The Death of Ramon Gonzalez and the 21st Century Dilemma

maintain a relationship with families and home communities because of the dangers of
crossing back over the border. And the casualty rate climbs.
Thousands of communities such as Ramon Gonzalez’s home village of San
Jeronimo Progreso were already sending most of the able-bodied men and many women
and children out on the migrant trail before NAFTA was contemplated. After the passage
of NAFTA, a more general abandonment of farms in Mixtec, Zapotec, and mestizo
villages has proceeded apace. While the farms are abandoned and village people seek
work along the migrant trail in Mexico and the United States, in some villages, including
San Jeronimo Progreso, there is a boom in the construction of new houses. Migrants pay
the relatively few stay-at-homes to build houses to which the migrants hope to return for
the annual fiesta and/or to which they dream of returning in old age. ix
In some villages, though not apparently in San Jeronimo Progreso, farms are not
only being abandoned but are being sold to others, including to Mexicans outside the
region and to foreigners. Prior to 1992, Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution prohibited
the sale of ejido and communal lands distributed by the government. This was part of the
land reform program started at the end of the Mexican Revolution in the early 20 th
century. Article 27 also made it difficult for foreigners to own land. In 1992, partly in
response to U.S. objections to Article 27 restrictions, the Mexican Congress and
President approved sweeping changes to Article 27. These changes made the U.S. more
enthusiastic about pursuing the NAFTA negotiations. The so-called “reform of the [land]
reform” made it possible for land reform recipients in ejidos and communes to sell their
land. Farmers could now mortgage their lands and thus have better access to credit.
(Government rural credit programs to those on ejidos had long been virtually eliminated