This article is the First Chapter of Noria’s “Violence Takes Place” ongoing Series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Farmers fought victoriously for and\nagainst the national government, but then lost to coconuts. Under the\nleadership of local businessman Amadeo Vidales, laborers from coastal Guerrero\nfirst took up arms to defend the post-revolutionary government in 1923, but\nthree years later launched a small scale rebellion of their own and won. The\nstate granted Vidalistas access to land and palm trees in 1930, as officials\ndid with countless other ex-soldiers after the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920).\nBut neither revolution nor rebellion prepared these ex-rebels for the three\nwaves of violence that accompanied coconuts: agrarian, economic, and ecological.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This essay is not about drugs, but instead details a slippery slope between licit-oilseed and illicit-oilseed expansion set into motion by multiple forms of violence. Both legal and illegal crops grow best on slopes in Costa Grande, but methodologically this slippery slope aims to draw a correlation between the two. It suggests that environmental history offers an angle of analysis into understanding drug cultivation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In coastal Guerrero, the political history of coconut development helps us understand the proliferation of marijuana cultivation in the 1960s. By that decade, Guerrero was the largest producer of coconuts in the Americas but was better known for Lucio Caba\u00f1as\u2019s peasant rebellion and a strain of marijuana called Acapulco Gold. I suggest this social resistance and drug cultivation emerged in the region due to coconut-related state policies rather than the absence of the state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThis essay is not about drugs, but instead details a slippery slope between licit-oilseed and illicit-oilseed expansion set into motion by multiple forms of violence.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
This account of the Vidalistas\u2019 ejido in Cacalutla, Atoyac de \u00c1lvarez demonstrates how oilseed development fostered new social dynamics of violence, economic precarity, and environmental change, which drove many copreros <\/em>(coconut growers) toward migration and drug cultivation. Moreover, Cacalutla offers an early example of anti-drug policy: officials hoped redistributing land would prevent illegal activities. As early as 1931, the ejido\u2014a land-grant contract bound to state-sanctioned social and economic expectations\u2014helped officials surveil former insurgents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nWhy else was the government expressly concerned about the \u201cproduction and consumption of narcotic drugs\u201d in Cacalutla?1<\/a><\/sup> Were officials worried about Amadeo Vidales because he was a merchant who owned a shipping company? Were they following leads on the constant rumors of gunrunning in that period? Or was this a classic case of Mexican policymakers buying the idea that Guerrero is ungovernable by nature and therefore needs Federal authority?2<\/a><\/sup> It is hard to know or show how an individual coprero<\/em> came to grow drugs, but on a regional scale, oilseed modernization definitely offers a pronounced slippery slope toward illicit oilseeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Political\neconomy of coconuts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Locals could tell the history of coastal Guerrero through licit oilseeds. Chocolate came first, then cotton, then coconuts. For centuries, Spanish settlers controlled coastal lowlands surrounding Acapulco, Guerrero to grow oil-producing plants. Settlers first introduced coconuts to Guerrero from the Philippines in the late sixteenth century, but a royal decree in 1612 quickly banned the transplant because coconut wine competed with grape wine.3<\/a><\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nHowever, in the wake of revolution, government officials believed that coconuts were essential to various industries and promoted copra production along the dry tropical Pacific coast. Without copra, the dried fleshy part of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted, many domestic factories could not manufacture soap, butter, livestock feed, industrial lubricants, medicines, or oenanthic ether (for flavoring food and beverages). It was even difficult to make synthetic rubber, glycerin, absorbent for gas masks, or hundreds of other manufactured goods without coconuts. To supply Mexico\u2019s 106 soap factories and 69 oil mills in the late 1930s, the Pro-Oilseed campaign of President L\u00e1zaro C\u00e1rdenas integrated copra production into agrarian reform.4<\/a><\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vidalistas\u2019 socialist proclivities set a tone for political culture and popular protest in Guerrero. As a social movement in the 1920s, they represented workers and peasant farmers from Acapulco, and the regions of Costa Grande and Costa Chica. Vidalistas named their settlement after their first organizer, Juan R. Escudero. Two generations of socialist guerrerenses saluted to Escudero as their \u201cLenin of Acapulco\u201d before Lucio Caba\u00f1as took the