The Namiquipa ejido had grown so much that in 1962, it petitioned to create a new ejido, Nuevo Namiquipa.46When the government approved this expansion in 1965, it did not affect any of the Mennonite colonies, but when the La Paz ejido followed suit in 1968 and petitioned to create the La Nueva Paz ejido, it was a different story. He highlighted the communitys cleanliness and its economic contribution in terms of livestock, dairy production, and industrialized agriculture;69 he praised their education system, nutritious diet, and personal hygiene; and he pointed out that the Mennonites in La Honda saved their money in local banks in the towns of Rio Grande or Miguel Auza and that the colony paid federal and state taxes. In 1915, the federal government, under president-elect Venustiano Carranza, had passed a law that rendered any occupation of communal land illegal, even by soldiers.5When Carranza became president in 1917, his government passed a new constitution that continued this commitment to the question of land use and established the conditions for a land redistribution program. Manuel vila Camacho, president from 1940 to 1946, created the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Mennonites in Mexico - Wikipedia (2) The government granted the remainder of the landowners in that colony exemption from future land claims; the certificates explained that while the Mennonites had come from elsewhere, their descendientes son mexicanos por nacimiento que se dedican a la agricultura, contribuyendo con su esfuerzo y su trabajo colectivo a la produccin de alimentos bsicos para la poblacin (descendants are Mexican by birth, work in agriculture, and collectively contribute to produce basic foodstuffs for the [Mexican] population).62These agreements highlighted that Mennonites were now Mexicans, who were contributing to the countrys economy. And in 1922, at the invitation of President Alvaro Obregn, 20,000 Mennonites came to Mexico from Canada to settle on 247,000 acres of land in Chihuahua . As a result, logging in lowland forest was suspended in an area of 759 hectares, as well as in 10 properties; five sawmills were closed, four tractors and three trailers were confiscated, and 299 charcoal ovens were permanently closed. They did not compromise and, because of that, they did not belong., Towells intimate black-and-white images capture the simplicity and hardship of the Mennonite way of life, the austerity of their religious beliefs echoed in the wind-whipped landscapes where they settled. All translations are the authors unless otherwise noted. La Honda, Zacatecas (Los Menonitas) - YouTube (modern). invaders claim to receive orders from the Independent Campesino Organization . William C. Thiesenhusen (Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1989), 284. According to Peter T. Bergen, who has written the history of the La Batea colony: Dann im Jahre 1973 kamen mehr Agraristen und siedelten in der Gegend an wo Nio Artillero heute ist. In Coahuila, in 2015-2016 it was detected that 2,300 hectares were affected in 23 plots of 100 hectares each, by the change of land use in forest lands for agricultural activities and forage without authorization, due to the daily activities of the Mennonites. The Mennonite community is known by that name because ofMenno Simmons, its most important leader. . [18][19] In 2014, Abraham Friesen-Remple was one of six members of the Northern Mexico's Mennonite community who were indicted and accused of smuggling marijuana in the gas tanks of cars and inside farm equipment. Mennonites in La Honda, as in La Batea, worked with local government to resolve the situation. After long dirt roads between mountains, hills and pastures of Chihuahua, some 230 kilometers from Ciudad Jurez, appears Sabinal, a community of 10,000 hectares inhabited by some 1,500 Mennonites with white skin, blond hair and light colored eyes. ataques a familias, cosechas y semovientes amenazas de muerte. Evelyn Alarcn Quezada offers a case study about Mennonite agricultural practices in that state (in Anlisis del sistema agrario menonita, un enfoque desde la geografa sistmica, caso colonia la Honda, municipio de Miguel Auza, estado de Zacatecas [Lic. "Se van mil 500 menonitas por sequa e inseguridad", "Las migraciones menonitas al norte de Mxico entre 1922 y 1940", "A Century Ago, Our Families Left the Prairies and Moved to Mexico. The aforementioned privileges being guaranteed by our laws, we hope that you will take advantage