 CONCLUSION
1. Mesoamerica was and is formed by a series of regions with cultures
that continue to inhabit it today. In this region specifically, one
can distinguish Mayan, Zapotec, Mixtec, and Huastec areas, all of which
form the Mesoamerican culture area. This region has seen many changes in
the past five thousand years and these are a part of the history of contemporary
Mexico.
2. The indigenous peoples can be defined by their condition of colonized
and excluded from the national society. There are no “indios” in
real terms, there are ethnic groups and the “indio” is a national cultural
construct. The formation of an inclusive and democratic society would
lead to the disappearance of this colonial construct, to the recognition
of the indigenous peoples, and to the elimination of prejudices about racial
superiority.
3. The indigenous population is distributed over all the states in Mexico
and in the Federal District. The National population Census of 1995
recognized and registered 9 percent of the population of the country as
indigenous language speakers, in the same year that the National Indigenist
Institute, the Governmental institution charged with the administration
of the state’s policies for indigenous groups, estimated about 10 million
indigenous people. Other sources, using cultural criteria that are
generally not taken into account by the Census, calculate their number
to be over 12 million people.
4. In spite of having declined in percentage terms according to the
Population Census, there has been an extraordinary increase of the indigenous
population in strict numerical terms in the last decades. This growth
has been due in part to the preventive medicine campaigns in the rural
areas, particularly vaccination and programs aimed to the eradication of
endemic diseases such as malaria. It is therefore doubtless that
the present and future of Mexico will be characterized by the physical,
cultural, and political presence of indigenous people.
5. The states having the most indigenous populations are those that
also have the lowest level of development due to the social policies that
have excluded these peoples from state and federal investments. This
has led to a wide gap between the states that are highly developed and
have relatively low densities of indigenous people. These gaps are
an illustration of the lack of investments and interest on the part of
the State and private initiatives in the indigenous population and the
lack of recognition of these peoples as part of the national social and
productive capital.
6. The exclusion has determined, in many cases, the failure of development
projects executed in indigenous areas, because these have been formulated
on premises that attempt to change indigenous culture rather than develop
and enhance it. The indigenous communities combine the traditional
with the “modern”, and have dynamically modified to include different elements
in organizational and communal life, tastes, language, and behavior.
The dynamics evident in indigenous communities are a clash of two forces:
on one part the traditional that constitutes a barrier to the penetration
of the modern, and on the other, the modern intruding into the life of
these communities. Within this context it becomes essential to understand
the contemporary indigenous reality to make them effective participants
in the development process with their own identity.
7. It is difficult to say whether all indigenous communities are well
integrated and functional. But the survival strategy that has maintained
these communities for the past 500 years is based on the preservation of
traditional forms of organization and production as well as traditional
systems of governance and ritual and has been effectively maintaining ethnic
identity. The future of the indigenous peoples of Mexico will be
to achieve a better standard of living and reduce the level of exploitation
and violence against these communities while maintaining their own identity
and cultural patrimony. If they continue to show the flexibility and adaptability
they have shown in the past, development projects must take into account
the ethnic dimension as an element to ensure their future development.
8. The low level of investment over the past 50 years in the indigenous
areas has resulted in a lack of opportunities for employment with fair
wages in contrast to the northern region of the country. This has
contributed to the existence of thousands of persons reduced to peons in
large ranches and other properties. These conditions have led to
significant migration from the indigenous communities, lower levels of
medical and nutritional assistance, and the lowest levels of education,
all of which further accentuates the asymmetry of the relations between
indigenous and non indigenous peoples and is translated into disadvantages
in the system of justice.
9. Eighteen percent of the indigenous population lives in non-rural
municipalities. An important but non-quantified proportion of this
population continues to have the same quality of life as in the rural areas.
This is the result of indigenous migration. In 1980 there were 548,000
indigenous people (10.6 percent of the total indigenous population) living
in places other than their place of birth.
10. Temporary migration is predominant among the indigenous population
and linked to the agricultural cycle. The cities of attraction of
temporary migrants are those closest to the agricultural communities including
coffee farms, sugar cane fields, and other agricultural related areas both
within Mexico and in the United States. This migration is a strategy
to increase household income and ensure the continuity of the indigenous
communities.
11. Permanent migration is less significant. Generally this takes
place to the tourist centers on the coast and to the state capitals where
indigenous people form colonies that are characterized by high poverty.
