Jacinta

Tetitla, Zontecomatlán, Veracruz

Jacinta shared with us that before the assembly this wasn’t an issue which she felt had to be discussed, but now she sees that it’s important to talk about. It has converted into a frequent and common problem: “When you leave the community there is a lot of cheating on the part of the contractors.” Jacinta has been going to the harvests in Culiacán for years and has experienced both good and bad treatment.

Jacinta considers that they have rights but do not know how to demand them. In the ranches there are no organizations that are dedicated to protecting jornaleros and jornaleras.

She is happy that Radio Huaya has helped her to understand her rights and is visiting the community to share more information. Increased knowledge is important because the people will not stop going to the ranches and the contractors will continue with their cheating.

“So that they respect the indigenous people everyone should have information about payment, hours they should work and treatment they should receive. In the ranches they don’t feed us well”

Jacinta commented: “For the next contract I will think a bit more and I will ask about the conditions. I’ll talk more with others who are going to the ranches about which places to go to and which not.”

“In the community nobody has shared information about rights. It would be good to continue discussing the subject. Women always go to the contracts but are often scared to ask questions about what they don’t know.”