Mennonite Move Blasts Chihuahua Economy

As if the tough times in Ciudad Juarez weren't enough of a strain on the economy of the state of Chihuahua, MX, over a thousand ultra-conservative Altkolonier Mennonites near Cuauhtémoc have announced they are headed to Quintana Roo. The group repersents about 40,000 kilograms of daily cheese production as well as livestock, equipment, and cash valued at, according to the Heraldo de Chihuahua, between six-hundred million and a billion pesos in value - hundreds of millions of US dollars. The paper cites internal divisions as well as problems with access to water and health care within the communities.

Much of the infrastructure currently in place in northern Chihuahua was put in place originally by Mennonites who donated thousands of dollars and labor for the construction of roads, schools, water, etc., after their 1921 arrival. The Plaza of Cuauhtémoc, the largest seat of the Mennonites in Mexico, contains not only the standard array of the busts of Mexican heroes like Benito Juarez or Ignacio Allende, but also busts of Mennonite settlers and Chinese Chihuahuans. In short, it is a town that recognizes the truly international construction of this agro-industrial border region.

Never fear, however, that this exodus of the Altkolonier marks a departure of Mennonites from the area in general. Since the 1940s the Mennonites have been gradually modernizing in the area, and the vast plantations of wheat and apples in the area - fed on the illegally punched wells deep into the aquifers of the altiplano - are owned by Mennonites that use electricity and drive motorized vehicles. While the departure of the Altkolonier is a strain, I think we'll see a number of ejidal groups that abut their property make a play for the ground as well as moves by the liberal Mennonites to buy up the property - if the Altkolonier will well to them. The division between the two groups is fairly ugly (the conservatives are convinced that a drug re-hab facility owned by modernists is a brainwashing facility), with the liberals making the following statement about the conservatives:

"Ellos por ignorancia no aceptan muchas cosas, como la luz y los carros, pero tampoco permiten que sus hijos menores de 12 años acudan a misa, no utilizan métodos anticonceptivos y no les enseñan español a sus hijos como una manera de evitar que salgan de su comunidad y se relacionen con otras personas"

(Because of ignorance those people don't accept a number of things, like light and motorized vehicles, and they even deny children under twelve the right to attend church meetings, they don't use contraception, and they don't teach their children Spanish as a way to avoid leaving the community and forming relationships with other people.)

The above photo is one of Larry Towell's on the Mennonites. Buy his book.

Narco-Menonitas (Or So Says the PAN)

Rosa Maria Baray, a PANista state congress person from Chihuahua announced that the violence that is affecting the Mennonites in Chihuahua is something of their own doing. Says Baray:

"Así como en otros tiempos los menonitas se involucraron en delitos del fueron común, ahora también están tomando parte en actividades propias del narcotráfico." Read more here.

What she says, of course, has a some veracity. In the 1990s Mennonites were the largest transporters of marijuana into Canada, and the CBC has focused on the narcotics and violence present in the Anabaptists community in Canada and in Mexico (though melodramatically calling it the Mennonite Mafia). Indeed, Mennonites have certainly been involved in the black market economy of guns and drugs in not only growing and distribution, but also in using their mechanical skills to build automobile compartments for the transportation of contraband. On a personal note, in a visit to Chihuahua in 2007 with students our van driver suggested we not allow students to wander into the apple orchards surrounding our motel in Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua as we might find people or items harmful to our "seguridad."

On the other hand... .
This sort of focus on the religion of the Mennonites allows everybody to get a little bit of exotic titilation (oooh...german speaking drug runners - isn't that for those dark Mexicans) while also satisfying the anti-religiuos bug (those pacifist hypocrites). It makes for good press in the same way a Protestant pastor that frequents male prostitutes gets attention: We like to see the sanctimonious cut down to size. However, would any activist of immigration approve of painting all Mexican Americans as illegal aliens who come to the U.S. with bales of Acapulco Gold strapped to their backs and leprosy in their blood? Painting the Mennonites with this broad-brush is inaccurate at best, and unfair to boot.

Again, while in Chihuahua in 2007 I had the chance to talk to the Mennonites about the detox center they've started in the campos to help the young people that have become involved with narcotics and alcohol. They are openly addressing a problem within society and are taking steps to correct the problems. Tobasco Hoy reports that Menonites have even created their own Guardia Civil (minus the guns) to patrol the campos and discourage not only outsiders but also members of the community from participating in crime. This is a long way from when Lazaro Cardenas authorized Mexican soldiers to apprehend and execute in the field criminals that harrassed Durango's Mennonites.

Anyway, the point being that Baray's comments allow Chihuahua to continue to try to marginalize a community that is one of the great legitimate economic engines of the state's economy based mostly on racial distrust and economic jealousy. If some Mennonites participate in narcotics, that doesn't make them less worthy of protection. Such logic applied to all Mexicans would eliminate whole cities and neighborhoods in Chihuahua - including many of the pueblos represented by Ms. Baray.

Menonitas - This Time in South America

Mennonites held their world conference in Paraguay this week (where they fled to from the Soviet Union) as many Spanish Language news sources are taking a hard look at them. El Mundo ran a piece on conservative Altkolonier campos in Argentina, while Bolivia has been abuzz about Mennonite colonists in that country due government displacement of Mennonites there as well as a sexual assaults that occurred in one of the communities.

Many of the Mennonites in South America ran there after failing to make things work in Northern Mexico (meaning they ran out of land in Chihuahua and Durango or they decided they didn't want electricity and gas engines) and now we have a real dilema in the south. Business-friendly administrations were eager to take in these agricultural geniuses in the late 80s and early 90s, but now leftist governments are changing the rules and Mennonites are finding themselves on the outs in nations that embraced them - a 500 year old pattern for Mennonites by now.