of them positively and permanently.11These Mennonite immigrants, in his view, would bring order to Mexico because of their Canadian ways and, because of the exceptions granted to them, would be able to contribute to the economy with their farms, ensuring that post-Revolutionary Mexico would prosper. Dormady, Mennonite Colonization, 18283. The evolution occurred in part because the Mennonites who came to Canada had to adapt to life there and, when they returned, they brought modernity back with them. His images have since attained a historical resonance as a document of a people caught between adherence to their biblical beliefs and the need to change in order to survive. Religion and identity meet in Mexico Citys Iztapalapa, A quick guide to Mexico Citys many Pueblos Mgicos, 6 national banks join forces to offer commission-free ATMs, US brings charges against Sinaloa Cartel, including Los Chapitos, Reform allowing state-owned airline passes in Chamber of Deputies. Thus, it was not until the 1960s that the residents of the Nuevo Ideal colony in Durango and the increasingly connected Mennonite colonies in Chihuahua had grown enough that their residents needed more farm land.38. Finally, you should know that the Mennonite cheese that can currently be bought anywhere in Mexico is a national product, which they learned in this country thanks to the fact that a Mennonite worker from Chihuahua learned the technique from his boss, a Mormon pharmacist who taught him. The greatest numbers are now found in Mexico, and many live or regularly migrate to work in rural Canada. [6] In 1922, 3,000 Mennonites from the Canadian province of Manitoba established in Chihuahua. A Mennonite leader from Durango, Isaac Bueckert, traveled to the state of Zacatecas to inquire about land owned by a man called ngel Mier. In the midst of this mutually convenient agreement with the federal government, however, Mennonites have experienced altercations with their neighbors over [], Mennonites from Canada migrated to Mexico to pursue religious freedom by living in communities of villages called colonies.1 Mexico welcomed them, as it believed the Mennonites would improve the economy of an unstable region. This period of widespread unrest, which had led to a massacre in Mexico City in 1968, also led to peasants in Northwestern Mexico to apply for new or expanded ejidos. "The first time I went to. Documentary on Old Colony Mennonites in Mexico and their culinary links to Ukraine. The states agricultural production had fallen by three-fourths and the number of cattle by 90 percent.9 The government wanted to rebuild Chihuahuas economy as a way to reduce the chances of future US incursions.10. [Somos] pequeos propietarios ofendidos inmensa mayora nacidos territorio nacional. they had full knowledge facts situation became awful . Mexico has the worst mortality figures in the OECD as a result of Covid. A community out of time: Larry Towell's images of Mennonite families According to the 2012 estimates, there were 100,000 Mennonites living in Mexico[1] (including 32,167 baptized adult church members),[5] the vast majority of them, or about 90,000 are established in the state of Chihuahua,[2] 6,500 were living in Durango,[3] with the rest living in small colonies in the states of Campeche, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, San Luis Potos and . Nuevo Ideal's lies around 77 miles (124km) north of the city of Durango. But in the end only 6 out of the 200 families from Russia remained in Mexico. Mexican people in rural areas wanted to end the hacienda (large rural estate) system. Mennonites benefit from this transit point since many travelers and truck drivers stop in Nuevo Ideal in search of Menonita Cheese. Cuauhtmoc Mayor Elas Humberto Prez Mendoza told attendees that, over a century, the city had successfully combined three cultures: Mennonite, mestiza (mixed European and indigenous ancestry) and indigenous Rarmuri. They were worried when men were drafted for military service, and some opposed the options for alternative service. Die Mennoniten aber waren dankbar, alles so friedlich verlief. Mennonites from Canada migrated to Mexico to pursue religious freedom by living in communities of villages called colonies. The Mexican president was willing to sign such a generous agreement in part because he needed to populate the politically unstable region with loyal subjects who would contribute to its economy through agricultural production. Questions or