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Latin America is currently experiencing an indigenous resurgence. From Mexico to the Andes, indigenous peoples have aggressively stepped forward to demand their long-denied cultural, political, and economic rights. The strength and depth of these movements first became publicly evident in the years leading up to the continent-wide celebration of the Fifth Centenary of Spanish Conquest (1992). Latin America’s indigenous groups loudly protested the commemoration for downplaying the harm done to Indian peoples during the conquest. In the process, indigenous groups made clear their demands for present-day changes in the political and economic arrangements of their countries.
The next ten years would witness the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas, indigenous uprisings in Ecuador and Bolivia, and the growth of myriad national and transnational indigenous social movements and organizations. Indigenous peoples made an impact on national authorities like never before in the modern history of Latin America, toppling governments, demanding rights, and achieving significant positions in national representative assemblies. Although this resurgence appeared sudden and took most observers by surprise, the roots of indigenous mobilization are multiple and deep. Among those roots is the central focus of this study, the role of religion.
The common thread that runs through the contributions to this volume is that indigenous mobilization cannot be understood without a careful consideration of religious factors. While specific political openings and social and economic processes facilitated the indigenous resurgence, religious institutions, beliefs, and practices provided many of the resources, motivations, identities, and networks that nurtured the movement. In turn, indigenous religious practitioners have reshaped the religious field in Latin America.
An Indian Activist’s Story
Born in the late 1930s in the town of Jacaltenango, in Northwestern Guatemala, Jerónimo Camposeco viewed the interactions between religion and politics in Latin America from a perspective that spans generations, cultures, and borders. Jerónimo was raised in a Mayan Catholic household; his parents taught him both to follow Catholic teachings and to respect Mayan traditions. When he was born, his parents took care to ensure that the Mayan priests (Alcal Txah) were called to say prayers and burn copal (incense) both in his home and in the sacred places in the mountains. He was also taught to revere the Catholic saints and to participate in the many regional celebrations of patron saints.
When he was fifteen, Jerónimo convinced the Maryknoll priest in Jacaltenango to allow him to study at the seminary in Quezaltenango. Influenced by the teachings during his five years in the seminary and excited by the opportunity to work again with his own community, Jerónimo accepted a position as a teacher in a Maryknoll school in a village close to Jacaltenango. As Jerónimo explains, “The school was very strict in terms of Catholic doctrine and discipline, but we now attempted to instill respect for local traditions as well.”
Years later, after completing his degree in education, Jerónimo took a position with the National Indigenous Institute in Guatemala City and began studies in anthropology at the University of San Carlos. He worked as an activist for indigenous causes, linking his work in Guatemala to other Native American groups in North America and Mexico. His educational pursuit and his work with the institute were cut short, however, when he received death threats under Guatemala’s military government in the early 1980s. He was forced to flee Guatemala with his wife and four children. Jerónimo’s transnational connections with Guatemalan and North American indigenous organizations, forged during his years of work at the National Indigenous Institute, became a critical resource in his plight as a refugee and in the process of applying for political asylum in the United States. Now in his sixties, Jerónimo continues to work as an advocate for the Mayan immigrant community in South Florida.1
While Jerónimo’s personal history is obviously unique, elements of his experiences reflect many of the larger processes examined in this study. Jerónimo is part of a generation of indigenous leaders in Latin America who gained access to educational and other resources through religious organizations. His political orientation was shaped, in part, by the changes going on within the Catholic Church. His experience as a teacher in a religious school, in turn, helped to shape the way a new generation of Mayans would practice their Catholicism. His work as an activist and an advocate for indigenous rights spans generations and national borders. As we examine the precipitant factors relating to indigenous mobilization in Latin America, Jerónimo’s experience serves as a reference for the critical role of religion.
Before turning to the specific links between religion and indigenous activism in Latin America we should answer some prior questions. Who are the indigenous peoples of Latin America? Where they are located physically, socially, and economically? What is their present situation, and what are the demands they have brought to the attention of the governments of Latin America and the world?