title. As mayor of Acapulco after the revolution, Escudero helped organize labor against capital by connecting workers unions in Acapulco with agrarian struggles in the countryside. But after local elites connected to oilseed money had Escudero killed in 1923, Amadeo Vidales became the leader of worker and agrarian struggles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Vidalistas rebelled against the national government in 1926, they aimed to undermine the region\u2019s political economy of oilseeds. Amadeo famously mobilized men from oilseed plantations to destroy oilseed mills.5<\/a><\/sup> But when the rebellion lost its fuel, a lesser-known socialist leader in Guerrero history intervened, Governor General Adri\u00e1n Castrej\u00f3n. As a Zapatista during the revolution and an ally of Vidales, the socialist governor was sympathetic and helped end the rebellion through agrarian reform and a coconut plantation in Cacalutla, Atoyac. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On January 16, 1930, 825 ex-Vidalistas and their families became ejidatarios of Juan R. Escudero when they received 3,000 hectares of land expropriated from the Hacienda of Cacalutla in the municipality of Atoyac de \u00c1lvarez, 68 kilometers west of Acapulco.6<\/a><\/sup> The state engineers who measured and divided the land described the colonia as enclavada<\/em>, or nestled. Between ejidos, haciendas, and a lagoon, the settlement was in fact situated in a restless and contentious territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nThe ejido consisted of dry-tropical\nsavanna, which is characterized by prolonged wet and dry periods. The shrub\nland was neither fertile nor irrigated. Swaths of it were only suitable as\ntemporary farmland at best or for pasture at worst. But in certain strips of soil,\nit was just wet enough for drought-resistant sesame seeds and maize to grow\nbetween coconut palms. Dry seasons could last up to seven months each year, so\nwater shaped the place, production, and power along the coast. In the case of\ncoconuts, both the presence and absence of water mattered. Palms lined the\nsloping banks of lagoons, the Pacific Ocean, and numerous creeks and rivers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If water influenced where coconuts grew, drought helped decide how they were grown. Without rains, ejidatarios could control the drying process to make copra without the assistance of modern drying centers. After harvesting maize and sesame in October and November, respectively, farmers had until May to gather and prepare dried copra before the rains. Ejidatarios could also water palms without irrigation infrastructure, because, like sesame, cotton, opium, or marijuana, coconut palms are fairly drought resistant if grown on slopes that circulate water by gravity.7<\/a><\/sup> Botanically speaking, drought stress even encourages oilseed plants to store more energy and water in oil, which helps explain why oilseeds grow better in the dry tropics of the Pacific than in the humid tropics of the Atlantic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coconuts\nand Agrarian Violence<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Not only did ex-Vidalistas have a reputation of organizing labor; their neighbors also held them in low repute. The owners of properties of the Hacienda Cort\u00e9s, who lost access to the lagoon to ejidatarios, were especially vindictive and vituperative. Perhaps only the Cort\u00e9s brothers were as harsh as Costa Grande\u2019s environment. Before economic and ecological changes rattled Cacalutla, armed militias called guardias blancas <\/em>(white guards) used violence to control the political economy of coconuts with mixed results. Ex-Vidalistas came to Cacalutla from other parts of the Costa Grande and the Costa Chica, and hostile locals reminded them of this often. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the Luna brothers terrorized ejidos across Atoyac, no group expressed their hatred for Cacalutla more than the Cort\u00e9s family. The Cort\u00e9s brothers hated former Vidalistas because they fought against power structures on the coast and won. Moreover, ejidatarios gained right to a small grove of the finest coconut palms along Mitla Laguna, which the Cort\u00e9s family believed was theirs. Try as they might to defer the dreams of the farmers, the Cortes brothers ultimately suffered the same fate as all Vidalista opponents before them: tragic loss.8<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nAs the Mexican government continued to pour money into coconut development projects, officials increasingly sent federal troops into Costa Grande to find rebels, marijuana, and opium. