Coffee crisis and migration in the context of poverty and marginalization. The case of indigenous producers in Huehuetla, Puebla

Abstract

The price crisis that has affected Mexican coffee production, but mainly indigenous producers, has led, among other phenomena, to a process of expulsion from the workforce of members of the producers' families, as is the case of the indigenous coffee growers of the municipality of Huehuetla, Puebla. This migration is characterized by being internal, but permanent, given that there are no signs of improvements in the conditions of prices and work in the coffee plantations. The fact that migration is mainly internal is due to the conditions of poverty and marginalization in which most of the producers in Puebla live, who are also mostly monolingual indigenous people who live in conditions of extreme poverty and marginalization; therefore, being a coffee producer, at least in the state of Puebla, is synonymous with being indigenous, marginalized and poor. Thus, given these conditions, and in the midst of a scenario in which low prices for the main commercial crop prevail, the possibilities of migrating beyond the borders become almost impossible in the coffee-growing areas; therefore, the only alternative to improve living conditions is internal migration, mainly to the cities of Mexico and Puebla, where members of the coffee-growing families find informal jobs. If these conditions persist, these migratory flows from the coffee-growing areas to cities such as those mentioned above will be a constant, thereby threatening various forms of peasant reproduction.