mmmflveumgsl" m CACEQUESMO; A 3151;12ch commmf max :95 A mm GULF cam mm: Dissertation far €219 Degree of Pb. E). MiCHIGAN‘ SE‘AY‘E URNE‘RS-m’ GEORGE NEWER GEM 1375 L I ‘ B1i§r U51}; *5”, yrs“! I » This is to certify that the thesis entitled ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND CACIQUISMO: A STUDY OF COMMUNITY POWER IN A MEXICAN GULF COAST VILLAGE presented by GEORGE ARTHUR GENZ has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Ph. D. degree in Anthropology Major professor Date 6 August 1975 0-7639 “C. __ . .- 5 . ."..’. 31.1.15 1 _~__ Au" fin ‘.- , , ,- A.) Y I my); 1‘ . "Ut Ba .13 tm m. 3. n“"“.3¥.0 '8’ '0' P“ [3. I. tow N ‘ . n b‘SL'ha. u '0“ :xs“ .. “e . tudie' of CaAI- ‘13 \ 439d the ‘ Ntlticu P019 0' ABSTRACT ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND CACIQUISHO: A STUDY OF COMMUNITY POWER IN A MEXICAN GULF COAST VILLAGE By George Arthur Genz The major purpose of this study is to present an ethnographic account of caciquismo ("strongman" leadership) in the community of Cayala (a pseudonym), located near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico near the city of Veracruz, Mexico. Cayala, which is populated by the descendants of former African slaves, has had a traditional economy based on estuary and lagoon fishing. In recent years, how- ever, tourism which centers around several local seafood restaurants has become the most significant factor in the village economy. The local tourism business as well as many other local institutions is controlled by a powerful local cacigue ("strongman"). Previous studies of cacigue dominated.Mexican villages have stressed the political role of cacigues i.e., cacigues are defined as political leaders or politicians (Friedrich 1958; 1965; 1968; 1970; Goldkind 1965). These studies characterize cacigue dominated communities as being in a state of cultural change as a result of the activities of cacigues. However, social and economic development and a higher standard of living does not usually result from the George Arthur Genz activities of cacigues. Rather, change is accompanied by local political factionalism, violence, "institutionalized" homicide, and despotic, non-legitimate cacical leadership. In Cayala, cultural change has been a peaceful process that has occurred without factionalism, violence, or homicide. This study attempts to explain how and why cacigue directed cultural change has taken a peaceful course. It is suggested that this process might be explained by viewing the Cayala cacigue not as a politician, but as an economic entrepreneur, and by the analysis of the nature of the social relationships the cacigue has entered into with representatives of both supra-community and local-level institutions. Relationships discussed are those the Cayala cacigue has with supra-community institutions such as municipal and state government and political organizations, the state police, a labor union official, and other regional cacigues. The relationships between the Cayala cacigue and local-level institutions such as formal government, the gjigg_ organization, improvement groups, kinships groups, the fishing cooperative, Church, and school are also discussed. It was found that in all instances the cacique's relationships with representatives of supra-community institutions are formal and result in the cacigue obtaining resources, not available locally, that can be utilized to make his enterprise grow and expand. It was found that his relationships with local institutions are generally informal and flexible patron-client relationships. From these relationships the cacigue derives local resources, particularly labor and land, that can be utilized in the operation and expansion of his businesses. It is concluded that the cacigue is better viewed as an George Arthur Genz economic leader (a patron and business owner), and not a politician, and that certain current definitions of caciquismo are too narrow. It is further concluded that cultural change in Cayala has been a peaceful process because it has been headed by a cacigue who is considered to be a legitimate leader by most local residents. His economic activities are supported by most residents because as the cacigue expands his business operations, local residents gain employment, local services, and a generally higher standard of living. The case of the Cayala cacigue should cause us to alter the current image of caciquismo in Mexico, which depicts cacigues as local tyrants exploiting peasants and generally impeding social and economic development. To the contrary, the Cayala cacigue has been very instrumental in bringing economic and technological development to his community. The data for the analysis were collected during sixteen months of fieldwork in Cayala from March, 1970 to May 1971. Data collection techniques included the use of a census questionnaire, and other standard ethnographic techniques such as participant observation, interviews with informants, and formal and informal surveys on selected topics. ‘ ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND CACIQUISMO: A STUDY OF COMMUNITY POWER IN A MEXICAN GULF COAST VILLAGE By George Arthur Genz A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Anthropology 1975 DEDICATION For my wife Molly, in love and gratitude. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My special thanks is extended to Dr. Joseph Spielberg of the Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, Chairman of my Guidance Committee and Director of this dissertation. Dr. Spielberg's comments and encouragement have been invaluable to me not only in seeing this task to its completion, but also in every phase of my graduate career. The community of Cayala has long had special meaning to Dr. Spielberg, and I appreciate his sharing this with me. I also wish to thank the members of my Guidance Committee, Drs. Moreau S. Maxwell and John H. Hhiteford, for their assistance. I am deeply indebted to Drs. John Donoghue and Iwao Ishino for the support and encouragement they gave me, especially during the early years of my graduate career. The field research for this dissertation was made possible by funds provided by a National Institute of Public Health Pre-doctoral Research Fellowship (#FOl W833-01A1), and Training Grant (#TOl MH12206-Ol), for which I express my thanks. Many people in.Mexico have in one way or another contributed to this work and to the personal lives of myself and my family. I particularly wish to thank Dr. Fernando Cémara Barbachano of the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia for his many kindnesses. My wife and I*will always be grateful for the help and kindness given to us by Dr. and Sra. Jorge Lopez-Bustillos of Veracruz, Dr. Gonzalo iii '... V : “ - .. :—' 24.3“, “C. vcriwe:c.v - e . . I 3...; Luzon, an: AL- !- H h «L. Le goo“! :23: A ”-3311! vis‘: to thank “‘3 “43 and his 53,: 3x a?“ W lentior. . J: 7'ng . Retana V., Lic. Concepcion Ortega, Srta. Susana Monnier, Major and Sra. Luis Alarcon, and Alejandro and Haydee Terrazas of Mexico City. To all the good people of Cayala we are forever indebted. I especially wish to thank Dona Rosa Salga and her family, and Don Antonio Salga and his family, who helped us during fieldwork in ways too numerous to mention. I hope that peace will always reign in their village. I wish to thank Mrs. Susan Stamper and Miss Susan Deeter for their assistance in preparing the manuscript. Certain debts can never be repaid. To Clare and James Madden of Rochester, Minnesota, I extend my thanks for their assistance and encouragement over many years. To my Mother and Father, Hildegarde and Arthur Genz, I am forever grateful for their love, and for their never-failing confidence and faith in me during good times and bad. Their's has truly been the most difficult task. It is to my wife Molly that I am most indebted and grateful. She has spent countless hours helping me in the field and in the prepara- tion of this dissertation while at the same time providing a loving home for me and our children Steven, Ana Lucia, and Andrew. Her unfailing love, faith, and courage have been my inspiration in all things. Her sacrifice has been great, but she has remained a good sport, and I cannot thank her enough. iv CHAPTER I. II. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Primary Objectives of the Thesis. . . Theoretical Orientation . . . . . . . Complex Society and Cultural Brokers. Mexican Caciques and Supra-Community Institutions Cacique Dominated Communities: The Question of Cacical Legitimacy. . ”6 th OdOIO g C O C O O O O C O C O O Fieldwork and Research Techniques . TI'IESEan..ooooooooooo Location. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Climate and Physical Environment. . The Estuary - Lagoon System . . . . . . Congregacion Divisions and Administration oval-a Village 0 O O O O O Intra-Village Divisions "El Mero Cayala" La Sabaneta . Aldea Nueva . E1 Rincon . . La Entrada. . La Muralla. . Levels of Formal Government Municipal Government. . . . Village Government. . . . . The Cayala Ejido. . . . . . . . Pepulation Concentrations in the Countrysie E1 mega. O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 mm del 801 O O O O O O O O O O O 0 La Ostra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Local Services and Living Conditions. CmunicationB. e e o o e e e e o o e EleCtrj-City and Water 0 e o o o o a 0 Diet and Nutrition. 0 o o o o o o e a General Sanitary Conditions and Illness Medical Facilities in Cayala. . . . . . The village SChOOJ-O O O O O O O O O O 0 ooeoooeosoaeooeooooooooeooo O O C O C O O O O O O O O O O O 0 O O O O O O O O 0 0 PAGE H N w\OO\O-‘ 32 39 LB ha 50 53 56 S7 60 62 oh 6h 67 68 7h 82 93 100 102 103 105 105 106 107 110 112 H 9.. ‘0 TA? I {,1 :15; r -.(—) ~ 9:}: H“ i(). E) a Sr, El C‘-‘n a 3". ""~°‘l F‘fiee It i ' O 9 1! '1 CHAPTER II. III. IV. TABLE OF CONTENTS - continued THE SETTING (con'd.) Literacy O I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Major Historical Events in Cayala . . . . . . . ECONOMIC AND SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS . . . . . . . . CulturalEcology................ The Economy of Cayala: General Characteristics Tourism................... TheCasaSalga................ TheWorkDay................. Casa Salga Related Employment . . . . . . . . E1 Cayuco and La Nueva Casa Salga Restaurants Single Family Owned and Operated Restaurants. Fishing: Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . Fishing Techniques and Technology . . . . . . Estum'yFiahingeeeeoeeoeoeoeee LagoonFishing................ The Fishing COOperative and Unassociated Fishermen Cooperative Organization. . . . . . . . . . . . Cooperative Regulation of Fishing . . . . . . . Fishing Productive Units. . . . . . . . . . . . Changes in Fishing Organization and Technology. Cattle Raising, Agriculture, and Miscellaneous Economic Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . Agiculture O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Miscellaneous Economic Activities . . . . . . . PART A: PATTERNS OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. . . . . Status Distinction and Prestige . . . . . Mate Selection and Courtship . . . . . . Marriage 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 O 0 Family and Household Composition. . . . . Interpersonal Relations Within the Domestic Unit The Daily Routine O O O O O O O O O O 0 O O O O Whip O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O KinShj-p Tami-110103 O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 PAGE 119 121 13).; 13h 136 lhs 1148 150 153 156 161 163 163 173 176 178 185 189 195 201 202 205 209 209 211 215 220 22h 227 230 233 m f. 3918C. ‘ .08 c: ‘FPQS of :3: 7. P5115233 1:7: Pom Hell; 11:05.“ Re 5 ”was L'L ““31 and p. n, 373‘" "A; 23-“: 3°30“: an 13:10:15: ‘ a we Cuiq‘;e L‘Ces 00 aelltiovm H 4~iona V “Lng . “ique - Eh: W“ k. 3"“. TABLE OF CONTENTS - continued CHAPTER IV. PART B: COMPADRAZGO AND PADRINAZGO RELATIONSHIPS Selection of Participants . . . . . . . . . . . Types of Compadrinazgo Ties . . . . . . . V. RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES AND BELIEFS. . . . . . Formal Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . Informal Religious Activities and Beliefs Supernatural Illnesses and Cures. . . . . Death and Funeral Practices . . . . . . . VI. INFORMAL COMMUNITY ADMINISTRATION: THE CAYALA CACIQUE. General mks O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 O O O 0 Sources of Cacical Support: Supra-Community Relations hips O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Relationships with Los Barcos Municipal Government. . The Cacique and the Mexican Military. . . . . . . . . Sources of Cacical Support: Community Relationships. Relations with Local Government . . . . . Relations with the Local Ejido Organization Cacique - Junta Relationships . . . . . . Cacique - Employee Relationships. . . . . The Cacique and the Fishing Cooperative . Cacical Relationships: A Summary . . . . VII. SUMMARYAND CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . Dimensions of Caciquismo in Cayala. . . . Caciquismo in Mexico: Conclusions. . . . O Factionalism in Cacique Dominated Communities Violence in Cacique Dominated Communities . . The Legitimacy of the Cayala Cacique. . . . . The Image of Mexican Caciquismo . . . . . . . . Mexican Caciquismo: Future Trends, Future Researc h .1413 PAGE 235 235 zuo 25h 25h 2611 266 279 287 287 292 3014 307 308 309 312 325 33h 31:5 31:7 363 363 383 386 396 hoo bio BBLIW O O O O O O 0 O O O O O 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 M? vii .~Q a O a a 1 ~ « o a o a — ' r4". ‘ J 3 --,~‘- . dd" t A»..u \ l ‘ ‘ o - I r 4 I 'a n a U:N'D -..A.‘.‘ . J-. . Q9..u \ a . . - - v a o 'r a I l a “Q. -‘¢.! . 3 F-n...‘r‘ .0 i a . . . .‘ . j . - e a n a o a o - t V v ‘ .II~~;"“"‘ " h V“; | ' a f b . — I i ‘ ~c vs. V. I C O I ni‘von- ...‘.‘ ' Oovgg' “ F V ‘ U..-~‘J a.) ‘C-A I D ' P A--,.“ ’ a a v a . , 'o - s 1 * a ’ ' ‘ U“ C " “Q. y... W .A . a b . - , » . . - . . . . . . .- . . o - > V . . A .- . a g - A . - a - e a , v p . .- r n V I ' ‘ Q 'I 1 D '- ‘ o - a r w v . - . - . . . Q . . . - ' ' ‘ a a r 9 g a I- “ u I r. 'u n . ~ a . , ‘ r! v o a ; I I - - - - 4 -. g n I . LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1 OCCUPATIONS 0F CAYAIA PERMANENT RESIDENT MALES. . . 1ho 2 OCCUPATIONS OF CAYALA PERMANENT RESIDENT FEMALES. . lhl 3 CAYALA FISHING COOPERATIVE MEMBERSHIP PARTICIPATION INFISHING.................... 18b h INCIDENCE OF FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD TYPES . . . . . . 221 S HOUSEHOLDSIZE...................222 6 CACIQUE-RESTAURANT EMPLOYEE KINSHIP TIES. . . . . . 33S viii .M‘- '\ h...- CATALA A _‘ ”7 .'J.'h~. F. ‘"-o . 0“ .- ‘ C“ ~Vv C313“ 0.. ""v ‘-.- 0‘“ al,‘ a. KQJ‘::$}.. ‘.‘ FIGURE N O\U'lt'w LIST OF FIGURES CAYAIA AND ENV mONS O O O O O O 0 MONTHLY RAINFALL IN VERACRUZ MEXICO , , , MONTHLY TEMPERATURES IN VERACRUZ MEXICO . VILLAGE DIVISIONS AND SETTLEMENT PATTERN, SUPRA-COMMUNITY RESOURCE EXCHANGE COMMUNITY LEVEL RESOURCE EXCHANGE PAGE D9 52 52 61 350 360 ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND CACIQU ISMO: A STUDY OF COMMUNITY POWER IN A MEXICAN GULF COAST VILLAGE CHAPTER I INTRODU CT ION QM Objectives of: LIE. M My main objective in writing this thesis is to present an ethnographic description of a cacigue dominated Gulf-coastal Mexican peasant community. The community, Cayala, Veracruz and its roughly six hundred inhabitants is one of perhaps thousands of Mexican communities that are dominated by locally powerful cacigues ("strongmen") i.e., community administration in Cayala is a form of caciguismo, or informal "strongman" leadership. More will be said about this shortly. For now, suffice it to say that presently we have only two more or less complete studies on this "largely unstudied and partially covert feature of Mexican culture " (Friedrich 1958: 23), the various works of Paul Friedrich (1958; 1962 3 1965; 1968 ; 1970), based on research from the Tarascan Indian region of the state of Michoaca’n, and an article by Victor Goldkind titled "Class Conflict and Cacique in Chan Rat" (1966). The latter incur. to Nina-:36 “(I 111: commit 1:. ’1'. hug-inc 1: 1 for: O. “or: b .J.'. ,. 3 ~ - - ~53?" JG Lie 51232217.; 3171‘: (.30 viz-its " a ’4. ii"- .' we 1:13.31 :ecaise 1‘. 0 3111479 not been 1911‘. u in: ' . ‘ 1.2: .011“ excettzo 3...... ' ‘ ~48 have dealt HL‘.’ 1: ‘\ _ 31.. 1:11.: or :1 15 L311: :. it: .~ .13”: V2034: ti'tsismr ”£2; . y 41 . ' “filed into L‘do En Kl... “ ‘ uh «PL Values V: hug: " Jed econq' ac 'L out“, R341: Whalitie a 1J3 an attempt to reinterpret Redfield's earlier (1950) study of this Phayan Indian community in Yucatan. As I will explain later, caciquismo as a form of community administration in Cayala seems quite different from the descriptions given by Goldkind and Friedrich. Cayala also merits place in the anthropological literature on Middle America because it exhibits certain other characteristics that have not been dealt with extensively in existing monographs. With a few notable exceptions most ethnographies on Mexican communities have dealt with people whose primary mode of subsistence is small scale or subsistence agriculture. Studies that have dealt with people whose subsistence base is other than agriculture can be roughly divided into two general types. The first type of studies deal with rural villages whose inhabitants have developed a specialized economic base, often as a consequence of or reaction to economic opportunities initiated outside of the community. For example, Frank Miller's recent study of "Qiud§d_Industrial" (1973) describes the processes by which a rural community in the state of Hidalgo has developed a manufacturing economy as a result of a federal government project involving planned economic and industrial development. May Diaz' study of Iggalé_(l970) depicts the culture of a village of pottery-makers near Guadalajara, Jalisco. Another example of this type of study is Theron Nufiez' (1963) examination of the economic and social changes that well-to-do urban tourists from Guadalajara have made in the village of Cajititla’n as a result of their weekend.pleasure excursions to that community. The second type of studies are those that deal with former peasants who are residing in urban areas. Perhaps the most notable mime 1n the work: 55.2: :cn'nities have '-'t . ‘. I ' “‘ 5.143.! .8 pertapg 3'"?! lexicus gm 1: m {Lac-‘3. T‘s-.13 1 m i. ' rift: co “45393339 $111.3 ' '- J my or gear-‘1 “l7 0' ‘4 a M “9 “I8, they 11 it , ‘ King CO ‘ ‘M‘ h it 3’31) been among these are the works of Oscar Lewis (1961; 1962). But, with these few exceptions, ethnographic studies of liexican communities have dealt mainly with agricultural communities. 'This emphasis is perhaps understandable considering that many ‘non-urban.Mexicans are indeed farmers. However, this emphasis could lead to the impression that gll_rural Mexicans are small scale farmers. This impression is, of course, false. Cayala is a rural community. However, small scale agriculture or subsistence farming is of no practical significance to the local econany or general way of life. Most Cayalanos earn their living in one of two ways, they either fish the inland estuary-lagoon system adjacent to the village, or they are employed in one aspect or another of the rapidly growing local tourism business which is fecused.around several locally Operated seafood restaurants. Ethnographic studies of Gulf coastal fishing communities or communities in.which tourism is a.major feature of the economy are, to my knowledge, few, if any. Generally, monographs on.Mexican communities have been studies of either traditional Indian or acculturated Indian.(mestizo) communities. This emphasis is understandable given that in recent years indigenismo (a social philosophy that stresses the value of Indian culture), has been a major intellectual trend among Latin American and.Mexican anthropologists and also among North American anthropologists working in Mexico (Adams 1965: h). The situation inTMexico has aptly been described by Ruiz (1958: 105): "Out of the Revolution ignited by the creole Francisco Madero (1910-1913) there emerged a struggle to vindicate the Indian, long-forgotten by :1er o! lento." 7%.. also: 11.113111] dire-:19 Isl-‘9' in peat-revolutions ”J- I-lloscphy to some 1 111150: tile aghasis < Max:121 '37 a new bra rmpmgist, 1911:1221 ‘ Lina, educational, 1:. 82“”: I .' . ‘9'” 41111:: 1nd les 7* ' 1: Jan herican cola" “2!!“ “10 £1“ 3.0% \ rt Reme‘ed' w x \‘433! \ FIG (I Q: CL; the rulers of Mexico." Thus many anthropological studies have been at least implicitly directed toward helping the Indian find his "place" in post-revolutionary Mexican society. Indianism as a social philosophy to some extent continues today (Friedlander 1975). At the same time emphasis on the study of Indian communities has been continued by a new breed of anthropologist, the applied anthropologist, dedicated to the task of improving the social, political, educational, and material conditions of countless "forgotten" Indian and mestizo peasant communities in Mexico and other Latin American countries (Adams 1965: 10-11). To some extent this emphasis still is strong, as illustrated by the following comment by George Foster, one of the most widely read and respected contemporary students of Tarascan Indian peasant society. Foster (1967: 5) states: "As a social anthropologist I have been concerned for a good many years with the problems involved in drawing peasant peOples into effective participation in national life, with the search for the key factors in personality, culture, social forms, and economic conditions which favor modernization." Regardless of the motives of individual anthrOpologist, since the 19110's some excellent ethnographic and theoretical works on Indian and nestizo peasant communities have been written including "classics" such as Robert Redfield's F213 Culture 9;: Yucatan (19141), A Village M 913293 Progss: 911g Kg Revisited (1950), Oscar Lewis' I_.i_f£_ in a Mexican Village: Temztlan Restudied (1951) and Foster's Tzintzuntzan (1967), just to name but a few of the many. However well placed this emphasis has been we run the risk of having the impression develop that all; Mexican peasants are Indiana or nestizos. As Frank Miller has stated recently (1973: Isl-112): '12:: i: uot:.e: pet nhzican v11; ’2 t 21’. 1:, that the 1m ulysi: c *riei or. nation of reset-:3 taxi to be relatlr! fitting: is still at: not want: of the: 1!? we certainly r..- r-J‘é”, lost of ET. «A: Tlpiiyf I! that, of :8: ‘hn‘: SI Inesthixc> ?NE'“‘tJa“ .3 -. "'.' likely be 2‘ hate; 3;; .S“ a _ .1 _ fi‘s ’ qua., -“e‘ O‘a L ‘b. It“ 0'". ‘ .s. Q‘AICUAPCLC d63“‘ u." sitlined in a 1 I _ {3n , wbeweea the 3° . .4 0’ “Ad eakcim‘ "’11:" ‘ «Ca; '\ alni 1 Fit; omiion a 10m 1.. 1 ”0“ {itefl t H e ‘ 1 aed a? ‘ ‘88 Of A: "There is another point about the anthropological image of the Mexican village that needs to be made emphatically, and that is, that the image is shaped, not only by the kinds of analysis carried out by anthrOpologists, but also by the selection of research sites. The communities studied have tended to be relatively traditional places where the Indian heritage is still strong, and Foster and.Molf have given good accounts of these kinds of communities. Nevertheless, they are certainly not typical of the thousands of Mexican villages, most of which are not Indian and many of which are changing rapidly." The community of Cayala is notable for its lggk_of either Indian or mestizo heritage. While its people are very "Mexicanized" culturally and linguistically, they are of Black African origin, very likely the descendants of former African slaves. To my knowledge, Aguirre-Beltran's stuchr of any}; (1958) is the only in- depth ethnographic description of a Black Mexican community. However, Cuijla is situated in a very isolated area near the Pacific coast of Mexico, between the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca. The Gulf coast of Mexico, and especially the coastal region of the state of Veracruz, has up until now been relatively neglected for purposes of ethnographic study. There are hundreds of towns and villages along the Gulf coast, many with populations that are Black African in origin, that as yet have not been looked at through the eyes of the ethnographer. Undoubtedly the fact that so many of the inhabitants of the Gulf coast hare African origins has been a significant factor in the evolution and formation of coastal Veracruzano culture (or Jarocho culture as local people prefer to call it). Unfortunately my own limited.knowledge of African cultures presently prevents me from attempting to deal with the complex problems that would stem from an.effort to analyze the significance of African cultural origins 3:13:13 3:11! coastal c; 1 {Traci} tartar-.11: ‘1: 132:5: :1: this thesis 1: 1’2: $1.33 in the ethnogr- 11:11:21 15012. O 33"“ ‘ ‘ ...._1. “37-28.21.119: ‘1 . 