The openMovements series invites leading social scientists to share their research results and perspectives on contemporary social struggles.
Concejo Mayor de Gobierno Comunal. Authors' photographs.The struggle of
Cherán is one of the most important emerging social movements of recent years
in Mexico, both for its visibility and for the political, economic, social and
cultural alternative that the community is building. It is a lively movement,
with its campfires still burning, still fighting and resisting. Its experience has
inspired indigenous communities throughout Mexico, who seek respect for their
rights, territory, institutions and culture.
San Francisco
Cherán, is an indigenous community of the Purépecha town located in the state
of Michoacán, Mexico. It has a territorial extension of 221,000 square
kilometers and a population of 14,245 inhabitants, making it the largest
Purépecha community in terms of territory. It originally counted some 27,000
hectares of forest. The main economic activities are agriculture, livestock
farming and the production of wood and cork products.
Cherán is the only
municipality inhabited mainly by indigenous Purépecha, a culture that seeks to
preserve its identity and cultural traits, which are closely linked to concerns
about the fertility of the land and care of resources. The community of Cherán has
occupied this territory since before the colonization process. It has conserved
its own institutions to organize itself in the political, cultural, economic
and social sphere, and this has been reflected in its social dynamics. The
inhabitants of the municipality have combined their own practices with the national
law, in a dual law regime. The inhabitants of the
municipality have combined their own practices with the national law, in a dual
law regime.
However, recently,
particularly between 2008 and 2011, this community experienced one of its worst
periods of crisis due to the insecurity and violence arising from the municipal
authorities’ complicity with organized crime. They cut down a wide swathe of
Cherán’s forests unannounced and extorted, threatened, kidnapped and murdered
the villagers. They carried out these activities in broad daylight.
The state and federal authorities showed no will to address the
resulting mayhem and violence suffered by the community and to protect the
common patrimony of the people (territory, forests and water). The Purépecha
community of Cherán decided to take the problem into their own hands.
Beginnings of the movement
The movement of
the indigenous community of Cherán emerged at dawn on April 15, 2011. Ordinary people
decided to confront the criminal organizations that came down from the hill
with several vans loaded with wood. Thus began the resistance of the Purepecha
community of Cherán. Women and men, children and adults concentrated on the site
named “Calvary” to defend life, their security, territory, forests and the
dignity of the community. Regardless of political affiliation, belief or
religion, all the inhabitants of Cherán joined together on that April 15
without thinking where their insurrection would lead them. Regardless of political affiliation, belief or religion,
all the inhabitants of Cherán joined together on that April 15 without thinking
where their insurrection would lead them.
From that day on, the
“comuneros” decided to organize under
their own scheme, driving away organized crime. After the expulsion of the
municipal authorities, an "organizational structure" composed of a
general coordination and 12 commissions took over the control of the entire
community. They built barricades on all the accesses to the municipality and started
to establish guard posts to enable comuneros
to defend themselves in the four neighborhoods of the municipality. Some 200
campfires – of which several have remained active up to this day – were set up
at these guard posts and became the symbols of the resistance, and the will of
the comuneros to free themselves from organized crime and corrupted authorities.
With the slogan “for the defense of our forests, for the safety of our comuneros" they aimed at defending
their natural resources, valued as a heritage and as a sacred good of the
community.
Cheran – no to political parties.At the same time,
the problem of Cherán became visible to several sectors of Mexican society and
resonated with them. Similar problems were suffered by indigenous communities throughout
the country, including the devastation of natural resources, human rights violations
and social exclusion. All of this was aggravated by the involvement of
organized crime and the lack of will or any action on the part of the
authorities to solve the situation.
From the spaces
known as "campfires" and the "organizational structure",
the comuneros began to discuss, to
reflect on alternative projects and actions to solve the problems they were
suffering. They quickly identified that political parties did not guarantee the
security and cultural continuity of Cherán. On June 1, 2011, the community
general assembly decided not to take part in the elections for the state
governors and legislators and the municipal presidents that were to be held in
2011 and not to allow the installation of polling stations in the municipality.
Instead, they decided to exercise their right to appoint their own authorities
through their own normative systems. Instead, they
decided to exercise their right to appoint their own authorities through their
own normative systems.
