Towards a Pluricultural Nation: The Limits of Indigenismo and Article 4

Abstract

In 1991 Rigoberta Menchú warned that if national governments, particularly in Latin America, did not take indigenous rights seriously, there was a danger of armed indigenous rebellion. Quoting experts at the United Nations, she suggested that such an uprising could be imminent as indigenous peoples had learned from political experiences internationally (R. Rojas, 1991). By this point, mid-way through the sexenio, the Salinas administration had undertaken a series of reforms specifically relating to Mexico’s indigenous peoples. These included ratification of new international norms for relations between states and indigenous peoples contained in the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Convention 169; constitutional reform (Article 4); and new policies at the Institute Nacional Indigenista (INI) oriented to promoting justice, training, self-reliance and the transfer of resources.

I would like to thank the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social (CIESAS-México), the Economic and Social Research Council and the Center for US-Mexican Studies at the University of California-San Diego, for support at different stages of my research; and Gareth A. Jones for his editorial comments.