COMMUNITIES SERVED BY SMA:
BABORIGAME

Baborigame is a town of 2500 in the midst of an ejido of the same name; it is the center of the western Tepehuan peoples, who number approximately seven thousand. It is located to the west of Pino Gordo across the mile-deep Loera Canyon. It has attracted large numbers of mestizo loggers, ranchers, businessmen, and drug traffickers since the road from Guadalupe y Calvo was completed in 1978. The surrounding area is widely feared for its history of violence. Hundreds of Tarahumara and Tepehuan have been driven into exile by drug-related violence and extreme poverty and taken refuge in the town of Baborigame, where they suffer chronic unemployment and poverty.

Baborigame was one of the most timber-rich ejidos in Chihuahua when SMA began working in the region, and boasted three sawmills, one of which was community-owned. Despite the high volume of timber removed each year, the local Tepehuan typically receive less than $100 per year in dividends, while mestizo forest managers and logging contractors have accumulated substantial wealth. The forest and wildlife have been sadly depleted over the last decade.

In 1999, SMA cofounded MITYTAC, a crafts cooperative of Tarahumara and Tepehuan women, which provides income, training, and hope for thirty women. In 2002, SMA supported the formation of the Consejo Supremo Odami y Rarámuri and began planning watershed restoration projects in five nearby communities. These are the first stages toward developing the self-confidence, self-sufficiency, and community organization with which to challenge the hegemony of local caciques.