second, these organi- Reaffirming Identities zations—above all, the hometown associations— Despite the variety of political backgrounds, the dif- encourage community building, cultural exchange, ferent organizations all emphasize public activities and the flow of information. Both processes are cru- and mobilizations that reaffirm their collective iden- cial for sustaining the links that connect communi- tities as . Cultural events nourish ties of origin with their satellite communities spread 5 the multicultural experience of its citizens. The beyond their traditional homeland.

US-Mexico Policy Bulletin • Issue 7

Communicating Transnationally A critical part of strengthening communication The use of alternative media plays a central role in has been the effort to encourage the use of indige- building migrant civil society. Notably, the biweekly nous languages, both as part of the political struggle newspaper El Oaxaqueño, “the voice of Oaxacans in for rights and as an endeavor in cultural survival. the United States,” is one of the few professional Indigenous migrants who do not speak Spanish well Mexican newspapers with a binational circulation. experience intense language discrimination at the The paper was launched by Fernando López Mateos, workplace and in their interactions with legal, edu- a successful Zapotec cational, and health institutions. In at least two well- migrant entrepreneur in known cases in the 1980s, indigenous-language The use of alternative media plays 1999. Its content is speakers were incarcerated in Oregon, unable to offer a central role in building migrant developed binationally; any defense because they did not speak either civil society. graphic design work is Spanish or English. Long-standing Mexican preju- done in Oaxaca and dices are widespread in immigrant communities in then the job is sent to Los Angeles for printing.The the United States. paper’s coverage includes civic, political, social, This situation began to change when California sports, and cultural issues that affect Oaxacan com- Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA), in a precedent-set- munities in both Mexico and the United States. ting move, hired the first Mixtec-speaking outreach Reports range from local village conflicts and the worker in 1993. Migrant organizations have also campaign to block construction of a McDonald’s on responded to the need by creating their own transla- the main square in Oaxaca City, to the binational tion services in Mixtec, Zapotec, and to help activities of hometown associations and California- people responding to criminal charges or trying to focused coalition building for immigrants’ right to access health care and other public services. obtain drivers’ licenses and against cutbacks in health Interpreters for the Binational Center for Indigenous services.The press run of 35,000 copies is distributed Oaxacan Development (CBDIO) work throughout free of charge throughout California and in other California as well in other states.The Madera School migrant communities in the United States, as well as District has hired a Mixtec community outreach in Oaxaca. In addition, a second Oaxacan migrant worker to communicate with the hundreds of newspaper recently joined the California media Mixtec parents who send their children to the pub- scene, Impulso de Oaxaca. lic schools of this farming community in the heart of Oaxaca’s indigenous migrants are also using radio California’s Central Valley.The Oaxaca-based Mixtec and electronic media in the United States. Filemón Language Academy recently began conducting López, a native of the Mixtec community of San workshops in the Central Valley to teach the writing Juan Mixtepec, has for the past six years anchored La of the . At the same time, the Hora Mixteca, a bilingual (Mixtec-Spanish) weekly Mexican government’s Adult Agency, program broadcast on the Radio Bilingüe network, active in eighteen U.S. states, recently launched an founded by Hugo Morales, another Oaxacan outreach project specifically for indigenous migrants. migrant from the Mixteca. These initiatives have been reinforced by the use of Radio Bilingüe recently obtained a Rockefeller CD-ROM teaching materials in English and Spanish Foundation grant for a satellite link that will enable that provide accessible introductions to many dimen- it to transmit its programming to listeners in Oaxaca sions of Mixtec history and culture, from analysis of and Baja California. In 2001 the FIOB and New little-known codices to contemporary issues of land California Media jointly produced a one-hour news and identity (www.mesolore.com). show, Nuestro Foro, on local community radio in Indigenous immigrant organizations face a huge Fresno (KFCF-88.1 FM). In addition, FIOB has challenge with the coming of age of the second gen- published a monthly newsletter, El Tequio, since 1991 eration. As thousands of indigenous immigrant fami- and introduced an online version two years ago, lies settle for the long term, the rising number of their allowing its binational membership to share news on children born and raised in the United States poses local activities and maintain a sense of unity across the risk of losing the indigenous languages. In some 6 the U.S.-Mexico border. cases, migrant youth become trilingual, and hence are US-Mexico Policy Bulletin • Issue 7