They are employed in the service, construction, and domestic service sectors,
and some work in factories and commerce. These activities are maintained
through social networks linking families and other members of the same
community of origin. Mexico City constitutes one of the greatest
poles of attraction for permanent migrants.
12. In addition, indigenous migrant workers in the United States are
an important source of income, as for example, the Mixtec with a well established
migrant tradition that is the most numerous in the United States.
According to the Integrated Development Program for the Mixtec, remittances
between 1984 and 1988 amounted to over 2,000 million pesos annually.
13. Women have also been integrated into the migration stream and labor
markets. Temporary migration permits women to ensure the cultural
and social reproduction of the households in the indigenous communities
and incorporate new values and behaviors brought from the cities, enriching
for the most part the local culture.
14. The land continues to be the basis for the existence and reproduction
of the indigenous communities. Production of maize, beans, squashes
and chili are the subsistence base. In addition, most of the indigenous
people also have cash crops, including coffee, sugar cane, wheat, tobacco,
vanilla, cocoa, and citrus fruits. There is a growing trend to this
production.
15. Relations between indigenous peoples and the nation state have been
asymmetrical. In the indigenous regions, production and marketing,
justice, education, and power are controlled by the small and large urban
centers. Relations have always been characterized by a profound discrimination
that has blocked development in these regions. The democratization
of Mexico can only begin with a change in these relations in order to legitimize
the indigenous identity and make them participants in the development process.
16. The use of natural resources in the indigenous regions is characterized
by a non-materialist view of nature inherited from their cultural tradition.
In their view nature is a living and sacred entity with which people interact,
dialogue, and negotiate throughout the production process. This concept
of nature is contrary to that of the urban, agro-industrial world designed
to produce food, raw materials, and energy required by the dominant enclaves.
The maintenance and protection of protected areas can only occur with the
recognition of the indigenous knowledge and techniques that have made these
areas sustainable, and by enhancing this knowledge to avoid ecological
degradation.
17. The tree types of property in the indigenous communities: ejidos,
communal, and private, registered in the Ejido Census of 1991, are controlled
by 6,298 indigenous communities and about 1.1 comuneros or ejidatarios.
These communities control an area of over 22 million hectares of which
230,000 are irrigated lands; 1.1 million are rain-fed; 9 million hectares
are natural grasslands, and 7 million are forested or jungle areas. Other
uses cover 340,000 hectares. The per capita income varies according
to different regions and communities.
18. Collective forms of labor within the indigenous communities are
a characteristic element that has contributed to their survival and continuity
because this work contributes to organized productive activities even at
times of crisis. Reciprocity is an important element among the households
and community members.
19. Regional systems of markets are exchange forms regulated by the
indigenous producers with their own logic. They exchange basic food
products, livestock, gathered products, game, fish, and various crafts:
ceramics, basketry, textiles, carpentry, metal workers, and stone grinders.
These are products of an army of workers within the indigenous communities
that provide essential products. Many of these exchanges do not occur
in formal markets, but ensure the survival of the household, community,
municipality and region. The changes introduced in the craft production
have not modified the exchange networks.
20. All the diagnostics and economic studies of the states with high
indigenous populations show that there is a need to understand the indigenous
economic systems and their logic, as well as their access to credit and
marketing. The economists’ view of regional realities and denial
of cultural factors consider these indigenous processes to be strictly
informal. There is non-recognition of the importance of their production,
which not only provides their subsistence but also ensures their survival
as communities and also provides important products for the regional markets.
Eradication of poverty lies in the recognition of the systems of indigenous
production.
21. In order to ensure sustainable development there is a need to invest
and strengthen traditional forms of organization in the indigenous municipalities,
as well as in those where various ethnic groups co-exist with non-indigenous
populations. There is a need as well to assist in the creation of
a consensus about common needs. The dependency that exists between
the indigenous peoples and the intermediaries in the absence of credit
institutions in the rural areas has contributed to a weakening of the indigenous
economy because of the high interest rates charged that amount in some
cases to 100 percent annually.
22. There are special educational needs to improve the level and quality
of education in indigenous areas. These demands have been voiced
at all levels from the Zapatista Liberation Front, to the congresses and
assemblies of bilingual teachers and the indigenous organizations and communities.
These demand the recognition of their rights to use their own languages
and to control their own government institutions in an autonomous context.
Two programs focused on meeting these demands are the formation of ethno-linguists
and linguists to understand and analyze indigenous languages and the training
of indigenous bilingual teachers.