The rights to
autonomy and self-determination had been recognized by international treaties
as well as by the national legal system. Cheran thus decided to move forward along
this path and to eliminate the local political party system, with the slogan of
"No more political parties in the community". It thus asked the
electoral institute of the state of Michoacán to organize the appointment of
new municipal authorities of the community under the traditional system of
"uses and customs".
The state
authorities tried to stop the movement of Cherán. In September 2011, the Electoral
Institute of Michoacan issued a negative response, declaring it had no
authority to authorize such a mode of elections. To the social and political
mobilizations that were the bases of the movement until then, the comuneros
now decided to add the adoption of a legal strategy to defend its autonomy and alternative
project.
"No
more political parties in the community".
The legal strategy of the
movement
Cherán decided to
mobilize the law as a political and legal strategy. They used state (and
hegemonic) law in a "counter-hegemonic sense" to materialize their
struggle for self-determination and to form their self-government. In response
to the EIM (Electoral Institute of Michoacan), the community decided to
judicialize its right to "autonomy and self-determination". They
demanded in the courts the right to choose their own authorities based on the
system of "uses and customs", through a "Trial for the
Protection of the Political-Electoral Rights of the Citizen" in the
Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Power of the Federation (ETJPF, or TEPJF by
their initials in Spanish). Two months later, on
November 2, 2011, the Superior Chamber of the ETJPF ruled in favor of the
indigenous community of Cherán.
Two months later,
on November 2, 2011, the Superior Chamber of the ETJPF ruled in favor of the
indigenous community of Cherán. It recognized that Cherán had the right to
request the election of its own authorities through its "uses and
customs" and ordered the EIM to organize this election, after free and
informed consultation with the entire community.
Following this
triumph of a counter-hegemonic use of state law and the ETJPF decision, a
“free, prior and informed consultation” was organized in the community to decide
whether or not it wanted to appoint its new authorities through its "uses
and customs". The result of the consultation was positive. In January
2012, a democratic election was duly held, giving rise to the constitution of a
new government figure: the first indigenous municipal government, called
"Mayor Council of Communal Government" (Concejo Mayor de Gobierno
Comunal), composed of 12 "K’eris" (seniors) chosen among the “comuneros”
and “comuneras” (members of the community), three for each of four districts.
There is no hierarchy among them, that is to say, all occupy the same position
within the communal government. They were appointed for a 3-year period
2012-2015.
The first time, a
"uses and customs" election was organized by the EIM and by the
community itself, respecting its own procedures, through a kind of ritual,
without ballot boxes and without political parties. It differs from the model
of "uses and customs" in the Southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, as the
later system only serves a procedural function in the election of its
authorities. In the case of Cherán, there was a "transformation in the
structure, logic and relations of the municipal government", when the hierarchical
figures of "president, elected representatives and councillor" disappears
and the government becomes a genuinely collegial body.
The new communal government
Following these
elections, the seat of the city council or municipal palace was transformed
into the "Communal House of Government". The police were replaced by
a "community round". The municipal president, representatives and
councillors take part in a "Common Council of Communal Government";
Likewise, "operational councils" have been constituted as well as
"commissions" for civil affairs, social development, procurement and
conciliation of justice, education, culture, health, identity, campfires,
water, cleanliness and youth. All them are aware that the maximum authority is
the "General Assembly" composed of all the inhabitants of Cherán. All them are aware that the maximum authority is the
"General Assembly" composed of all the inhabitants of Cherán.
From April 2011 to
February 2012, Cherán's social movement moved considerably forward, both in its
political and legal struggles. Winning the right to elect its own authorities and
exercise their right to self-determination allowed them to establish a solid basis
– the communal government – for the continuation of the emancipatory movement.
The path towards autonomy was set up. But the journey went far beyond constituting
a government under the system of "uses and customs”.
Other legal struggles of the
movement and the second Council
The second Council of Communal Government took charge on September 1st, 2015.In 2012, shortly
after the appointment of the first mayoral council and already as Cherán's
authorities, the community returned to the courts to start another trial, this
time in the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), against the Governor
and the Congress of the State of Michoacán. The latter had overhauled the
Political Constitution of this region in matters of indigenous rights without
having consulted the Cherán community, thereby overlooking another of the core
rights of indigenous peoples and communities.