a crucial resource for the migrant community. For tions is built on the foundation of what are increas- example, FIOB has employed several trilingual ingly referred to as “transnational communities,” a organizers in strategic positions, encouraging leader- concept that refers to groups of migrants whose ship development. Nevertheless, these cases are the daily lives, work, and social relationships extend exception. More often, second-generation indige- across national borders.The existence of transnation- nous youths—like other migrant groups— often al communities is a precondition for, but is not the show low levels of retention of fluency in their par- same as, an emerging migrant civil society, which ents’ first language. also must involve the construction of public spaces and representative social and civic organizations. Women’s Changing Gender Roles There is another way of conceptualizing Gender roles are also changing the terms of com- migrants as social actors, which is the process of munity membership. Some migrant women experi- constructing a de facto form of “translocal communi- ence shifts in the division ty citizenship.” This happens when indigenous There is another way of conceptualiz- of labor when they begin migrants become active members of both their ing migrants as social actors, which to earn wages. In the less- communities of settlement and their communities isolated new areas of set- of origin. Like the idea of transnational community, is the process of constructing a de tlement, indigenous translocal community citizenship refers to the cross- facto form of “translocal community women are exposed to border extension of the boundaries of an existing citizenship.” different customs and social sphere, but the term “citizenship” involves institutions, and they much more precise criteria for determining mem- sometimes enter into contact with U.S.-based social bership rights and obligations and refers explicitly actors promoting gender equality. Líderes to membership in a public sphere. Campesinas, a Califronia-based women’s member- This socially constructed sense of membership is ship organization, is making domestic violence a often built through collective action. The idea of public issue for the first time in many small translocal community citizenship specifies the pub- of rural California by challenging the widely held lic space within which membership is exercised, and view that such violence focuses on the challenge of sustaining binational Recent studies and migrant organiz- is strictly a private mat- membership in a cross-border community. ing force us to rethink Mexican ter. Women are also tak- Nonetheless, the concept of translocal commu- ing on public leadership nity citizenship has limits as well. It does not capture migration in terms of the widening roles in mixed-gender the broader, rights-based perspective that transcends diversity of ethnic, gender, and migrant organizations in membership in specific territorially based (or deter- regional experiences. the United States. ritorialized) communities, such as the migrant At the same time, movement for Mexican voting rights abroad, or the migration from many indigenous communities FIOB’s emphasis on pan-ethnic collective identities remains primarily male, affecting the women who and indigenous and human rights. These collective remain in at least two ways: their workload is identities are shared beyond specific communities. increased, but they sometimes gain greater access to The idea of translocal also fails to capture the fre- the local public sphere. In some communities of quently multilevel process of engagement between origin, women are participating more in assem- migrant membership organizations and the blies, creating their own organizations, and fulfilling Mexican state at national, state, and local levels. their husbands’ community obligations. Women The broader idea of “migrant civil society” provides often take on an increased public role in the name an umbrella concept for describing diverse patterns of their absent spouse, making this a form of “indi- of collective action. The collective and individual rect citizenship.” practices that are beginning to constitute a specifi- cally indigenous migrant civil society show us a Defining Transnational Communities positive side of what would otherwise be an unre- This nascent process in which migrants are creating lentingly devastating process for Mexico’s indige- 7 their own public spaces and membership organiza- nous communities—their abrupt insertion into US-Mexico Policy Bulletin • Issue 7