23. The educational policies must recognize as well the role played
by the informal education obtained within the indigenous households including
traditional value systems, medical practices, music and forms of organization.
The school as an institution has penetrated and has been accepted by the
indigenous population where it is valued as a symbol of prestige.
Because of this educational policy changes must consider:
a) Training teachers to analyze the social and economic needs of the
inter-cultural regions.
b) Production of educational materials with regional content in primary
and secondary school texts.
c) The investigation and rescue of cultural patrimony in the regions,
that includes legends, stories, techniques, and forms of indigenous organization.
d) The recognition of the important role of informal education within
the indigenous households.
24. Mexico has a mixed system of health services where western and traditional
medical practices coexist. For many segments of the population and
especially for the indigenous people, traditional medicine is the only
service available. Others have access to both systems. Among the
20 highest causes of death among indigenous populations are nutritional
deficiencies, tuberculosis, and anemic disorders.
25. The level of organization of traditional medical practitioners is
a phenomenon to be taken into account and included in specific projects.
This organization began in Chiapas nearly a decade ago and has culminated
in the creation of 57 different organizations grouping 30 different ethnic
groups in 18 states, including the National Council of Indigenous Medical
Practitioners to whom the Government of Mexico granted in 1992 the responsibility
of carrying out the National Program of Indigenous Medicine.
26. Any project that intends to work within indigenous areas must have
the acceptance and approval of the communal assemblies, municipalities,
or region. For instance, educational, health housing or economic
development programs must have the approval of the local indigenous authorities.
These local authorities have increasing control and autonomy over land,
civil society, and justice and penal systems. They are in the process
of constructing community and municipal boundaries based on ethnic group
identity and in this matter are able to ensure the existence of their communities
and their members. The lack of knowledge of these various forms of
indigenous government has been the cause of friction among state and federal
governments. In the same manner the exclusion of these political
variables has distorted many of the development programs that have targeted
indigenous peoples.
27. The articulation of formal systems of national government is often
in contradiction with the indigenous governments. The political system
of global democracy generates conflicts within the indigenous groups specifically
because there are no norms or rules that recognize and respect local systems
of organization and governance. The result of this has been interference
of the national level political parties in the life of indigenous and ethnically
based communities.
28. There are indigenous organizations at the national, regional, state,
and community levels developing various programs of actions to defend their
rights and interests. These must be taken into account in any project
that attempts development to reduce or eliminate poverty and improve quality
of life among these populations.
29. In Mexico several international agencies have been interacting with
indigenous groups and their organizations, advocating dialogue within the
Latin American and worldwide context. The Inter American Indigenist
Institute (III) has brought together for over sixty years, many professional
and intellectual indigenous leaders to exchange experiences and state positions.
In the same way, the Organization of American States has promoted dialogue
among the indigenous peoples of the continent through scholarships and
meetings. The United Nations through its agencies in particular UNESCO,
ILO, IFAD, FAO and PNUD has stimulated the design and execution of projects
for indigenous peoples as well as promoted exchange of development experience.
It is of special importance to underline the significance of ILO Convention
169 that has been ratified by the Mexican Government.
30. International financial agencies such as the World Bank and the
Inter American Development Bank have increasingly been assisting Mexico
through projects designed specifically for indigenous people. With
the support of the Inter American Development bank the Fund for the Development
of Indigenous peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean was formed in
1992. Similarly, mention must be made of the long work undertaken
by the Inter American Development Foundation that has worked directly with
indigenous organizations based in various regions of the country.
This wealth of past experience must be reflected in proposed projects.
31. The campaigns advocating indigenous peoples’ rights and improvement
of their quality of life that have been conducted by North American, Canadian
and European organizations, as well as the work undertaken by national
NGOs and foundations should also be taken into account in project formulation
particularly because their activities have resulted in more participatory
and inclusive approaches to development and because they have assisted
communities in the process of empowerment to fight over human rights.
32. In the next decades Mexico will increasingly become aware of the
indigenous factor and this will lead to a greater recognition of indigenous
groups and their cultural differences. This will have positive consequences
in the process of democratization and reform of the State. The equal
rights of all citizens protected by law must be complemented with recognition
of a right to be different, coupled with an understanding that the cultural
diversity of the country represented in its indigenous peoples is a valuable
patrimony.
Instituto de Ecología, UNAM
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