Indigenous street vendors on the Zócalo of Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca has the only zocalo in Mexico without a church[1]. It offers view upon the palace of Hernán Cortés (the
Zocalo, Cuernavaca.
conquistador of Mexico) and lies in the shadow of Morelos state’s Palacio de Gobierno. In the archway of the Palacio a group of women in traditional dress is selling necklaces, earrings and ceramics almost every day. They are indigenous women coming from Guerrero and Mexico State, neighboring states of Morelos. You can see where they are from by the dress they were. The women are artisans who sell their jewelry and ceramics to tourists.
The Indigenous street vendors are only one group amongst the many different street vendors (also hawkers) on Mexican streets and squares. There are: shoe shiners, mariachis, people that sell ice cream, pudding, churros, corn soup, rubber toy bats on sticks, corn on sticks, mangos on sticks ( things on sticks are popular), candy, fruit or vegetables, juice, hammocks, baskets, sombreros, tamales[2], balloons, jewelry. Just anything really.
The hawkers are vulnerable to police harassment. Police in Mexico are underpaid and often look for bribes. The vendors’ license is an semi-formal arrangement with the municipal authorities and the tax they pay is mostly such a
Woman from Guerrero state, selling jewelry on the zócalo
bribe. If they refuse to pay, their merchandise is confiscated and they can only get it back from the police by paying a very high fine (about 250 pesos or a four days’ income). The women usually have had little education and 35 % of the women that work on the Zócalo are analphabets.
The harassment of the indigenous women got worse when the municipal government of Cuernavaca unanimously voted a municipal regulation in 2006[3], that outlaws any commercial activity in public spaces in the historical centre of Cuernavaca.
This might surprise anyone who has visited Cuernavaca or any other small city’s
centre in Mexico because they are almost universally crowded by street vendors or stallholders, the stall being often no more than a small chart, a rug, or just a bag.
And it looks as if there are more vendors every day. Their numbers rise as unemployment increases.
Since the regulation became binding, the harassment intensified to a level where it was impossible for them to keep on selling any longer. When the women can’t sell, they lose their income of 80 pesos (8 Dollars or 6 Euros) a day. An income that is low also in Mexico and doesn’t allow them to save up a lot. Their husbands often sell too, work in badly paid sectors or are unemployed. By
Indigenous street vendor
consequence they get into financial problems soon after they lose their income.
The Comision Independiente de Derechos Humanos de Morelos , a local human rights NGO, started talks with the municipal government in March 2007. This took away some of the police pressure. An alternative place to sell was agreed upon by the government and the vendors. It was promised that the vendors would be left alone as long as the new place was not ready. Consequently, the harassment decreased to the its ‘normal’ level, that is the same level as before the voting of the regulation.
In February 2009 the alternative place to sell was still not ready and the government came up with another place, on the Zócalo. A place that is now being used by another type of vendors. The street vendors were not consulted. But according to them there is not enough space for the almost 35 indigenous street vendors so they refused to go there.
Boy doing his homework for his afternoon classes, next to his mother's stall.
The policy of the government concerning the street vendors is not indiscriminate. All commercial activity in the historical city centre is illegal, according to the regulation. But the other vendors that sell ice cream, balloons or shine shoes are not threatened with jail sentences and are left alone. They still have to pay the ‘taxes’ but can keep on selling.
According to the Comisión Independiente de Derechos Humanos de Morelos, a local Human Rights NGO, the government policy towards the street vendors is discriminating. Although the regulations that outlaw selling on the zócalo apply to all vendors, the women artisans are the first ones targeted by implementation (they and the cruzeros[4]).. According to the CIDHMorelos those two groups of vendors are the ones the government wants to keep out of the historical centre, because they make the streets of Cuernavaca look ‘ugly’ (‘afean las calles’), as said by some members of the government. Some civil servants insinuated that the women had to wear uniforms instead of their traditional dress .
But why does the city council want these women to go away so desperately? Officials say they harass people on the zócalo. They want to clean up the squares and streets to make the city more attractive for tourists. The CIDHM, on the contrary, says that tourists like the vendors and there jewelry, because they buy it. There is a negative attitude towards the vendors by inhabitants of Cuernavaca that is motivated by racism and xenophobia. In general Mexicans don’t place high value on the products of the artisans don’t buy them.
Also the other vendors could be sent away according to the new regulation
The story of the artisan street vendors is one that ends well. Finally the government agreed to meet. They got an informal permission to keep on selling on their usual selling spot. Until the alternative place is finished, after the elections of July 5th 2009. It is not unlikely that this decision was inspired by the upcoming elections. Many street vendors –that have a right to vote-fear to eventually become a victim of the regulation that is now only being used against the artisans, but that might be used against all of them someday.
They got permission to sell but it is necessary to remain alert. Reportedly there has been more police harassment since the permission was obtained.
[1] John Noble et al., Lonely Planet Mexico, Lonely Planet Publications Ltd., 2006.
[2] A snack made of rice, vegetables, cheese or meat wrapped and cooked in a corn leave.
[3] (“Reglamento de Uso de la Vía Pública del Municipio de Cuernavaca”, Tierra y Libertad n° 4498, 8/12/2006)
[4] workers that make their living on cross roads by selling e.g. candy, ballpoints or washing windows
ccept any more waste from Cuernavaca, the city government urgently needed to come up with a solution. It had happened before – in September 2005 and between September and October 2006- that the city’s garbage was left in the street for a month because there was no place to bring it to. The government was under pressure to come with a solution. But the solution they put forward became a source of ongoing environmental and social protest in the region.
the state Governor of Morelos. When they received no answers they organized street protests, blocked the entrance to the site and even dumped garbage in front of the Palacio de Gobierno to get the attention of the authorities.
s are highly permeable and this will result in leachate, infiltrating in the natural waterways of the lower barrancas that surround the landfill. The leachate will contaminate the water supply of the barrancas and of Temixco, a community lying south of the landfill construction area. A protecting membrane is no solution because membranes of landfills tend to break after a couple of years.