globalized capitalism through international migra- or should build indigenous autonomy has yet to tion in search of wage labor. fully grapple with this dilemma. In spite of their dispersion throughout different Recent studies and migrant organizing force us points along the migrant path, at least some indige- to rethink Mexican migration in terms of the nous communities manage to sustain the social and widening diversity of ethnic, gender, and regional cultural networks that give them cohesion and experiences.This recognition has practical implica- continuity.In some cases, the migratory experience tions. First, it can help to inform potential strategies has both broadened and transformed collective eth- through which indigenous migrants can bolster nic identities. their own capacity for self-representation. Second, This open-ended process serves as a reference the recognition of diversity is crucial for broaden- point for rethinking what it means to be indige- ing and deepening coalitions with other social nous in the twenty-first century. Notably, “long- actors, both in the United States and in Mexico. distance membership” in home communities, and Indigenous Mexican migrants’ organizational the construction of new kinds of organizations not initiatives and rich collective cultural practices based on ties to the land, are contemporary phe- open a window on their efforts to build new lives nomena that raise some questions about the classic in the United States, while remaining who they are close association between land, territory, and and remembering where they come from. This is indigenous identity. Within Mexico, the national the challenge they face. debate over how institutions and social actors could

The U.S.-Mexico Policy Bulletin is produced by the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center as an occasional bulletin of infor- mation and analysis on U.S.-Mexico relations. Our goal is to present a broad range of perspectives on shared bilateral issues. The views expressed in the bulletin do not reflect official positions of the Woodrow Wilson Center, the Mexico Institute or its supporters.

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8 US-Mexico Policy Bulletin • Issue 7

MEXICO INSTITUTE ADVISORY BOARD Mr. Armando Garza Sada, President,Versax CO-CHAIRS Hon. Lawrence Harrington, Inter-American Mr. José Antonio Fernández Carbajal, Chairman and Development Bank Representative-Mexico CEO, FEMSA Hon. Carlos Alberto de Icaza, Ambassador of Mexico Mr. Roger W.Wallace, Vice President, Government to the United States Affairs, Pioneer Natural Resources Company Hon. James Jones, Co-Chairman, Manatt Jones Global Strategies MEMBERS Mr. Alejandro Junco, President, Reforma and El Norte Mr. Herb Allen, President and CEO,Allen and Co., LLC Dr. Enrique Krauze, President, Letras Libres Mr. Alberto Bailleres, Chairman, Grupo BAL Mr. Lovelace, Chairman, and ITAM Capital Research Company Mr. Javier Baz, former General Manager, Dr. Lorenzo Meyer, Professor, El Colegio de México Trust Company of the West Dr. Hector Moreira, Undersecretary of Energy Dr. Luis de la Calle, General Director, Dr. Susan Kaufman Purcell, Director, Center for De la Calle, Madrazo, Mancera, S.C. Hemispheric Policy, University of Miami Dr. Roderic Ai Camp, Professor, Hon. Jesús Reyes Heroles, President, Grupo GEA Claremont-McKenna College Hon. Andrés Rozental, President, Consejo Mexicano Mr. Eduardo Cepeda, Managing Director, J.P. Morgan de Asuntos Internacionales Chase-Mexico Sir Nicholas Scheele, President, Ford Motor Company Mr. Brian Dyson, former Vice Chairman and COO, Dr. Peter H. Smith, Professor, University of California, Coca-Cola San Diego Ms. Maria Echaveste, President, Nueva Vista Group Dr. Luis Téllez, Co-Director, the Carlyle Group-Mexico Hon. Carlos Elizondo, Mexican Permanent Ms. Mónica Verea, Professor, UNAM Representative to the OECD Dr. Peter Ward, Director of the Mexico Center, Mr. Donald E. Garcia, President, University of Texas,Austin Pinnacle Financial Group. Mr. Lorenzo Zambrano, Chairman and CEO, Hon. Antonio O. Garza, Ambassador of the CEMEX United States to Mexico

