Abstract

VELAZQUEZ-HERNANDEZ, Emilia. From Communal Access to Land, to Land Certification: Changes in Agrarian Governance. LiminaR [online]. 2019, vol.17, n.2, pp.85-97. ISSN 2007-8900.  https://doi.org/10.29043/liminar.v17i2.675.

This text reflects on the complex sociopolitical processes linked to the transformations in agrarian property rights promoted by the state. To this end, we review the agrarian history of the Popoluca and Nahua peoples settled in the municipalities of Soteapan and Mecayapan, Veracruz. The shift from a type of communal access to land based on local citizenship is analyzed, as well as a form of ejido possession that would supposedly create an agrarian citizenship. We conclude that the certification of land holdings promoted by the Agrarian Law of 1992 is the culmination of a state project initiated in the 19th century that sought to favor private and individual property.

Keywords : property rights; agricultural land distribution; agrarian certification; local citizenship; agrarian citizenship.