The emergence and development of the politics of recognition of cultural diversity and indigenous peoples' rights in Mexico: Chiapas and Oaxaca in comparative perspective

Journal of Latin American Studies

Volumn 37, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 585-610

  Muñoz, Alejandro Anaya ^a  

^a UNIVERSIDAD IBEROAMERICANA   (Mexico)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

HUMAN RIGHTS; IDEOLOGY; INDIGENOUS POPULATION; POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT;

CHIAPAS; MEXICO [NORTH AMERICA]; NORTH AMERICA; OAXACA; WESTERN HEMISPHERE; WORLD;

EID: 23944501068     PISSN: 0022216X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0022216X05009478     Document Type: Review

References (124)

1. Some accounts estimate Mexico's indigenous population at 11 million. Rachel Sieder, Introduction,' in Rachel Sieder (ed.), Multiculturalism in Latin America. Indigenous Rights, Diversity and Democracy (Basingstoke and New York, 2002), p. 1.
2. The 2000 official census reports nearly 5.5 million people over 5 years of age as speaking an indigenous language; that is 6.8 percent of the total population within that age range. The census also reports nearly 9 million living in households with an indigenous spouse, amounting to 9.9 per cent of the county's total population. For a discussion, see Jerome M. Levi, 'A New Dawn or a Cycle Restored? Regional Dynamics and Cultural Politics in Indigenous Mexico, 1978-2001,' in David Maybury-Lewis (ed.), The Politics of Ethnicity: Indigenous Peoples in Latin American States (Cambridge, MA, 2002).
3. H. Díaz Polanco, Autonomía regional. La autodeterminación de los pueblos indios (Mexico, 1991), pp. 34-41;
4. G. Aguirre Beltrán, Formas de gobierno indígena (Mexico, 1991);
5. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, 'Indigenous Peoples and the State in Latin America: An Ongoing Debate,' in Sieder, Malticulturalism in Latin America, pp. 24-6;
6. Jane Hindley, 'Towards a Pluricultural Nation: The Limits of Indigenismo and Article 4,'in Rob Aitken et al. Dismantling the Mexican State? (London and New York, 1996), pp. 226-7.
7. Hindley, 'Towards a Pluricultural Nation'; and Sergio Sarmiento, 'El movimiento indio mexicano y la reforma del Estado,' Cuadernos del Sur, no. 16 (2001), pp. 65-96.
8. and Sergio Sarmiento, 'El movimiento indio mexicano y la reforma del Estado,' Cuadernos del Sur, no. 16 (2001), pp. 65-96.
9. The INI, created in 1948, was the federal government body in charge of coordinating and implementing (pro-assimilation) public policies on indigenous issues. In 2003, it was transformed into the Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas, and given the objective of promoting and coordinating public policies for the 'integral and sustainable' development of indigenous peoples and communities, in accordance with the recognition and autonomy principles enshrined in Article 2 of the federal constitution. See 'Ley de la Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas,' Diario Oficial de la Federación, 21 May 2003.
10. I borrow the notion of 'the politics of recognition' from C. Taylor, Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition (Princeton, 1992). Although Taylor's normative argument - and the debate around it - are not taken up here, I use his notion to name the process of political reform intended to recognise formally cultural diversity and indigenous peoples' rights.
11. Hindley, 'Towards a Pluricultural Nation'; and Moisés Franco Mendoza, 'The Debate Concerning Indigenous Rights in Mexico,' in Willem Assies, Gemma van der Haar and André Hockema (eds.), The Challenge of Diversity. Indigenous Peoples and Reform of the State in Latin America (Amsterdam, 2000), pp. 57-75.
12. and Moisés Franco Mendoza, 'The Debate Concerning Indigenous Rights in Mexico,' in Willem Assies, Gemma van der Haar and André Hockema (eds.), The Challenge of Diversity. Indigenous Peoples and Reform of the State in Latin America (Amsterdam, 2000), pp. 57-75.