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Led by Celestino Cort\u00e9s, his four brothers and two sisters, the Cort\u00e9s brothers led guardias blancas<\/em> that murdered dozens of ejidatarios in the 1930s and 1940s. According to Marte G\u00f3mez, the national director of Agriculture, the murders began in 1931. However, it was the assassination of Amadeo Vidales in 1932 that altered the legacy of Juan R. Escudero. After their leader\u2019s sudden death, the colonia turned to its second-in-command, Feliciano Radilla. In his new role as president of the colonia, Radilla continued the Escudero and Vidales legacies of fostering cooperation between agrarian communities and worker unions in the coast. Radilla quickly became the president of Guerrero\u2019s socialist party, and after anti-agrarian governor, General Gabriel R. Guevara, succeeded socialist Castrej\u00f3n as governor in 1933, Radilla stepped up to lead the Worker and Farmer Resistance League. In Cacalutla, Radilla won the local battle against the Cort\u00e9s family over coconut production but not without great loss of his own.9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a statewide agrarian leader, Radilla made Cacalutla a center of agrarian struggle and oilseed expansion on the coast. It did not take long for the brothers to come directly for Radilla\u2019s family. After killing Radilla\u2019s brother Emilio in 1933, anyone was fair game. Along with other guardias blancas<\/em> supported by Governor Guevara, Celestino and his brothers killed at least ten members of the colony in 1934 and burned down several homes in 1938. Unfortunately for the Cort\u00e9s family, the ejidatarios of Juan R. Escudero had the military acumen to fiercely defend their land, and they killed Celestino and his four brothers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Due to the extreme agrarian violence in the region slated for coconut expansion, President of Mexico L\u00e1zaro C\u00e1rdenas stepped in to help the ejidatarios reorganize and provide equipment and the political support necessary to plant more palms. By the time any new trees bore fruit, however, pistoleros added Radilla to the long list of murdered agraristas in the region. Tragedy notwithstanding, Radilla\u2019s efforts centered Atoyac at the core of the region\u2019s agrarian politics and helped Cacalutla gain more land for coconut groves in the postwar era expansion. These legacies of agrarian violence shaped how locals trusted state and national governments and mobilized as copreros <\/em>to protect their interests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Economic\nand Ecological Insecurity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
As Guerrero\nbecame the largest copra producer in the Western Hemisphere, oil mills and\ncompanies often hurt oilseed growers by relying on imported copra from\nSoutheast Asia. This began to change when Japan invaded the Philippines and\ndestroyed their factories and plantations in World War II. Prices encouraged\nMexican production. But unfortunately for Mexican copreros<\/em>, this international shift never fully benefited local\neconomic security. Many had to do more with less. As coconut acreage quadruple\nin size between 1943 and 1953, and the ejidatorios of Cacalutla harvests grew\nten fold, but their landholdings only grew 14% in size. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nWith monoculture came plagues, pesticides, and soil exhaustion. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Growing coconuts offered ejidos some semblance of autonomy, that core ejidatario value, before global competition increased the need for agrochemicals and modern farming equipment. Residents of Cacalutla once grew maize and sesame seeds between palms and mixed their own pesticides, but with nearly 32,000 trees on their lands, they had to plant fewer subsistence crops and buy more synthetic chemicals. Fruit-bearing palms are not tremendously labor intensive, but growing competition forced ejidatarios to keep tending to young orchards to keep up with demand. With monoculture came plagues, pesticides, and soil exhaustion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the cost of farming increased, farmers became more concerned with copra quality because the rise of synthetic soaps (detergents) lowered the price of coconut oil in the 1950s. Copreros<\/em> expanded acreage from 32,665 hectares in 1950 to 79,185 in 1960, but in lowering costs they relied more on the Agrarian Bank credit for seeds and fertilizers and middlemen to broker trades.10<\/a><\/sup> In Cacalutla, intermediaries came in the forms of a new military colony, which hoarded the Laguna coastline for its own oil mill, and steady incursions by the two surviving Cort\u00e9s sisters. Facing this reality, the ejidatarios of Caculatla and ten thousand other copreros<\/em> joined the Uni\u00f3n Regional de Productores de Copra to cultivate their own economic and political protections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nThree different Mexican presidents visited\nthe coprero <\/em>union in the 1950s to\naddress the \u201cprejudicial importation of foreign copra\u201d increasing insecurity on\nthe coast. However, their administrations did little to discourage factories\nand middlemen from taking advantage of copreros<\/em>\nduring economic downturns. Instead they regulated domestic copra prices to\nsupport the manufacturing sector and failed to prevent businessmen from\nhoarding domestic copra or purchasing cheaper foreign varieties. The union\ninitially lost over 80 million pesos worth of palms in the early 1950s due to\ncrop plagues and low prices, but by 1959 it became the first agrarian\ninstitution in Mexico to export products directly without intermediaries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nFarmers felt this crisis of agriculture more frequently in the 1960s alongside the presence of government and local institutions.