comments about the journals print or online content may be directed to the editor. Archaeologists unearthed a rare sculpture of. You should also know that one of their community rules is to only marry each other. At this point, when history is upon us, thats all you can do., Towell sees the Mennonites project as having an affinity with another body of work he made even closer to home: The World from My Front Porch, an intimate study of family and place that was published in 2008. All will be checked now! Resolucin sobre la creacin de un nuevo centro de poblacin agrcola que se denominar La Nueva Paz, en Riva Palacio, Chih., Diario Oficial de la Federacin, September 12, 1970, 15. This community spoke German and Adorno speaks English and Spanish. It was named for Menno Simons, a Dutch priest who consolidated and institutionalized the work initiated by moderate Anabaptist leaders. La Batea, Zacatecas, Mexico. Peasants lived in a situation similar to debt peonage, of constant indebtedness and poverty. The ejidatarios acted in this way because they believed the land was theirs and that these actions would help their claim. In line with protest movements of the previous decade, the ejidatarios also began to occupy that land. He expressed as much, and Elorduy reportedly responded by saying, Life is full of struggles.64 In spite of this, these Mennonites bought around sixteen thousand hectares in 1964. [7], Worsening poverty, water shortages and drug-related violence across northern Mexico have provoked significant numbers of Mennonites living in Durango and Chihuahua to relocate abroad in recent years, especially to Canada, and to other regions of Latin America. The children, wide-eyed and tousle-haired, are dressed like their parents and grandparents in check shirts and weatherbeaten denim dungarees or long skirts and headscarves. A community out of time: Larry Towells images of Mennonite families, featured on a Canadian postage stamp in 2015, by Larry Towell is published in May by Gost (60). Gabriela Soto Laveaga, Jungle Laboratories: Mexican Peasants, National Projects, and the Making of the Pill (Durham, NC: Duke University Press), 116. James J. Kelly, Article 27 and Mexican Land Reform: The Legacy of Zapatas Dream, Columbia Human Rights Law Review 25 (1994): 554. In other words, the Mennonite colonies in Mexico have engaged in capitalist expansion and are one of many groups from within or outside of Mexico that have colonized parts of the country, displacing others in the process. Marcela Enns IG 124shares Mennonites have been living in. They were able to negotiate a special immigration agreement with Mexican president lvaro Obregn (19201924) that accommodated their needs by granting them exception to multiple Mexican laws. Over the course of these early years of settlement, angry confrontations took place between the Zuloagas, Mexican peasants, and Mennonites. Moreover, the Mennonites had purchased more land than was necessary for their initial population. (Reg-316), Diario Oficial de la Federacin, August 24, 1983, 1st section, 1618. This article situates Mennonites land-related conflict within various changes in Mexican policy toward land and Indigenous people. He concluded that debido a los reglamentos tan estrictos de su religin, no causan nunca problemas o conflictos a las Autoridades, y cuando las hay generalmente las resuelven en forma interna y pacficamente (given their strict religious rules, they never cause problems or conflicts with the authorities, and that when there are problems, they resolve them internally and peacefully).70, In October of 1979, the SRA granted Mennonite landowners the certificates that rendered their land ineligible for further redistribution, and the ejidatarios never returned.71, Learning from a Long View of Capitalist Expansion. La Batea Colony, Zacatecas, Mexico, 1994. At that time, Profepa filed 18 criminal complaints with the Attorney Generals Office (PGR) and imposed 2,795,274 pesos in fines. . Look it up now! In the years after 1873, some 7,000 left the Russian Empire and settled in Canada. . 2 [2009]: 6582). These examples are the result of the Mennonite colonies privileging separation from the rest of society through an agricultural lifestyle. The economic achievements have attracted the attention of organized criminal gangs, putting Mennonites at risk of armed robbery, kidnap and extortion. in Chihuahua. Paul Gillingham and Benjamin T. Smiths edited collection,Dictablanda: Politics, Work, and Culture in Mexico, 19381968(Durham: Duke University Press, 2014), offers more information about the way the PRI maintained power in twentieth-century Mexico. Between 2012 and 2017 alone, it is estimated that at least 30,000 Mexican Mennonites emigrated to Canada.