13. L. Hernández Navarro and R. Vera Herrera R. et al. Los Acuerdos de San Andrés (Mexico City, 1998).
14. Franco Mendoza, 'The debate concerning indigenous rights in Mexico,' pp. 68-72.
15. For an analysis of the limitations of the 2001 constitutional reform and its differences with the San Andraş Agreements and the COCOPA initiative see Alejandro Anaya Muñoz, 'Los derechos de los pueblos indígenas. Un debate práctico y ético,' Renglones no. 56 (2004), pp. 6-13.
16. F. López Bárcenas, Legislación y derechos indígenas en México (Mexico City, 2002).
17. According to official figures, nearly 24 per cent of the total population of Chiapas, and 38 per cent of the population of Oaxaca can be considered indigenous (www.inegi.gob.mx). These statistics follow language criteria. It is generally agreed, however, that language is an imperfect indicator of ethnicity in rural Mexico, so we should expect the actual numbers to be higher in both cases. According to the Consejo Nacional de Población (CONAPO), Chaipas is the most marginalised state in Mexico, while Oaxaca is the third. See www.conapo.gob.mx.
18. See appendix I.
19. Periódico Oficial del Estado de Oaxaca, 29 Oct, 1990.
20. Periódico Oficial del Estado de Chiapas, 9 Oct. 1990.
21. For a detailed description of the reforms in Oaxaca see A. Anaya Muñoz, 'Governability and Legitimacy in Mexico: The Legalisation of Indigenous Electoral Institutions in Oaxaca,' unpubl. PhD diss., University of Essex, 2002, pp. 216-45.
22. See appendix I.
23. Oaxaca has a total 570 municipalities. For a description of this traditional electoral system see M. C. Velásquez, El nombramiento (Oaxaca, 2000), pp. 149-87. Before these reforms, constitutional authorities in indigenous municipalities were elected by way of usos y costumbres, and then registered officially as PRI candidates and 'ratified' through the official electoral process. This practice served the purposes of both indigenous peoples and the PRI, as the former preserved their traditions and the latter secured sympathetic local governments in hundreds of municipalities.
24. Periódico Oficial del Estado de Chiapas, 17 June, 1999.
25. See appendix 2.
26. Article 3. IV of the law defines autonomy as the expression of self determination of indigenous peoples and communities (...) to adopt their own decisions and establish their own practices related to their worldview, indigenous territory, land, natural resources, socio-political organisation, administration of justice, education, language, health and culture. Periódico Oficial del Estado de Oaxaca, 19 June, 1998.
27. Periódico Oficial del Estado de Chiapas, 29 July 1999.
28. The explicit idea in Oaxaca is to articulate existing indigenous normative systems to the judicial system of the state. In chiapas, on the contrary, the State's Supreme Court will establish municipal courts (Indigenous Courts of Peace and Conciliation), which 'may apply sanctions in accordance with usos y costumbres' (article 13 of the 'indigenous law'). In Zinacantán, as Jane Collier shows, the municipal court follows indigenous traditions and practices, but that was not what the Supreme Court had in mind. Jane F. Collier, 'Dos modelos de justicia indígena en Chiapas, México: una comparación de las visiones zinacanteca y del estado,' in Lourdes de León Pasquel (ed), Costumbres, leyes y movimiento indio en Oaxaca y Chiapas (Mexico City, 2001), pp. 189-200.
29. Goodin defines tangible goods as material and objective, and symbolic goods as not having an intrinsic value of their own, but rather representing or symbolising other goods. Examples of tangible goods are not only material assets - such as public services, communication infrastructure and financial aid or credit - but also particular polices or working institutions. On the other hand, a constitutional or statutory recognition of rights that is not accompanied by a change in policies and working institutions can be regarded as symbolic, R. E. Goodin, Manipulatory Politics (New Haven and London, 1980), pp. 125-6.
30. Adelfo Regino, an influential indigenous activist from Oaxaca and close advisor to Governor Diódoro Carrasco (1992-1998), argues that the legitimacy of the usos y costumbres electoral reform springs from the fact that more than responding to a demand articulated by the leadership, it responded to an overwhelming social and political reality.
