The Case Study of Huitiupan
With the previous post in mind discussing the effects of large dam projects, a case study of a community in resistance is now appropriate to contextualize the social struggle against dams. Hence, a look at the municipality of Huitiupan (point B), located roughly four hours from San Cristóbal de las Casas (point A). The First Fight
Starting in 1969, the Mexican federal government began expropriating land in the municipality of Huitiupan. Under Mexican law, there were several types of categories of land present in Huitiupan at the time. These types of land included ejidos and pequeña propiedades. Briefly, an ejido is a type of communal land plot that is owned by a community of people. An ejido consists of individual plots of land, to which a community member known as an ejiditario holds title. The ejido also consists of communally owned land, such as forests where people may collect firewood or pastures where the ejiditarios can put their animals out to graze. Thus, the ejido is constructed of individual plots of land, as well as communal plots of land. A pequeña propiedad, in contrast, is a type of individually owned land, owned by someone called a finquero. During 1969, the finqueros would pay workers known as jornaleros agricolas to work their land. These jornaleros agricolas basically amounted to indentured servants.
In 1969, when the federal government came into the region of Huitiupan, it started buying up the land in the region to make way for the dam. In the ejidos, the government offered a financial package at the rate of 3x1 per hectare (that is, 3x the regular price for one hectare). The government also offered to pay for the bienes distintas de las tierras, meaning the government paid for the investments in the land carried out by the farmer during his or her time on the land (e.g., putting up fences, buildings, fruit trees, etc.). In the pequeña propiedades, the government offered a different deal, although presumably intended to be similarly enticing.
Thus, the federal government started buying off the land from the ejiditarios and the finqueros. For the most part, the ejiditarios and the finqueros agreed to sell their land. Nevertheless, this purchasing of land sparked social unrest in the region, namely because of two pressure points.
First, the jornaleros agricolas. During 1969, the most recent set of land reforms had not yet been enacted. During this time period, under the Mexican Constitution, if a group of landless persons banded together and requested land from the government as a group, the government was obligated to provide those persons with land to form an ejido. By the time 1969 rolled around, the jornaleros agricolas of Huitiupan had been struggling for nearly sixty years to claim their own parcel of land. Despite the jornaleros agricolas’ pending request to the government, the government continued to claim any number of excuses as to why their request was an impossibility. One such excuse was that the government lacked resources to buy and provide the land requested by the jornaleros agricolas. Thus, when the jornaleros agricolas saw that the government was purchasing land in the region, despite previous protestations that it lacked money to procure land for them as obligated by law, the jornaleros agricolas naturally got upset. Accordingly, as the finqueros started to sell and abandon their land (the pequeña propiedades where the jornaleros agricolas had been working), the jornaleros agricolas moved in as squatters, occupying the land that the government had just bought from the finqueros.
Second, the children and grandchildren of the ejiditarios. Under Mexican law, the children and grandchildren of the ejiditarios do not have rights to the land in the ejido. Rather, they must either acquire their own land to add on by expansion to the ejido, or go off and create their own group to form their own ejido. The children and grandchildren of the ejiditarios had been asking for their own land from the government for quite some time, just as the jornaleros agricolas – and similarly, the government had denied them land as well. When the children and grandchildren of the ejiditarios saw the empty land their parents were leaving behind after being paid by the government, the children and grandchildren decided to do their own land grab. As a result, the ejidos of Huitiupan, rather than being evacuated, were occupied once more.
Thus, events played out so that whenever the government bought the land in and around Huitiupan, the government would clear out the finqueros and ejiditarios. In their place, however, the jornaleros agricolas moved in to the abandoned pequeña propiedades, and the children and grandchildren of the ejiditarios moved in to the abandoned ejidos.
As the situation snowballed, problems began to present themselves with the ejiditarios. Up to this point, the ejiditarios had been relocating themselves to land outside of the radius of the projected dam. The problem resided with the fact that once they relocated themselves, they had to start from scratch. The land they had abandoned had been well-developed – it had buildings, houses, fences, fruit trees, land ready to be sowed and harvested – everything that represented years of living and working on the land. In contrast, the area to which the ejiditarios relocated lacked houses, much less all the other structures and investments present in the ejido. The ejiditarios, deciding this was a rather raw deal despite the money they had been paid, decided to return to their ejido. When they returned, they were greeted by their children and grandchildren, who by this point had settled into the land that had once been owned by their now-returning parents and grandparents.
