Abstract

RODRIGUEZ DIAZ, Jorge Luis. Poverty, hunger and cattle rustling: Other forms of resistance in nineteenth-century Sacatepéquez. Rev. pueblos front. digit. [online]. 2014, vol.9, n.17, pp.127-132. ISSN 1870-4115.  https://doi.org/10.22201/cimsur.18704115e.2014.17.67.

In the heart of rural Guatemala that nourished nineteenth-century Colonial society with agricultural production, and provided the Spanish Crown with substantial tribute, poverty generated an increase in cattle rustling. In those times, cattle represented a highly valued resource. In this study, cattle rustling is seen as a form of resistance by the marginalized sectors whose customary rights were violated with the expansion of Colonial farms known as haciendas and the consequences this imprinted on local agricultural. This piece of research evidences criminality as a form of resistance to a system based on oppression and exclusion.

Keywords : cattle rustling; customary law; cattle raising and resistance.