51?: stated, 1:1: :29: ‘- ‘ . .m et.mogrs;.:.1c a: L... w- ‘ F 42.11. ml: coasts; Pk 8321‘ I tfiind in " ° ‘ a Ha ‘ I . ~81!" “35:18:8' {hm V» a on“ “‘1": 1 ~ e n v ‘. o J L“ ”8.8 do: for modern Gulf coastal culture. However, such an analysis would be amnextremely'worthwhile undertaking in the future. For now, it is any hope that this thesis will at least in part begin to fill some lof’the gaps in the ethnographic literature on caciquismo and.Mexico mentioned above. Theoretical Orientation As I have stated, the primary objective of this thesis is to present an ethnographic account of caciquismo ("strongman leadership") in the rural Gulf coastal community of Cayala, Veracruz. A short time after I arrived in Cayala to do fieldwork, local residents, and later "outsiders" from the Veracruz region informed me that most affairs in Cayala were dominated by a local cacique. However, a preliminary comparison of community administration in Cayala with that of certain other cacique dominated communities, particularly those described by Friedrich (1958; 1962; 1965; 1968; 1970) and Goldkind (1966) reveals that there are fundamental differences in modes of cacical administration and the structure and functions of cacique headed organizations. I am suggesting that these differences in node of administration and social organization and function might possibly explain certain basic characteristics of the communities in question. I will elaborate these points shortly. In brief, however, Friedrich and Goldkind characterize cacique dominated communities as being in a state of cultural change, but cultural change is seemingly always a process characterized by widespread political factionalism, community administration based on the use of armed naked force, resulting in rampant conflict, violence, and murder. In contrast, 1:111! 1 crash; manic c1179 ’2: J . ‘5‘ .‘ ...e..3 recess CIA." ave“ ’ ' .1...J€ 3. COQFCLVQ :17- ." ‘ h :‘.S‘ 1 .. ' .~..L t‘: Ce... A a .. C 4“0 |. “‘0 “We on the .. .1110: wi€\4 a: ‘ ‘-a . “rte m; a o" a 3“. I ‘l‘ rak Us '0‘: (‘3‘: \ ‘FI/CJ) ‘ C1 303‘.» 3‘ yd . . ‘~€"r4 . is “ 4751‘ . i. 5““ a 1 ac‘ .1 +1 ‘” 'a‘e ““I ‘ ‘13:” \M “Earl w " '5 09 ~ “or; can 3 1 1‘-- QC as I § " ‘ Cm.“ ‘ '1 N- a (Sayala is a community that has been the scene of fundamental social and economic change for several years, but change has been a peaceful .and orderly process characterized by a légk Of factionalism, and the exercise of coercive power; organized conflict, violence, and murder have had no place in the transformation of the village. In very general termS, this thesis will attempt to explain why social change has taken the peaceful course that it has in Cayala. To understand what has taken place in Cayala we must first consider certain concepts that are useful in viewing Mexican society in general and certain concepts relevant to caciquismo. I will elaborate on the following concepts shortly in this chapter. For purposes of this study it seems useful to view Mexico as a "complex society" consisting of several often distinct social components that at times may be viewed as being hierarchically ordered on the basis of social complexity. In this context we will begin with a discussion of complex society particularly'as it is viewed by Julian Steward (1955), Eric Wolf (1967), and Richard N. Adams (1970). Wolf (1956) has recognized that often the relationships between distinct units of complex societies are carried on through what he calls "cultural brokers", who act as liaisons between different units of society. Friedrich (1968) has pointed out that Mexican caciques have traditionally acted as cultural brokers in that they have often been the "middlemen" mediating the relationships between distinct units of Mexican society. It appears that the Cayala cacique is also such a cultural broker, but, as we shall see, he is perhaps a type of broker that heretofore has not been described in the anthropological ILiterature. It has been pointed out by several authors that cultural brokers :Ln general and.Mexican caciques in particular (Friedrich 1958), act :in a leadership capacity of one sort or another, especially in the local communities they dominate. Hence, it will be worthwhile to discuss certain views on the nature of leadership derived from "orthodox" political theory and recent anthropological theory. In this context we will discuss certain concepts related to leadership, particularly the concepts of power, authority, and legitimacy. Current writings on Mexican caciquismo (Padgett 1966; Friedrich 1968; Goldkind 1966), tend to stress two points. First, these authors agree that caciques are involved in a series of relationships with social units that are located outside of their local communities. This we would expect given the cultural broker role performed by caciques. However, these authors also tend to stress that caciques are involved primarily in political relationships with "outside" social units, and.that caciques are generally involved in such relationships to enhance their own positions as political leaders in their communities. Data on the Cayala cacique suggest that his relationship with many "outside" social units are calculated to achieve economic rather than.political objectives. Therefore a following section will be devoted to a discussion of the concept of entrepreneurship, and the nature of the Cayala cacique's relationships with social units operating outside of Cayala. Finally, Friedrich (1968) has analyzed the legitimacy of a ‘particular.Mexican cacique, Pedro Caso, and has concluded that because of various circumstances it is extremely difficult for Mexican caciques to achieve legitimate status in their local communities. Data on the Cayala cacique indicates that the opposite might be the case i.e., that the Cayala cacique is considered legitimate by local peOple. Thus, in a subsequent section I will discuss Friedrich's analysis of Pedro Caso and its usefulness for analyzing the legitimacy of the Cayala cacique. Let us now turn to a more detailed discussion of the concepts mentioned above, and in the process raise the specific issues that will be dealt with in this thesis. Complex Society and.Cultural Brokers I make the assumption that no Mexican community can be fully understood if it is treated as if it were a self-contained, self- sufficient and isolated entity. Mexico has been appropriately termed a "complex society," and is a modern nation-state. Thus any community study should also attempt to place the particular community in the context of the complex society of which it is a part. By so doing it is hoped that our understanding of both the particular community and the larger society of which it is a part will be clearer. .An important contribution to our understanding of complex societies was made by Julian Steward with his formulation of the concept of "levels of socio-cultural integration: (1955: h3—77). Steward recomized that a modern state is not the same thing as a ‘braditional, homogeneous, egalitarian tribal group or "folk society" in the sense that Redfield (19117) used the term, but rather, that a state consists of several often quite distinct socio-cultural entities or subgroups. All of the socio-cultural features i.e., the institutions, which are found within a particular state system I a "A "Unnam— ‘ In. or. will "Levan‘ 2:1;- :‘ tree W0? 1 1": 3:21;, con-1:111? 13322:: institution 3521:1132 in the sa:. F1- umie, 1 national x I trained with 2.; 11371;: I?“ can 1 giver. .4 u. is 1-1 a. ‘ 1"," as not .‘ .Qb bau- . - " M has dis“ “r..- 1'31. Md 5! Stew 'V 4133‘ ,. hem.” Mi fire 1 m?» "e m: a; r “ ‘_ Center “I; u 3‘ ts ‘ late ~ ' 9 in 9-48 at. 4 "he. he “9"“.96 10 are not equally relevant to all subgroups within the state. Steward recognized three major subdivisions or "levels" of state systems, the national, community, and family levels, and has shown how different institutions function at certain of these levels but do not function in the same way or do not function at all other levels. For example, a national level political party or educational system can be analyzed with little regard to how these institutions effect behavior within a given nuclear family. Eric Wolf in an article titled "Levels of Communal Relations" (1967) has applied Steward's concept to the specific case of Middle America and has distinguished several other levels in addition to the three proposed by Steward (Wolf 1967: 300) "In applying the concept of socio-cultural levels to Middle America, we must include both major levels and sublevels to construct a series which would appear as follows: nuclear family, kindred, barrio, or ward, community, constellation of town center with dependent communities, constellation of regional capital with satellite towns (given institutional form in Mexico as states, in Guatemala as departments), and, finally state." Having thus determined the specific sub-cultural levels with a state system, both Steward and.Molf turn their attention to the question of the "integration" that exists between the various levels. In both formulations the various levels are seen as being vertically or hierarchically arranged beginning with the nuclear family and proceeding “pithrough various levels to the state. If we are to be able to “moorstand the structure of a.multi-leveled.society, we must also understand the means through which the various levels of society are .articulated or integrated with one another i.e., we must be able to deficribe the state as a.system, the parts of which are related to each other in particular institutional ways. As Wolf has stated (1967: 31: Tie term "inte 1:1: :‘iltura; ;r G.’ 1 p11: ‘ it; 1:38 1 socia; 3 1:1: sac: coor: 11% Sale for: a Wit-1210!} is “EEC-1:61“ 1330 Wong 8113 “I 32411: of "; it“, if Lie 2‘31: PT’JCGSSQS 2‘ cmmti: Of WESSQS." iii-CAPS N, Lia: "511'; "3d 3011': ”L‘s!“ . J .858. m rka l1") “‘3 the units O @2233, ”33103, n "53?“.th by Stewav-j “71211161; or 3;?‘4‘ . h ‘Fflls o hm...“ r ' “Susie 0': “€883“ O “tent-1011 '02)!” 11 300): "The term "integration" taken by itself signifies the social and cultural processes by which the part-processes characteristic of a plurality of social and cultural units are coordinated into a social system. Integration may be either horizontal in that such coordination takes place among units of approximately the same form and scale; or it may be "vertical" in that coordination is accomplished by a group of decision-makers, organized into a social unit superordinate and embracive of previously existing units. It is in the second case that we may speak of "levels of integration." Integration may, however, be weak, if the participating units coordinate only a few of their processes or do so ineffectively. It may be strong, if the coordinating units interfere effectively with a wide range of processes." Richard N. Adams has recently offered certain refinements on Steward's and Wolf's conceptualization of the nature of complex societies. In his Crucifixion by Pewer (1970) Adams argues (pp. 39- 53) that the units of analysis of state systems (e.g., family, community, region, nation, etc.,), the various "levels" of society described by Steward and Wolf, while perhaps adequate for a general characterization of state systems, are perhaps inadequate for the empirical analysis of the nature of the relationships that hold between specific social groups in specific situations. Adams suggests that in the analysis of complex societies we focus our attention on the relationships between what he calls "operating units" which are: (Ibid.: h8): "...any and all social relational sets that provide some focus of human activity; commonly they have come into existence and have continuing existence for some period by virtue of producing some kind of consistent output peculiar to that unit....0perating units are sociocultural entities and, as such, must meet two requirements: they must adapt, at least minimally, to relevant elements of the environment, both social and nonsocial; and they must receive sufficient recognition within the cognitive system of the other members of the environment that they receive license to act out their roles." iExamples of "operating units" would be empirical entities such u xhzia‘. parties , fiieoyumaing u 313W “ell differ g ”Q‘- trEll-'lizauon . ~"W,. "hm“ cam-ecu...“ 52b” ‘3 ( ' “‘34“ environ Cfie‘: ‘ 1.2.33 1-03 Am It :3: .V‘ee' “ 4‘ lezze Sociez- k. , he; a . at Rople tanks}... “‘3-‘86313. . fi , . ‘unu ,. ex}. on 10‘ cgu‘c‘cie: {3' I}; O- 9‘13: v. H! ‘36“ . ‘u i ”L3 ape. . it! h “ . “‘1 béif 531:1 ‘3" E6: 11: “I ~Q be em 12 as political parties, communities, households, cooperatives, and so forth (P0 ’45)- Uhile operating units are found at different levels of society, they may well differ greatly in their size, composition, and internal social organization. However, according to Adams they share one functional characteristic: "they are all devices that adapt to and exploit their environment" (Ibid.: ho). As units of adaptation and exploitation.Adams suggests that all such units have "survival" value for their members. That is, the operating units of a complex society function in one way or another as the means by which various groups of people exploit the physical or social environment and adapt to changes in this environment. In addition to the basic function the operating units have in a complex society, Adams goes on to discuss other features of operating units. The first of these has to do with the relationships between the specific operating units of a society and what Steward and Wolf have called the "levels" of a society. According to Adams (Ibid.: 55): "the notion of "level" is really a set of intellectual categories into which articulations between units are placed in order to arrange them, relative to one another, in some sort of ordinal scale. For this purpose we can speak grossly of such levels as the "individual," "family," "local" or "community," "regional," "national," and "supernational," or "international." In Adam's view the "levels" of a society are best seen as (Ibid.): "The loci where articulations (between operating units) occur and to understand that such articulations may occur between a great variety of operating units. Thus, at what may be called generally a "local" level, there will be articulations among nuclear families, kinsmen, compgdres, potential marital partners, potential in-laws, and so forth. There is no level that operates with only one kind of unit, and specific individuals may Operate at a number of different levels". 3::th the level: put: a: which veins :2 2.1 'level of art: Saar; ts! 'I'alf previc Lin-9 proposes chi 23““ Went-mg 231'. 1"‘4 1°" not amt: {0- ‘mt . “ Elgar-mica we 1.3 “‘.‘-'3“ mlstiorshb than «GEL; involve at $1. madam, cofiit 7H“ . “45’” light On o 13 Thus viewing the levels of a complex society as the loci or contact points at which various operating units meet, Adams proposes that the term "level of articulation" (_I_b_i_d_.: 55-56) be used for what Steward and half previously called "level of integration." Adams proposes this term for yet another reason. The fact that different operating units may articulate with one another at a certain level does not automatically mean that "integration" occurs, especially if by integration we mean a process that results in a c00perative or harmonious relationship. As Adams states: "In the present usage, all such levels involve 13933; integration and opposition, cooperation and canpetition, coalitions and conflict" LIMA 56). For example, two villages might on one occasion Join together to cooperate in organizing a fund raising dance, the proceeds from which will be equally shared by the two villages. On another occasion, however, the same two villages might find themselves in a bitter dispute with . one another over a question of land or water rights. In both instances articulation has taken place; in the former case a sort of integration occurs, whereas in the latter, competition and conflict is the mode of interaction. In this and subsequent chapters the term articulation will be used in a neutral sense. The term articulation will here mean that a relationship between operating units exists, but whether the fact of articulation represents integration or conflict will depend on the particular case in point. Since Holf's seminal article (1956) on "cultural brokers," mthromlogists have increasingly recognized the importance of the role brokers play in the articulation of different levels, units, or Bubgroups found within various state systems. What Wolf called the c.1211 broker has I- . " e. a . "‘.' I w. . M U. (er: in “not. "L-‘s‘ts o: a?" V ;3! hr . I a a Lille *L—«a “l I , “L“: “fiat cmv-a‘a" C 'w . "i 11 “88:10:18: I .25,“ 1e“? \. in. *5 Of 1h cultural broker has been variously termed "brokers" (Press 1969; Geertz 1960) the "political middleman" (Swartz 1968) the "community- nation.mediator" (Silverman 1965) and "representative mediator" (Loffler 1971). While the specific cases noted above vary greatly in detail as will be discussed shortly, all of these studies point up the fact ‘that the role of the cultural broker is important in articulating the various levels of the respective states in question. Cultural brokers in Wolf's words, ". . .stand guard over the crucial junctures of synapses of relationships which connect the local system to the larger whole" (1956: 97); they are the "decision- makers" that coordinate the vertical integration that exists between local villages and higher levels of society. The above writers agree that the cultural broker plays a significant role in the modernization process of developing countries because it is often through them that the goals, values, and institutions of the state are interpreted and passed on to the masses of rural peasants residing in.uore or less "traditional" local communities. It is also through the cultural broker that the values, goals, and institutions of rural village society are made known to those who control institutions at higher levels. Theoretical works by anthropologists on the phenomenon of cultural brokers, have, it seems to me, addressed themselves to two basic questions: (1) How does the cultural broker articulate the different levels of a state? and (2) How does the cultural broker initiate and.maintain his influence over the local population he supposedly represents i.e., how does the cultural broker legitimize his local leadership position? Both of these questions are logically ineifroa the "a 13:51:43 tinsel- I: must}- th in: than, i1?- "Kll‘i tr: mac: levels of 8 ...'.at ""5‘33"ves o“ €85,743 333:; "me o; 411:“- . 15 derived from the "middleman" position of the cultural broker who often finds himself in the position of simultaneously having to serve and satisfy the interests and needs of two or more diverse groups or levels. With regard to the question of how the culture broker articulates distinct levels of society, unfortunately few anthropological studies have examined the actual and specific types of structural relationships that obtain between individual cultural brokers and representatives of state or national institutions, except in those cases where the cultural broker has been a part of a national level institutionalized bureaucracy. Thus, for example, the Oaxacan village president described by Dennis (1973) is an official representative of state and hence national formal government. Geertz' (1960) description of the Javanese Kijaji, a.Moslem religious teacher, points up the fact that the Kijaji is the formal local representative of the "great tradition" of Islam. Gibson's (l96h) Colonial Mexican Indian caciques and Faller's (1955) "modern" African chief in Uganda are both in their respective positions by virtue of having been appointed by a national government, and are, in both cases, official representatives of that government. This being the case, perhaps there was no need in the studies above to spell out in concrete empirical terms the specific nature of the relationships between specific cultural brokers and specific national institutions because the relationships were clearly defined and regulated by fermal legal statutes. fibers the position of the cultural broker is part of a fermal institution.the connection between the broker and the national institution has been fermally defined and can be perhaps taken as a pg. his seems to 0% *7 airtime. Emmi; be said 5:.«3' mars. Zia-lever, it is w .1 ... ' “Li representatmes o Sinusitis degree 0" ' o. '. ' ‘ ’ 5.4.; .m Dung t:-.e 1m. 3‘" .‘.;. ; w ~t' «lg: beng eqea. , "QM-“l to be lore 1' Mn. 2" ‘v- ' '0‘”: I101. l; C a 0'. a . "e‘JPOmgzca‘. lite- 511:. ‘ , n~3~118.im.ions. 1. .3329; 511.179 ‘e ii‘tO" ! ‘ I ~t.‘, 2! Mexican ‘61-” we is 1 N. unofficial E is - ‘ \‘ mltiona '31 l6 given. This seems to be what has been done in the studies mentioned above. More will be said shortly about the local legitimacy of cultural brokers. However, it is worth noting here that brokers who are the official representatives of national institutions would logically have a certain degree of power over local people that is derived solely from being the incumbent of an official position. Thus all other things being equal, a man who holds an official position would be expected to be more influential in local affairs than a man who does not. or course, not all cultural brokers that have been described in the anthropological literature are the official representatives of national institutions. A few such as Mahmud, the Iranian peasant "representative mediator" described by Loffler (1971) and Primo Tepid, the Mexican agrarian cacique described by Friedrich (1970), are informal, unofficial middlemen who have at best only temporary 2.3 1193 relationships with national level institutions. In these situations it is understandably difficult to specify the structural links between cultural broker and national institutions simply because in many instances there are no regular patterns of social interaction. Often, as both Friedrich and Loffler have effectively done, it is possible to describe only a single or a series of rather unique events. Cultural brokers in such cases are themselves a; hgg in that their leadership and/or broker functions come into play only with regard to specific social or political issues. When the Particular issue has been resolved, the position of cultural broker in the strict sense of being a middleman between distinct levels of met: dissolves and lo: ruins; liaison :30: I: mild 1.318 axes: mi. 31'2’.""l; come“. '5'; intuitions is st‘. ““1911 the specific “31 national level ‘ ‘1'. £1832" ‘ 8C3; ext-281‘. 4..., L“ La“ trio '3 753.“! ”d m a 35% that the Ca. M Q‘deatiou 1 3: :0, i" "he othe. , . "V t s -8 } re; at , ”um ”1st: 343., it Art 1cm him 5’ link? 0 an “a" I a ’ °T l7 society dissolves and loses functional significance, or is co-Opted into a formal liaison position of the type described above. It would thus appear that the matter of the types and nature of social structural connections between cultural brokers and national level institutions is still rather unclear. This is especially the case where the specific cultural brokers in question are not part of a fonmal national level institution or organization such as a govern- ment bureaucracy, educational system, or church. But, are these the only types of cultural brokers there are? Data on the Cayala cacique suggest that there we are dealing with a cultural broker of a type that has been heretofore overlooked in the literature. The Cayala cacique is informal i.e., he seems to hold no "official" position. But at the same time, he is "permanent" in that he appears to have functioned as a liaison between operating units for many years and in a more or less regular fashion. If it can be shown that the Cayala cacique is such a cultural broker, then certain questions logically arise, such as : (1) Does the informal but permanent cacique function to articulate the various levels or units of a complex society or is his functional significance to be found in some other area? (2) If the cacique does indeed articulate certain levels or units of society, which levels and What kind of units does he articulate? (3) What is the nature of the structural relationships between the cacique and the articulated units, if articulation occurs? Are the relationships formal, perm- ment, "integrative," or are they informal, g hog, and conflict M61118? (’4) Are the relationships between articulated levels or oParating units dependent upon the existence of the cacique, or can 22:04:10 hips be as vie, does the cad: fixing-tern participat: Min 3.- negative rola ":13! and facilitau ’31:: E3 KODMXC 18": ‘Ir'DO a '. wfilc‘i' «ac mesSes. 30543;" in the cons.) '- 4 mime desz: n 1‘: emitter-152,1 I \ O .: n. ”fig-I . . u .