31. The rights provided by the politics of recognition in Oaxaca could be expanded through the further multiculturalisation of electoral institutional arrangements, in particular the State Electoral Institute, or through the establishment of an autonomy scheme that transcends the level of the municipality and allows for the creation of autonomous indigenous regions. See Alejandro Anaya Muñoz, 'La legalización de los usos y costumbres electorales en Oaxaca: implicaciones éticas de una política del reconocimiento,' Cuadernos del Sur, no. 21 (March, 2005);
32. and Adelfo Regino, 'Diversidad y autonomía. Un aporte desde la experiencia indígena mexicana,' Renglones no. 56 (January 2004), pp. 15-23. However, it seems that at this point indigenous peoples in Oaxaca are primarily concerned with putting into practice the rights the constitution and secondary laws already recognise.
33. De León and Sarmiento consider that in comparison to the 'indigenous law' of Oaxaca, the Chiapas law seems a superficially elaborated draft 'with countless omissions'. and characterise it as an 'insult' from the perspective of the San Andrés Agreements. Lourdes de León Pasquel and Sergio Sarmiento, 'Introducción,' in Lourdes de León Pasquel, Costumbres, leyes y movimiento indio, p. 9.
34. Inter alia, the San Andrés Agreements include the right to autonomous forms of government and election of authorities at the communal and municipal levels, an effective judicial jurisdiction for traditional authorities, collective access to natural resources in their territories, participation in the drawing up of development plans, and the redefinition of Chiapas' municipal map. See Hernández Navarro and Vera Herrera, Los Acuerdos de San Andrés, pp. 80-95.
35. Stavenhagen, 'Indigenous Peoples and the State in Latin America,' pp. 32-4;
36. Sieder, 'Introduction,' p. 4;
37. and Donna L. Van Cott, 'Explaining Ethnic Autonomy Regimes in Latin America,' Studies in Comparative International Development, vol. 35, no. 4 (2001), pp. 30-58.
38. See, for instance, D. L. Van Cott, Indigenous Peoples and Democracy in Latin America (New York, 1994);
39. Luis Henández Navarro, 'Reaffirming Ethnic Identity and Reconstituting Politics in Oaxaca,' in Wayne A. Cornelius, Todd A. Eisenstadt and Jane Hindley (eds.), Subnational Politics and Democratisation in Mexico (La Jolla, California, 1999), pp. 153-73.
40. D. L. Van Cott, The Friendly Liquidation of the Past. The Politics of Diversity in Latin America (Pittsburgh, 2000);
41. Rachel Sieder, 'Recognising Indigenous Law and the Politics of State Formation in Mesoamerica,' in Sieder (ed.), Multiculturalism in Latin America, pp. 184-207;
42. Xavier Albó, 'Bolivia: From Indian and Campesino Leaders to Councillors and Parliamentary Deputies,' in Sieder (ed.), Multiculturalism in Latin America, pp. 74-102;
43. Demetrio Cojtí Cuxil, 'Educational Reform in Guatemala: Lessons from Negotiations between Indigenous Civil Society and the State,' in Sieder (ed.), Multiculturalism in Latin America, pp. 103-128;
44. Anaya Muñoz, 'Governability and Legitimacy in Mexico'.
45. Van Cott, The Friendly Liquidation of the Past;
46. Anaya Muñoz, 'Governability and Legitimacy in Mexico'.
47. Van Cott, 'Explaining Ethnic Autonomy Regimes in Latin America'.
48. This framework has been useful in explaining the development of the recognition agenda in the case of Oaxaca. See Alejandro Anaya Muñoz, 'Explaining the Politics of Recognition of Ethnic Diversity and Indigenous Peoples' Rights in Oaxaca, Mexico,' Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 23, no. 4 (2004), pp. 414-33.
49. V. R. Martínez Vásquez, Movimiento popular y politica en Oaxaca. 1968-1986 (Mexico City, 1990);
50. R. Bustamante et al., Oaxaca una lucha reciente: 1960-1978 (Mexico City, 1978);
51. Jeffrey W. Rubin, 'Popular Mobilization and the Myth of State Corporatism,' in Joe Foweraker and Ann L. Craig, Popular Movements and Political Change in Mexico (Boulder and London, 1990), pp. 247-65;
52. M. C. Mejía Piñeiros and S. Sarmiento, La lucha indígena: un reto a la ortodoxia (Mexico City, 1987);
53. Gonzalo Piñón jiménez, 'Crisis agraria y movimiento campesino (1956-1986).' in Leticia Reina (ed.), Historia de la cuestión agraria mexicana. Estado de Oaxaca. 1925-1986 (Mexico City, 1988).
