A 1995 estimate claims 48% of Mexican territory is community or ejido property.
Ejidos are Mexico´s contribution to modern socialism, designed to rectify the wholesale injustice
perpetrated on campesinos (country folk, farmers) from Cortes to the 1917 revolution and to improve
agricultural production.
Communal ownership of land had been widely practiced by native peoples, but the institution was in
decline before the Spanish arrived. The conquistadors instituted the encomienda, which was superseded
by the repartimiento and finally, after independence (1821), by debt peonage.
Although legally abolished by the constitution of 1917, which provided for the restoration of the ejido,
peonage remained a general practice until 1934 when enactment of new ejido laws with teeth resulted in
wholesale expropriation of private and native´s lands for redistribution as ejidos.
After noticing that the system did not work, Mexico issued a new set of laws in 1992, "La Nueva Ley
Agraria", The New Farm Act (NLA) of 1992, under which all of the Tuxtlas ejidos now operate.
Basically ejidos are an agricultural co-op composed of 3 types of lands:
1. Land for human settlement - the village with solares (lots) for individuals.
2. Common Land - grazing, forest, etc.
3. Farmland.
Voluntarily, and frequently pushed by ecologists, many communities have reserved some of their common
land as nature preserves.
Campesinos are the poorest strata of Mexican society and their decisions to preserve some of their natural
environment comes at great expense to them but also blesses their noble hearts.
There is one article about the status of the Tuxtlas campesinos in the biosfera that says it all.
Jornada 2004 - Los Tuxtlas, donde hacer milpa es un delito.
The library has a fair selection of campesino references, mostly in spanish, though.
Ejidos are Mexico´s contribution to modern socialism, designed to rectify the wholesale injustice
perpetrated on campesinos (country folk, farmers) from Cortes to the 1917 revolution and to improve
agricultural production.
Communal ownership of land had been widely practiced by native peoples, but the institution was in
decline before the Spanish arrived. The conquistadors instituted the encomienda, which was superseded
by the repartimiento and finally, after independence (1821), by debt peonage.
Although legally abolished by the constitution of 1917, which provided for the restoration of the ejido,
peonage remained a general practice until 1934 when enactment of new ejido laws with teeth resulted in
wholesale expropriation of private and native´s lands for redistribution as ejidos.
After noticing that the system did not work, Mexico issued a new set of laws in 1992, "La Nueva Ley
Agraria", The New Farm Act (NLA) of 1992, under which all of the Tuxtlas ejidos now operate.
Basically ejidos are an agricultural co-op composed of 3 types of lands:
1. Land for human settlement - the village with solares (lots) for individuals.
2. Common Land - grazing, forest, etc.
3. Farmland.
Voluntarily, and frequently pushed by ecologists, many communities have reserved some of their common
land as nature preserves.
Campesinos are the poorest strata of Mexican society and their decisions to preserve some of their natural
environment comes at great expense to them but also blesses their noble hearts.
There is one article about the status of the Tuxtlas campesinos in the biosfera that says it all.
Jornada 2004 - Los Tuxtlas, donde hacer milpa es un delito.
The library has a fair selection of campesino references, mostly in spanish, though.
Nature Reserves in Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz
Reservas Campesinas - community reserves
Reservas Campesinas - community reserves
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