SMA PROGRAMS: INDIGENOUS RIGHTS:
Coloradas De La Virgen

In 1991, a powerful narco-cacique, Artemio Fontes, convinced the government to recognize a falsified list of 50 ejido members—most of them deceased or long departed from the region—in order to gain control of a forest that was previously owned by the Tarahumara community of Coloradas de la Virgen.  All but one of the Tarahumara families were excluded from the ejido, including the Tarahumara who originally solicited the formation of the ejido a decade earlier. The decision that favored the Fontes was issued in 1992 by the Agrarian Reform agency when it was no longer competent to do so. By then the new Agrarian Legislation had come into force determining that such issues would have to be resolved by the Agrarian Courts established by the new law.

Out of fear of the murderous Fontes family, the Tarahumara took no effective action to regain their lands until 1999, where they were advised by an organization called CONTEC to enter into a government program known as PROCEDE to demark and legitimize the boundaries of the ejido and community. Unfortunately, the community was misadvised and when PROCEDE was authorized, the forests remained in control of the Fontes, who ultimately gained a logging permit and began rapacious logging of one of the last remnants of old growth forests in the region.

Out of fear of the murderous Fontes family, the Tarahumara took no effective action to regain their lands until 1999.Tierra Nativa co-founder Ramiro Castellano learned about this inept administrative maneuver and tried to convince the Tarahumara to reject it, but the community was divided and SMA did not want to interfere with the work of another NGO. It was obvious that PROCEDE had left the forests under control of one of the most violent caciques in the history of the Sierra. When logging began, CONTEC disappeared, leaving SMA and the Tarahumara with an incredibly dangerous nightmare.

The community has a history of violence with 36 murders documented from 1986 to 1994.  Much of the violence was provoked or planned by the Fontes to control the ejido. Examples of such violence are the murders of the second indigenous governor in 1993 and of Julio Baldenegro (father of Isidro Baldenegro) in 1986. There was equally an attempted murder of the governor in 1993 and the brutal slayings of four men at the ancient Catholic mission in Coloradas in 1992 and 1993.

Despite omnipresent danger, Tarahumara protests, a blockade against the logging trucks, and court actions led to the suspension of logging in 2003. These actions and a campaign of repression led to the illegal incarceration of Tarahumara leader Isidro Baldenegro in 2004.  Isidro was later granted the Goldman Environmental Prize for North America. In 2004, the Agrarian court ruled in favor of the Tarahumara in a case presented on behalf of 72 year old community member Lino Martinez. In 2005, the Fontes appealed and finally won, by a questionable decision in February of 2006. The Superior Agrarian Court stated that Lino Martinez could not be the plaintiff in this case, as he was a beneficiary of the corrupt declaration of ejido members in 1991. Tierra Nativa and the Procuraduria Agraria appealed this decision, but again the courts decided in favor of the Fontes in March 2006.

Immediately upon hearing of the loss in the Superior Court in March, SMA and Tierra Nativa began organizing another case. Due to the climate of fear, it was difficult to find anyone to sue the ejido in agrarian courts. Lino Martinez withstood constant threats during the three years of trial and appeals that were lost in March 2006. Fortunately, three elders from the group that originally solicited ejido status came forward and filed claims against the Fontes, which were presented to the Agrarian Court in July 2006 by attorneys from the Procuraduria Agraria. The new case overcomes the weakness of the original case filed by Lino Martinez. The elders have no potential conflicts of interest, and they are unquestionable descendents of the Tarahumara who originally solicited the lands in the 1930s.

No economic alternatives to drug cultivation exist in the region.A first hearing scheduled for November 2006 did not take place, as the personal service to the Fontes was not delivered by a frightened court civil servant, an issue that was not detected by the state attorney prior to the hearing. A second hearing is scheduled for the month of December but will probably be rescheduled until the legal formalities are fulfilled for the case to start. This is also expected to be a long process in which justice to the case is not guaranteed. In addition to these efforts, SMA and Tierra Nativa have been active in trying to maintain the suspension of logging until a solution on the land claims is reached.

The history of violence in the region, the ongoing narcotics cultivation, and a long-term conflict have left the community divided. Deep in the canyons live hundreds of traditional people, surrounded by tremendous social tensions. No economic alternatives to drug cultivation exist in the region, and traditional agriculture has produced little due to regional droughts for much of the past 15 years.

The elders in the new case are at risk, as was Lino Martinez in the original case. Lino was able to flee the region and remain in hiding with relatives and sometimes in the SMA offices for long periods, but the Tarahumara elders are vulnerable in their ranches. National and international attention on the case helps protect them. The campaign to liberate Isidro Baldenegro also resulted in charges against the arresting officers and leventually ead to the dismissal of the States Attorney General. Although corruption still is widespread, the international attention and cooperation of the state and federal government has resulted in greater security for the Tarahuamra land defenders.