54. Anaya Muñoz, 'Governability and Legitimacy in Mexico,' pp. 129-36.
55. Jorge Hernández Díaz, 'UCIRI: Viejas identidades sociales, nuevos referentes culturales y políticos,' Cuadernos del Sur, no. 8-9 (1994-1995), pp. 125-44;
56. Jorge Hernández Díaz, 'Las organizaciones indígenas en Oaxaca,' in Miguel A. Bartolomé and Alicia Barabas (eds.), Autonomías étnicas y estados nacionales (Mexico City, 1998), pp. 385-411;
57. Elena Vásquez de los Santos and Yanga Villagómez Velásquez, La UCIRI, el café orgánico y la experiencia de un proyecto campesino autogestivo en la producción,' Cuadernos del Sur, no. 5 (1993), pp. 121-37;
58. Rubin, 'Popular Mobilization and the Myth of State Corporatism';
59. Howard Campbell, 'Class Struggle, Ethnopolitics, and Cultural Revivalism in Juchitán,' in Howard Campbell et al., Zapotec Struggles. Histories, Politics, and Representations from Jachitán, Oaxaca (Washington, DC, and London, 1993), pp. 213-31;
60. Lynn Stephen, 'The Creation and Re-Creation of Ethnicity. Lessons From the Zapotec and Mixtec of Oaxaca,' Latin American Perspectives, vol. 23, no. 2 (1996), pp. 17-37;
61. John Tutino, 'Ethnic Resistance: Juchitán in Mexican History,'in Campbell et al., Zapotec Struggles, pp. 41-61.
62. Anaya Muñoz, 'Governability and Legitimacy in Mexico,' pp. 126-50.
63. The initiative came from the state governor Manuel Velazco Suarez, who asked Bishop Samuel Ruiz to lead the organisation of the Congress. Contrary to the government's original populist and clientelist intentions, the Church's involvement facilitated indigenous control over the event and a denunciation of government policy. N. Harvey, The Chiapas Rebellion. The Struggle for Land and Democracy Durham, NC, and London, 1998), pp. 76-8.
64. Instituto Nacional Indigenista (INI), Perfil indígena de México. Diagnóstico de los pueblos indígenas de Chiapas (Mexico, n/d, electronic document consulted in http:// www.ini.gob.mx/);
65. N. Harvey, The Chiapas Rebellion; John Womack, Rebellion in Chiapas. An Historical Reader (New York, 1999);
66. John Womack, Rebellion in Chiapas. An Historical Reader (New York, 1999);
67. Lynn Stephen, Zapata Lives! Histories and Cultural Politics in Southern Mexico (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 2002).
68. Juan González and Elizabeth Pólito, 'Notas para comprender el origen de la rebelión zapatista,' in Chiapas I (Mexico City, 1995).
69. Stephen, Zapata Lives!, pp. 138-40;
70. Womack, Rebellion in Chiapas, p. 39.
71. Harvey, The Chiapas Rebellion, pp. 188-91, 211-23;
72. Stephen, Zapata Lives!, pp. 55, 77-8.
73. Anaya Muñoz, 'Governability and Legitimacy in Mexico,' pp. 150-7.
74. J. Bailón Corrés, Pueblos indios, elites y territorio (Mexico, 1999), pp. 189-229;
75. F. Díaz Montes, Los Municipios: la lucha por el poder local en Oaxaca (Oaxaca, Mexico, 1992);
76. Fausto Díaz Montes, 'Elecciones municipales en Oaxaca: 1980-1992,' Cuadernos del Sur, no. 6-7 (1994), pp. 93-110;
77. Anaya Muñoz, 'Governability and Legitimacy in Mexico,' pp. 159-70.
78. In 1982 a PAN candidate won the municipal government in the Tzotzil municipality of Zinacantán. However, soon after taking office, he relinquished his PAN affiliation, and reassumed his previous loyalty to the PRI. Willibald Sonnleitner, 'Promesas y desencantos de una democratización electoral incipiente pero, inacabada (1991-1998),' in Juan P. Viqueira and Willibald Sonnleitner (eds.), Democracia en tierras indígenas. Las elecciones en Los Altos de Chiapas (1991-1998) (Mexico City, 2000), p. 122n.
