Abstract

KAWAKAMI, Ei. Resistance with gum: The Maya between the chewing-gum capital and the Mexican State in the 1920s. Entrediversidades rev. cienc. soc. humanid. [online]. 2022, vol.9, n.1, pp.325-359.  Epub Mar 15, 2023. ISSN 2007-7610.  https://doi.org/10.31644/ed.v9.n1.2022.a14.

At the end of the 1920s, almost three decades after the end of the Caste War of Yucatán (1847-1901), the Maya of the Federal Territory of Quintana Roo were practically independent from the Mexican government. They were no longer fighting the government with weapons, but were not completely submitted either. Now, its weapon was the chicle, a primary raw material of chewing-gum, abundant in the Mayan area and highly valued in the U.S. market. Some Mayan chiefs received privileges from the government, such as permission to exploit chicle on national lands, or exemption from payment of exploitation fee. But they did not respect all the rules set by the government: for example, they charged “exploitation fee” to other exploiters and invaded chicle camps of those exploiters who did not want to pay them. Most of the exploiters chose to obey them, because they needed the chicle of the area. The government could not take strong measures against those chiefs either, because it needed their help for the stability in the region and the development of the chicle industry. This article analyzes the triangular relationship between the indigenous people, the State, and the capital in the 1920s Quintana Roo, focusing on a conflict that occurred between the Maya, the Mexican government, and Miguel Ángel Ramoneda, a Mexican investor who had forestry concessions in the region. Its objective is to demonstrate the importance of the Maya as political and economic factors in Quintana Roo and to reveal the resistance strategy of their chiefs.

Keywords : Maya; chicle; chewing-gum; Quintana Roo; Mexican Revolution; agrarian reform; Francisco May; José Siurob.