The year is now roughly 1973, with the government technically in possession of nearly all of Huitiupan. In reality, the jornaleros agricolas are occupying the pequeña propiedades and demanding ownership of the land, the children and grandchildren of the ejiditarios are occupying the ejidos, and the ejiditarios have returned to reclaim their ejido while demanding their titles to the land that was previously theirs. The government has already paid a substantial amount of money for the land and refuses to return the land to the ejiditarios if the ejiditarios will not return the money paid for the land. Many of the ejiditarios, however, have already spent at least some of the money, resulting in a political deadlock.
Realizing the huge snare in which they found themselves, the ejiditarios and the jornaleros agricolas looked at each other, looked at the situation, and determined that none of this would have happened if the government had not started to build the dam. Hence, 1973 saw the production of a unified front between the ejiditarios and the jornaleros agricolas against the dam. (Note: see photo above for intended site of the dam.)
By this point, the government had already begun preparing for the construction of the dam. It had created the tunnels needed to divert the river to fill the reservoir (see photo, which shows openings to two different tunnels), and was looking at beginning construction of the dam itself. The unified resistance in the region, however, became so pronounced and forceful that the federal government chose to suspend the project indefinitely. It did not, however, cancel the dam as a potential project.
The Second Fight
In 1992, a change to Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution meant the federal government could no longer form ejidos – only the people could band together to form an ejido. This meant that even if the federal government wanted to return the land to the ejiditarios, it legally could not do so. This left the region in a legally confusing situation, with people occupying the land without owning it.
In 2000, a change in political stance brought about the government using the law of expropriation to return the lands. Under this law, a clause provides that when the federal government expropriates law and does not use it, it must return the land to the people from which it was expropriated. In 2004, the federal government handed over the land to the state government of Chiapas, instructing the state government to do as it wished with the land. The state government in 2005 began to use this clause in the law of expropriation, returning the ejido land to the ejiditarios, and in general giving the titles of the pequeña propiedades to the jornaleros agricolas.
Yet the winds have now changed again, and the government has revived the idea of building the dam in Huitiupan. In fact, there are two projected dams in the region of Huitiupan and Simojovel (the neighboring municipality). The dam directly targeted for Huitiupan is called “Itanztún,” while the other dam projected for the region is called “Chinín.”
This time, the people of the region are in resistance for new reasons. Now, thirty years later, not only do they want to stay on their land, rather than be displaced, there is also a growing awareness of the negative effects brought about dams. These concerns are what are now bringing the people together in the resistance, pushing back against the government’s efforts to continue the dams’ construction.
In the spirit of this resistance, this past March 11-13 saw in Huitiupan the gathering of the Eighth National Conference of the Mexican Movement of Those Affected by Dams and In Defense of the Rivers (Movimiento Mexicano de Afectados por Las Presas y en Defensa de los Ríos – MAPDER).
This Conference saw the gathering of representatives from all across Mexico, as well as representative from Guatemala, all from communities affected by dams. The first day was filled with testimonials, information provided by speakers about the effects of dams, and different workshops designed to assist with resistance strategy. The second day consisted of a visit to the actual planned site of the dam Itzantún, as well as a continuance to the strategic planning. The third day culminated in a march through the municipality of Simojovel, with people filling the streets and streaming into the central park to listen to the speeches presented in resistance to the projected dams. After the march, the representatives headed back to their respective territories, taking with them new contacts and new information for their peoples.
The Fight Continues
As it stands today, the dams have not yet been constructed in Huitiupan. However, the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), the federal government electricity agency, has both the dams for Chinín and Itzantún listed in its “grand vision” plan for the state of Chiapas.[1]
Perhaps most troubling of all, however, is the sudden turnabout in political stance demonstrated by the federal government. Less than 10 years ago, the government was returning land to the people and giving them titles. Yet due to a rather rapid and unexplained change in political will, the dams are back on the books. As is the case in many megaproject situations, the people are left wondering what brought about this change. Moreover, the people are left wondering what information their own government is not providing them.
Thus, above all, the people of Huitiupan must remain both vigilant and organized. For the sake of their homes and their land, these must be the foundations of their resistance.
[1] http://www.amh.org.mx/3erReunion/PONENCIA%208.pdf