79. Anaya Muñoz, Governability and Legitimacy in Mexico, p. 170.
80. Sonnleitner, 'Promesas y desencantos,' pp. 116-27, 145-7.
81. Electoral data for federal elections from 1991 to 1997 are taken from the Instituto Federal Electoral's (IFE) web site (www.ife.org.mx).
82. Sonnleitner, 'Promesas y desencantos,' pp. 129-37.
83. Ibid., p. 149.
84. See La Jornada, 7, 8 and 9 July 1997.
85. Sonnleitner, 'Promesas y desencantos,' pp. 162-3.
86. In the 2000 federal elections the EZLN lifted its electoral boycott, and even if it did not overtly support any particular party, it authorised its members to vote freely. Many voters returned to the polls, reducing the abstention rate to 48 per cent. Under these circumstances the decline of the PRI's electoral leverage (hidden in 1995 and 1997) had a more direct and clear impact on the actual electoral outcome - Francisco Labastida, the PRI's candidate, won in Chiapas, but with only 43 per cent of the vote.
87. Noticias, (1, 8 and 10 Feb., 1 and 27 March 1998);
88. Esteva, interviews. For a more detailed account see Anaya Muñoz, 'Governability and Legitimacy in Mexico,' pp. 233-6.
89. See the press bulletins and reports (1997-2004) on the web sites of the Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas (http:// www.laneta.apc.org/cdhbcasas/), the Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustin Pro Juárez (http://www.sjsocial.org/PRODH), and the Centro de Investigaciones Económicas y Políticas de Acción Comunitaria (http://www.ciepac.org).
90. also see Jorge Alonso Sánchez, 'La nueva etapa del zapatismo. El surgimiento de los Caracoles,' in Renglones, no. 56 (January 2004), pp. 25-33.
91. The distribution of land particularly benefited peasant groups organised around the PRI-affiliated Confederación Nacional Campesina (CNC). Therefore, it created more instability, as independent organisations started to fight with official organisations over available plots of land. Harvey, The Chiapas Rebellion, pp. 150-5;
92. Womack, Rebellion in Chiapas, pp. 20-1, 39-41, 209-18.
93. Van Cott, 'Explaining Ethnic Autonomy Regimes in Latin America,' p. 42.
94. Margarito Ruíz, 'El Frente Independiente de Pueblos Indios,' Revista Mexicana de Sociología, vol. 66, no. 2 (1994), pp. 117-32.
95. In 1992 the FIPI leadership and some influential non-indigenous intellectuals promoted the formation of the Asamblea Nacional Indígena Plural por la Autonomía (ANIPA), which thereafter articulated a demand of autonomy for indigenous peoples. See Asamblea Nacional Indígena Plural por la Autonomía 'Proyecto de iniciativa para la creación de las regiones autónomas,' Memoria no. 89 (1996), pp. 15-21.
96. The FIPI autonomy programme provided for the establishment of indigenous autonomous regions. See Asamblea Nacional Indígena Plural por la Autonomía 'Proyecto de iniciativa'. Although the EZLN and most of its indigenous and non-indigenous advisors in the San Andrés negotiations favoured the establishment of autonomous regions, they made the strategic choice of accepting, as a starting point, the government's final offer of communal-municipal autonomy. See Hernández Navarro and Vera Herrera, Acuerdos de San Andrés, pp. 67-79;
97. H. Díaz Polanco, La rebelión zapatista y la autonomía (Mexico City, 1997), pp. 185-203.
98. Van Cott, 'Explaining Ethnic Autonomy Regimes in Latin America,' p. 42.
99. Salomón Nahmad (former INI national director, advisor to governors Ramírez and Carrasco), interviews (Oaxaca City, August and September, 2002); Esteva, interview;
100. Adelfo Regino (Mixe activist and intellectual), interviews (Oaxaca City, January 2000 and January 2002).
101. The Law of Indigenous Rights and Culture of the State of Chiapas is commonly known as the 'ley Albores' in reference to Roberto Albores, the state governor (1998-2000) who promoted it. According to different accounts, this law, together with the reforms to the local constitution, was implemented following the instructions of the federal Ministry of Interior, which had opted to promote limited state-level reforms in order to counter the Zapatista insistence on a reform to the Federal Constitution.
