The Death of Ramon Gonzalez and the 21st Century Dilemma

some, including myself. People bought and sold land before 1992 in ways that had been
prohibited under Article 27, and, on the other hand, were able to restrict land sales in
ways that were officially permitted after the 1992 changes to Article 27, so that the
overall impact of the change was moderated. In addition, as noted in the first edition,
much of the ejido and communal land was of such poor quality originally or has
undergone such deterioration that there are few ready buyers. xi
Nonetheless, NAFTA and the Article 27 reforms taken together have had a
powerful effect in breaking up local communities in rural Mexico. Thousands of villages
like San Jeronimo Progreso are being emptied of most of their population. Income comes
mainly from emigration, and the majority of the members of the ejido or commune spend
most of their lives elsewhere in Mexico, and, primarily, in the United States.
The heightened tensions in the countryside that gave rise to armed and unarmed
resistance to NAFTA and Article 27 reforms also helped to drive people out of
countryside. After the Zapatista rebellion and the rise of other armed resistance groups in
Mexico’s poorest states, the Mexican and state governments carried out police and
military operations to discourage insurrection, especially in Chiapas, Guerrero, and
Oaxaca. The Zapatistas, along with indigenous groups throughout Mexico, called for the
autonomy of indigenous communities and regions. The government committed to
granting much greater autonomy, then reneged on the agreement altogether, then granted
a very limited version of what it had originally promised. Meanwhile, in response to the
Zapatistas and other newly militant rural movements, the government instituted new
repressive measures throughout most of southern and southwestern Mexico. Villages and
indigenous organizations continue to denounce waves of arrests, beatings, and