Reforma: Benito Jiménez
May 10, 2021
In the mountains of Guerrero, in at least sixty-six communities, girls are sold for a price, a kind of slavery in the middle of the 21st century. Girls from the age of 9 are purchased for prices ranging from 40,000 pesos ($2,000) to 200,000 thousand pesos ($10,000) or, even with cattle or beer. The practice is considered to be part of the traditional "uses and customs" (rules) of indigenous communities. The authorities do nothing to stop it.
Reforma interviewed various indigenous women, who corroborated the use of this practice through their own experience.
Julia, an indigenous woman who was sold by her grandfather when she was 13 years old, said:
"They put a price on you and that's how they sell you without asking you, without warning you. You have no option to say 'no'."
It is estimated that there are 300,000 girls in Guerrero who have been sold for marriage. There are no exact figures since most of these marriages are not registered, said Martha Givaudan, president of the non-governmental organization "Yo quiero, Yo Podemos" (I Want, Together We Can), which works in the municipality of Metlatónoc.
Among other programs, it holds workshops for prepubescent girls to teach them their civil rights and how they can protect themselves. The government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who claims to support the indigenous people, has not taken any measures to stop this practice that flouts the law and violates the Constitution.
MV Note: Slavery was officially abolished in Mexico in 1829, shortly after it became independent. Article 1 of the Constitution states: "Slavery is illegal in Mexico; any slaves from abroad who enter national territory will, by this mere act, be freed and given the full protection of the law." However, de facto slavery openly existed into the early 1900s.
In 1908 President Porfirio Díaz, acted to take control of the northwestern Mexico desert from nomadic indigenous peoples. He had the army caprture Yaqui people. More than 5,000 Yaqui were sold as slaves to work on the henequen plantations that dominated the Yucatán peninsula, far away on the east side of the Gulf of Mexico (henequen is a type of agave, a succulent, used to produce fibers for textiles. Its use has pretty much been replaced by synthetics.)
Julia, who managed to escape from her husband after he beat her for years, said:
"Nobody in the town helps us, not the municipality, not the state, not the federal government. It is said that "uses and customs" protect us, but in reality they allow the abuse of girls and women."
Mariana was also sold in her childhood and told a similar story.
"Social programs do not reach our towns and there is even less help for women. In fact, previously, the 'Prospera' program (welfare subsidies to the poor) helped somewhat, but in recent years there are no resources or programs at all. Many girls are suffering."
Mariana questioned why the authorities allow these abuses:
"There is drug and arms trafficking in the villages, although this is not part of indigenous customs and uses. Why do the authorities allow the sale of girls to continue as if they were animals, based on customs and traditions? Why are there drugs here and not basic human rights?"
Ana, another victim of this practice, also protested the role of the military in her communities.
"The military that come to town (now the National Guard, intended to fight the drug cartels), why don't they defend us? On the contrary, they take advantage of us too and hurt us."
In addition to being sold, the girls often have to work for the family that paid for them, to "recoup" the debt for their purchase, making it "a double bondage," Martha Givaudan said.
"It may be that a man decides to buy a girl for himself or he acquires her (to become a wife) for his son, so that one or the other has a wife. Here, in addition to the sexual exploitation that this implies, it also has to do with the woman having to work at home, making tortillas, food, and going out to plant crops, to have children. All the traditional roles are imposed on a girl when she should be in school."
Givaudan also talked about the serious problem of the pregnancy of the purchased girls.
"The problems associated with pregnancy occur not just in adolescence, but even during puberty, with the health consequences that this has. Those who become premature mothers have high-risk babies and it puts the lives of the girls at risk. This is how this cycle of violence and poverty is perpetuated."
The State of Guerrero ranks second in teenage pregnancies. In this state, in two out of every 10 births of babies, the mothers are under 19 years of age.
"It is not only a problem of gender, but of rights, poverty, and health, which involve a whole series of practices that have to be countered," said Givaudan.