Oaxaca : ( part 2 )

A wall of objects related to corn production at CMPIO, the Oaxacan Coalition of Indigenous Teachers and Promoters. CMPIO has, since 1974, been working with indigenous teachers within 12 of the 16 indigenous languages in Oaxaca, developing and implementing appropriate pedagogues for indigenous communities. Their goal is to build a state wide congress.


Juan Santiago, manager of districts for CMPIO, opens the door to the outsde corn garden at CMPIO headquarters.



Dolores Villalobo and Rafael Perez Cruz of CIPO-RFM, Consejo Indígena Popular de Oaxaca “Ricardo Flores Magón”. CIPO-RFM- founded in 1974, is named after Ricardo Flores Magun, an intellectual author of the Mexican revolution, and is an alliance of indigenous communities that works within communities for self determiniation, including control of territories and resources. Projects include building schools and teaching traditional values, such as tekio- community work. Villalobo sees indigenous people as a hope for the future and their capacity of strength in the assembly structure of organizing.



The State of Oaxaca is one of Mexico's richest in cultural and environmental diversity, yet it is economically one of the three poorest states in Mexico. The Mixteca region of northern Oaxaca is one of the hardest hit by poverty and environmental degradation with the highest migration rate in the state.


Veronica Ramirez Vicente with her child, Jaretzl, of Tres Lagunas, in the Mixteca region. There are not many children in Tres Lagunas- most people are over 60. The young leave to find work in the city or in the US.



Jesús Leon Santos goes over plans in the meeting room at CEDICAM (Center for the Integral Development of the Campesinos of the Mixteca Alta). Jesús pointed out, " there are a lot of good Mixteca farmers in Fresno." CEDICAM works against state sponsored government programs to privatize land- builds campesino schools that teach sustainable farming methods and encourages youth to see the opportunities in their home. Overall goals include food sovereignty and food security


CEDICAM carries the name ‘campesino’ (peasant or small farmer), not Indigenous in its name, even though the area is a primarily Indigenous area. Jesús said that they debated naming the organzation “campesino y indígena” but thought that it would imply a division into two groups. Instead, they went with the broader and more comprehensive label “campesino.” Jesús noted that academics tend to overstate the differences between campesinos and Indigenous. Nevertheless, with their milpas it is clear that farmers are following Indigenous practices.



Pedro Cruz, a campesino farmer in Tres Lagunas, explaing cover cropping, a sustainable farming method taught by CEDICAM.



Carlos Beas Torres of UCIZONI, (the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Isthmus Zone) points to the Northern part of Isthmus region of Oaxaca on a map of the Americas. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec, is the narrowest part of Mexico which historically has been a transhipment point between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean and currently is a focus of the Plan Puebla Panama (PPP), a plan to bring new mega-projects to the Isthmus and privatize local resources. Torres describes the Isthmus region as experiencing a "new invasion of multinational megaprojects." UCIZONI is part of a Mesoamerican wide movement opposing PPP's huge infrastructure of dams, railroads and highways. Torres presents his opposition to these projects in terms of a global struggle against neoliberal capitalism that undermines local sovereignty. The government's goal to fund foreign capital projects does little for local sustainable projects.


A wind turbine energy project in development in La Venta on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. A Spanish company pays very low rents for the use of the land. UCIZONI and Community members are concerned about the potential environmental impacts of the windmills, especially on migratory bird populations and a lack of information and consultation with local community members.


Aleso Giron Carrasco of UCIZONI at a meeting with community members at La Venta. While UCIZONI received support from international environmental groups such as Greenpeace when they opposed a shrimp farm project, they receive no such support for their opposition to clean energy projects.


Members of La Ventosa Vive, a community organization fighting a proposed second stage of the wind turbine project at La Ventosa.



The Bénito Juárez dam, built in 1955, on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, dammed the confluence of the Tequisistlan and Tehuantepec rivers in order to create a reservoir to irrigate the Isthmus. The dam flooded the town of Jalapa and its inhabitants were moved to the community’s current location, Santa María Jalapa de Marqués, in 1961. With the dam now at the end of its useful life span, the government is considering converting it into a hydro electric project.



Community meeting at Santa María Jalapa de Marqués. Fisherman, teachers, and farmers attend to listen to the discussion on how the proposed hydroelectric project may impact them.



Evangelico Mendoza, community member of Santa María Jalapa de Marqués. The community feels that they had received the short end of the deal with the first dam, and that the government had not fulfilled many of its promises. Their new lands were not nearly as fertile as the river bottom land that they had lost, and the government did not deliver on their promises of a new, modern town. Many former farmers turned to fishing in the new lake behind the dam. The group complained about a lack of consultation with the affected communities, that corrupt officials were the only ones who benefitted from the 1955 project.



Mareote? Mendez Barriga, former resident of Jalapa listens at the community meeting. Given the history of experience with the current dam, the community is naturally suspicious that the hydro-electric project will have more negative impacts on their lives. The government promises jobs with the project, but the community suspects that there will only be short-term unskilled labor while the dam is built and then a few engineers will remain to run it.



Armando Melindes, a campesino from the original Jalapa community, which has no access to the water from the Bénito Juárez dam. A dry summer means the agriculture cooperative he is part of has to turn to irrigation and faces costs of up to five thousand US dollars a month to pay the electrical company to pump water to their fields.




Available as a 66 page color book: 'A Particular Resistance': written by Marc Becker, photography by G.Meyer.
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