102. Magdalena Gómez, 'Gobernación y Albores: ¿quién decide?' La Jornada (3 July 1999).
103. Elsewhere, I have argued that 447 of Oaxaca's municipalities can be considered indigenous. Anaya Muñoz, 'Governability and Legitimacy in Mexico,' pp. 261-2.
104. a parte (Mexico City, 1994).
105. On average, the 447 indigenous municipalities in Oaxaca contain 15 communities each.
106. On average, the 31 'eminently indigenous' municipalities of Chiapas contain 112 communities each. This number is inflated by the number of communities in Ocosingo (1007) and Chilón (489). Even if we exclude these municipalities from the calculations, however, the average number of communities per municipality is still 68.
107. Recently, nevertheless, indigenous elites have become fragmented, and some of them have made alliances with opposition parties, in particular the PRD and the Partido del Trabajo (PT). See Edmundo Enríquez Arellano, 'Los hijos de López. La transformación de los usos y costumbres en Mitontic,' in Lourdes de León Pasquel, Costumbres, leyes y movimiento indio, pp 115-25;
108. and Araceli Burguete Cal y Mayor, 'Usos, costumbres, partidos y elecciones en Chalchihuitán, Altos de Chiapas,' in Lourdes de León Pasquel, Costumbres, Leyes y movimiento indio, pp. 127-56.
109. Seven new municipalities were created in 1999 in Chiapas, including Santiago El Pinar, Aldama, San Andrés Duraznal and Maravilla Tenejapa, which are 'eminently indigenous'. The redrawing of the municipal map was one of the commitments made in San Andrés. In principle, the new municipalities would be defined in an agreed manner between the state government and the EZLN. This issue, however, was 'contaminated' by the interruption of the negotiation process and the increased tension during Roberto Albores' interim period. The governance and President Zedillo opted to draw up to new municipal map unilaterally, and create new municipalities away from or in the periphery of the 'conflict zone'.
110. Edmundo Enríquez Arellano, 'Los hijos de López'; and Araceli Burguete Cal y Mayor, 'Usos, costumbres, partidos y elecciones en Chalchihuitán.
111. and Araceli Burguete Cal y Mayor, 'Usos, costumbres, partidos y elecciones en Chalchihuitán.
112. See the different reports of the 'Fray Bartolomé de las Casas' Human Rights Centre in http://www.laneta.apc.org/cdhbcasas/.
113. Araceli Burguete Cal y Mayor, 'Usos, costumbres, partidos y elecciones en Chalchihuitán'.
114. On the latter issue see D. Villafuerte Solís, La frontera sur de México. Del TLC México-Centroamérica al Plan Puebla-Panamá (Mexico City, 2004), pp. 234-244.
115. In 1997 federal Minister of the Interior Emilio Chuayffet strenuously opposed the 'indigenous law' that Governor Carrasco wanted to promote in Oaxaca. After Chuayffet was removed in 1998, his successor, Francisco Labastida, allowed Carrasco more space for political manoeuvre at the state level. Esteva, interviews. Also see Anaya Muñoz, 'Governability and Legitimacy in Mexico,' pp. 194-236.
116. Ibid., pp. 216-45.
117. Richard Snyder, 'After Neoliberalism: The Politics of Reregulation in Mexico,' World Politics, vol. 51, no. 2 (1999), p. 181. Emphasis in the original.
118. Ibid, p. 186.
119. Anaya Muñoz, 'Governability and Legitimacy in Mexico,' pp. 217-28.
120. Snyder, 'After Neoliberalism,' pp. 191-3.
121. Esteva, interview, Sept. 2001. See Anaya Muñoz 'Governability and Legitimacy in Mexico,' pp. 217-28.
122. Snyder, 'After Neoliberalism,' pp. 191-3.
123. See note 38, above.
124. Also see D. Villa Fuerte Solís et al., La tierra en Chiapas. Viejos problemas nuevos (Mexico City, 2002), pp. 145-7.