‘JQ m briefly d: 18 these relationships be maintained without the cacique after initially made 1.6., does the cacique function mainly as a "catalyst" or is his long-term participation required? (5) Does the cacique play a positive or negative role in cultural change i.e., does he function to promote and facilitate processes such as modernization, nationali- zation, and economic development or does he function to impede or obstruct these processes? These are some of the questions I hope to resolve in the concluding chapter of this thesis. In the various descriptions of cultural brokers cited above, one common characteristic emerges. In all cases in which we are dealing with a cultural broker, we are dealing with a type of leader, especially at the local or community level. Therefore, it is appropriate to briefly discuss certain concepts and definitions which are applicable to persons in a leadership position. To under- stand the concept of leadership as it applied to cultural brokers, the related concepts of power, authority, and legitimacy will now be discussed. .A basic problem in arriving at operational definitions with respect to cultural broker/leaders is that the "middleman" leadership position has generally been neglected in the theoretical social science literature. Concepts such as "power," "authority," and "legitimacy" as Friedrich (1958: 266) has rightly pointed out, have usually been applied only to cases where political leaders are involved, and then only to a particular type of political leader, the heads of state. Thus, for example, Hobbes was particularly interested in the leadership of kings. Likewise, Maxzfieber, Karl Marx; and other theorists have generally confined themselves to 19 discussions of state systems and the leadership of heads of govern- ment. Now a cultural broker or a cacique is clearly not a king or a president, but I think that it is possible to combine certain concepts from "orthodox" political theory with certain concepts from recent anthropological theory to come up with definitions that are applicable to cultural broker/leaders. An important concept in the consideration of leadership is the concept of power. There are many definitions of power that would be suitable here. Max Weber, for example, has written: "we understand by power the chance of a man or of a number of men to realize their own will in a communal action even against the resistance of others who are participating in the action" (1958: 180). This definition implies that power is not a "thing" or a possession, but rather a relational quality that exists between men. Richard N. Adams has made this relational quality clear when he states that: "Power, in general, refers to the control that is exercised by a.party over the environment; power in a social relationship, therefore, refers to the control that one party holds over the environment of another party" (1967: 32). A brief, but nonetheless applicable definition is given by Friedrich: "Let us agree to refer to control over men and resources as 'power'" (1968: 2h3). Combining the aspects of these definitions I will define power as a social relationship in which a person or persons has the ability to make and carry out decisions with regard to the utilization of resources and the activities of’ment A leader will here be defined as a person who exercises power in his dealings with other men. There are, of course, many different types of leaders. The type 20 of leader that one is dealing with can, I think, be defined by the type of activities in which that leader is primarily engaged and, to some extent, on the source of the power the leader exercises. If, for example, a leader is the holder of a political office that carries with it political power, we can speak of a political leader. Like- wise, if a person holds power because he controls land or wealth and exercises this power in economic activities, we can speak of an economic leader. Other types of leaders would be religious leaders, military leaders, and so forth. Yet in the literature on cultural brokers cited above, the authors appear to generally conclude that the type of leadership role played by the respective cultural brokers is basically a political role, and that we are generally dealing with a type of political leader or politician, regardless of the source of the power the broker holds and regardless of the type of activities in which the broker is primarily engaged. I suggest that perhaps there has been a bit too much emphasis placed on the political aspects of cultural broker leadership and that indeed, as will be discussed shortly, in the case of the Cayala cacique it would be useful to focus our attention on other aspects of leadership. It would seem entirely possible, for example, that a cultural broker could also be an economic or business leader and still play an active and important role in articulating various levels or operating units in a complex society. But to distinguish political leadership from other possible types it is first necessary to settle on a definition of politics and political leadership. Here I will utilize the definition of politics that has been offered by Swartz (1968: 1-6): "'Politics'....refers ‘J: 12 nests which a 315%: tion of pit '2 "‘- °3 .90“ 1' Hit? ’4‘. 33" iiered." ' 131;: 'P-blic goal It: :7 :33an Egg: '13: L“! of “Lie . Mi" {tent ‘3, . tat “.1. u 0" “ e E. hi] ‘3 e. 21 to the events which are involved in the determination of and implementation of public goals and/or the differential distribution and use of power within the group or groups concerned with the goals being considered." The important concept in this definition is that of "public goals." While Swartz is not explicit as to what he means by public goals, my interpretation is that these are goals which are of value and interest to the majority of the members of a community. For example, the question of whether local tax money should be spent for a new school or a water system is one around which we would expect to see political behavior and the exercise of political power to emerge. A political leader then, would be a leader whose primary role is the exercise of power with respect to the carrying out of public goals. Contrasted with the activities and behavior that center around public goals are those activities and behavior that center around private or personal goals. If, for example, a businessman orders his employees to wear a particular kind of uniform hoping that this action will increase his sales and profits, we are speaking of an action that is not political, even though the employer exerts his power over his employees to make them go along with the change. In this instance I think it is safe to say that since the exercise of power is directed toward achieving a personal goal-profit, we can properly speak of economic, and not political leadership. The leader who exercises his power primarily in the area of economic activities, to further economic goals, can thus be called an economic leader. Now regardless of the type of leader with which we are dealing, there is another aspect of leadership that must be considered. With 33533:: to any part1: us are: kind, we ca: hem, Ind is his llezitiute leaie 1* 5'53 the right 0: “1123213. Me? by 1: . . ‘ , Ida-“~18 exercis . I' .4 "in: " 4 u? -- a: Lede: . "'4“? when he "7 ms’ '| 5:10:11. 3 Mr, . y e I ‘ .Jsfe': and to 39“ “Ema; or 5°90 c M n .- ., 22 reference to any particular leader, be he a political, economic, or some other kind, we can ask the question: Is his leadership legitimate leadership, and is his exercise of power legitimate? A legitimate leader will here be defined as a leader who has been given the right or "authority," either implicitly or explicitly to exercise power by those persons over which the power of the leader is being exercised (Beattie 1959). In other words, a legithmate leader is granted the authority to lead by his followers. Robert HacIver has pointed out the relationship between power, authority, and legitimacy when he states: "By authority we mean the established right, within any social order, to determine policies, to pronounce judgement on relevant issues, and to settle controversies, or, more broadly, to act as leader or guide to men. When we speak of §g_authority we mean a person or body of persons possessed of this right. The accent is primarily on the right, not power. Power alone has no legitimacy, no mandate, no office"(l9h7: 83). Examples of legitimate leaders are wide-ranging and numerous. They would include public office holders elected by popular vote, business managers who have been appointed by a board of directors, kings who rule by divine right, and so on. Non-legitimate leaders are, by contrast, leaders who exercise power without first having been granted the right or authority to do so. Such leaders generally are able to exercise power because they hold the threat of physical force of one kind or another over the population they wish to lead. The power of such a leader is not based on the freely given consensus of their followers. Thus, for example, most rational men would follow the orders of an armed robber engaged in a bank hold-up. The orders of the gunman, however, would not be followed because he has the consensus of the followers, 7.13:2: because in: regard 1 the: apart“: a: '3! rule they 21" 03 Society. tit-.1 broke:- i: 3112? ’J m 11150: L'- 8 {Gr-govt letting, With p4. 331;“. 36:0” it“? 382““ .- Q , I a “9:11., lads-‘3 of the Co; 511.4%? 23 but rather because the followers fear for their lives. With regard to cultural broker/leaders the nature of legitimacy becomes important in understanding their position in a complex society and the role they play in articulating the various levels and operating units of society. This is especially the case where the particular cultural broker is not the incumbent of an "official" position, but rather is an informal leader, such as the Cayala cacique. In a following section I will return to the question of legitimacy with particular reference to the Cayala and other Mexican caciques. Before doing this, however, it is worthwhile to first clarify certain concepts relative to caciques and caciquismo in general. Mexican Caciques §§g_Supra-Community Institutions An example of relatively permanent yet informal cultural brokers are the modern day rural caciques of Mexico, one of which Operates in the community of Cayala. The term cacique originally came from the Arawak language (Alegria 1952) in which it meant roughly "chief." The term, brought to Mexico from Jamaica by the earliest Spanish conguistadores, has since been applied to various seemingly distinct types of individuals-- members of the colonial Aztec aristocracy (Cumberland 1968: 2h; Gibson 196k) post-independence hacendados (Wolf 1959; 1956; Simpson 1937: 259; Lewis 1951: 51) local agrarian revolutionaries active in the early part of this century (Friedrich 1958; 1962; 1965; 1968; 1970) and to any person who wields power over a local area (Padgett 1966: 83). While there have been.many specific types of caciques :mgntEefinan Lhmehwncult it‘s-12m posit: society: the 1:3ch inimm. 2h throughout Mexican history, all share one characteristic in common. All have been cultural brokers in the sense they they have occupied a middleman position in articulating distinct levels of Mexican society; the local rural community and regional and national level institutions. The few writers who have described contemporary caciques have pointed out their role as cultural brokers. Thus, for example, Paul Friedrich (1968: 2h?) has written: "With particular reference to Mexico, this article defines a cacique as a strong and autocratic leader in local and regional politics whose characteristically informal, personalistic, and often arbitrary rule is marked by the diagnostic threat and practice of violence.' These caciques bridge, however imperfectly, the gap between peasant villagers and the law, politics, and government of the state and nation, and are therefore varieties of the sO-called "political middleman" (Wolf, 1956)." L. Vincent Padgett, a political scientist, has described modern Mexican caciques thusly (1966: 83): The local political boss (cacique) is a man who has been able to form a small group of henchmen willing to stop at nothing so that the caciques' will is law in the area. The rule of this political entrepreneur is always despotic and often approaches a genuine tyranny. Usually his power is buttressed by relations with persons of influence in government at higher levels...Later the term cacique came to be applied to any person who could build a following sufficient in his local community to provide the influence necessary to keep the people there from demanding rights from higher governing authorities. The cacique not only keeps order in the local area, but is the one person who has contact in any meaningful way with the officials at higher levels... There are thousands of these persons throughout the countryx.." Victor Goldkind, in an article that attempts to reinterpret Robert Redfield's view of social stratification in the Mayan community of Chas Kom (Redfield 1950) finds evidence that much Of the "progress" made in that village was actually'due to the influence and Operations of a.1oca1 cacique. The Chan Kom cacique is described by Goldkind in use an: (1900: tuber of i 3:: term 1'. leader: of t:. t: have the e Waits. (— taint-3:3,. 3.. "A“. Liies c like of 3;; ““3111: is 1‘ 0395 mt; E3 migrtak; 'tJ 25 these terms (1966: 333): A number Of informants...referred to Don Eus as a cacique. This term has the connotation of tyrant when applied to leaders Of the Revolution of 1910. A cacique is understood to have the economic and political power to dominate his local community, although this power may be shared among several caciques. Typically the cacique engages in illegal dealing with allies of which he occupies or controls. A substantial share of all public funds collected or distributed in the community is apt to be taken for his private use. The cacigue if Often ruthless in his treatment of all who oppose him in any undertaking, and in his exploitation of the economically poor and the politically weak. The cacigue achieves and maintains his position through political intrigue, alliances, and bribery within the local community, with politicians in larger urban centers, and through the use of threat or armed violence. The cacigue uses political power to Obtain economic wealth and vice versa, and the greater his success, the higher his prestige. Two significant points about Mexican caciques emerge from the above questions. Along with pointing out the rule of the cacique as a cultural broker, the above writers have chosen to stress the political activities of caciques, and one is led to thinking that all caciques are a particular type of political leader or politician. Indeed, the term cacique itself is variously translated as "political boss", "chief", "political strong man", etc. As I will explain shortly, I think that perhaps this view Of caciques is somewhat narrow, and that there are other kinds Of caciques in Mexico. Second, while all three writers allude to the fact that caciques relate themselves and the areas they dominate to levels of society above the local community, in no case is the exact type of relation- ship spelled Out specifically. 'We are told of "relations with persons of influence in government at higher levels" and relations "with politicians in larger urban centers", but nowhere in these statements or in the complete works from which they are taken do we learn of the specific relationships that hold between caciques and brsir' institut‘. ”zine achieves 1 5%th we do not in “€122: can or does "1' C‘s-m (the re, a r: ”tar-n . mix? the {0‘13“ 5o H ’ .5 W 131981 v. I . m! “£11333 3870111. ”the: ?°“t‘c11 ‘a\,. Monica QCt 53,. ., can be c.“ be . rind the iv: hat: 93% C ““1033” 26 "outside" institutions or individuals. Thus, we do not know how a cacique achieves the integration of distinct levels of society because we do not know the institutional channels through which a cacique can or does (or does not) articulate one level (the community) with others (the region, state, or nation). I will return to this point shortly, but let us first briefly consider the former point - that Mexican caciques have generally been considered mainly as a particular type of political leader. Now, it may indeed have been the case that in the years following the Mexican Revolution, times when Mexico was often in a general state of political turmoil, that caciques were involved primarily in political activities of one sort or another. Mexico today, however, can be characterized as a politically stable country that has turned the national attention to more orderly processes such as economic development, industrialization, and the general upgrading of the standard of living, especially in long neglected rural areas. Thus, it certainly seems at least likely that modern rural caciques in some cases night in their activities reflect this more modern national goal of economic "progress". .Indeed, as Adams (1967: 168-169) has calmented, throughout Latin.America the more traditional "local boss-middlemen" (caciques) have been rapidly disappearing in recent years because the type of political leadership they have represented is now out-of-place and nonfunctional in today's world. In those cases where caciques continue to operate and to function it seems reasonable to expect that their activities and their leadership roles have, at least to some extent, become changed from those of the more traditional cacique. 27 Indeed, the activities of the Cayala cacique seem to be such it it night be possible to classify him as a cacique who is also economic entrepreneur. The term entrepreneur is here used in , same general sense that Belshaw (19st); Barth (1966: 17-18); sling (1962) among others have used the term. For our purposes entrepreneur can be described as having five basic characteristics. is (l) the manager of a commercial undertaking such as a business, 16h, store, etc. But an entrepreneur who is also a cacique would re to be more than simply a business manager. He would also be the minant leader - in effect, the manager - of a local community. In iition to operating a business, he would also be the individual : makes most of the major decisions that effect community life. would expect him to exert his influence in areas such as local >nomic activities and employment, land tenure and land use :.terns, civil and criminal Justice, and even perhaps religious, national, and recreational activities. in entrepreneur is also (2) an innovator, and might likely be zponsible for the appearance of new cultural features in the local munity. These cultural features might include new forms of :io-economic organization, Jobs, items of material culture and :hnology, previously absent economic and political attitudes, and r sets of social, economic, and political relationships with ltBidB" institutions and persons. The cacique/entrepreneur also would have the characteristic of ’ seeIang personal profit. Profit in most instances means money, ; as both Earth (1966) and Hurling (1962) have pointed out, ~ofit" can be amthing of value such as leisure time, social prestige, 2i rlaiive fro. Fifi: my be :1: Bibi-s 21' I :33. 33579.“. i: any 1 t: I htzle nigh: ‘t‘ci?$9 w: 5‘.-. s ‘ - Om Q.‘A.-an " L‘ ' b -.3:' ; ~ 338:3”e; ‘. his { I 4393‘. fight. hufih ‘ '5 '4‘, ‘ «mu .‘wI‘ ‘Q ~‘8 ‘h i B {‘ r994“ ‘ \ve‘a“ 0‘ v 28 and relative freedom of choice. While personal motives for gaining profit may be numerous and complex, I think it is safe to say that the motives of a cacique/entrepreneur would be basically self-serving. However, it may be the case that other individuals and the community as a whole might also profit from his entrepreneurial activities. A cacique who is also an entrepreneur would exhibit a certain orientation in his activities. He would not simply be a business manager out for profit, but would be engaged in what Belshaw (l9Sh: 1h?) has called (h) "expansive management." That is to say, a "true" entrepreneur would constantly be seeking ways to expand his operations and make his business (and profits) grow larger and/or more efficient. This characteristic implies that the entrepreneur would always be on the lookout for new economic opportunities to exploit. It would also imply that his enterprise would be changing as it expands to include new profit making activities. Finally, Belshaw (195h: 1h?) states that an entrepreneur is always subject to (S) "uncertainty bearing." To achieve growth, previously earned capital is reinvested in new ventures which involve financial risk. The entrepreneur can never be certain that entering a new venture might not result in the loss of all or a portion of his investment. It seems very likely, indeed highly probably, that the economic activities of an entrepreneur will place him in a position to effect the articulation of different levels of society and different operating units within a society. The cultural broker role of economic entre- preneurs has received relatively little attention in the anthrOpological literature, but Sidney Mintz for one has recognized this function. I: I fiscasion o ,. . . ‘ Eric, Ltd 42.8113. ‘0 0'... - «1:834! “res F.‘ * ---J’ Drief : mice: and 11:3“,213 is Pd! a cent:- 02193 Classe “35 other, . siwicu: “ ‘ tech :4 L‘s “Icing: :3 _ . “3e. ‘1’: Rb; 29 a discussion of "internal market systems" in Haiti, Jamaica, :ico, and Guatemala.Mintz describes the role of economic entrepreneurs, this case "resellers” of a variety of goods, thusly (1959: 27-28): "Only brief’mention has been.made so far of the intermediaries in internal marketing systems. Such middlemen stand between producer and consumer in the marketing chain, whether the exchange is proceeding horizontally or vertically. Hence they play a central role in the articulation of the peasantry with other classes, and of different segments of the peasantry with each other...These resellers form what are perhaps the most significant categories of intermediary, insofar as the market as a mechanism of social articulation is concerned." In reading the substantive chapters of this thesis the reader asked to direct his attention to the points above as they apply the Cayala cacique. Specifically, the reader is asked to note : entrepreneurial activities of the cacique i.e., his activities the manager of a business and a community, his role as an innovator cultural features, his profit seeking activities, and his activities .t are calculated toward achieving the expansion and growth of his erprise. Furthermore, the reader is directed to focus his ention on the ways in which the activities of the cacique articulate ’ious levels and operating units of society i.e., his role as ultural broker. Now I would like to elaborate on a point made earlier - that as who have written on Mexican caciques have generally failed to 11 out the exact nature of the relationships that hold between al caciques and individuals or institutions that operate at supra- munity'levels. There are several different kinds of relationships with supra- munity institutions that a Mexican cacique could choose to engage In the first place there are informal, relatively temporary, and 19* 3:432:23 ki : 31;: 31:31 as ‘- 3 '2. transact“ In“ 'l. .: ' 5-4-4 Ln sit: ' ‘l‘. n '0 “v - OI- “ use 0t . Gan: 30 non-binding kinds of relationships. These would include relation- ships such as friendship, informal visits to government offices, cash transactions involving small amounts of money and, to some extent, kinship in situations where one has flexibility in recognizing kinsmen. 0n the other hand, there are other types of relationships that a cacique could choose that are of a more permanent, binding, formal, and contractual nature. These types of relationships would include formal marriage (excluding common law marriages), written agreements, compgdrazgo (ritual fictive kinship) ties, cash transactions involving large sums of money, and formal elections. These latter types of relationships are different from the former primarily in that they require a high degree of personal committment i.e., the persons entering into these relationships must assume rather binding and often expensive obligations sanctioned by formal law and/or religion. These relationships might also involve a high degree of financial risk. The informal, temporary type of relationship, however, requires little personal committment, involves no serious obligations, and usually involves little financial risk. Such relationships can be entered into or broken quite easily and are not generally sanctioned by either formal law or religion. A hypothesis that this thesis advances is that the type of relationship - formal, permanent and/or contractual, as apposed to informal, temporary and 2.51. £129. - that exists between a cacique and representatives of supra-community institutions is an indicator of the relative importance, in the eyes of the cacique, of that institu- tion in the maintenance or expansion of his power and/er enterprise. :4. 3:: em;-e , 3422511; with . :l'rli suspect ti". “fir-2'! derive i C ‘ ’ ”3938.23.13! 0. 2322.1: 1:“; ‘oe‘ V‘UH‘, (Wild with ti “3;: “338 tl'u km° 03 cac: Kind, 0: tr fine, or CO“- . m 4r. '05.? 31 Thus, for example, if a cacique has a compadrazgo or marriage tie relationship with a representative of a supra-community institution, I would suspect that that institution is an important source of the cacique's derived power. On the other hand, if a cacique has a relationship of friendship or simply makes gg_hgg_visits to see a representative of a supra-community institution, we might suspect that that institution is of little significance to the maintenance or expansion of cacical power. Where a cacique holds no relationship of any kind with the representatives of a supra—community institution, we could assume that that institution is of no significance of the maintenance of cacical power at that particular point in time. Both types of relationships are, of course, reciprocal. I am making the assumption here that nobody would enter into any of the above relationships unless they expect to ultimately derive some benefit from their involvement. Specifically, I think it is safe to say that regardless of the type of relationship in question both the cacique and the persons representing supra-community institutions expect to gain something of value from the relationship. I think it can also be assumed that what is given and what is received will, in most cases, be different kinds of things of value, otherwise there would be no practical reason for the relationship to exist. I might add that this would also probably be the case with regard to the relationships that the cacique is engaged in with members of his local community. The kinds of things of value that hold these relationships together are, of course, many and varied. They would include things such as money, prestige, obedience, election votes, armed support, $63,155; varicr 3: In: iezision‘ 3421‘ break t. ~32?! 