Photographs by Jacob Pritchard

In recent years, Central America and Mexico has seen radical political and economic changes. Though the US press often reports popular support for recent trade agreements and infrastructure improvement projects, the discourse among the people most affected is often quite different. This essay explores the people and their reaction to the recent changes in these regions: the farmers who wonder if they will be able to sustain their families in coming years, the campesinos involved in bitter land conflicts, the workers in the sweatshop industry, the Zapatista rebels who refuse to allow infrastructure projects on their land, the schools and hospitals who face uncertain financial futures, the grassroots groups who actively fight against these changes, and the people whose land will be irrevocably changed under hydroelectric dams and tourist projects.

All images © Jacob Pritchard

Bags of potatoes, a subsistence crop in Honduras, are unloaded by farmers at a local purchaser in La Esperanza, Honduras, who will pay them 250 Lempira (about $15) per sack. With impending changes under the Central America Free Trade Agreement, campesinos fear that agricultural prices will be undercut by subsidized products from the US. Growing numbers of Mexicans and Central Americans are viewing with apprehension the contemporary economic and political trends revolving around the idea of small government and market based solutions to social problems.

Tiburcio Bejarano sits on his bed where he hasn't slept for over a year, because he fears that police will arrest him during the night. Bejarano is one of four community leaders warranted for arrest in the small mountain district of Montaña Verde, an indigenous farming community in Western Honduras. Community members say that powerful Honduran landowners are intimidating them through a corrupt legal system in an attempt to usurp their land for cattle grazing. Charges include theft of cattle, usurpation of land, robbery, and homicide. Fierce battles often erupt over land ownership in Honduras and Guatemala due to a combustive mix of territorialism and wealth of natural resources.

Young men make face masks of river bed clay at a local hot springs near Gracias, Honduras. The site is slated for the construction of a five star hotel and renovations to the pools as a part of the tourism initiative component of the Plan Puebla Panama. The plan calls for the privatization of many natural and archeological sites throughout the region, and the construction of an infrastructure to support tourism.

Near San Salvador, workers sew women's underwear in a maquila, a Spanish word that translates to both "sweatshop," and "assembly factory". Their full time salaries start at El Salvador's minimum wage — $150 per month. Transnational companies are attracted to Mexico and Central America for cheap labor and lax labor laws. The Plan Puebla Panama includes the construction of 92 maquilas in Mexico alone.

A portrait of Emiliano Zapata decorates the wall outside the Zapatista Liberation Front Headquarters in Mexico City, where a left-wing internet magazine publisher waits to meet an activist. Zapata fought for democracy in Mexico alongside revolutionaries such as Pancho Villa in the 1910's. The result was Mexico's "radical" constitution, which gave liberal land rights to indigenous people. Today, Zapata is the icon for the Zapatista rebels which held an armed uprising in January of 1994, coinciding with the commencement of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Though the uprising was quickly quelled, rebels still operate autonomous communities in the mountains of south east Mexico, and continue to fight for indigenous rights.

Beatriz Muñorrez and Aketzal Lertxundi, Basque peace observers, prepare a meal in a hut above a Zapatista village in Chiapas, Mexico. Though outright hostilities between the federal police and rebel villages has been quelled in recent years, Zapatistas said there is still covert intimidation. The presence of peace observers is intended to discourage harassment and document incidents. "Subcomandante Marcos", a leader of the Zapatista movement said "there will be no plan nor project, by anyone, that does not take us into account. No Plan Puebla Panama, nor anything else that means the sale or destruction of the indigenous peoples' homes."

Members of a Zapatista community prepare a pig for a community feast. Article 27 of the Mexican constitution drafted in 1917 was designed with indigenous groups in mind. It allowed communally owned property, called ejidales, in which members had certain rights to self-governance. This model made it nearly impossible for investors to purchase indigenous held land. In 1992, with negotiations for the North America Free Trade Agreement looming, major changes were made to the article. Zapatistas pointed to the constitutional change as one of their major grievances leading up to the 1994 uprising.

Emilio and Aurelia Toledo Cordova were among those that fled the Lacandona Jungle in 1994, fearing for their safety amidst guerilla fighting between Zapatista rebels and the Mexican military. Ironically, Zapatista fighting has displaced several indigenous communities in Chiapas. The family walked for four days, eventually arriving at Ocosingo, where their community resettled. The family only had enough money to buy a small plot for their 10 family members. Instead of traditional farming for subsistence, many take day jobs in the nearby city for as little as 35 pesos (US$3.50) a day.

A teacher checks his student's work in a public school house near Ocosingo, Mexico, attended almost entirely by indigenous Tseltales displaced by fighting between Zapatistas and the Mexican government. Attendance is mandated by the country's constitution. 130 students between the ages of 6 and 12 are instructed by three teachers at the federally funded school. Indigenous rights activists complain that federal and state schools are under funded, and stress an occidental style curriculum while overlooking traditional indigenous values. Current "service agreement" proposals under the Free Trade Agreement Area of the Americas may force governments to privatize education, further affecting the ailing system.

A man helps his neighbor move lumber to be used in the construction of her house. When the indigenous community of Las Delicias was flooded, community members stuck together, and relocated illegally to a piece of government owned property. Displaced indigenous communities often move as a group and return to traditional forms of self-government. This community model conflicts with that envisioned in the Plan Puebla Panama, which calls for the construction of housing "clusters," intended to house displaced people in low-cost housing close to sweatshops and other service oriented facilities. Tens of thousands would be displaced by hydro-electrical dams and other construction under the Plan Puebla Panama.

Supporters of the grassroots Civil Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras head for a protest in a bus chartered by the organization. In Mexico and Central America, grassroots groups operating on tight budgets have been the loudest dissenting voice against recent economic trends and the free trade agreements. Their tactics often reflect their skimpy budgets.

Edis Adolfo Cardena, a carpenter, receives medicine intravenously at a public hospital, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. In the last two years, fiscal adjustments mandated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have raised the cost of state provided services. As Adolfo Cardena sat in the hospital, government leaders were pushing for another adjustment, which would gain the country $960 million in debt relief under the IMF's Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative. Included in the scheme was a repeal of a pay increase for doctors. Throughout Mesoamerica, multi-lateral lending institutions have pressured countries to privatize and cut social spending in exchange for debt relief.

Family members prepare corn to be fed to livestock and life continues as normal near the Lempa river, Honduras, despite news that the zone will be flooded by the construction of the El Tigre dam. Discourse over the dam has been limited, and residents have little real information about the process, or even what areas might be flooded. The El Tigre is one of 25 hydro-electrical dams proposed under the Plan Puebla Panama. The dams are intended to improve infrastructure for foreign investors, and in many instances, to power maquilas. The El Tigre alone could displace as many as 20,000 people.