This was not paradoxical.
The state supported the coconut oil industry at the expense of coconut growers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nYet, even though copreros<\/em> unionized and had the support of multiple presidents, vulnerable copreros<\/em> started growing more marijuana in the 1950s.11<\/a><\/sup> The social, economic, and environmental shifts associated with agricultural modernization pushed many farmers to grow and save small amounts of marijuana to supplement precarious incomes. Marijuana is not a strawberry; like other oilseeds, it can be hoarded until the market comes knocking. Farmers felt this crisis of agriculture more frequently in the 1960s alongside the presence of government and local institutions. This was not paradoxical. The state supported the coconut oil industry at the expense of coconut growers.12<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The misfortunes of monoculture also\nmattered. The coprero <\/em>adage that \u201cplagues\ntrail hurricanes\u201d seemed to come true when Hurricane Tara (November 1961) was\nfollowed by fungal epidemics in 1963, 1964, and 1967. As thousands of growers\nlost their palms in Atoyac and other parts of the Costa Grande, many migrated\nand some turned to illicit cash crops. The union scrambled to get government\nfungicides to its members, but the disease spread too fast, too far, and too\noften; in 1964, fungus infected 4.8 million of the Guerrero\u2019s 8 million palms\nand three years later it forced 12,000 families to leave their fields to rot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harmful plagues and economic policy encouraged copreros<\/em> to take to the streets to protest. On August 20, 1967, hired gunmen killed dozens of copreros<\/em> and injured over a hundred more at a march in Acapulco, but violence convinced others to head for the sierra and raise hell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
There were no random acts of violence in Costa Grande. The massacre of 1967 and the plight of copreros<\/em> only fueled the insurgency already emerging from Atoyac under Lucio Caba\u00f1as after a massacre earlier that May. As the Mexican government continued to pour money into coconut development projects, officials increasingly sent federal troops into Costa Grande to find rebels, marijuana, and opium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Military and political leaders quickly agreed on aerial pesticide and herbicide campaigns to simultaneously kill fungus and narcotics, monitor insurgents, and modernize Acapulco. By the 1970s, violence literally fell from the skies. This ecocide, or destruction of the ecology and its local economy, was repeated in the 1980s and 1990s as economic shifts, plant epidemics, and outright violence continued to force copreros<\/em> to abandon their palms.13<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The history of oilseeds in coastal Guerrero sheds light on the environmental, economic, and political pressures that characterized local insecurity. The ecological connections between licit and illicit oilseeds in Pacific lowlands were not the only slippery slopes; cycles of agrarian violence, political mismanagement, and economic shifts also undermined copreros<\/em>\u2019 ability to sustain their livelihoods with coconuts alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nNotes<\/h2>\n\n\n
- Manuel P\u00e9rez Trevino, Informe, 2 de marzo de 1931, Archivo General Agraria. Estado: Guerrero; Municipio: Atoyac de \u00c1lvarez; Ejido: Cacalutla, Leg. 3, ff. 89. Municipal President of Badiruguato to President Miguel Alem\u00e1n, April, 10 1948, AGN, Fondo Alem\u00e1n: Campa\u00f1a contra Estupefacientes en Sinaloa,\u201d box, 726, exp., 609.264. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
- Armando Barta, Guerrero Bronco: Campesinos, Ciudadanos, y guerrilleros en la Costa Grande <\/em>(1996). \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
- Mar\u00eda In\u00e9s Mombelli Pierini, \u201c La formaci\u00f3n hist\u00f3rica del paisaje en el Corredor Acapulco-Zihuatanejo,\u201d Geograf\u00eda humana<\/em>, 72, (2009); Zizumbo D. Villareal, et al., \u201cCoconut Varieties in Mexico,\u201d Economic Botany<\/em>, 47, (Jan-Mar., 1993), 66. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