The ruling given
by the SCJN in the trial of 2014 secured the dual character of Cherán, as both a
municipality and as an indigenous community. This was officially recognized for
the first time. As a result, the tribunal also established that in its capacity
as an "indigenous municipality", Cherán must be consulted on all
legislative and administrative matters that interest or affect them as a
community and as an indigenous municipality.
The issues brought
to trial by Cherán and given legal backing by the highest courts in Mexico represent
a major achievement. However, despite these judicial successes that have
ratified the indigenous rights of the community, lawmakers in Michoacán have refused
to amend the laws on matters integral to the municipality which involve
recognition of Cherán’s indigenous municipality. Likewise, in electoral matters,
the elections and authorities by "uses and customs" have also not
been recognized.
Given the refusal
of the state to cooperate, Cherán has continued to resist through communal
organization in its campfires, neighborhood assemblies, and general assembly.
Comuneros and comuneras get involved in the decisions of their community and
support their local authorities. In 2014, Cherán had to go back to court once
more, to remind the authorities of the rights it had won. Following that trial,
the process of elections by "uses and customs" has finally been incorporated
into the Electoral Law. Cherán made the
consultation "binding", which has opened a door for all indigenous communities
in the state of Michoacan to get their voices heard in decision making
processes.
In 2015, Cherán's
struggle succeeded in integrating "previous, free and informed
consultation" into state law. It prevented the state Congress from
approving a “Law of Mechanisms of Citizen Participation” which did not recognise
the consultation rights of indigenous peoples and communities. This mechanism is
essential to ensuring communities’ participation in decision-making processes through
their traditional procedures. Cherán made the consultation "binding",
which has opened a door for all indigenous communities in the state of Michoacan
to get their voices heard in decision making processes
2015 was also the
year of the appointment of the second Mayoral Council of Communal Government. The
community decided to continue with its project of autonomy, self-determination
and self-government. The political parties tried to interfere in the process of
the renewal of the Council. Their failure to do so and the successes of Cherán
in the tribunals gave considerable strength to the second election of the local
authorities and to the second Council of Communal Government that took charge
on September 1, 2015.
5
years of resistance and struggle
On April 15, 2016, the
movement of Cherán celebrated its fifth anniversary. They organized an event with
a strong cultural dimension and forums of dialogue fostering conversations on
topics such as dispossession and war against the peoples, women and territory,
autonomy, education for the defense of the territory. The celebration was closed
with an event on the main square of the community, where the inhabitants
remembered their dead companions and recalled the difficult road that they had travelled,
the fear of living under insecurity, the impotence they felt when their forests
were devastated. They also remembered the purpose of their struggle, a movement
"for justice, security and the reconstitution of their territory". To build and rebuild a lifestyle based on a communal
government through its "uses and customs" has been the major task of
these five years. The road has not been easy.
The movement has found many
allies and support, notably among indigenous communities and progressive
movements in Mexico. It has notably been accompanied in its struggle by the “Collectivo Emancipaciones”,
that gathers young researchers who share a "political position committed
to progressive social movements and from judicial support of social processes
where the defense of human rights is relevant". Since 2011, this Collective has been providing judicial
support to the indigenous community of Cherán and has been working benevolently
with the community as well as with other indigenous communities in the state of
Michoacán.
To build and rebuild a
lifestyle based on a communal government through its "uses and
customs" has been the major task of these five years. The road has not
been easy. The community continues to face a broad list of systemic enemies including
the administrative bureaucracy, political parties, organized crime and state
resistance to recognizing the rights of indigenous communities. The achievements
of the community of Cherán remain under constant threat.
Translation by Andrea Janet
Serna Hernández and Itzel Cruz Ruiz.
How to cite:
González Hernández, A. and Zertuche Cobos, V.A. (2016) Cherán. 5 years of self-government in an indigenous community in Mexico, Open Democracy / ISA RC-47: Open Movements, 2 December. https://opendemocracy.net/alejandra-gonz-lez-hern-ndez-v-ctor-alfonzo-zertuche-cobos/cher-n-5-years-of-self-government-in-indi