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001496 Visit since
| Profile
of the Indigenous People of Mexico
Chapter 7B - Huasteca - Part 3 |
by Prof. German Estrada
January 12, 2003 |
12. Indigenous languages in the Huasteca
have evolved during the last three decades whereby more speakers are bilingual
than monolingual, although there are distributional differences by state, geographic
areas, obviously with mono-linguism concentrated in the more isolated pockets
and municipalities. In the Hidalgo Huasteca monolingual speakers are 25% of the
indigenous population, while in San Luis Potosi and Veracruz the percentages are
10.7 and 12.2% monolingual population. Indigenous
Governance 13. One characteristic of the indigenous
region of Huasteca is the continued existence and vigor of the local customary
systems of governance. Historically, these forms of government were the main internal
governance system in the indigenous areas. They have persisted post-independence
and into modern times because they have been a key element in the strategy of
resistance, and because, the system and elements of communal labor sharing and
responsibilities have provided community with services and a network of communications
that would otherwise not exist. Like other indigenous communities, the Huasteca
indigenous groups maintain a cargo system with a series of obligatory community
posts for community services. 14. The reaction
to the opportunities of financing from government programs has been to overlay
a complicated system of committees and committee responsibilities onto the traditional
system of cargos. Given the small size of the communities (100-500 adult members),
this results in a heavy burden on indigenous adults to fulfill their duties in
these positions, as well as a dispersion of organizational efforts into a number
of unlinked activities, with no synergy of effort. The typical community with
access to government funds has developed a minimum of 11 committees to access
DIF, SEP, CONAFE, SSA, SEDESOL-Solidarity, SEDESOL-Credit, SEDESOL-Children of
Solidarity, SEDESOL-Housing, SEDESOL-Women in Solidarity, SAGAR Firco, SAGAR-Forestry
restoration, and the church committee, each with four officer positions. In addition
this community has at least 18 traditional formal positions in the assembly and
sub-assemblies that are part of the structure of the ejidos or communities in
the region. The interviews show a strong sector attitude of the various government
agencies-not only is these agencies unaware of the confusion and dispersion of
efforts, but they are also unable to conceive of the possibility of alternatives.
For example, a common response is, "How would we assure an adequate allocation
of funds, if there is not a clear line of responsibility for this program and
a clear set of leaders for this particular program". 15.
Women play an important role in the economy and the community. Based on their
domestic roles and strong inputs into the home-garden production, they have organized
women's groups that take responsibility for education, health, and alternative
income strategies. Some of the micro-regions in San Luis and Hidalgo have women's
groups that have been in continuous existence for more than 100 years. The promoters
who come from government agencies to assist development tend to be completely
ignorant of these organizations and attempt to "inform" women of the
potential ways to promote development, rather than studying and building upon
these very strong existing organizations Education 16.
While generally more educated than in the other regions studied in the profiles,
the Huasteca also has high levels of illiteracy and drop-out rates. Compared to
a national average of 12%, 22% of the adults over 15years of age are illiterate.
There has been an effective initiation of a bilingual program in the Huasteca
due to the predominance of Nahuatl speakers in the INI bilingual programs, but
the program is less effective for the Pame and Teenek and Otami speakers, where
few of the teachers or their supervisors know how to read or write in the local
languages. There are not clear figures on the drop-out rates, due to the dispersion
of statistics across states and municipalities, where indigenous characteristics
tend to be lost. * The HUASTECA REGION of Mexico is located
in the States of Puebla, Veracrúz, Hidalgo, Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí.
Their origin is Maya-Quiche. Source: Mexican Government
Institutions (Sedesol)
gestrada@pvnet.com.mx
Prof. Germán Estrada is the
author of the best selling book, "México
Mágico: Everything You Wanted To Know About... But Nobody Told
You..." available in Puerto Vallarta at The Net House, Mail Boxes, Etc.,
Books, Books as well as directly from the author by internet. Archives
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