[8]. In 1973, the neighboring ejido for that village, Nio Artillo, petitioned the federal SRA to include that land, which was near a water source. . Mennonites were associated with prosperity while other farmers were not. The Mennonites, however, felt that since they had purchased the land, it was theirs. Resolucin sobre ampliacin de ejido al poblado Nuevo Namiquipa, Municipio de Namiquipa, Chih., Diario Oficial de la Federacin, December 5, 1968, 1416, states that Johan Redekop, Ernst Fehr Boehlig, Johan Wiebe Peters, David Dyck Peters, David Martens, Jakob [Teichroeb Sawatzky], Jakob Friesen Friesen, and Benjamn Froese Dyck donated land. For a comparative example, see Alonsos chronicle of serrano communities who settled in Northwestern Mexico on land they were given after fighting wars against Apache Indigenous people (Thread of Blood, 710). (Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ / AFP). And then he called: Pero ya! A powerful landowner, Roberto Elorduy, who was a friend of a Mennonite leader in Durango, had sold the Mennonites land that was eligible for redistribution.63 Mennonite leader Jakob K. Guenther had been worried about this in light of conflict in nearby La Batea. Luis Carlos Bravo Pea et al., include examples of the effects of Mennonite farming practices (Cultura y apropiacin del espacio: Diferencias en los paisajes culturas de menonitas y mestizos de Chihuahua, Mexico, Journal of Latin American Geography 14, no. The religious sect acquired a 100,000-hectare land grant in Chihuahua from the government of lvaro Obregn, and in 1922, Mennonite families first arrived by train in their thousands. In Coahuila, in 2015-2016 it was detected that 2,300 hectares were affected in 23 plots of 100 hectares each, by the change of land use in forest lands for agricultural activities and forage without authorization, due to the daily activities of the Mennonites. This organizing was met with massive state repression, most notably expressed in the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre in downtown Mexico City. 1994. The Mennonites Larry Towell Magnum Photos But gradually, modernity came along with electric power to challenge this deeply traditional community. Presidente municipalAntonio Herrera Bocardo, who had helped Mennonites in La Batea, urged people in La Honda to be patient. The ejidatarios had hoped that occupying the land for which they had petitioned would ensure that it would be granted to them. Dormady, Mennonite Colonization 181; Sawatzky, They Sought a Country, 194. Article 27 stated: La propiedad de las tierras y aguas comprendidas dentro de los lmites del territorio nacional, corresponde originariamente a la Nacin. (Land and water found within national borders originally belongs to the Nation. [12], After 1924, another 200 Mennonite families (some 1,000 persons) from Soviet Russia, tried to settle in Mexico. The provision became permanent in 1923 when the governor ordered that 7,344 hectares of land be expropriated, including 5,000 hectares of land that the Mennonites had bought but not yet occupied.17, The Mennonites knew little about campesinos and their long struggle for land or about the new legal provisions to make land available for the people.18And the campesinos were undoubtedly perplexed that the land promised to them appeared to have changed hands. Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC. Therefore, we would deem it a pleasure if this answer would satisfy you. The Mennonites in my photographs originally came from Ukraine and Russia in the 19th century, he says. Den Agraristen war diesen Land schon versprochen bevor die Mennoniten herzogen. (In the end, the Mennonites lost this land. Their history in Sabinal dates back to 1992, when, guided by their religious leaders, they arrived in Chihuahua from Zacatecas, where there was no longer enough land to supply the entire Mennonite community. As restrictions set to end, is the U.S. prepared for more migrant crossings on the Juarez-El Paso border? Most of the men speak a little bit of Spanish and farm cotton, chili, sorghum, pumpkin and onions. Mennonites must stop cutting down jungle to plant - Mexico Daily Post Am ersten waren sie auf der Arenas Fence. Over the