Latin America’s Indigenous Peoples
Debates have flourished in academic and political circles for decades over the definition of “Indian.” Social scientists in the 1960s and 1970s emphasized language and dress as major indicators of identity. Present-day social scientists and census-takers tend to use self-definition. Major exceptions exist, however. For example, in Peru’s highlands almost all indigenous people are labeled (and call themselves) campesino (peasant). Thus, in Peru, the term “Indian” is reserved for the two hundred thousand or so indigenous people who live in the forest. So, too, the majority of Paraguayans are of Guaraní descent and speak that language, but only those who live in remote areas are considered indios. For practical purposes, we adopt a broader definition of indigenous peoples, one that encompasses elements of self-definition as distinct from dominant society, connections to precolonial society, and an interest in preserving elements and practices of ethnic identity.2 Such a definition allows us to include a broad range of indigenous groups and transcends the particularities of national definitions that vary from state to state.
One way to describe the variety of indigenous groups in the Americas is through their geography and environment. Geography determines the ecological conditions that serve as the economic basis of life and culture for indigenous peoples. The ecological conditions of mountain and temperate or tropical lowland provided differences in natural resources that allowed for or inhibited vegetative or animal food sources for humans. Food-gathering established patterns of settled or nomadic life and served as a basis of culture and religion. Hence, neither Indian life in the Americas nor Indian religion can be understood without an understanding of the natural environment.3
In South America, anthropologists have found the greatest differences in environment and Indian culture between highland and lowland Indians. By far the larger numbers of Indians live in the mountains and their valleys. Here the cooler climate and somewhat greater ease in transportation provided the conditions for agricultural surplus and storage and communication between settlements. Economic surplus brought about economic classes, intellectual and ruling elites, leisure, and the conditions for a more sophisticated culture. Higher technologies and a measure of scientific achievement, as in astronomy and mathematics, followed.
The highland Indian groups inhabit the great Andean mountain range in western South America. The largest and best known groups are the Quechuas and the Aymaras. The much larger Quechua-language group is considered the main successor of the Inca people, an empire that extended hundreds of miles from Ecuador to northern Chile and Argentina. The Aymara can be found mostly in the Peruvian and Bolivian Altiplano, with a natural center occurring at Lake Titicaca. In a rough sense, they extend from Puno to La Paz, surrounded mostly by Quechua people.
The lowland peoples of South America are not as numerous and have greater language diversity than the highland groups. However, their contemporary political influence far exceeds their numbers. The lowlanders of the Andean countries mostly live in the Amazonian Basin, often on or near the great and small rivers that feed the Amazon River from the south and west. Indian peoples of southeastern Bolivia and Paraguay live in part of the Gran Chaco, a lowland area different from the Amazon region. Rough population estimates for these indigenous groups are 135,000 in Bolivia, 83,928 in Ecuador, 79,000 in Paraguay, and 242,120 in Peru.4
Within Middle America, both Guatemala and the Chiapas state of Mexico are areas where the great Mayan civilization flourished. Mayans were both highland and lowland peoples, with much greater numbers to be found in the highlands. The contemporary Mayan people have great language diversity. Some twenty-two major languages and some minor ones are spoken in Guatemala. A smaller number of Mayan languages are spoken in Chiapas. Cultural diversity there has been the cause of both conflict and adjustment as diverse Mayan refugees from Guatemala’s civil war formed new settlements in the Chiapan forests.
Also located in Mesoamerica, Oaxaca has a varied terrain of mountains and flatlands, arid hills and humid seacoast. Oaxaca claims almost 20 percent of Mexico’s Indian population, and almost 40 percent of the state’s inhabitants speak an Indian language. The Zapotec, with 342,000 speakers, and the Mixtec, with 239,000, are among the largest indigenous groups in Mexico. Both language groups produced a refined culture that included writing and calendars. In all, some fourteen indigenous groups occupy separate or overlapping areas within Oaxaca.5
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