3: Value . '4‘. 5! determin. '3" in Point. 4 538% que: o ‘h l . ..:.e has V11: 3‘)»: ‘4“. :Cld bet-Ree; @741: 07-58:“ “e. 243:, ”macs; IJ ”Preset,“ ”Elev Lvea :3 3939:. . ‘ Q‘im . “Qty in ‘14 L 9384193 ‘ WI its 3395933,, 32 labor, and various types of rights, such as the right to govern, to make decisions, to do business, to earn a living, and even the right to break the law in certain situations. Exactly what kinds of things of value are involved in specific relationships naturally must be determined by an empirical examination of the particular case in point. In subsequent sections of this thesis, the reader is directed to take special note of the types of relationships that the Cayala cacique has with representatives of supra-community institutions. Specifically, the reader is asked to note the type of relationships that hold between the Cayala cacique and the Veracruz State Police, certain other regional caciques, the Veracruz stevedores labor union, representatives of the all powerful P.R.I. national political party, representatives of municipal and state formal government, representatives of the national giigg.system, representatives of the federal rural school system, and representatives of the Roman Catholic Church. Cacique Dominated Communities: Ihg.guestion g£_Cacical Legitimacy The position of a cacique is based in part on the nature and types of relationships he might have with representatives of supra- community institutions. However, precisely because a cacique is a middleman he is also at the same time involved in another set of relationships with people and institutions in his home community. In the quotations by Padgett and Goldkind given earlier, the relationships between a cacique and members of the local community are presented as being very negative and one-sided. We are given .——.-. In :2 re“ ,..ssion th 1'3er regard; " z: 33 the impression that all caciques are "tyrants" and "despots" whose decisions regarding the community are enforced by brute force alone. Paul Friedrich (1965; 1970; 1968) has also stressed the fact that it was often through the application of "coercive power" (Carl Friedrich 1961: 8), sometimes involving political assassination and murder, that the numerous caciques he has studied in the Tarascan Indian area of Mexico have been able to hold onto their power. Indeed, Paul Friedrich has called small-arms violence "a sort of diagnostic trait" of caciquismo in that area (1968: 265). Thus we are left with the impression that Mexican caciques, except in a few rare cases during the Revolution, are little more than armed robbers who, by force, are exploiting the members of local communities for their own selfish enrichment or who are exercising their power for the sheer joy they derive from so doing. Certainly to Padgett and Goldkind Mexican caciques are what could be called non-legitimate leaders in that their leadership is not supported by most community members. The power of such a leader is not based upon the freely given consensus of the followers; they are forced to follow. Legitimate leaders, as has been mentioned above, are leaders who have been given the right or "authority" to exercise power. The decisions of a legitimate leader are carried out by his followers not because they are forced to do so, but rather because they believe the leader has a right to make demands of them. Paul Friedrich in a recent study (1968) of the legitimacy of the leadership of the Tarascan Indian cacique, Pedro Caso, has examined Pedro's legitimacy in the light of several theories that deal with mm M“ -1 ‘1-5—3 on cos-ref 1V2? lad 1e aier: ‘ q : q - .73.): ‘4 ‘ .“‘:a Lfi-en g ‘12.. a. . 3h various criteria for legitimacy. In contrast with leadership based solely on coercive power (naked force) Friedrich speaks of legitimate power and leadership as: "...the power based on a partly rational or reasoned or at least explicit appeal to the values or principals of a community, and in particular to the political and governmental and legal values which might be called its "political culture." In the degree to which the villagers think, believe, or feel that a leader's rule is right, and that he is acting on the basis of their ideal political culture we may speak of "legitimacy." Legitimate rule is validated by a persuasive and convincing relation to the political tradition, and to the ideals and positive norms of the political culture" (1968: 2h3-2bh). Friedrich then goes on to analyze the case of Pedro Caso in the light of ”simple rules of legitimacy that have been found to be axiomatic in particular political cultures." (1968: zit-2&6). These criteria for legitimacy include such things as elections by majority, and birth into a royal lineage and, may be "adduced without any elaboration of the underlying premises or axioms that make up the cultural system." At another level, Friedrich is involved in the "microsystemic analysis of single systems" in the search for criteria for legitimacy that are specific to a particular cultural group. These criteria are ”worked out with reference to a.more or less adequate analysis of the institutions, such as economics...or the social stratification, or the religion of one particular culture; above all, how do the criteria for legitimacy fit into the larger network of principles of politics, government and law?" (1968: ZhS). Friedrich does not cite specific studies of this kind. Thirdly, Friedrich considers sociological "ideal types," specifically Max'Heber's concepts of ”charismatic" leadership and balmy, nan-i: n‘; 5mm; 1e g‘. é".' '- ‘ ‘ s- - 4"”: 3 .sea “ ‘ Ion-t1: "14L ‘1 rm... Ev.- w . .e: 1-90:7 < 372:5“, “to W's I J . e__'T‘. 4-. ‘ “a. ~Mn ‘ I ‘ «113‘. .3!“le ‘ a: "Q'Viv 35 legitimacy, non-individual legitimacy i.e., "traditional legitimacy" and "rational legitimacy" (Weber 19m: 32u-386). Friedrich implies that Weber's ideal types, while not perhaps of great utility in understanding the position of Pedro Caso himself, nevertheless, are of some utility in understanding the bases of power of certain revolutionary "agrarian caciques" who came before Pedro in the area. At a fourth level, Friedrich examines certain theories of legitimacy from classical political theory, specifically Thomas Hobbes' theory on the functions of the state and sovereign rulers. Especially important in this context are Hobbes' view concerning mankind's "instinct for self-preservation," man's “natural" individualism and man's eternal quest for power and security, in which each man finds himself pitted against all other men in a “war of survival." In such a situation men rationally enter into' "covenants" with each other "by which all resign self-help and subject themselves to a sovereign" (Sabine 1961: h68). The legitimate use of coercive power is given to the sovereign in the covenants so that the state can effectively regulate the individualistic tendencies of man which, if left unchecked, would lead to complete chaos and anarchy. The sovereign thus becomes a "protector," protecting man from those who might otherwise defeat him in the war for survival. Here Friedrich sees parallels in the role of Hobbes' sovereign ruler and certain revolutionary agrarian caciques who protected local ”peasants against the priests, landlords, and other exploiters" (Friedrich 1968: 2h6). After an empirical examination of the above criteria for legitimacy in the case of Pedro Caso, Friedrich concludes that "the “€321?! (non-l tears: the loc Fem, states F 3: ‘3 public , him “d p04 tar-:1; 54?;‘0rt “3““ I” 4 17! a m; k the Othe ic 3:123; ‘9?0 l m "H 36 legitimacy of an agrarian cacique is precarious," and has many negative (non-legitimate) features i.e., Pedro's leadership goes against the local "political culture" in several important ways. Pedro, states Friedrich (1968: 265), is not elected or representative of any public, he violates village attitudes by resorting to armed violence and political homicide to stay in power, he lacks super- natural support ('charisma'), is anti-Church, and is personally disliked by a majority of the local population. On the other hand, Pedro can be considered legitimate along certain dimensions. He is the "heir" to a traditional,if informal, status; Pedro is just one of a long line of local caciques. Pedro, to some extent, "protects" the interests of local people against "outsiders," and serves as a link between the community and "out- side" authorities. Pedro and previous caciques in that region have also functioned as interpreters of national agrarian laws, and have played an active role in the resolution of local disputes. There are three points that emerge very clearly from Friedrich's analysis of Pedro Caso and from his other works on Tarascan caciques. The first is that within their locality of operations i.e., the local community, caciques are involved in a seemingly never ending struggle to hold onto their power in the face of extreme competition from other caciques or would-be caciques originating from within the community. It should be stressed that we are now considering the struggle for power only at the community level, and are not presently concerned with power struggles at the regional and state level in which local caciques might also become involved. The communities which Friedrich describes are ridden with 37 factionalism. "The faction is the political group pag_excellence within the pueblo," writes Friedrich (1965: 198), and he shows how since 1885 there have always been at least two and sometimes more factions within the community engaged in fierce competition for power. The second point that emerges from Friedrich's work on Tarascan caciques is that in their struggle for power within the local community, armed ”military" force was most often the decisive factor in determining the outcome of factional disputes. Even at times when opposing factions had been temporarily subdued the dominate cacique still found it necessary to rely on armed force or the threat of physical violence to maintain his position. For example, Friedrich (1965: 119) in describing the life of "Bones" Gomez, a "fighter" (henchman) for a cacique in one Tarascan community, states that: "His career of violence had been launched at the age of twenty-two when he joined the faction that won the agrarian revolt. Since 1920, he had killed at least eight men, and wounded many others..." Indeed, Friedrich (1965: 129) has described such political violence as "institutionalized." The motives for the high degree of violence in the Tarascan area are many and complex, involving issues of land tenure, personal revenge, and competition for sexual rights in women. These motives, however, need not be of concern here. The point I wish to make is that Friedrich's various works present a clear picture of the nature of the relationships that hold between caciques and local people in the area that he has dealt with. The power of a cacique is most often based upon brute force and, as Friedrich (1968) has properly concluded, 38 the leadership of a cacique in this area is only marginally legitimate. Swartz has, I think, fairly summarized Pedro Caso's position in stating (1968: 36): "It appears that his possession of coercive supports in the form of land that can be taken away through a new "inter- pretation" of the Agrarian Code...and the ultimate availability of political murder keep the apposition inactive while the other, legitimacy-based, supports enable him to operate effectively as a village leader." A third and obvious point that emerges from Friedrich"s analysis of Tarascan caciques is that caciques are very definitely involved in political activity and politics in the local community. "Politics," he defines as "the patterns by which men cooperate and compete for....power," power being "control over men and resources" (1968: 2&3). The Tarascan caciques are truly what could be called politicians in their dealings with not only "outside" groups, but, more importantly for present purposes, when operating within the local community. A further objective of this thesis will be to determine to what extent, if at all, the sort of analysis that Friedrich has applied to the cacique Pedro Caso is applicable to the Cayala cacique/ entrepreneur. The basic question is this: Can the criteria that have been used to explain the legitimacy of a political leader also be used to explain the legitimacy of a cacique who is Also an economic leader or must we search for different and distinct criteria for legitimacy? It is haped that once the legitimate basis for leadership in Cayala is understood, certain fundamental differences between Cayala and.other communities in which caciques are found will become clearer. 373:1: 0021C: fizzle for pa trades. C '3'“ 0:90am 33-. a we ream". ‘- A K A... L4 i-‘-’»e:".3-e:- 39 Of special concern here is the rampant violence, murder, and eternal struggle for power that seems to characterize cacique dominated communities. Cayala, on the other hand can be characterized in an almost opposite way. The community has a regional reputation for being tranguilo (peaceful), pgnitg_(beautiful), and algg§g_(haPPY). While interpersonal conflicts naturally occur, there is an absence of the violence that occurs in other communities in which caciques operate. While murder and homocide are not unknown in Cayala, the few that have taken place were in almost all cases carried out by residents of other communities. There are no competing factions within the community in the sense that Nicholas (1965) has defined the term. The leadership of the Cayala cacique appears to be crucial in determining what kind of community Cayala is. Therefore, to better understand the community we must first understand the nature of its leadership. Methodology Since this thesis makes several assumptions about the nature of Mexican society, several distinct, yet complementary, methodological strategies will be employed, depending upon the particular question at hand. Thus, to understand the position of Cayala in a complex society and the role of the cacique as a cultural broker I have chosen to view Mexican society as consisting of several "levels" of social organization (eg. nuclear family, kindred, community, municipio, region, state, nation), each succeeding level encompassing the operating units of the level "below” it, and hence representing a.more complex form of social organization. This strategy, which has been discussed in an: earlier, 1 '35 hie: refine: l Lm‘ (3‘3). lie '0.» S, ‘ ‘VQ‘HN “We 19: ' w a O ’ I to detail earlier, is derived from the works of Julian Steward (1951), and later refinements of this method by Eric Wolf (1967) and Richard M. Adams (1970). This thesis is not intended to be a study of "acculturation" or of the diffusion of cultural forms from the "outside world" into the village of Cayala. However, implicit throughout this thesis is the recognition that a variety of cultural features have and continue to diffuse into the village from the outside. Cayala has never been totally isolated from the rest of Mexico, and undoubtedly cultural diffusion has always occurred. This is perhaps even more the case since tourism has become a major factor in the local economy. Here I should make one point. The exchange of cultural features between Cayala and the rest of Mexico should not be viewed as an exchange between two fundamentally distinct cultural systems. Rather, I prefer to think of it as an exchange between levels or operating units of the same larger society. While the life style at levels above the village is somewhat different from that in the village, many cultural features (eg. language, forms of kinship, religion, compgggazgo, and certain values and attitudes) have always been more or less shared in common. With regard to questions concerning caciquismo as a form of community administration, and questions relative to the legitimacy of caciques, I have chosen to employ what is generally known as the "comparative method.” Specifically, Friedrich (1958; 1962; 1965; 1968; 1970), and Goldkind (1966) have described certain characteristics of cacique dominated communities (factionalism, rampant violence and murder, non-legitimate cacical leadership), that appear to be absent hl in Cayala. It is hoped that a comparison of the structure and function of cacical administration in Cayala with that in other communities will explain the differences that have been observed. As stated earlier, this thesis in large part focuses on the Cayala cacique, and the role he has played in the many cultural changes that have recently occurred in the village. While I will describe many of the activities of the cacique, it is not my intention to present a biography or "life history" of a unique individual personality. Such a biography would, of course, be an extremely interesting and.worthwhile ethnographic document. However, here I will follow the advice of Bee (l97h: 200) and be concerned with the personality and activities of the cacique "...to the extent that they have an effect on the behavior of others in the group", the "group" in this case being the residents of Cayala. A community is always found in a particular context i.e., the physical and social environment in which the activities of men take place. A basic assumption of this thesis is that if we are to under- stand the workings of a community we must take into account those environmental factors that have in one way or another contributed toward shaping the activities of‘men. Hence, in this thesis we will be concerned with "cultural ecology", following the construct and method elucidated first by Julian Steward in his 1955 publication of 3.9212. of Culture Change, and later by Robert Netting in his work gi;;_Farmers g£_Nigeria (1968). A more detailed explanation of this method.will be presented by way of introduction to chapter III, "Economic and Subsistence Patterns." Finally, I will attempt to describe certain cultural changes that h2 have taken place in the village, which creates certain problems. I am painfully aware of the fact that a "base-line" ethnographic description of Cayala as it was ten or twenty years ago is not in existence. Therefore in attempting to arrive at a base line I have had to rely solely on the "facts" and interpretations of local history and past conditions that have been provided by local informants. As Kearney (1972) has recently pointed out, the "facts" and "meaning" of history, and the descriptions of conditions in the past that one obtains from informants is often at variance with the "true" or "official" history of a place (p. 27). However, it is my hope that the ethnographic description that follows will provide the sort of base-line study that might be of use in future research in Cayala. The contents of this thesis are as follows. Chapter II, "The Setting” will be devoted to a discussion of certain general features of Cayala. Specific topics discussed include the local physical environment, formal municipal and village government, the Cayala gjigg, local services and general living conditions, public education, and certain aspects of local history. In Chapter III, "Economic and Subsistence Patterns" we will discuss the ways in which Cayalanos earn their living. Topics include tourism, fishing techniques, and the socioeconomic organization of fishing, the local fishing cooperative, cattle raising and agriculture, and certain other productive and economic activities. In Chapter IV, Part A, we will discuss the important features of social organization that characterize Cayala. 'Ue will begin with looking at the ways in.which villagers distinguish social status and prestige and then turn to certain aspects of courtship and.marriage, h3 family and household relationships, and kinship. In part "B" of chapter IV we will consider the nature and varieties of compadrinazgg (ritual fictive kinship) relationships that are manifested in Cayala. In Chapter V, "Religious Activities and Beliefs", we will discuss the important religious activities carried on in Cayala and certain pervasive beliefs about the supernatural. For descriptive purposes, religious activities and beliefs are divided into two types: (1) formal activities and beliefs which here will mean those activities and beliefs that are focused around the Roman Catholic Church and (2) informal activities and beliefs that would include any non-Church related activities and beliefs that deal with what Durkheim (1965: 52) has called the "sacred". In Cayala the "sacred" would include a variety of phenomenon such as supernatural ”cures",' communications with the dead, demon and spirit activities, and so on. For about the last twenty years, the Cayala cacique has been the key figure in determining local economic, political, and social patterns. He is a leader in community affairs because over the years he has amassed a tremendous amount of personal power. In chapter VI we will focus on several aspects of cacical leadership, beginning with some general remarks about the Cayala cacique. Then we will turn to a discussion of his power and how it is derived from supra-community sources and social relationships. Next, the local sources of cacical power and his relationships with certain local groups ‘will be discussed. The concluding chapter will begin with a brief summary of the salient features of caciquismo in Cayala that will have emerged in hh the preceeding descriptive chapters. In this context we will review the general concept of caciquismo to first establish that we are indeed dealing with a cacique in Cayala, and then turn to other dimensions of caciquismo, particularly the role of the cacique as an economic entrepreneur and as a cultural broker. In the "Conclusions" section I will try to account for the presence of factionalism, violence, and non-legithate cacical leadership in certain Mexican communities, and the absence of these characteristics in Cayala. I will then turn to a consideration of the current image of Mexican caciquismo as portrayed in the anthropo- logical literature, and present certain possible modifications of this image, suggested by the data from Cayala. In the final section of this chapter I speculate on the future of caciquismo in Mexico, and offer some suggestions for future research. Fieldwork agg_Research Techniques The data presented in this thesis is the result of approximately sixteen.months of fieldwork in the village of Cayala and the surrounding region conducted between March 1970 and.May 1971. Funds were provided by a National Institute of Mental Health Predoctoral Research Fellowship (#1 F01 MHh1833-01A1), and Training Grant (#1 T01 MH12206-01), for which I here wish to express my gratitude. The idea of conducting fieldwork in the Veracruz region and specifically in Cayala was suggested to me by Professor Joseph Spielberg of the Department of.Anthropology, Michigan State University. Professor Spielberg had previously conducted fieldwork in the Veracruz region and his knowledge of the area was of great benefit to me in formulating hS my own plans. During most of the period of fieldwork I maintained a residence for myself and my family in Veracruz. In Cayala I resided in the home of a local family, a sister of the cacique. The adult men in this family are fishermen and the women operate a small restaurant. My association with this family provided a rich source of data, especially during the early months of fieldwork. Nearly all of my days were spent in the village except for those days when I visited surrounding towns and villages. I also spent many nights in the village, especially when special activities (shrimp fishing, wakes, dances, etc.) warranted my presence. Other nights were spent at the Veracruz residence reviewing and typing field notes. The Veracruz residence proved to be advantageous in two ways. First, it provided the opportunity to become acquainted with many Veracruz government and other officials and certain other Veracruz residents some of which proved to be important sources of information. Second, the Veracruz residence proved to be useful as a place to conduct interviews on sensitive issues with certain Cayala residents. Privacy in the village could at times be difficult to come by, and some individuals preferred to discuss certain topics in the privacy of our Veracruz home. Since our Veracruz residence and Cayala were only a few minutes apart by car, commuting between them was no difficulty. During March and April of 1970, I conducted a general census of the 119 households located within Cayala village, and of the several households scattered here and there throughout the congregacion of Cayala y Boscaje. This census was updated during April and May of he 1971, just prior to leaving the field. Shortly after the original census was taken a map was made of the village and its immediate surroundings. I was assisted in making the map by several fifth- year civil engineering students attending the University of Veracruz in Veracruz. The majority of the remaining time in the field was devoted to gathering basic ethnographic data using standard data collection techniques. These techniques included participant observation, infernal surveys on selected topics given to selected samples of informants, and extended interviews with selected local informants. From government officials and agencies I attempted to collect whatever official documents there were that related to Cayala. While most officials tried to be helpful, either very little printed matter relating to Cayala exists, or, for various "official" reasons, it is unobtainable. Throughout the period of fieldwork several hundred photographs of various activities were taken. Data collection presented certain problems primarily related to the sensitive nature of some of the data I sought. Many of the past activities of the Cayala cacique are known only to him. For his own reasons, he sometimes ignored some of my questions, especially certain ones about his dealings with government ejido officials. Generally speaking most cattlemen, who were otherwise often excellent informants, were hesitant to answer questions relating to their arrangements with government officials. Other than this, fieldwork presented no special difficulties other than general health and adjustment problems. This is perhaps in part due to the fact that Professor Spielberg had visited the artiste 3'. I o. - 6' sun-i=2... h? village on two previous occasions, accompanied by Michigan State graduate students. Perhaps because of this my presence as a "student", while not totally understood by local people, at least caused no more than a healthy suspicion among them. As a whole we found Cayalanos cooperative and helpful, not only in sharing their way of life with us, but also in making our stay in their village a pleasant experience. CHAPTER II THE SETTING Location The congregacidn (analogous to a U.S. township) of Cayala y Boscaje* is located in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, in the vicinity of the port city of Veracruz. The sole nucleated settlement of the congregacion is the small village of Cayala, which is situated about one-half mile inland from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, at the base of a high sand dune which shelters it from view from the highway that runs along the coast, and at least partially protects it from the winds and blowing sand emanating from the Gulf. The village is far from isolated; a short paved branch road connects it to the coastal highway which in turn leads to the city of Veracruz, a major highway and railroad junction, from which other important areas of Mexico can easily be reached (see accompanying map). Cayala y Boscaje forms part of the municipio ( analogous to a U.S. county) of Los Barcos. The political and administrative cabecera (capital) of the municipio is the small city of Los Barcos (pop. about 12,000 inhabitants), a port and fishing city. *Note: A psuedonym. Psuedonyms have been used f0r the real names of places and persons throughout this thesis. h8 149 N Floyd. 