- Donald D. Brand, \u201cDividivi and Sesame in Mexico,\u201d Economic Geography<\/em>, 17, 2 (Apr. 1941), 152; Montes de Oca S., Francisco. Cultivo e Industrializaci\u00f3n del Cocotero<\/em>. M\u00e9xico, DF: 1943, 5. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
- Enrique Colunga to the Governor of Guerrero, April 2, 1924, Archivo General de la Naci\u00f3n (AGN), Galer\u00eda 5. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
- Ex-Vidalistas technically became settlers until the reorganization of the colonia into an ejido, but I\u2019ll use ejidatarios or farmers for consistency. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
- Oscar K. Moore, \u201cThe Coconut Palm\u2014Mankind\u2019s Greatest Provider in the Tropics,\u201d Economic Botany <\/em>(1948), 119-144. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
- Paul Gillingham, Unrevolutionary Mexico: The Birth of a Strange Dictatorship <\/em>(2020), 123; Ing. Armando Gonz\u00e1lez Garza, Informe General, July 20, 1930, AGA, Ejido: Cacalutla, Legajo, 2. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
- Ing. Marte R. G\u00f3mez, \u201cExposici\u00f3n de datos relativos a la Colonia \u201cJuan R. Escudero\u201d y poblado de Cacalutla,\u201d AGA, Ejido: Cacalutla, Legajo 6. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
- Rosa Cueva Mart\u00edn del Campo, \u201cEstudio geogr\u00e1fico de las oleaginosas de M\u00e9xico.\u201d Tesis: Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico, M\u00e9xico, DF, 1953, 14; Numbers represent averages from 1950-1954 and 1960 to 1964, Zizumbo, et al., \u201cCoconut Varieties in Mexico.\u201d 69. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
- Esteban Hern\u00e1ndez Ortiz, \u201cLa Narcoeconom\u00eda En La Sierra de Guerrero: 1965-2018.\u201d (Thesis: Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Guerrero, 2019), 58. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
- \u201cEl Problema de la Importaci\u00f3n de copra, la industria y los consumidores de jab\u00f3n,\u201d El Universal<\/em>, 20 de agosto, 1933, Recort\u00e9s Econ\u00f3micos, PO5018: Copra, Comercio Exterior; \u201cProducci\u00f3n de la copra: dos graves defectos tiene,\u201d Bolet\u00edn Mensueal de Estad\u00edstica Agr\u00edcola<\/em>, 9 octubre de 1934, Recort\u00e9s Econ\u00f3micos, PO5001: Copra, Destrucci\u00f3n; \u201cLa importaci\u00f3n de la copra es perjudicial,\u201d El Universal<\/em>, 11 de diciembre de 1937, Recort\u00e9s Econ\u00f3micos, PO5018: Copra, Comercio Exterior. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
- Ecocide usually means only the destruction of ecology, but since economy and ecology have the same etymological root\u2014oikos<\/em> or home\u2014I use ecocide here to mean the destruction of home, economy and ecology. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This article is the First Chapter of Noria’s “Violence Takes Place” ongoing Series. Introduction Farmers fought victoriously for and against the national government, but then lost to coconuts. Under the leadership of local businessman Amadeo Vidales, laborers from coastal Guerrero first took up arms to defend the post-revolutionary government in 1923, but three years later […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":18987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_molongui_author":["user-171"],"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"Manuel P\u00e9rez Trevino, Informe, 2 de marzo de 1931, Archivo General Agraria. Estado: Guerrero; Municipio: Atoyac de \u00c1lvarez; Ejido: Cacalutla, Leg. 3, ff. 89. Municipal President of Badiruguato to President Miguel Alem\u00e1n, April, 10 1948, AGN, Fondo Alem\u00e1n: Campa\u00f1a contra Estupefacientes en Sinaloa,\u201d box, 726, exp., 609.264.\",\"id\":\"noria-5209\"},{\"content\":\"Armando Barta, Guerrero Bronco: Campesinos, Ciudadanos, y guerrilleros en la Costa Grande <\/em>(1996).\",\"id\":\"noria-5876\"},{\"content\":\"Mar\u00eda In\u00e9s Mombelli Pierini, \u201c La formaci\u00f3n hist\u00f3rica del paisaje en el Corredor Acapulco-Zihuatanejo,\u201d Geograf\u00eda humana<\/em>, 72, (2009); Zizumbo D. Villareal, et al., \u201cCoconut Varieties in Mexico,\u201d Economic Botany<\/em>, 47, (Jan-Mar., 1993), 66.