As drug-related violence, state repression,
poverty, and inequality intensify in many regions of Mexico, affected
indigenous communities are increasingly utilizing collective action as a tool
for self-defense and human development. Indigenous mobilization from below has
become a major force throughout Latin America over recent decades, and many communities in Mexico’s Guerrero state are now using such strategies to redefine
the conventions of political participation.
Notably, the Mixtec and Tlapeneco
people of the Costa Chica and Montaña regions of Guerrero have constructed an organization by the name of the Policía Comunitaria (or Community Police) for self-defense through Black Panther-style, grassroots armed-patrols. The
efforts of this project have given rise to a number of additional sophisticated social and
political programs for security and human development.
The
Policía Comunitaria came into being on October 15, 1995, in the community of
Santa Cruz del Rincón of Guerrero's Montaña region. Developed by way of village assemblies, the initial incarnation of the PC was a small, community-run, volunteer police force that ran patrols in and around its villages of origin. The project was designed to combat rampant crime and violence that was typically either ignored or
committed by the state in the Montaña and Costa Chica regions.
In 1997,
the growing number of communities affiliated with the PC decided to expand the project to include governance and the administration of justice form below. The “Community System of Security, Justice, and Reeducation” (SSJRC)
was created for this purpose and was eventually re-established under new structure called the Regional
Coordinator of Communal Authorities (CRAC). Its headquarters is located in the city of San Luis Acatlán.
Today, this project is operating in roughly 60 Mixtec, Tlapaneco, Nahuas, and Mestiza
communities within the six municipalities
of the Costa Chica and Montaña regions, and represents about 100,000 people.
No comments:
Post a Comment