course of the 1990s, Towell photographed 23 Mennonite communities at a time of great change and upheaval. These leaders were pleased with the reception they received in Mexico. This would continue in the period beyond Alonsos study. The agrarian code was later modified to apply only to people who owned more than one hundred and fifty hectares of landif the land required irrigationor three hundred hectares if it did not.30Landowners could also get out of the land redistribution program if they successfully petitioned for certificates of ineligibility for land reform. Acuerdo sobre inafectabilidad agrcola, relativo al predio rstico denominado Lote 12 del predio La Campana, ubicado en el Municipio de Riva Palacio, Chih., Diario Oficial de la Nacin, January 2, 1984, 1516;Acuerdo sobre inafectabilidad agrcola, relativo al predio rstico denominado Lote 7 del predio La Campana, ubicado en el Municipio de Riva Palacio, Chih., Diario Oficial de la Nacin, January 2, 1984, 1415. I dont have an assignment and I dont have a plan, but well see what happens when I get there. In 1961, a group of Mennonites from Nuevo Ideal, Durango, moved to land on Miers property. The Mennonite community has its roots in Germany and the Netherlands and at the end of 1922, they arrived inSan Antonio de los Arenales, north of the city of Chihuahua. [15], Since the start of the Mexican Drug War, many Mennonite colonies in Chihuahua have suffered the impact of the drug-related violence. In 2003 it was renamed the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples and in 2018 the National Institute of Indigenous People. The first train left Plum Coulee, Manitoba, on March 1, 1922. Profepa revealed that all means of challenge were taken care of and exhausted, all were in favor of Profepa, which resulted in fines totaling 14 million pesos for all affected hectares. Da bauten sie Kleine Huser aus Pappe. Fernando Ruiz Castro, Report on the Colony in What Was Known as the La Honda Hacienda, n. d., Ejido J. Santos Bauelos Collection, Archivo General Agrario, Mexico City. According to the 2012 estimates, there were 100,000Mennonitesliving inMexico(including 32,167 baptized adult church members),the vast majority of them, or about 90,000 are established in the state ofChihuahua,6,500 were living inDurango, with the rest living in small colonies in the states ofCampeche,Tamaulipas,Zacatecas,San Luis PotosandQuintana Roo. Mexico Photography: Eunice Adorno and the Mennonites in Mexico By 1920, when the Mennonite leaders were engaging in negotiations with the Mexican president, revolutionary fighting and an influenza epidemic had decimated the areas population, making it especially vulnerable. Mennonites still maintain their language, Low German, a kind of traditional German dialect taught in schools. Mennonites also experienced conflict with their neighbors in the state of Zacatecas. . A rising TikTok star from a Mennonite community in Chihuahua, Mexico that once shunned rubber tires and electricity is now embracing technology to give a glimpse of her life through social media. There are Mennonite communities in Campache and Quintana Roo. (We are peaceful own land form Mennonite colonies documents show that we are owners . 63 (2017): 1635. 4 This is significant to our discussion here because the revolution was fought, in large part, over land use. For example, once the Mennonites had established their communities, free-ranging cattle repeatedly destroyed their crops. Starting with the first 3,000 mennonite colonists in 1922,[7] community's population grew exponentially and in just a 100 year it reached 100,000, or a growth of over 3000%. Softened mining regulation reform advances to Senate. Ejido J. Santos Bauelos Collection, Archivo General Agrario, Mexico City; Antonio Herrera Bocardo, Letter to Joel Luevanos Ponce and Arturo Medrano Cabral, Comisin Agraria Mixta, May 2, 1979, Ejido J. Santos Bauelos Collection, Archivo General Agrario, Mexico City. 9 (2017): 40. Mennonites in Mexico: A life frozen in time - DW - 05/23/2022 Antonio Herrera Bocardo described the Mennonites as taxpayers who contributed to the nations economy and as people who helped the nation by peacefully working, farming, and producing foodstuffs.68 A bureaucrat named Fernando Ruiz Castro, perhaps one who had seen the protest, also lauded the Mennonites. Their settlements were first established in the 1920s. . Mexican people hoped this would mean they could own the land they had already been farming.