\",\"id\":\"noria-6792\"},{\"content\":\"Donald D. Brand, \u201cDividivi and Sesame in Mexico,\u201d Economic Geography<\/em>, 17, 2 (Apr. 1941), 152; Montes de Oca S., Francisco. Cultivo e Industrializaci\u00f3n del Cocotero<\/em>. M\u00e9xico, DF: 1943, 5.\",\"id\":\"noria-8311\"},{\"content\":\"Enrique Colunga to the Governor of Guerrero, April 2, 1924, Archivo General de la Naci\u00f3n (AGN), Galer\u00eda 5. \",\"id\":\"noria-9638\"},{\"content\":\"Ex-Vidalistas technically became settlers until the reorganization of the colonia into an ejido, but I\u2019ll use ejidatarios or farmers for consistency.\",\"id\":\"noria-10409\"},{\"content\":\"Oscar K. Moore, \u201cThe Coconut Palm\u2014Mankind\u2019s Greatest Provider in the Tropics,\u201d Economic Botany <\/em>(1948), 119-144.\",\"id\":\"noria-12550\"},{\"content\":\"Paul Gillingham, Unrevolutionary Mexico: The Birth of a Strange Dictatorship <\/em>(2020), 123; Ing. Armando Gonz\u00e1lez Garza, Informe General, July 20, 1930, AGA, Ejido: Cacalutla, Legajo, 2. \",\"id\":\"noria-14349\"},{\"content\":\"Ing. Marte R. G\u00f3mez, \u201cExposici\u00f3n de datos relativos a la Colonia \u201cJuan R. Escudero\u201d y poblado de Cacalutla,\u201d AGA, Ejido: Cacalutla, Legajo 6. \",\"id\":\"noria-16044\"},{\"content\":\"Rosa Cueva Mart\u00edn del Campo, \u201cEstudio geogr\u00e1fico de las oleaginosas de M\u00e9xico.\u201d Tesis: Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico, M\u00e9xico, DF, 1953, 14; Numbers represent averages from 1950-1954 and 1960 to 1964, Zizumbo, et al., \u201cCoconut Varieties in Mexico.\u201d 69.\",\"id\":\"noria-19887\"},{\"content\":\"Esteban Hern\u00e1ndez Ortiz, \u201cLa Narcoeconom\u00eda En La Sierra de Guerrero: 1965-2018.\u201d (Thesis: Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Guerrero, 2019), 58.\",\"id\":\"noria-22470\"},{\"content\":\"\u201cEl Problema de la Importaci\u00f3n de copra, la industria y los consumidores de jab\u00f3n,\u201d El Universal<\/em>, 20 de agosto, 1933, Recort\u00e9s Econ\u00f3micos, PO5018: Copra, Comercio Exterior; \u201cProducci\u00f3n de la copra: dos graves defectos tiene,\u201d Bolet\u00edn Mensueal de Estad\u00edstica Agr\u00edcola<\/em>, 9 octubre de 1934, Recort\u00e9s Econ\u00f3micos, PO5001: Copra, Destrucci\u00f3n; \u201cLa importaci\u00f3n de la copra es perjudicial,\u201d El Universal<\/em>, 11 de diciembre de 1937, Recort\u00e9s Econ\u00f3micos, PO5018: Copra, Comercio Exterior.\",\"id\":\"noria-23149\"},{\"content\":\"Ecocide usually means only the destruction of ecology, but since economy and ecology have the same etymological root\u2014oikos<\/em> or home\u2014I use ecocide here to mean the destruction of home, economy and ecology. \",\"id\":\"noria-25774\"}]"},"categories":[1],"tags":[48,49],"podcast":[],"project":[132],"region":[15],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-mexico","tag-mexico-and-central-america-program","project-violence-takes-place","region-americas"],"yoast_head":"\n
Oilseeds and Slippery Slopes: Economy, Ecology, and Violence in coastal Guerrero, 1930-1970. - Mexico & Central America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Oilseeds and Slippery Slopes: Economy, Ecology, and Violence in coastal Guerrero, 1930-1970.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This article is the First Chapter of Noria’s “Violence Takes Place” ongoing Series. Introduction Farmers fought victoriously for and against the national government, but then lost to coconuts. Under the leadership of local businessman Amadeo Vidales, laborers from coastal Guerrero first took up arms to defend the post-revolutionary government in 1923, but three years later […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mexico & Central America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-14T08:00:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-14T18:48:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/005.Guerrero.CesarRodriguez._.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jayson Maurice Porter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Oilseeds and Slippery Slopes: Economy, Ecology, and Violence in coastal Guerrero, 1930-1970.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jayson Maurice Porter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"12 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jayson Maurice Porter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#\/schema\/person\/3436fbf8db07e1366f50d35a0789f687\"},\"headline\":\"Oilseeds and Slippery Slopes: Economy, Ecology, and Violence in coastal Guerrero, 1930-1970.