1 Cen0305¢ : / 1.. Puni’a do} - Sol Gulf O‘F M ex lco 9°5a. LeOSfra °' Ca. ale. 3 . / EJ l d O . AA) , ,«’ 63 o‘ . Mew‘co E’” .7051. an To ’ Lajuna. Chico. Coya a. , I Rosario :To ’o’”a_yua:—9 LaMUraua. Layuna Grand: 2‘ 0 <0 ‘9 6?}, cw“~ \ El Bays Figure 1 - Cayala and klvirons (not to scale). 50 a Climate and Physical Environment Cayala is located in the tierra caliente or the "hot land". It lies within the coastal plain which extends inland to the base of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range. Except for a few low hills near the coast, the land is generally flat and at or near sea level. The soil around Cayala is classified as azonal soil. Azonal soils are: "those in which the soil forming processes have not been sufficiently active in degree and time to change considerably the chemical composition of the mineral soil, so that the parent material remains an all-important factor in determining their morphology and productivity" (Stevens l96h: 288). More Specifically the soil around Cayala is of the "Dry Sands" type of Regosol soils. According to Stevens (Ibid: 289): "Regosols include the 'Dry Sands'... found in the drier desert areas...and even in more humid areas along stream courses and windward coasts (e.g., near Veracruz city). Moving sand dunes of course, can hardly be regarded as soil, but where the vegatation has begun to fix the sand in place we may find, if internal conditions are dry enough, the 'Dry Sands' soils. The extreme porosity of these soils allows rapid infiltration of the scant rain- fall they receive. Porosity results in high loss of soil water by evaporation and percolation, but there is a compensation to plant life in the ease whereby its roots can penetrate long distances in search of any available soil moisture and nutrients." Thus, most of the terrain around Cayala consists of sand and sand dunes which are relatively fixed or permanent, being held more or less in place by grasses such as blue grass, several varieties of cacti and other xerophytic plants. New soil material primarily in the form of fine sand, however, is constantly being deposited by the prevailing north winds during the summer. This type of soil is generally unsuitable fer farming unless large amounts of organic _ 51 matter and/or chemical or natural fertilizers are added. Fertilizers, while not unknown to Cayalanos, are not used to enrich local soils. It is possible to grow some crops using the slash and burn method. However, the sterility of the soil necessitates several years of fallowing before a given piece of ground can again be tilled. According to informants who have tried to grow corn on the same piece of land two years in a row, the yield the second year is only 50% of the yield the first year. The natural vegetation found in the area has been called "tropical scrub" by West (1964: 377), who attributes the sparse ground cover primarily to the seasonal aridity of the region, and the poor quality of the soil. However, local residents have cleared much of the natural scrub vegetation from the land surrounding the village. Cleared land, if left untouched, will generally be invaded by various types of grasses. The grasses are an important food for locally grown cattle, and some cattlemen hasten the process of grass invasion by sowing seed. There are basically two major weather seasons in the area, verano, or the hot rainy season and invierno, the cool dry season. Verano (summer) lasts roughly from April through September and during these months daytime temperatures are often in the 90's and rarely fall below 80° Fahrenheit in the evenings. The heat is accompanied by relative humidity often in excess of 75%. June through October are the months of the heaviest rainfall, which sharply drops during the rest of the year (see monthly rainfall and temperature graphs). During the rainy season there are normally two heavy rainfalls occurring at night, the first between midnight and two A.M., as 52 9.0 . 8.0 - 7.0 . 6.0 ~ 5.0 . h.0 . 3.0 . 2.0 . 1.0 0.0 JAN. FEB. MAR APR. MAY JUNE JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC. Figure 2. Monthly Rainfall in Veracruz Mexico (Adapted from James 1969). DEGREES FAHRENHEIT 90.0 - 80.0 . 70.0 . 60.0 4 50.0 W 0.0 Figure 3. Monthly Temperatures in Veracruz Mexico (Adapted from James 1969). —~__~ 53 Lng winds bring moisture from the Gulf inland, and the zen four and seven A.M., as the winds become reversed air moisture upon hitting the water mass of the Gulf. :tober through April, daytime temperatures are in the v 80's, and about ten degrees cooler at night. These ever, are the months of the ng;tg_(norther), a strong that often approaches hurricane velocity. A 32533 may am one to four days and is usually followed by a few ltiful weather. While nortes rarely cause serious ge, fishing activities in the Gulf and in the Cayala lagoons generally must slow down and at times even Egg-carry large quantities of dust, fine sand, and sea irritate the eyes, ears, and throat, and which accumulates 3n clothing, and on machinery. During the n2;tg_season, :e of illness increases sharply, and respiratory and eye are quite common. lagoon System the several major roles this body of water plays in the Llagers, the estuary-lagoon system is a most important the local environment. Most of the population of the Ldes near the waters of the estuary or lagoons, and just ierives all or part of its livelihood from the seafood :al waters. The estuary and lagoons are perhaps the most 1 beautiful feature of local geography and thus are > the local tourist trade. The system is used for local Lon by dugout canoe and to a lesser extent by motorized Sh small craft. The part of the estuary near the village is the scene of many routine daily activities. From the water's edge one might see children or horses being washed, housewives dumping garbage or cleaning fish, and adolescents gaily swimming around playing underwater tag or Splashing unsuspecting passers-by. Since there are few modern toilets in the village, many local people relieve themselves at certain secluded Spots along the banks. In local terminology the estuary is sometimes referred to as gl.§§tg§g_(the estuary). Most often, however, it is referred to as §l_;£g_(the river). The shoreline on either side of gl_gié_is called la_g§ill§.(the edge, bank) or §l_manglar, indicating the fact that the shore is lined with lush green mangrove trees that project their tentacle-like branches into the warm brackish shallow waters of the estuary. While in a dugout canoe on the waters of the estuary one has the feeling of being in a pristiny tr0pical world far from the realities of everyday life. The thick mangrove trees and the convoluted course of the estuary cut off one's view of the village and deaden the noises of human activity that originate there. If one is seeking solitude, it can be f0und on the estuary. The estuary, which is about a mile in length, connects the two lagoons. As one approaches the village from over the sand dune hill that shelters if from the coastal highway, the first thing that attracts attention is the lagoon known locally as 1.3 13w ghi_c_:_a (the small lagoon). Going a bit farther and to the left, the am gagggg.(the large lagoon) soon comes into view. The laguna chica is connected to the Gulf of Mexico near the town of Plays Cenagosa by another winding estuary about eight kilometers long. Thus, the mt» ‘- “'a c '0 ~ Use _ h .‘I "c:' e. O L‘ be A ‘a -0“ 002332121 to .--; . ow. ‘ ‘- O. we. ‘ ‘u-_ up. . ‘_ Q w_ a ‘ a 6‘ $.35 9.. ‘ .. ‘l“~“. “. "ah ." N's ‘ x Q 593‘s , 55 water in the system is a mixture of salt sea water from the Gulf, and fresh water from numerous natural Springs and rainfall. Being connected to the Gulf, the lagoons and estuary are affected by tidal movements, although to a lesser extent than the Gulf itself. At certain times of the month the depth of the estuary might be as much as hO cm. higher at high tide than at low tide. Playa Cenagosa can be reached by water from the village, but it is about an eight- hour round trip in a dugout canoe, which is the most common form of water transportation. The general environmental and climatic conditions that have been described have been important in shaping the economic and subsistence activities of Cayalanos, which will be detailed in a later chapter. Here I will just mention some of the most basic features by way of introduction. Today, tourism is the most important and fastest growing source of income for Cayalanos. Well over 50% of local families as well as numerous non-residents derive all or part of their living from the tourist trade. The main tourist attraction, aside from the scenic beauty of the estuary-lagoon system, is several rustic Open-air seafood restaurants. There are presently nine restaurants operating full time, and on Special holidays four or five temporary establishments open to serve meals to tourists. Besides eating and drinking, a tourist in Cayala can take a scenic cruise in a motor- boat, Sport fish in the estuary, and listen to several local bands playing and singing typical Jarocho (Veracruzano) songs. Estuary-lagoon fishing is the "traditional" way in which Cayalanos have made their living. Today, however, fewer than one- half of the families in the village depend on fishing for their 56 livelihood. Most local fishermen use the same time-honored techniques and equipment that were used by their forefathers. Fishing in the estuary and lagoons is generally done from two—man dugout canoes, but some fishermen prefer to fish from the shore of the estuary. Fish are caught in large round homemade nets, are scooped from the water with a Spoon shaped dip net, or are sometimes speared from a canoe or the shore. The catch includes shrimp, crabs, bass, robalo, and other Species of small salt water fish. Oysters are generally plentiful in the estuary and are obtained by st00ping or diving underwater and plucking them from rocks or submerged mangrove roots. Traditionally, Cayala fishermen have not exploited the nearby Gulf of Mexico. While agriculture is a relatively insignificant factor in the local economy, cattle raising is important to the few local residents who have monopolized the gjigg_lands surrounding the village. Cattle are raised for their meat and milk, although milk production is rather low due to the long dry season when there is little food available fer cattle. The Brahman breed, originally from India, is well adapted to local environmental conditions. Congregacidh Divisions and Administration A visitor driving on the coastal highway that borders the congregacion is apt to be negatively impressed by the almost boring sense of unifbrmity produced by miles of sand dune after sand dune. So apparently uniform is the countryside along the highway that after a few minutes the scenery would very likely become little more than a dusty grey blur in the eyes of the onlooker. 57 First impressions, however are not always accurate, and a closer inSpection of the congregacion would reveal that far from being homogeneous, the congregacion consists of several formal and infbrmal subdivisions that are marked with major differences in soil type and land use, land tenure patterns, p0pulation density, and type of administrative control. In this section I will discuss the major areas that either through law or custom have become significant to Cayalanos. I will begin with the "heart" of congregacion life, Cayala village, and then turn to the surrounding countryside "appendages", particularly the local ejido, and satelite population concentrations. In each case I will attempt to show those features of local geography, land use, land tenure and formal administration that are important in the lives of local people. Cayala Village About six hundred of the eight hundred permanent residents of the congregacion occupy or utilize the almost one hundred and eighty man-made structures that are thickly snuggled between the high sand dune known locally as "e1 monte" and the quiet waters of the estuary. This compact population center is referred to locally as gl_29blado (the populated place) or l§_communidad (the community), but most of the people refer to their village simply as gl_pg§bl2_(the village), or Cayala. Most of the structures in the village, which are situated in rows as irregular as small children on parade, are the homes of local residents. The cacique lives in the "fanciest" house in the village, ,. . . . ov'qv- ‘C q. a...“ .U -4 E31353. . ‘ II LL19 51222:; “‘-',‘rcs ‘ t . . .‘_~ “N: a:~' A; . ivy ‘.V HA‘ 'V. “‘9; ‘55.,54 -‘ I “‘\‘&"\> . “9: l. ‘15- 3’]; .3 : ’ and 0: u_ u L “ale: a «'3: y. C A a- “N .‘. 58 which is located just a few steps behind the rear entrance to his restaurant. It is the only two-story house in the village, a box- like structure made of material (brick plastered over) and topped by his personal radio—telephone antenna. The upper floor consists of a bedroom and the indoor toilet and shower of which he is so proud, while the lower floor is a large room used as a combination office and private entertaining room. It is in this office that many of the decisions effecting the life of the village have been made. The cacique's quarters, however, are not typical of the homes most other villagers live in, which range from roomy well-built structures of material roofed with sheets of galvanized steel (lémigg) to tiny and rather dreary rustic huts of madera (rough planks) or carrizo (rough one-inch poles), topped with asbesto (sheets of corrugated asbestos), EE£EéE (tarpaper or cardboard), or palm§_ (thatched palm leaves). §§lm§_is the most popular roofing material used; it is relatively inexpensive, durable, sheds the heavy tropical rains, and effectively insulates the household from the intense rays of the blazing tropical sun. However, for all its efficiency in combating the elements, pglma.has one major drawback. It provides a haven for rats, roaches, spiders, and a host of assorted local vermin. A "typical" fisherman's or restaurant employee's home is rectangular, measuring about twenty-five by thirty-five feet. While most homes have floors of cement, at least twenty percent have floors of hard packed sandy earth. Inside, the typical home is divided into two rooms, one used as a combination kitchen, dining, and living room, which is the focus of family activity at meal times and in the evenings. S9 The other is used as sleeping quarters for the entire family. During hot summer days household activities shift to the open-air thatched roof porches that are attached to the front or rear of many homes. Family dwellings are, in most cases, very close to one another. Often houses are but five or six feet apart, and a number are actually joined together so that upon first inspection two or three separate dwellings appear to be one continuous structure. The houses being so close together, very little in the way of conversation or activity escapes the eyes and ears of curious neighbors. Scattered here and there between houses are a number of net drying sheds, pig pens, and a few temporary lean-to shelters. Outhouses are notably lacking. Most of the commercially used structures, e.g., restaurants and fruit stands, are connected to the living quarters of the owners or Operators, with the exception of the bakery, one small general store, and two large restaurants. Other important structures are the two-room federal school, the small one-room church, and the small fishing cOOperative office. Since Cayala village is situated on gligg_lands which are considered "communal" property, house and commercial sites come under the administrative control of a group of local officials known as the comité M (ejido committee), whibh will be described in a later section. Suffice it to say for now that if a person or family should wish to construct a house or other type of structure within the village, he must first ask the permission of the comite ejidal stating what he wishes to build and where he wishes to build it. If the committee grants his request he is free to proceed with construction. 60 Although certain "outsiders" might be refused permission to build in Cayala, I know of no case where a permanent resident born in the village has ever been denied. Many non-natives have been granted house sites, after a period of close scrutinizing during which they gain approval, trust, and acceptance of the comité eiidal. Building sites thus acquired do not, however, become the private property of the petitioner. Sites cannot be bought or sold, although houses or other structures built on them are considered the private property of the individual who builds them. IntzérVillage Divisions The fecal point of the village is the area directly in front of the cacique's large restaurant. Sometimes this area is referred to as "gl_gggtggfl (the center). The pavement of the branch road to Cayala terminates on the outskirts of the village, but a thorough- fare paved.with small white clam shells leads from the pavement directly to the front of the restaurant. Actually, four restaurants and one smaller cantina (bar) face el centro. There is always something going on here. This is where tourists park their cars, where the local bus stops, where traveling vendors peddle their wares, and where the majority of persons employed in the tourist trade spend their working hours. During the day gl_gggt§g_is filled with the sounds of guitar music and singing from the restaurants, people laughing and shouting, and children and dogs scampering about playing games or singing along with local musicians. Beyond §l_9§gtgg there are several infbrmal residential divisions within Cayala village. These divisions have developed generally as . \ ® 0 [I [a \(‘KBNue ”b D %\‘ I C %Sabane+a.\\‘fi ’ ‘ Fas'f'u. re E I R i n c 611 , Scale: I. ’tOO , 1 . Cua Salga X. Roma-ants 2. El Cayuco EJLC. E1 Mero Cayala 3. La Perla = Paved Road h. School 2:: Unpaved Road 5. Cooperative Office MN Boat Landing Figure 1; Village Divisions and Settlement Pattern 62 a matter of local history, population growth, economic diversification, and in some instances, because of certain features inherent in the natural geography. It should be noted that the following intra- village divisions are not to be confused with the barrio divisions that are found in some Mexican communities. Unlike barrios in other communities the divisions within Cayala village have no tangible focal point such as a chapel, Catholic saint, athletic team or a special holiday. "El Hero Cayala" The most desirable section of the village from an economic, convenience, and prestige standpoint is "El-Eg;g_9§y§laf (roughly, Cayala proper or the "real" Cayala). In this area are located over half of all homes and businesses, the school, church, cooperative office, water tower, bakery, general store, and nearly all other commercial establishments, including the cacique's restaurant and fOur other restaurants. The principal boat landing fOr both dugout fishing canoes and motorized pleasure craft is located at the southern extreme of this area, along the shore of the estuary. The Veracruz-Playa Cenagosa-Piraguas bus stops in this area, in front of the cacique's restaurant. Land to build on within El Mero Cayala is extremely scarce as all of it has been claimed fOr several years. During the period of fieldwork only two new structures were erected in this area, both very small one-room houses. In one of these cases a man of about fifty who had separated from his wife and family claimed piece of ground about 2 x 3 meters, arguing that several years ago (at least 63 twenty or more) his mother had lived in a house (now completely gone) that had been situated on the same site. As the site in question was between two existing houses and not being used, the ggmitéDQJigal. granted him his claim and he built his house. In the other case a man had been granted a small (about 6 x 8 meters) house site a few years before our arrival but had deferred actual house construction until later. El Mero Cayala is also the area of longest settlement, where the founding fathers of the village first located their dwellings. Their direct descendents, the household heads of today, tend to be elderly, often the oldest living members of their particular families, and surnames such as Salga, Moreno, Velasco, Herrera, Campos, and Taredes have been common here since the village was first settled. Although fishermen reside in all village divisions, the majority reside in El Mero Cayala. This is probably due to the fact that the best natural boat landing on the shore of the estuary is most easily reached in all weather from this area. The boat landing is of relatively firm sand and is actually a continuation of the gentle slope of the sand dune hill. While there are other boat landing places at other nearby points, heavy summer rains often create swampy conditions on the land that must be crossed to reach them. I suspect that this may be one reason why this area was chosen for first settlement, as the original inhabitants subsisted primarily by fishing the estuary. Another reason El Mero Cayala was perhaps the most desirable area at the time of settlement, as it is today, might be the protection provided by the sand dune hill. The hill acts as a buffer against 6b the summer easterly winds coming off the Gulf, and provides some measure of protection against winter nortes. Furthermore, the land itself is entirely sand which absorbs heavy rains rather quickly, resulting in a minimum of soil erosion, mud, and hence inconvenience to persons getting about on foot. The hill also provides at least a temporary reprieve from the hot, intense, summer sun. Up until about 10:00 A.M., El Nero Cayala is a few degrees cooler than other more exposed areas of the village. E Sabaneta §§_sabaneta (the field) lies just to the east of El Mero Cayala. It is a flat area about 150 meters long by 50 meters wide. There are no houses built on this land, which is primarily used as a baseball field and as a place to hobble horses or burros for a few hours while one is busy in the village. The sabaneta is often sarcastically and jokingly referred to as la_pla§§_or gl_pargue (the park), because it seems that for several years there has been talk (but no action) of fixing up the area, planting flowers, and making a small park for all to enjoy. The major obstacle, however, is drainage. During heavy rains the field is often covered with water so that it is impossible to cross other than on horseback or in a dugout. The drainage problem is also, I suspect, the reason why this land remains a communal field and why no houses have been built on it. IELdea Nueva Nest of the sabaneta is the second most desirable residential 65 area. This area is called Aldea Nueva (new town). As the name indicates, it is a more recent area of settlement than El Mero Cayala, although not the most recent in the village. Roughly one- fOurth of the homes found in the village