THE WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS Lee H. Hamilton, President and Director

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Joseph B. Gildenhorn, Chair; David A. Metzner, Vice Chair. Public Members: James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress; John W. Carlin, Archivist of the United States; Bruce Cole, Chair, National Endowment for the Humanities; Margaret Spellings, Secretary, U.S. Department of Education; Condoleezza Rice, Secretary, U.S. Department of State; Lawrence M. Small, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution; Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Private Citizen Members: Joseph A. Cari, Jr., Carol Cartwright, Donald E. Garcia, Bruce S. Gelb, Daniel L. Lamaute, Tamala L. Longaberger, Thomas R. Reedy

WILSON COUNCIL Bruce S. Gelb, President. Elias F. Aburdene, Charles S. Ackerman, B.B. Andersen, Russell Anmuth, Cyrus A. Ansary, Lawrence E. Bathgate II, Theresa Behrendt, John Beinecke, Joseph C. Bell, Steven Alan Bennett, Rudy Boschwitz, A. Oakley Brooks, Donald A. Brown, Melva Bucksbaum, Richard I. Burnham, Nicola L. Caiola, Mark Chandler, Peter B. Clark, Melvin Cohen, William T. Coleman, Jr., David M. Crawford, Jr., Michael D. DiGiacomo, Beth Dozoretz, Elizabeth Dubin, F. Samuel Eberts III, I. Steven Edelson, Mark Epstein, Melvyn J. Estrin, Sim Farar, Susan R. Farber, Roger Felberbaum, Julie Finley, Joseph H. Flom, John H. Foster, Charles Fox, Barbara Hackman Franklin, Norman Freidkin, John H. French, II, Morton Funger, Gregory M. Gallo, Chris G. Gardiner, Gordon D. Giffin, Steven J. Gilbert, Alma Gildenhorn, David F. Girard-diCarlo, Michael B. Goldberg, Roy M. Goodman, Gretchen Meister Gorog, William E. Grayson, Ronald Greenberg, Raymond A. Guenter, Cheryl F. Halpern, Edward L. Hardin, Jr., John L. Howard, Darrell E. Issa, Jerry Jasinowski, Brenda LaGrange Johnson, Shelly Kamins, James M. Kaufman, Edward W. Kelley, Jr., Anastasia D. Kelly, Christopher J. Kennan, Willem Kooyker, Steven Kotler, William H. Kremer, Raymond Learsy, Dennis A. LeVett, Francine Gordon Levinson, Harold O. Levy, Frederic V. Malek, David S. Mandel, John P. Manning, Jeffrey A. Marcus, John Mason, Jay Mazur, Robert McCarthy, Linda McCausland, Stephen G. McConahey, Donald F. McLellan, Charles McVean, J. Kenneth Menges, Jr., Kathryn Mosbacher, Jeremiah L. Murphy, Martha T. Muse, John E. Osborn, Paul Hae Park, Gerald L. Parsky, Jeanne L. Phillips, Michael J. Polenske, Donald Robert Quartel, Jr., J. John L. Richardson, Margaret Milner Richardson, Larry D. Richman, Carlyn Ring, Edwin Robbins, Robert G. Rogers, Otto Ruesch, Juan A. Sabater, Alan M. Schwartz, Timothy R. Scully, J. Michael Shepherd, George P. Shultz, Raja W. Sidawi, Kenneth Siegel, Ron Silver, William A. Slaughter, James H. Small, Shawn Smeallie, Gordon V. Smith, Thomas F. Stephenson, Norman Kline Tiefel, Mark C. Treanor, Anthony G. Viscogliosi, Christine M. Warnke, Ruth Westheimer, Pete Wilson, Deborah Wince-Smith, Herbert 9 S. Winokur, Jr., Paul Martin Wolff, Joseph Zappala, Richard S. Ziman, Nancy M. Zirkin