\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-14T08:00:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-14T18:48:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/\"},\"wordCount\":2619,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/005.Guerrero.CesarRodriguez._.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Mexico\",\"Mexico and Central America Program\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Article\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/\",\"name\":\"Oilseeds and Slippery Slopes: Economy, Ecology, and Violence in coastal Guerrero, 1930-1970. - Mexico & Central America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/005.Guerrero.CesarRodriguez._.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-14T08:00:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-14T18:48:56+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/005.Guerrero.CesarRodriguez._.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/005.Guerrero.CesarRodriguez._.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Mexique et Am\u00e9rique Centrale\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Violence Takes Place\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/project\/violence-takes-place\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Oilseeds and Slippery Slopes: Economy, Ecology, and Violence in coastal Guerrero, 1930-1970.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/\",\"name\":\"Mexico & Central America\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Mexico & Central America\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Logo-Noria-Mexico-bis-Blanc.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Logo-Noria-Mexico-bis-Blanc.svg\",\"caption\":\"Mexico & Central America\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#\/schema\/person\/3436fbf8db07e1366f50d35a0789f687\",\"name\":\"Jayson Maurice Porter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/noria-user-2.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/noria-user-2.svg\",\"caption\":\"Jayson Maurice Porter\"},\"description\":\"Jayson Maurice Porter is an environmental historian of Mexico and the global tropics and a Fulbright-Garc\u00eda Robles Scholar. Based between Mexico City and Chicago, Jayson is a PhD candidate of history at Northwestern University and visiting scholar at Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n y Docencia Econ\u00f3micas. His dissertation research addresses arsenic pesticides, oilseed cultivation\u2014of sesame, cotton, copra, opium, and marijuana\u2014and military pest control in Sinaloa and Guerrero, but he also writes broadly on environmental change, science and technology, and race in the Americas. The Mexican Intelligence Digital Archive, Derechos Humanos de la Ciudad de M\u00e9xico, and the Journal of the Early Republic have supported his archival work. Jayson holds two masters degrees in history and has completed nearly three years of fieldwork experience in Mexico. Beyond historical research, Jayson has worked as an artist or educator for several museums, AmeriCorps, Stop Hunger Now, and COCOON public space sculpture.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/author\/jayson-porter\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Oilseeds and Slippery Slopes: Economy, Ecology, and Violence in coastal Guerrero, 1930-1970. - Mexico & Central America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Oilseeds and Slippery Slopes: Economy, Ecology, and Violence in coastal Guerrero, 1930-1970.","og_description":"This article is the First Chapter of Noria’s “Violence Takes Place” ongoing Series. Introduction Farmers fought victoriously for and against the national government, but then lost to coconuts. Under the leadership of local businessman Amadeo Vidales, laborers from coastal Guerrero first took up arms to defend the post-revolutionary government in 1923, but three years later […]","og_url":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/","og_site_name":"Mexico & Central America","article_published_time":"2020-09-14T08:00:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-14T18:48:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/005.Guerrero.CesarRodriguez._.