are located in this area, which is strictly residential. The only commercial establishment located here is a rather inactive cantina. Aldea Nueva is not particularly desirable for its scenic beauty or convenience. There is a small boat landing on the nearby estuary, but to reach it involves walking on a muddy path through mangrove trees and thick scrub underbrush. During the rainy season the landing is often impossible to readh on foot. Also during the rainy season when the sabaneta is flooded, access to the rest of the village is cut off except by boat or by taking a route hall way around the entire village. The houses, however, are on slightly higher ground than their surroundings and consequently are in little danger of being flooded. Nearly all household heads residing in Aldea Nueva are native born Cayalanos. Household heads tend to be younger (20 to ho years of age) than in other parts of the village. Many of the sons and daughters of the residents of El Mero Cayala live in Aldea Nueva, including many relatives of the cacique. With few exceptions, the working adults are employed in some aspect of the tourist trade. The household incomes of the residents are all about the same, not the highest in the village, but by no means the lowest. Most houses are made of brick and cement and are generally larger, newer, and more expensive than houses elsewhere. p_1_ Rincon From the standpoint of prestige, perhaps the least desirable area in which to reside is §l_§ip£én_(literally the corner; figuratively, the out-of-the-way place). §l_§ingén_is located near the entrance to the community, north of the road leading to the laguna chica. It is a small pocket of tiny run-down shacks constructed of old boards, poles, tarpaper, and thatch. About ten dwellings are found in the area, as is the local jailhouse and the new pumphouse which supplies the village with potable water. Many residents of El Eingén are not native to Cayala, although many have lived in the village more than twenty—five years. Ortega is the most common surname found. Nearly all adult males are comparatively untalented musicians, unsuccessful fishermen, or work at odd jobs when work can be found. Persons living here have, as a group, the lowest general status in the village and can to some extent be considered social outcasts. For example, upon the death of the oldest Ortega male a velorio (wake) and funeral were held at the house of the deceased as is the custom. Not one single Cayalano outside of the immediate family attended the funeral, however, even though the deceased had lived and worked in Cayala for forty-five years. .I_._a_ Entrada L§.Entrada (the entrance) is the most recently settled area in the village, having come into being as a distinct residential area only in about the past five years. La Entrada refers to the small area to the left of the branch road leading into Cayala just as it 67 reaches the village. It is on the steep western slope of the sand dune hill. All residents of La Entrada are recent immigrants to Cayala who have-come with the hope of finding employment in the tourism business. If reSpectable work is found, usually the recent immigrant is given permission to live in La Entrada. Most houses are nothing more than makeshift lean-to's made of wooden poles covered with tarpaper or old bedsheets. Residents are as a rule quite young (under 30), and earn a very low income. Many do not stay long in Cayala, moving on after a few weeks or months. During the period of fieldwork about seven shelters sprang up, but at least four others disappeared with their owners. At any given time there would probably be from eight to twelve families living in the area. The exact number, however, fluctuates. L§_Muralla The branch road leading to Cayala takes a sharp turn to the right by La Entrada and extends about 300 meters northwest of El Mero Cayala to an area known as §§_Muralla (the terrace; rampart). This area is on the bank of the laguna chica at a point where the view of the lagoon is very striking. The place gets its name from the fact that a few years ago engineers and.workers employed by the Mexican Navy constructed a twenty-foot high cement retaining wall up from the waters of the lagoon to hold the adjacent higher ground and roadbed in place. La Muralla is not a residential area as such, as only two 68 families actually live there. Both of these families operate restaurants. There are now three restaurants located here, two of which have been constructed in recent years. If the tourism business continues to grow in Cayala as it has in recent years, I suspect that this area will become increasingly desirable for homes and businesses. Levels 2£_Formal Government Village government in Cayala, which will be described in a following section of this chapter, is at the bottom of a hierarchically arranged, complex, and often colorful formal political system. In this section I will briefly summarize those features of political parties and national, state, and municipal government that are helpful in understanding the position of Cayala in the chain of political authority. I will not attempt to describe in detail the entire political system of Mexico, as this has been done elsewhere. The reader who seeks more information on the history, structure, and philosophy of recent Mexican government is encouraged to consult Scott (l96h), Padgett (1966), Moreno (1970), Prieto Laurens (1968), and Ezcurdia (1968), among others. Robert Scott has written (1961;: 116): "One can as correctly say that today Mexico has a single- party system as say that the United States has a two-party system. In both countries, the success of the major party or parties overshadows the very existence of minor parties that represent specialized political viewpoints and seldom capture more than a token representation in local or national government." The single party in Mexico to which Scott refers is the all-powerful Partido RevoluCionario Institucional (Party of the Institutionalized Revolution), known the length and breadth of Mexico as the FRI, and 69 it is worthwhile to say a few words first about this institution, since it plays such an important role in the politics of the country. Despite the singular dominance of the PRI over the Mexican political scene it does not espouse a single "party line" or represent the philosophy or interests of one specific group. Rather, as Scott (gy;g,: 16h) has noted, the FRI has been successful in Mexico primarily because its leadership over the years has molded the party into an "aggregating mechanism" that brings together in one organization a wide variety of what otherwise might be competing or conflicting interest groups. That is to say, there is room for almost anyone in the party. That the FRI functions as an aggregating mechanism is reflected in its organization into three main, theoretically co-equal, sectors, the labor sector which represents the interests of organized labor unions and confederations of unions, the farm (agrarian) sector, which represents the views of peasants, gjigg_members, and small farmers confederations, and the "popular" or middle sector (Padgett 1966: 123-135) which represents the interests of a diversity of "middle class" groups ranging from intellectuals, teachers, and civil servants to cooperative organizations, artisans, small businessmen, and Indian, youth, and women's associations. Ideally, representatives of each sector sit on the decision-making party committees that exist at municipal, state, and national levels, and it is quite common fOr members or officers of Special interest groups to simultaneously hold office or membership on FRI committees. In this way special interest groups such as labor 'unions, ejiditarios, teachers associations, "chambers of commerce", 70 and so on have direct channels of input and feedback to the party at all levels of organization. At the apex of the FRI power pyramid is the national Comite Ejecutivo Central (Central Executive Committee), commonly referred to as the CEC, which is a seven-member group consisting of a president, secretary-general, secretaries of agrarian, labor, and "popular" activities and two secretaries of political activities. The functions of the CEC are many, and its authority permeates down to all levels of party organization. Among its several perogatives, the CEC has the authority to accept or reject state and municipal party candidates for elected public office. Since throughout Mexico FRI candidates almost invariably win their respective elections, which are often merely a formality, the CEC in effect has the power to "name" government officials from municipal presidents up to state governors. Beneath the CEC, and at the state level, are thirty-two Regional Committees, one in each state and territory of the nation. The state committees are very similar in structure to the national CEC (933.). The functions of state committees are similar to those of the CEO at the national level, except that decisions made by state PRI committees are subject to review and approval of the CEC, which has the final say even in state party affairs. At the bottom of the PRI organizational chart, but closest to the masses of’Mexican people, are the hundreds of'municipal party committees, which consist of at least five committeemen appointed by the national CEC upon the recommendation of state party committees. Municipal committeemen ideally represent, and are initially selected 71 by local or municipal interest groups and/or sector organizations (9101,: 160-161). From among their own ranks, municipal committeemen elect a president and secretary-general upon whom fall several important tasks. These officers and other committee members collect local political contributions and party membership dues, suggest candidates for local government offices to the state committee, distribute campaign literature, recruit new party members, promote party programs, and make the desires of local interest groups known to officials higher up (Ibid:; Padgett 1966: 57-58). In summary, we see that the PRI is a hierarchically structured political machine into which has been plugged a heterogeneous array of Opinions and special interest groups. The party permeates almost every level of society, and is also in a sense a sort of "right arm" of formal government, since it selects the persons who will hold public office from the most "rustic" municipal official up to the President of the Republic. Formal government in Mexico is also hierarchically structured and consists of several levels. At the top of the hierarchy at the federal level is the President of Mexico, the commander-in-chief of the nation. Legislative functions at the national level are carried out by two federal legislative bodies, the national senate and the chamber of deputies (congress). The President and the members of the senate and congress are elected by popular vote. Political power at the state level is centralized in the office of the state ggbernador (governor), who is elected by popular vote. ‘Legislative power at the state level is vested in the unicameral -‘ state can: are a-ec:e ’.. fifi-Vsqa /_ ‘vaL-D \L ‘k 5:528 C315 EICBPE :Ea: 1A.? -‘ (‘14); '1“ Lat Eracr‘ - th . C0351- cats f a .lpio. ‘1? t9! 3 C01 [gregations) fa ' $363) that H . m: a: . 72 state congreso (congress), the members of which, diputados (congressmen), are elected by the general pOpulace. Each state has its own state constitution and series of c6digos (codes) which specify state laws on a variety of matters such public education, agriculture, property inheritance, alcoholic beverages, state highways, non-federal taxes, etc. For the most part, state constitutions are very similar to the National Constitution, except that they are usually more detailed and specific. As Tucker (1957: 377-390) has noted, in theory, Mexican states are relatively autonomous in carrying out state legislative and law enforcement functions. In practice, however, ..... "the role of the states is restricted by concurrent powers exercised by the central government and by positive and negative obligations that the Constitution (Federal) imposes on the states." The Mexican Constitution states that the officially recognized unit of local government is the municipio libre ("free" municipality), and each state is subdivided into several municipios. The state of Veracruz is divided into 203 such local units. As a unit of territory, the municipio is roughly analogous to a United States county. It consists of a cabecera municipal (municipal capital), which is normally the largest town or city within the territory of the municipio. Mbnicipal government extends to various other smaller territorial and political entities (e.g., congregaciénes; literally, congregations) comunidades (villages) ranchos and rancherias (roughly, ranches) that might be located within the boundaries of the municipio. AS an administrative unit, a municipio libre is not as "free" 73 as the official term given to it might imply. In the first place, municipio officials have almost no legislative powers, i.e., they do not have the political autonomy to pass major laws of their own or to reject state and federal laws. While each municipio has its own Lay Organics (roughly, a constitution or a set of regulations), these rules are, in general, very similar to federal and state constitutions and laws, which local regulations must never contradict. Municipal officials do, however, have the authority to pass certain minor regulations that effect local inhabitants. For example, they would normally have the power to determine local real estate taxes, the hour local bars must close, how much a birth certificate will cost, whether or not a local organization can hold a fund- raising dance, and so forth. Perhaps the most significant power that municipal authorities hold is the right to request and organize the labor of municipal residents for building public facilities such as schools, water systems, local roads, and so on. The officials of political sub- units within the municipio have no legislative powers of their own. They are, for the most part, agents and representatives of municipal authorities. The two levels of formal government that most directly effect the peOple of Cayala are the municipio and congregacion levels. Since municipio government officially holds jurisdiction over congregacion government, I will first give a description of those features of municipal government that are of significance to the people of Cayala. This will be followed in the next section with a discussion of the structure and operations of village government. 7h Municipal Government The municipio of Los Barcos consists of the cabecera municipal (municipal capital) of Los Barcos and sixteen congregacion divisions including the congregacion of Cayala Y Boscaje. Located within the various congregaciénes are about seventy-five other named localities ranging in size from about 20 to 1500 persons. As we shall explain in greater detail later, municipal government is officially represented at the congregacion level by two local officers, the agente municipal (municipal agent) and the comandante gg_pglicia (police commander), who are in theory congregacion residents appointed to their posts by the head of municipal government, the presidente municipal (municipal president). The current municipal president of Los Barcos plays a vital role in many of the events that will unfold in later chapters of this thesis and, therefore, it is worthwhile here to describe certain features of his background and personality, and some of his views on the office he holds. The president of the municipio, who was elected by municipio residents to a three-year term in July 1970, is quite unlike many of the municipal officers elected in more "backward" regions of Mexico in that he is a well- educated and well-traveled man who holds a university degree in engineering and has done post-graduate study. A native son of Los Barcos, he has for the past twenty years or so held several administrative and advisory positions with government agencies including the Federal Electricity Commission, the Public Education Ministry, and the Mexican Navy. A gregarious, out-going man, at ease in front of a large crowd 75 as well as in the more intimate setting of his book-lined municipal office, he is very much a "middle-class" man. His presidential candidacy was backed primarily by popular sector interests in the Los Barcos FRI organization such as local businessmen, fishing cooperative members, professionals, and educators. He has been associated with the PR1 for many years and has told me that he considered his nomination to the municipal presidency to be somewhat a "reward" for his many years 01 both government and PRI service. On several occasions he has described to me what he considers his leadership strong points and his personal plans and goals for the municipio. Probably due to his experience as an engineer, he is particularly interested in the expansion of modern technology within the municipio. Along these lines his top priority is the introduction of electricity and potable water systems into the many villages and rural areas that until now have not benefited from these Services. He is also pushing fer the expansion of port facilities in Los Barcos and for increasing the size and quality of the Los Barcos deep sea fishing fleet, in order to take full advantage of the Opportunities fOr economic growth made possible by the large, modern, federally funded and Operated seafood canning and freezing factory that has been recently constructed in the area. Unlile he has stated publicly and privately that improvements in local education, agricultural production, land reform, and medical .facilities are greatly needed, I have the personal impression that 'these areas are not as high on his list of priorities as are electricity and clean water, which he feels will result in the 76 economic diversification of many villages if people utilize these resources to develop local light industry. How does he plan to achieve these goals? On several occasions he has lamented the fact that the municipio itself has almost no funds of its own to Spend on local develOpment. As he has told me, and as Tucker (1957: 39l-h06) states is the case throughout Mexico, limited by federal law, municipal governments have little taxation power and few sources of revenue- The small amounts of money municipios collect from notarizing personal documents, issuing birth, marriage, and death certificates, grantinggcattle slaughtering, vending, and construction permits, and from fines collected from petty lawbreakers, barely is enough to pay municipal employees a meager salary (the president earns about $1000.00 pesos per month, and other employees less), and pay for the overhead and supplies needed to keep municipal government running. Because of this situation the president has chosen to play the role of’municipal "advocate", and act as a "middle-man" representing the needs and desires of his people befbre the federal and state funding agencies from which the money for local development projects must invariably come. His technical expertise and the personal contacts he has made during his many years of government service will, in my opinion, ably equip him to compete for the federal and state funds he needs to convert his plans into realities. Under the municipal president are several lesser appointed and elected officials that should be mentioned. However, I ‘want to stress that except fer rather routine matters such as recording births, Obtaining a permit to slaughter a cow, and so 77 forth, Cayalanos have little contact with these Officials. This is eSpecially true of the cacique and other Cayala cattlemen; they prefer to deal directly with the "tOp man", the president, and all but ignore other officials. This attitude on the part of the cacique first came to my attention during a casual but meaningful incident. Prior to the municipal elections the presidential candidate, accompanied by the three men running for regidor (aldermen) came to Cayala to introduce themselves and give campaign Speeches. After the speeches the cacique invited them all to a sumptuous lunch which included an expensive imported wine, the cacique doing the pouring honors. While the soon-to-be president's wine cup was filled several times, the candidates for regidor were not even offered any, and were instead served beer. The municipal president, a sindico (roughly, attorney general) and two regidores constitute the popularly elected ayuntamiento municipal (the municipal council). However, after the president, the most powerful municipal official is the secretario ggl_ayuntamiento (council secretary) who is appointed to his post by the president. The current municipal secretary, a lawyer, has long been a PRI supporter and close friend of the president fOr whom he acts as a "chief of staff" and legal and political advisor. In many reSpects the secretary runs the daily routine Operations of government, and, with but a few exceptions, anyone wishing to gain the president's ear is first channeled through the secretary. From among the three elected regidores, the municipal president chooses one man to serve as the municipal sindico, the chief law enfbrcement officer in the municipio. A sort of attorney-general, 78 the sindico gives orders to the head of the small municipal police force, oversees the activities of the force itself, and is responsible for apprehending and prosecuting local lawbreakers. He is also charged with the inSpection of cattle that are slaughtered within the municipio, to ascertain that the animals are neither diseased or stolen. For all practical purposes the sfndico's law enforcement activities are confined to the city of Los Barcos. Since other communities of any size within the municipio have their own local police forces, and since most village officials are extremely reluctant to call in municipal authorities, most crimes and civil disputes are handled informally at the village level and only major offenses such as murder or large scale cattle rustling reach the sindico's attention. During the period of fieldwork municipal authorities were called to Cayala only once, when a local man attempted to shoot the Cayala police commander. The municipal police were too late, however, as the would-be murderer fled the village immediately after his unsuccessful attempt. According to the municipal president the candidates for regidor (including the sindico) were Selected jointly by himself and Los Barcos PRI Officials with two thoughts in mind. First, they wanted at least two candidates who were well-known and reSpected in outlying areas of the municipio. I am not familiar with the areas where these men came from, but neither was from any of the communities near Cayala, i.e., both candidates were complete strangers to Cayalanos. The regidor who was to become sindico, it was decided, should come from Los Barcos itself, since most of his 79 future dealings would be with residents of that city. The second objective in the selection process was to pick persons who would represent some of the major interest groups in the municipio. To accomplish this end, one of the reridores Selected from outside Los Barcos is a schoolteacher and the other a rancher-farmer. The regidor who became sindico among other things holds an interest in some Los Barcos-based small deep sea fishing boats and is active in the local seafood business. Thus, while some effort was made to select officials who would represent both the city and the rural areas of the municipio as well as certain major economic interests, the slate was heavily weighted with "middle class" candidates. The regidores perform a variety of tasks in municipal government, but since they and other officials were only recently in office during the period of fieldwork, it was not clear exactly which individuals were going to be reSponsible for specific tasks. According to the municipal president, he was going to assign certain areas and communities within the municipio to each regidor and the sindico. These officials would then serve as a laison between village governments, headed by appointed agentes municipales (village municipal agents), and the president's Office. A major part of their job would be to visit periodically the areas and communities they had been assigned, and keep the president infOrmed of what was happening. I am not certain if Cayala was assigned to a regidor, since after the elections no mention was made of an assignment, and no regidor came to the village, although the president himself visited several times most often accompanied 80 by his Secretary. Regidores also have Special duties to perform at the palacio munic'pal (municipal "palace"; the government office building) in Los Barcos. One of them acts as the municipal tesorero (treasurer and bookkeeper), and another functions as the municipal jgg§_m§ggg_ ("minor" judge), who decides the diSposition of minor civil and criminal cases involving municipal regulations. Typical matters brought before him would include wife-beating, petty theft, vagrancy and drunkeness, fighting in public places, inheritance diSputes, selling beer or liquor without a permit, and so forth. More serious matters are generally referred to the appropriate state or federal courts. The municipal judge deals with cases primarily from Los Barcos, except in those rare instances when someone from an outlying village, failing to receive satisfaction at the hands of village