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Jayson Maurice Porter","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Oilseeds and Slippery Slopes: Economy, Ecology, and Violence in coastal Guerrero, 1930-1970.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jayson Maurice Porter","Est. reading time":"12 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/"},"author":{"name":"Jayson Maurice Porter","@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#\/schema\/person\/3436fbf8db07e1366f50d35a0789f687"},"headline":"Oilseeds and Slippery Slopes: Economy, Ecology, and Violence in coastal Guerrero, 1930-1970.","datePublished":"2020-09-14T08:00:47+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-14T18:48:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/"},"wordCount":2619,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/005.Guerrero.CesarRodriguez._.jpg","keywords":["Mexico","Mexico and Central America Program"],"articleSection":["Article"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/","url":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/","name":"Oilseeds and Slippery Slopes: Economy, Ecology, and Violence in coastal Guerrero, 1930-1970. - Mexico & Central America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/005.Guerrero.CesarRodriguez._.jpg","datePublished":"2020-09-14T08:00:47+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-14T18:48:56+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/005.Guerrero.CesarRodriguez._.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/005.Guerrero.CesarRodriguez._.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/oilseeds-and-slippery-slopes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Mexique et Am\u00e9rique Centrale","item":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Violence Takes Place","item":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/project\/violence-takes-place\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Oilseeds and Slippery Slopes: Economy, Ecology, and Violence in coastal Guerrero, 1930-1970."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#website","url":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/","name":"Mexico & Central America","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#organization","name":"Mexico & Central America","url":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Logo-Noria-Mexico-bis-Blanc.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Logo-Noria-Mexico-bis-Blanc.svg","caption":"Mexico & Central America"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#\/schema\/person\/3436fbf8db07e1366f50d35a0789f687","name":"Jayson Maurice Porter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/noria-user-2.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/noria-user-2.svg","caption":"Jayson Maurice Porter"},"description":"Jayson Maurice Porter is an environmental historian of Mexico and the global tropics and a Fulbright-Garc\u00eda Robles Scholar. Based between Mexico City and Chicago, Jayson is a PhD candidate of history at Northwestern University and visiting scholar at Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n y Docencia Econ\u00f3micas. His dissertation research addresses arsenic pesticides, oilseed cultivation\u2014of sesame, cotton, copra, opium, and marijuana\u2014and military pest control in Sinaloa and Guerrero, but he also writes broadly on environmental change, science and technology, and race in the Americas. The Mexican Intelligence Digital Archive, Derechos Humanos de la Ciudad de M\u00e9xico, and the Journal of the Early Republic have supported his archival work. Jayson holds two masters degrees in history and has completed nearly three years of fieldwork experience in Mexico. Beyond historical research, Jayson has worked as an artist or educator for several museums, AmeriCorps, Stop Hunger Now, and COCOON public space sculpture.","url":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/author\/jayson-porter\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139,"href":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"podcast","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"project","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noria-research.com\/mxac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}