authorities, might bring a complaint to Los Barcos. To my knowledge, no resident of Cayala appeared before the judge during the period of fieldwork. There are Several other municipal employees in the palacio municipal that, while appointed by the president, more often than not take their orders from the sindico or the secretario. These include the police chief and police officers, as has been mentioned, an office receptionist, two or three clerk-typists, a custodian- errand boy, and a municipal tax collector-inspector. Of these, only the tax collector—inspector is of significance to some of the people of Cayala. The inspector-tax collector, who visited Cayala twice during the period of fieldwork, sooner or later comes to most small 81 businesses within the municipio, especially bars, restaurants, stores, and other small retail operations. His job is to check if business establishments and traveling vendors have the proper municipal, state, and federal permits. Most small retail operations are assessed a small municipal tax. In Cayala several of the small owner-operated restaurants and cantinas pay about twenty pesos per month in municipal taxes. If these are not paid, the tax collector can recommend to the president that a business be closed. The tax collector is very conscientious in his job, as he is paid a percentage (normally twenty-five percent) of the taxes he collects. According to several local informants, he is well diSposed to accept l§_mordida (the bite; a bribe). For example, if a local cantina only has a permit to sell beer, but is caught selling hard liquor, usually a "gift" of a few pesos will prevent the inspector from reporting the incident. Cayala restaurant owners are also assessed taxes by the Los Barcos branch office of the federal Secretaria dg_Hacienda (Secretary of the Treasury). In order to sell beer, liquor, or fOod retail, the operator of a business must first secure a patente (permit, license) from the Hacienda office. Patentes are renewed on a yearly basis and fees vary according to the Specific type, but rarely exceed two hundred pesos. In addition to patents fees, Cayala retail businesses pay a yearly federal income tax to the Hacienda office. This tax is based on profits earned after overhead and business expenses are deducted. The amount of income tax paid.by Cayala businesses varies greatly; in 1970 one small owner-operated restaurant paid only $lh0.00 pesos 82 (excluding fees for licenses), while the cacique's restaurant, according to a son of the owner, paid almost $30,000 pesos (about $2,h00). According to informants, it is common practice for local restaurants to report the smallest believable amount of profit. It should be noted that most Cayalanos pay no income or other taxes at all. Finally, it appears that the municipal president personally commands a clandestine force of aggptes especiales (special agents). I was unable to ascertain the full extent of the duties and activities of these Special agents, but on the basis of conversations with two of them, a few facts emerged. The agents are usually locally powerful individuals from the various localities within the municipio. They are strong supporters of the FRI, and gain their status as partial reward for favors they have performed for the local FRI organization, such as having contributed large sums of money or having delivered a large number of local votes at election time. The agents are allegedly involved in espionage activities, especially in the field of politics, and report anti-government sentiments. They can legally carry firearms which is normally against Mexican law. To my knowledge, most people are unaware of the existence or the activities of these agents. Village Government Formal village and congregacion administration, except for certain land tenure matters handled by the ejido committee, is in the hands of two puppet officials, the agente municipal (municipal agent) 83 and the police comandant~ (commander), whose strings are manipulated by the cacique and a handful of cattlemen. A few years ago Cayalanos could also rely on members of the local igp£g_g§_Mejpres Materiales (material improvements group) to provide leadership in promOting community well—being. This group, while still formally in existence, has all but abdictated its role in civic affairs due to circumstances I will mention shortly. In this section I will briefly describe what might be termed the "ideal" and formal operations of local government so that the reader might later contrast this with the portrait of the "real" or infOrmal operations discussed later. The titular head of government in Cayala is the municipal agent who is appointed to his post by the municipal president for a term of three years. At the same time the agent is appointed a suplente (alternate) is also named who would take over the municipal agent's post should the latter for any reason be unable to serve. Directly under the municipal agent in the structure of local government is the comandante gg_pglicia (police commander), who heads the five-man police force. In theory, the police commander should take his orders from the municipal agent. In practice, however, it works the other way around. Don Vicente, the commander, is a very shrewd and observant man possessed with a very forceful and dominating personality, a characteristic that in part accounts for his remaining in office through the terms of several municipal agents. During his long tenure (about ten years) he has managed to build a small hard core of local fOllowers, his policemen and certain 8h fishermen, so that today, except for the cacique and the cattlemen, he is perhaps the most powerful man in the village. He is hated by some of his fellow villagers, feared by many, but respected by all. In part the police commander derives his local power from an "outside source." In theory, a local police commander is appointed by the municipal agent, and his appointment must be approved and made "official" by the president of the municipio. Don Vicente, however, has side-stepped the normal chain of command by publicly declaring that his "mg§2_jgfg" ("real boss") is an officer high in the Veracruz state police force in the state capital in Jalapa. The officer, who is responsible for the state-wide enforcement of traffic and transportation laws, was a former powerful cacique in a community nearby Cayala and has been fOr years a friend and crony of the Cayala cacique, as will be discussed in detail in a later chapter. Thus, by claiming primary allegiance to a "tOp man" in the state police force, who is also a friend of the cacique, the commander has been able to effectively make his position independent of local and municipal authorities, to whom he pays only lip service if anything. Village authorities do not receive a salary from either the municipio or the community. In theory they have "volunteered" their services for the good of the community. In practice, however, the agente municipal and police commander, and to a lesser extent members of the police fOrce, do receive an income fOr their effOrts. This income, which is not insignificant by Cayala standards, is derived from fines collected locally, "permit" fees charged to "outside" 85 entrepreneurs, (vendors and musicians), and from small tips received for "guarding" the automobiles of restaurant clients. Fees paid by outsiders are assessed on either a daily or a weekly basis, depending on the arrangement that has been worked out. Musical groups that regularly play in Cayala pay twenty pesos per week. Groups that come to Cayala only for Special occasions are charged up to twenty-five pesos per day. Souvenir vendors, candy sellers, photographers and so on, are charged from two to ten pesos per day. During periods when there are many tourists and therefore many outside entrepreneurs in the village, I would estimate that as much as from two to four hundred pesos might be collected per week. This represents a sizeable sum to most Cayalanos. In theory, the money collected from these fees Should be used in two ways: some should remain with the agente municipal to be used for official expenses such as trips to Los Barcos, policemen's unifOrms, office supplies, etc., and whatever is not used for official expenses should be turned over to the treasurer of the material improvements group to be ultimately used for public works projects. In practice, however, almost all of the money collected stays with the police commander who shares it with the agente municipal, and none is turned over to the junta. According to the commander, he has permission from the state police official in Jalapa to keep ‘whatever money is not needed fOr expenses. He has stated that with so many "outsiders" in the village, his job is made more difficult, and.therefore, he and the agente municipal deserve something "extra" for their efforts. 86 Besides the collection of fees from outside entrepreneurs the official duties of village authorities fall roughly into two categories - the maintenance of local "law and order", i.e., the apprehension of law breakers and the settlement of disputes, and the organization and supervision of local labor on public works (faenas). The police commander is primarily concerned with the maintenance of order while the municipal agent is generally in charge of public works projects although very often their roles overlap. It is worth mentioning that neither official has legislative or law—making authority, as law-making and policy decisions are made at higher levels of government. Let us now turn to some examples of local government in operation. From the cacique's point of View, an opinion shared by most villagers, if tourism is to continue to thrive and expand, it is absolutely crucial that Cayala maintain a reputation as a peaceful, happy, and safe place. To accomplish this end, each day the comandante takes up a position in his small cantina, which is located just across from the cacique's main restaurant. From this vantage point he can see most of the village, nearly every person who enters the village by bus or car, and has a clear view of the goings-on in the cacique's and three other restaurants. His primary concern with the restaurants, he has stated, is to stop potential fights between clients, and to break them up before they become serious. He also closely watches traveling vendors and musicians to see that they do not molest restaurant customers by pushing their wares too hard. Should the least disturbance occur, the comandante or one of the local policemen is usually on the 87 scene within seconds. Other than generally keeping the peace, the major duty of the policemen is local automobile traffic control, eSpecially on weekends. They direct tourist traffic, find parking places for restaurant clients, and "guard" parked automobiles against theft, break-in, and vandalism. For this service policemen, otherwise non-salaried, receive a one or two peso tip. In the administration of justice, to some extent a double standard prevails - one set of rules for local residents, and another fOr "outsiders", with residents being favored. While many cases and diSputes involving local people came before local authorities during the period Of fieldwork, only a few residents were actually fined and none were jailed, to my knowledge. In one case a mother was fined a small amount for beating her young daughter fer not selling as many shell necklaces as the mother thought she should. The mother was accused Of child-beating by the girl's father, who was living with another woman. Once a man was accused by his wife of beating her when she confronted him with her knowledge of an extra-marital affair in which he was involved. In this case the wife-beater was fined twenty pesos, but his wife was also admonished fer having brought a complaint against her husband. Another case involved a complaint against a young man, brought to local authorities by the parents of an eighteen-year- old young woman. The young man and.woman had secretly been novios (lovers) fOr some time and had engaged in sexual relations, although the young woman was not pregnant. When a brother of the young " P ' “'.‘ u. ‘ I313— A *4; OJ. 8:": ‘6‘ fl “ ‘ u 5“" _e—O .19 V. “a man‘s. :‘e‘. a +- c ‘ ~‘oo; I: 'Q-J-a ‘ .‘,- w: . £43...e. wee:.a._€dl "nv male: 29‘. 3" ' II as very ratify..- - ' O ., " 40" ..e at‘,‘59j :29 c”\. I Dig. L A _‘ . ~ a‘E-c 03‘ 52:5;2“; :_r (D O O C J “m ‘tue ’ «ocil H“ L}. . "‘ h: k“ in ‘L , \n‘e ‘ocal . I“ we 88 woman fOund out about the affair, he told his parents, who were outraged. They came to the agente municipal and the police commander demanding that the young man be forced to marry their daughter immediately, or be put into jail in Los Barcos. The police commander met with the young man. According to him, the commander was very "fatherly" and found the whole business rather amusing. He advised the young man to "lay low" until the girl's parent's anger had subsided. If the young man and woman wanted to continue seeing each other the commander said, they should just make sure they did not get caught. Eventually the couple did get married, Several months after this incident occurred. While local offenders get off relatively easy, "outsiders" such as traveling vendors and musicians, and an occasional rowdy tourist are often fined more heavily and jailed more frequently. For example, one fifty-year-old musician who was accused of molesting a pre-teen local girl, was forced to give the girl's parents all the money he had on him (about one hundred pesos), and was told to leave the village. If he ever returned, the authorities told him, he could expect to be shot, and there would be no questions asked. In another case a drunken tourist in the cacique's restaurant pulled a gun and threatened to kill a companion. The man was subdued and disarmed by local police. After consulting with the cacique, local authorities fined the man two hundred pesos and put him in the local jail. He was released from jail after about two hours, during which time he had "sobered up" and "cooled off". No formal charges were brought against the man, although the police commander kept possession of his gun. 89 To give an indication of the role played by village authorities in administering public works projects I will briefly describe how they operated during the construction and installation of the new potable water system that Cayala now boasts. The potable water system cost a total of roughly $180,000 pesos. Of this sum the federal government paid $160,000 pesos and the remaining $20,000 pesos was to be paid by the residents of Cayala, a portion of this sum being assessed to each household. As part of the agreement with the federal government, the community was obligated to supply all the necessary manual labor needed to complete the project. No machinery was used in the construction of the system. This meant that a deep well had to be dug, hundreds of yards of water-pipe trenches had to be dug, and several tons of cement had to be prepared - all by hand, using only shovels, picks and hoes. Workers did not receive pay for their efforts, as their labor was considered "community service" and therefore non-salaried. The project, which took several months to complete, required the organiza— tion and supervision of approximately one thousand man-days of manual labor. The agente municipal was responsible for organizing this labor force or £3332, Each afternoon the agente made up and posted a list of from ten to twenty eligible males who were to work on the project the following day. The names were selected from a master list (padrén) of all voting-age males (males of eighteen years of age and over) in each household. Men over age sixty were exempted. Names were selected on a rotation basis, but only one male from each household was required to work on any given day. If there a“ 90 were more than one eligible male in a household whose turn came up, for example, a father and an adult son, the household had to supply only one worker on any given day. The decision as to which male was left to the members of the household. On the average, a household could expect to supply a worker for the §§ag§ every five or six days. In some cases a household did not wish to supply a worker on a given day. When this was the case, a household representative would inform the agente municipal and pay a fee of twenty-five pesos. The agente in turn would then locate another man to fill in. This other man would be paid the twenty-five pesos. In several instances a designated worker simply failed to appear on the job. When this occurred, the agente would locate the reluctant worker and persuade (or threaten) him to come to work. If persuasion failed, the agente along with the police commander would go to the man and demand that a twenty-five peso fine by paid (to hire another worker), or, they said, they would report him to Los Barcos authorities, who in all probability would demand a much greater fine or even a jail term. In all such cases that I am aware of the individual paid the local fine. Besides making up the daily work list and seeing to it that each household did its proper share of the work, the agente municipal also Served as the work crew foreman. Each morning before work began the government paid maestro (expert in construction) gave Specific orders and job assignments to the agente. The agente in turn would then assign Specific tasks to individual workers or groups of workers, and throughout the day would check on their progress. 91 While the agente was not paid a salary for performing his duties, he generally exempted himself from doing hard labor. A few years ago the water project would probably been directed by the local £323§_gg_Mejores Materiales (material improvements groups), often referred to by local residents simply as the JEIEEL (groups). The junta is in theory a permanent community council which should raise funds for, initiate, promote, administer, and supervise all local public works projects. The council is also reSponsible for the maintenance and upkeep of public facilities such as local roads, the school, public water wells, and so fOrth. Members of the junta are residents of Cayala. The junta consists of a president, secretary, treasurer, and four vocales (voting members) who are elected to office by the eligible voters of the congregacion for three-year terms. According to informants, however, elections are held irregularly, generally when the need arises as when, for example, the president might decide to resign. No elections were held during the period of fieldwork. The functions of the present junta are for all practical purposes non-existent, i.e., the junta was inactive during the period of fieldwork. As will be explained in detail in a later chapter, the normal functions of the junta have been taken over by new §g_hgg_organizations dominated by the youngest son of the cacique. For example, in 1967, the then presiding junta prepared the official request fbr government funds fer the water project. Early in 1970 the community was infOrmed that the request had finally been granted. Immediately after the community had been so infOrmed a new 339.28; 222523. (roughly, water promotion grouP) was formed. The 9 06:8]! ' b'h" i334..-“ 0‘ “"“ l ¥ .‘ .q 3711309 38:. t. resiim‘. aresi ie' H a I 29331181133 of t 6‘). ‘ . ' n ...e .eazer 32‘95‘ ‘0“.Q .. . on. 39C.-e 'rc‘n taupe was ele “‘- v .1 ' h ‘ F ““‘~a. a“ s Bigaé‘JN V. vi.“-:a“fl" '5 9 .. dorm v.21: u.‘ D a... “aie :‘0 ‘w- Hesnhionr v, V" wqe 4 a "‘4 R . ‘nOt ‘t 92 fOrmation of this new group was precipitated by a visit to Cayala by the now past municipal president of Los Barcos. The municipal president presided over a town meeting in which he strongly urged the formation of a new junta and suggested the cacique's son as the leader (president) of this new group. The result was that local people voted to form a new junta and the youngest son of the cacique was elected president. In effect, the administration of the water project was taken out of the hands of the junta. A similar incident occurred in 1971, with regard to an electrification project. The pro-apua junta, which was then winding up its work with the water project, petitioned the government and made preliminary arrangements to bring electricity to the village. A town meeting was called by the present municipal president of Los Barcos. In this meeting he, like his predecessor, urged that a new jgg§§_pro-electricidad (roughly, electricity promotion group) be fOrmed. The result was the same as with the water project. A new group was formed and the youngest son of the cacique was elected president. Again, the junta had been replaced with another group. The local jggp§.gg_mejores materiales did, however, organize a carnival dance to raise money for the water project. This dance will be described in the chapter on religious organization. However, the dance actually lost money. After this disappointment, the junta did not attempt to organize any other fund-raising projects. According to local infbrmants, the junta, in the past, has been much more active than it is presently. The local school, which was constructed in 1965, was the result of the efforts of the 93 junta, then under a different leadership. The junta, I am told, was also instrumental in organizing a community project that resulted in the paving of local streets and pathways with small clam shells. There are, I suSpect, Several reasons why the junta has fallen into inactivity, and some of these will be taken up in a subsequent chapter. In brief, however, the usurpation of its functions resulted from two things. First, several local residents refused to support the junta especially when it came time to pay their Share of the money they were required to put up for the water project. Indeed, at one point it was doubtful if the water project would be completed due to lack of’funds. At this time the cacique and others, who saw clean water as vital to the growth of tourism, concluded that the junta was simply not effective and, by using their money and influence with outside authorities, gained control of the project so that it would continue. When Cayala was ready for electricity, this same small group decided not to give the junta a second chance, and again assumed control of the project themselves in the name of "efficiency". In Mexico the term gjigg_generally refers to an area of land that has been given 29;.dotaci6n (by-grant) by the Federal government to a community for use by community members in accordance with the various "agrarian reform" laws stemming out of the 1910 Mexican Revolution. In many cases the ejido lands granted to a community were fOrmerly privately owned hacienda lands that the Federal government has expropriated for use as ejido lands. The government retains q u I‘ .1. suite marsh? “N P: .o t!) ‘1. (J 9. E: t.) 9. “ 'a w ' ' ‘v.. W... . ' "-‘ ‘J p” .. ¥-‘.Av \ "2‘s ' ' \ r g» .p‘ - .u,“ - ~ h o 3"" I —.. ‘19 L: “'.‘.N‘:. ' I \v ‘ “ N ‘ Ann'- w,“ a nn~.. ~36“ “a q‘. ' .._ ow '. ykss ;_ ““ ~¢~l3u AP“. -‘1 it, .A , a. Y' ado-a‘ .nva s a ‘ 0. "5 ad: . p. .\S:‘ o.‘ "On 0 CO" ‘1 a “:9 0". ‘3 '33": w - A.‘ a \L K S“). :‘h: “ ‘«‘~y‘ _ k ‘. \H‘l\° a J but 9h ultimate ownership of ejido lands, but members of a community are granted, in common, rights of usufruct. However, no person can buy or sell land that is part of an ejido grant. An ejido comes into being after the members of a community formally petition the Federal Department of Agriculture, the agency charged with the initial lormation of ejidos. If the petition is granted, the members of the community are granted provisional use of the lands in question, and receive official titulos (titles) as ejiditarios (ejido members). After a community has received an ejido grant, it is placed under the jurisdiction of the Federal Department of Agrarian and Colonization Affairs, which operates at the national state, and regional levels. This agency along with certain representatives of the Department of Agriculture Share the reSponsibilities for the administration of the ejido system. For a more complete description of the organization and responsibilities of these and other Federal agencies involved in the ejido program, the reader is directed to Martha Chavez' Loy Federal g3 Reforms Agraria (1972), which contains the most recent (1971) agrarian law, and an analysis of that law. Cayalanos received their titles as ejidarios in l9hh,shortly after they filed a formal petition, and the lands they requested were given provisional ejido status. The community was granted 920 hectares of fOrmer hacienda land immediately surrounding and including Cayala village. The ejido, which lies to the north of the village, consists mainly of’pgp§§_(sand dune hills covered with low trOpical Scrub forest). Mgp§§_land is generally unsuitable for agriculture, but can be used to graze cattle after it is cleared 9S and grass has been sown or allowed to invade naturally. A few small fields known as p§j§§_(bottom lands) are scattered here and there in the ejido and are, after being cleared, suitable for agriculture, as they consist of soil that is richer and retains moisture longer than the sand dunes. The final declaration granting Cayala full ejido status was made in l9?3. According to local informants who are original title-holders, there were approximately fifty to sixty original ejiditarios. I was unable to determine the exact number of present- day title-holders as since l9bh some of the original title-holders have died, some have left the village, and in some cases original title-holders have lost their titles. My best estimate based on infOrmation provided by local infOrmantS is that there are now about fifty original ejido titles in Cayala, and perhaps five or six non-residents who claim the right to use Cayala ejido lands. According to several informants, no new ejido titles have been issued Since l9hh, except in some cases where an heir has taken the title of an original ejiditario. In.many Mexican ejido communities after the final declaration granting ejido status is given, the members of the ejido petition the government for parcelization of the land. In the parcelization process government officials survey ejido lands and divide it into parcels of'more or less equal size and/Or productivity. Each ejiditario, generally a household head, is then assigned an individual parcel of land fOr use by his household and his heirs for as long as they remain working on the land. In Cayala, however, the cacique and a few local cattlemen have £73"... ‘35" :59. “599-225 1“): _‘._ v» ‘ ‘ van-rut tr‘QSe i 96 been able to block the parcelization process by means that will be discussed in a later chapter. Instead, the cacique and the cattlemen dominate ejido affairs and control ejido lands, which they have informally divided between themselves, and which they use to graze their own herds of cattle. Thus, while many villagers hold title to ejido lands, only a few benefit financially from their use. This rather unfair situation persists because cattlemen have been able to maintain their hold on ejido lands by putting t'heir‘ own people, or "puppets", in key ejido organization positions. It would be worthwhile, then, to brielly describe here the formal aspects of ejido organization so that the reader might later contrast these aSpects with the informal ways in which the ejido has been manipulated by the Cacique and other cattlemen. Ejido organization consists of three sub-units - the asemblea gene\1"al (general assembly; all ejido title-holders), the comisariado e % (ejido commission; executive council) which is known locally the comité ejidal (ejido committee), and the consejo g2 vigilancia {vigilance council). Each of these sub-units has been relegated cert8.3m powers and duties by federal law. According to federal law, the general assembly of ejiditarios has the first and last word in all ejido affairs such as land parcelization, rents levied for use of ejido lands, election of officers, and productive and economic activities, i.e., in theory an ejido is a very "democratic" organization with ultimate decision- g power vested in the membership rather than in particular I]; if ices. All major ejido matters should be decided by majority / 97 vote of the general assembly which is the only ejido sub-unit with legislative authority. The will of the membership should be carried out by the comisariado ejidal, a council of three officers (president, secretary, The and the treasurer) elected by majority vote of the membership. comisariado, along with a suplente (alternate) for each position, is elected for a three-year term, but any officer can be removed by the general assembly for infractions of the law such as stealing fluids, failure to enact assembly decisions, being absent from the ejido, and so forth. The duties of the comisariadp are, by law, rather general in nature (Chavez 1972: 53-55) and include supervising the day-to- day Operations of the ejido, collecting whatever rents have been aSSessed, calling regular monthly and yearly meetings of the asséfllbly, keeping financial records, fomenting production, and Settjaing minor disputes between members, and so on. The comisariado ShOKId also maintain communications between the ejido and representatives of the federal Department of Agriculture and Department of Agrarian and Colonization Affairs. A representative of one of these agencies Should be informed of and attend all general assembly meetings, to make sure local ejiditarios are following proper procedures. As we will see in a later chapter, the Cayala ejido Made in fact performs few of the functions it is supposed to. In Cayala, the primary function of the cattlemen-controlled mm is the regulation of the use of ejido lands for productive ‘l/poses and ejido lands used for house sites in and around Cayala fiflage. With regard to the former, since the ejido has not been 98 parceled, an ejiditario or other local resident who wishes to use ejido lands for farming or cattle-raising must first ask permission of the comisariado, usually represented by the president. The Qmisariado then either accepts or rejects the person's petition. with regard to the use of ejido lands for house sites the process is Similar. Any person, whether ejiditario or "outsider", must make a request to the comisariado for a piece of land on which to build a house. Again, the comisariado has the authority to either accépt or reject the person's request. All persons, whether ejiditarios or not, who have been granted Pemission to use ejido lands are obliged to pay the ejido a small monthly fee as "rent" for their use of ejido lands. The amount or rent paid is based more or less on the size of the piece of land an individual is using. This rent applies both to land being used for productive purposes and for house sites. Ideally, a portion Of this rent is to be paid to the Department of Agriculture office in Los Barcos as a tax for administrative and technical services supposedly rendered by this office. The remainder of rents COLlected ideally should go into the ejido treasury to be used generally in ways that will benefit all ejiditarios. Ideally, the general membership of the ejido dictates the Specific ways in which these mnds will be used. In practice, to my knowledge, no ejiditario or other long- time resident of the community pays rent on house sites. In only a very few cases that I am aware of, "outsiders", i.e., recent arrivals to Cayala, are asked to pay a nominal sum. Unfortunately I was unable to determine the full extent of rent collection on house 51:95 as reluctant ': mar-12.: 0f latitxe the 136 9:110 t‘. . - mix, the cat: u"‘.: q . . um... . no: ' Q" . “‘3? its Hav- 6 I ' 3‘ . a - .'~3-‘Tt‘.0" ‘ .0 mfi‘~ - ‘3“‘6 8311'; h, ““3 gm; v- x o "- “0155. n - LS \ 9 QM ' «.‘t1 A I . Vex; OffLCQ Q ‘ Lo» ' ‘6 r‘. ‘ t ~‘1 L, .L I *ae‘ 6' ! .«I' vitae ‘._ ‘0 \ Eda “ " in 62'» , .. U Cleft f r151‘s f 99 house sites as the present comisariado officers were generally reluctant to be interviewed on the subject. According to informants, the tax that is paid to the Department of Agriculture is collected almost in its entirety from those persons who use ejido lands for cattle-raising purposes. To some extent, then, the cattle raisers subsidize the rents of other local residents. while I am not sure of the exact amounts paid by cattle raisers, inf Omants generally agree that the amounts paid are very small in proportion to the income derived by cattle raising and da-iI‘ying activities. The group that is charged with keeping the comisariado "honest" is the conseio SL9. vigilancia (vigilance council), three e:L'Eecs‘ted officials (the standard president, secretary, and treasurer along with alternates), who serve for a period of three years. As their title implies, these officers are supposed to 163513;; 933 ("Keep an eye on") the other officers and report to the general 83381:1ny and government officials any abuses of power, fraud, theft of funds, manipulation of records, or any other 911mg ("irregular") activities they might suspect. These would-be "watchdogs" of the ejido, however, are like the comisariado, more like "lap-dogs" of the cacique and the cattlemen. mo ation Concentrations _i_n_ the CountrYSide Cayala village can be considered the nerve center of the congregacio/n, the scene of most congregacion activities and social ifite’l‘mction. For the most part the countryside around the village is uninhabited except for cattle wandering over the dry sand dunes in 100 f grass. However, due to certain environmental features lying areas of the congregacion have been populated by nbers of people engaged in rather specialized economic es. should be noted that the outlying populated areas, El Punta del Sol and La Ostra, are informal congregacion 3. That is to say, these areas have no "official" es and are not official administrative sub-units within regacion. These areas are not locally governed, i.e., dents are under the same political and legal jurisdiction he residents of Cayala village. 12. luggrflplace) known locally as El Boscaje is located about nd one half west of Cayala village as the crow flies across na chica. From the village El Boscaje can be reached by anoe in about an hour or, it can be reached in about the e on horseback by following a series of narrow but well worn ross ejido lands. inhabitants of El Boscaje consist of fifty or so people in parate households. The small wood plank and thatch homes of lies are scattered here and there, often several hundred art, over roughly 200 hectares of ejido land. Thus one roperly Speak of a population center as such. However, there a1 point to the area, the household compound of an individual rtinez, which is located on the shore of a small secluded he laguna chica. Many area residents are kinsmen of Martinez, 101 who tends to dominate economic activities in the area. Economic activities in the area include cattle raising and agriculture, El Boscaje being one of the few Spots in the congregacion suitable for growing limited amounts of corn, black beans, squash, and rice. While much of the land in the area is sandy and covered With low scrub forest, some cleared land near the shores of the lagoon is richer in organic matter and can be farmed with some $necess. The abundant scrub forest in the area provides the raw matfluvial for producing charcoal, which is made in hand-made kilns. The Charcoal from El Boscaje is transported on the backs of burros to Cayala village, where it is sold to village residents who use it to mel the fires of their cooking stoves. Because the trip between El Boscaje and Cayala village is a ra*bher long one, El Boscaje residents rarely visit the village for purely "social" reasons. However, many El Boscaje residents, esDecially the Martinez, have long-standing ties of kinship, maI‘l‘iage, and compadrazco with numerous village residents. For a nufiber of years the head of the Martinez kindred lived in the ViLlage where he Operated a large restaurant next to the cacique's. As local gossip has it, Martinez was forced to sell his restaurant because most of his profits were squandered on food, drink, and wild par ties which are said to have gone on for days. After losing his restaurant Martinez retreated to El Boscaje in hopes of building up his personal fortune through cattle grazing and farming. He once told me that it was his intention to return to the village when Possible and start in the restaurant business anew. 102 Punta Del _S_g_l_ The Punta de Sol (sun point) is sometimes referred to by local people as I_._a_ m (the sandbar). The Punta is a small Peninsula that juts out into the Gulf of Mexico at the northern extremity of the congregacion, directly across the estuary from the town of Playa Cenagosa. For the most part the Punta is uninhabited. The land is rather flat, consisting entirely of fine gray sand, and covered With low scrub forest. The Punta is unsuitable for agriculture. The point of the peninsula that faces the Gulf, however, is a long, Wide, clear strip of beach that makes the Punta a pOpular place £01“ families and young couples from Veracruz to hold outings and Picnics. On this point reside eleven families (fifty-six persons) who are the only permanent residents of the Punta. These families OPeI‘ate several small seafood restaurants, cantinas, and pop Sti‘nlds which are connected to the family living quarters. These con'izessions are patronized by the picnicers and sun-bathers who 11001: to the Punta on Sundays and holidays. During most of the Week, however, the beach is almost deserted, except for occasional pairs of lovers seeking the relative privacy the beach affords. In recent years North American tourists have begun to invade the Punta with their campers and tents. It has also become a gathering place for American and foreign "hippies" who can enjoy "POt" in relative safety from Mexican police authorities. During the period of fieldwork a small colony of about twenty-five young I ' ‘ p . . an a v r4 - &.,...a. A. . . fl.--‘D§ .- e‘, . "‘:O-‘. u .A‘ _, . I": cola 5’99 -G&‘ .I.‘ a” ”k e":- “ " a“ 'n "(mez’hu . ., pr~fiar 7‘ q 103 American and foreign tourists were in temporary residence. Some individuals stayed but a few days or weeks, while some had been camping on the Punta for as much as six months. Tourists generally camp inland in the scrub forest, away from the local restaurants. No rent or other fees were charged them either by residents of the Punta or people from Cayala. One individual, a young French citizen, was even given a part-time job in Cayala as a janitor in a restaurant. He received no salary, but was given free meals. After a while, however, when it was discovered that he was smoking marijuana, he was fired from his job, but was allowed to remain camping on the Punta. The permanent residents have long established ties with residents of Cayala village. Some Cayala fishermen occasionally 3611 shrimp and crabs to restaurant owners. The restaurants are, hoF-rever, primarily supplied by fishermen from nearby Playa Cenagosa. Frequently individuals or small groups of men from Cayala go to the Punta restaurants to do some private drinking and gambling. Several people from Cayala have compadrazco and kinship ties with Punta residents. School-aged children from the Punta attend school in P'laya Cenagosa, however, the school there being much closer and, in the Opinion of most Punta parents, much better. 92-. O‘Stra While officially within the congregacidn, at least according to the Federal census, for all practical purposes La Ostra (the oyster) can be considered as apart from Cayala y Boscaje. It is located on a bend in the estuary between the laguna chica and the town .‘ :a ' A " V *a o. «-353 4‘3..&::bd. La Cstra is T951323? 5 " 5 \‘~ ‘ 'c ‘n ' . b . , a“ Iv _ ....-€ .. .e ”a... . A _ u 223.5, 3:": Sea" ' «I . ”~1E-‘Sa. u .‘ .es.‘gno A0 A V JFVu A" “ vqkse o '.."\ ~d Q ' w: \‘l I “ U‘n‘" ‘nv.n_ “a. llama 8" ‘ 1‘at’ “.3 & fl\\ : Cyip‘ A we: :1. n. noan U“ I ”or. .A.‘ ‘i'l ‘ K 4E4 “) Km J . n \ “‘L' ‘u‘ h «4‘37 v‘e o D L» t‘xl ti :n *0 a a ,3“, 10h of Playa Cenagosa, about three hours by dugout canoe from Cayala village. La Ostra is a tiny cluster of small huts and makeshift restaurants (12 families, 52 persons) situated along a narrow beach. People here make their living from tourism, selling beer, soft drinks, and seafood to lower income peOple from Veracruz and Playa Cenagosa. Persons living in the area have no ties with persons living in Cayala. On my first visit to La Ostra, I was accompanied by a fisherman from Cayala, Juan Campos, a man in his fifties, a lifelong resident of Cayala, and a former congregacion official. In the course of our visit we talked with members of every family in La Ostra. Campos did not recognize or know any family that was living there. Based on these and subsequent conversations with people from La Ostra, it seems that they are actually recently arrived squatters who have set up residence on previously unoccupied and unutilized land. Children from the area go to school in Playa Cenagosa, and, indeed, the people living there consider themselves to be a colonia (colony) of that town. La Ostra is situated at the far extremity of a vast tract (at least 1000 hectares) of privately owned land that runs from the northern boundary of the Cayala ejido almost to Playa Cenagosa. This land, £9333 land very similar to the Cayala ejido, while within the boundaries of the congregacion, is owned by a wealthy cattlemen from the town of Playa Cenagosa. The owner, who grazes cattle on this land, is a powerful local cacique in his own right and is a long-time friend of the Cayala cacique. For all practical lOS purposes, Cayala officials do not meddle in his operations. Local Services and Living Conditions In this section we will discuss some of the types of public Services and facilities available (or not available) to Cayalanos, and the general living conditions that prevail in the congregacion. The topics include communications, water and electricity, diet and nutrition, illnesses, medical facilities and formal education. Communications Cayala can hardly be called an isolated community. A scheduled bus service links Cayala with Veracruz and the rest of Mexico on a regular basis. The first bus of the day arrives at the village about seven o'clock A.M., and the last leaves about seven o'clock P.M. Buses normally come and go at about two-hour intervals throughout the day. Two locally based taxis run between Cayala and Playa Cenagosa. They are rather expensive, however, (15.00 pesos to Playa Cenagosa, 30.00 pesos to Veracruz) and seldom are used by local residents except in an emergency. There is one radio-telephone in the village, located in the private office of the cacique's restaurant. Technically it is possible to place and receive calls from anywhere in the world. Use of the radio-telephone, however, is strictly limited to the cacique and certain members of his immediate family. Cayala is not linked directly to the national postal service, but one may send and receive mail at the post offices in Playa Cenagosa or Veracruz. There is no telegraph service in Cayala, and 106 no regular delivery of Veracruz or other newSpapers, although these services can be obtained in Veracruz. Electricity and Water At the time of this writing there is no public electrical system functioning in Cayala, although a project to electrify Cayala is well on the way and should be completed within a few months. For the time being, however, most people light their homes in the evenings using kerosene lamps or candles. A few more fortunate families own Coleman or Sears and Roebuck camping laIlterns. The cacique and another restaurant owner have gasoline 90" ered electrical generators which can light their restaurants and private homes. Generally, however, if one enters the village "1th after nightfall everything is shrouded in darkness and the only light visible might be a few faint flickers of candle light 00171 ing between the cracks in the wooden shutters of quiet homes. A new potable water system has recently been installed in the village, but so far only a few families have pipes leading directly into their houses. Most lamilies must carry water to the house in buckets or cans from one of the five public faucets 01‘ several shallow wells located here and there throughout the ViLlage. The water from the wells is not clean, as surface water Ponuted with human and animal wastes enters the wells when it 1‘ atlas. Also, it is not uncommon to find small fish or turtles eWilllmirlg in the wells, which are fed to fatten for later con. Sumption . 107 Diei; and Nutrition The diet of nearly all Cayalanos is relatively a good one, and.:is eSpecially rich in protein derived from shrimp, oysters, varixous kinds of fish, crabs, black beans, and eggs. At least one meal. per day will include a generous portion of one or more of the aboxreg and it is not uncommon for all three meals to include a wmlrwce of protein. As seafood is readily available for the taking, no ;f}mnily need be without, and cost is not a significant factor limiting protein intake. Protein sometimes is eaten in the form of beef, pork, and IXNIIItry, but to a limited extent. An average of perhaps one hog or (Dow is slaughtered per week and the meat sold publicly. Here cost is definitely a limiting factor (beef and pork cost around 16~ (30 pesos per kilo), and poorer families rarely, if ever, Wns‘<3hase meat except on special occasions. Carbohydrates are also plentiful in the diet, coming from COPfitn tortillas, rice, and white bread. There is a molino (mill) "h5— Qh sells m_a_§_a_ (corn meal) dough cheaply, and a bakery which supjgzlies rolls, bread, and various pastries daily at reasonable IHiAczes. Sugar is widely consumed as a sweetener in coffee and tee-,. in various types of punch, in soft drinks, beer, and occasionally 33 candy. Potatoes are an additional source of carbohydrates, but, as ‘ELhey'are fairly expensive and must be purchased outside of Cayala, most; families eat them only once or twice weekly. Citrus fruits and green vegetables are notably lacking in the Cayalano diet. Almost no fruits or vegetables, with the exception of £1 few bananas, mangoes and watermelons, are grown locally, and 125‘. are relati'. N y In“ 9 ‘s‘~u'5 3.4:: as I . Va -‘ reaches “a. V ‘ I 0" W w‘ 4 .. . Addy ~._-.‘ ”C. . 4 ‘ A!“ VI..- 4‘5! ~«‘Eiaf '7. . r“ u A “28:“:- v. ' .' Ja.:".' ““fiA ' -.. 1 ~-‘, “aw‘ " I ‘ t ‘ . “EN-3‘0 \ Q ‘ I ‘va‘ lal“ ‘.|’ \ .‘ “T9239 . .Vu‘ ‘ ‘t‘QH ‘. V | ‘ «‘8». GP.‘ .. S ”:53 ’ h '\ ‘Elui . . ‘«E:l‘ , ‘ - ‘aS L . 3‘3 y}. A 5 .0:0 108 most are relatively expensive. The most commonly eaten vegetables are tomatoes and onions prepared as Spicy sauces or in soups. Fruits such as plums, mangoes, strawberries, cantelope, papaya, and peaches are eaten occasionally when in season. Various kinds of hot chili peppers are widely consumed by all but the smaller children and are an excellent and readily available source of Vitamin C. Dairy products, eSpecially raw milk, are available but the supply rarely meets the demand. when it is available, milk is usually reserved for younger children and is served boiled and sweetened or as cafe’ con leche (coffee with milk) at the morning or evening meal. Cheese and butter are considered luxury foods and are enjoyed by only the more well-to-do. Meals are prepared three tines a day, and include desaflno 03» eakfast) almuerzo (lunch) and gang (dinner). Lunch is the laJi"gest meal of the day and is served between one and three P.M. Bra akfast is the second largest meal and is served between nine and eleven A.M. Dinner is often nothing more than a light eVétming snack eaten anywhere from eight P.M. to midnight. A tI!’P>Q‘.cal daily menu in Cayala might be as follows: Breakfast Lunch Dinner fri ed fish, shrimp or fried fish, fish bread, sweet roll eggs soup, shrimp or tortilla rat‘Zt'ied or boiled black oysters, crab, milk, coffee or beer beairis chicken or meat to1“t.il.las, bread or tortillas, bread, or rice rice °?flfee, tea, often soft drink or beer mth milk Bet«ween meals, snacks are often eaten. Favorites include soft drinks, ..'.. ,g “A, ‘ Io». a‘u u... .. .' a! o ‘ ‘ ”‘3 ... 38...”. Q Q . .0. . 0;. v- < .11.. 8. -..°. 9“_ .1 “A! , b’u$“\‘~ ‘ A t ‘ ‘6 Kg :0 n. v- ..e 2108‘ 0“. x’“ . 1‘7‘ ‘ mks is 7m. “333,2 ‘ K . “ b w’ a,“ 109 a few shrimp, beer, mangoes, bananas, punch, candy, and so on. Persons employed in restaurants generally eat better than those who are not. As a part of their salary, restaurant employees receive two free meals per day. Often they are allowed to take home food left at the end of the day or portions not consumed by paying customers. The variety of foods consumed by restaurant employees is also much greater than for the rest of the population. It is not, uncommon for restaurant owners and patrons to bring imported Cheeses and canned goods to Cayala and share them with restaurant employees. A word should be said about the consumption of alcohol in 08573618. Consumption is, in my opinion, very high, eSpecially among amt males and to a lesser extent among females and teen-agers. thIIe diagnosing clinical alcoholism would require more expertise than I have, I would estimate that 30% to 1.0,": of the adult males and perhaps 20% of the females have a serious drinking problem, cOllesuming alcohol in quantity on a daily basis, often a liter or more of hard liquor. Alcohol consumption is to some extent related ‘30 (occupation in that restaurant workers and musicians are often inV'fi.ted to partake with clients. Waiters, for example, are quite Often given their tip in the form of a few drinks instead of in cash. The most popular alcoholic beverage, eSpecially among poorer individuals is saga (sugar cane brandy), which is distilled in Vex‘e.cruz. It is relatively cheap (about $15.00 pesos per liter) and in abundant supply. Rum ranks second in popularity and is often drunk on Special occasions such as dances or parties. Imported ,tcztraiazi) 5:“) ‘ u t I. C l v- o... I“ ‘5 IEL '* ”A" M..‘y- .. 13:93: a 530‘ 1 A 9 & "‘.'; ..I I n ‘4‘“: C V“ ‘ "‘v , Q-‘ '5 5"er 9‘ o“ “0:39. :11 la... sj‘9 1 y 4 5.: :A ‘ "'84 S“‘4: ' E 'KQ'JS 2n V 4: .Q‘Afg‘ \‘ks are / 1 \. ‘ A 1:- O llO (coqltraband) scotch is consumed on a regular basis only by a few weafiLthy'individuals. Beer, a local favorite, is sometimes considered morwa as a food than as an alcoholic beverage. General Sanitary Conditions and Illness Sanitary conditions in Cayala are very poor. Only the cacique's restaurant and five private homes have flush toilets, and the one in ‘tJne restaurant rarely works. Adults generally take care of their daiily'excretory functions in certain more or less secluded Spots arc>‘und the village, or go directly into the estuary from the Shc>3re or from a dugout. Children generally void wherever they haF>Jpen to be at the moment, usually near the front or back door of ‘their homes. The school has sanitary facilities including t°i~Zlets and showers, but these are available only to school Cki~lldren during school hours. Household and restaurant garbage is