Cherán: Difference between revisions
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'''Cherán''' is a Purépecha town and municipality in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, about 123 km west of the state capital, Morelia. Since 2011 it has governed itself through community assemblies and an elected council, outside the political party system. The municipality has a reported population of 16,243. | '''Cherán''' is a Purépecha town and municipality in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, about 123 km west of the state capital, Morelia. Since 2011 it has governed itself through community assemblies and an elected council, outside the political party system. The municipality has a reported population of 16,243. [[Logos]] cites Cherán as an example of residents taking over functions a failing state had lost. | ||
== What happened == | == What happened == | ||
Before 2011 the town suffered from organised crime, bribed politicians and corrupt police. Residents faced kidnappings, extortion, murders and illegal logging of their forest | Before 2011 the town suffered from organised crime, bribed politicians and corrupt police. Residents faced kidnappings, extortion, murders and the illegal logging of their forest by loggers linked to the cartel La Familia Michoacana. On 15 April 2011 a group of women and men armed with rocks and fireworks attacked a busload of illegal loggers. Residents put up barricades to control who entered the town and met around bonfires to agree how to run it. | ||
The community expelled the loggers | The community expelled the loggers, along with the political parties, the municipal government in office and its police. | ||
=== Legal standing === | === Legal standing === | ||
On 2 November 2011 the Superior Chamber of Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal ruled in case SUP-JDC-9167/2011 that the community has "the right to request the election of their own authorities, following their traditional rules, procedures and practices". | On 2 November 2011 the Superior Chamber of Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal ruled in case SUP-JDC-9167/2011. It held that the community has "the right to request the election of their own authorities, following their traditional rules, procedures and practices". It required this to be done with full respect for human rights and cancelled the municipal election that had been due in Cherán. | ||
On 29 May 2014 the Supreme Court of Justice decided a further case, Constitutional Controversy 32/2012. It found that the Michoacán Congress should have consulted the Cherán council before passing a reform of the state constitution. It held that ILO Convention 169 forms part of the constitutional standard. The court declared the reform invalid, with effect only for the parties to the case. | On 29 May 2014 the Supreme Court of Justice decided a further case, Constitutional Controversy 32/2012. It found that the Michoacán Congress should have consulted the Cherán council before passing a reform of the state constitution. It also held that ILO Convention 169 forms part of the constitutional standard. The court declared the reform invalid, with effect only for the parties to the case. | ||
== How it governs itself == | == How it governs itself == | ||
The community elects a 12-member council, the ''K'eri Jánaskakua''. The authority of the community assembly sits above every other local body, and decisions are taken by consensus. Other bodies include a youth council, a women's council, neighbourhood councils and a communal territory council. Neighbourhood watch members patrol the town and the surrounding forest | The community elects a 12-member council, the ''K'eri Jánaskakua''. The authority of the community assembly sits above every other local body, and decisions are taken by consensus. Other bodies include a youth council, a women's council, neighbourhood councils and a communal territory council. Neighbourhood watch members, known as the ''Ronda'', patrol the town and the surrounding forest. The Mexican government treats Cherán as a legal self-governing indigenous community. | ||
=== Safety record === | === Safety record === | ||
Logos says that within a few years Cherán's homicide rate was among the lowest in Michoacán. Bloomberg reported in 2017 that the town had not had "a single slaying or serious crime in six years", a claim it traced to the town itself. The same report said federal authorities had counted 614 killings in Michoacán so far that year, a 16 percent increase on 2016. Wikipedia states that Cherán had the lowest homicide rate in the state in 2017. | |||
On 2 July 2025 armed men, apparently members of the CJNG cartel, attacked the community | The researcher Giovanna Gasparello, writing in 2018, cautioned that official crime figures for Cherán do not reflect actual crime, for two reasons. Few crimes are reported at all, and a survey by INEGI, Mexico's statistics office, found only about 11 percent of crimes were reported in 2016. Since 2013 a local body, the Concejo de Honor y Justicia, has also handled cases, and it probably does not pass all its data to the national system. The official figures she cites record five intentional homicides in Cherán in 2012. | ||
On 2 July 2025 armed men, apparently members of the CJNG cartel, attacked the community, which reported one member of the ''Ronda'' killed and one wounded. A report on the attack described it as breaking 14 years of peace in Cherán. | |||
== Why it matters to Logos == | == Why it matters to Logos == | ||
Logos uses Cherán to argue that the gap left by a failing state does not have to go to cartels or corporations. In its account the residents organised their own defence, put their own community government in place, and won legal standing and control of their territory. It presents a [[Parallel society|parallel society]] as ordinary people occupying such a gap on purpose. It links the case to its wider argument on [[Institutional decline|institutional decline]], that the functions a failing state abandons get occupied by whoever is organised. | |||
== See also == | == See also == | ||
| Line 29: | Line 31: | ||
== Sources == | == Sources == | ||
* | * Logos Circles training material, 2026 | ||
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cher%C3%A1n Cherán], Wikipedia | * [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cher%C3%A1n Cherán], Wikipedia | ||
* [https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/the-cheran-indigenous-communitys-remarkable-road-to-self-rule-in-mexico The Cherán indigenous community's remarkable road to self-rule in Mexico], Our World, United Nations University, c. 2015 | * [https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/the-cheran-indigenous-communitys-remarkable-road-to-self-rule-in-mexico The Cherán indigenous community's remarkable road to self-rule in Mexico], Our World, United Nations University, c. 2015 | ||
Latest revision as of 23:55, 4 November 2026
Cherán is a Purépecha town and municipality in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, about 123 km west of the state capital, Morelia. Since 2011 it has governed itself through community assemblies and an elected council, outside the political party system. The municipality has a reported population of 16,243. Logos cites Cherán as an example of residents taking over functions a failing state had lost.
What happened
Before 2011 the town suffered from organised crime, bribed politicians and corrupt police. Residents faced kidnappings, extortion, murders and the illegal logging of their forest by loggers linked to the cartel La Familia Michoacana. On 15 April 2011 a group of women and men armed with rocks and fireworks attacked a busload of illegal loggers. Residents put up barricades to control who entered the town and met around bonfires to agree how to run it.
The community expelled the loggers, along with the political parties, the municipal government in office and its police.
Legal standing
On 2 November 2011 the Superior Chamber of Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal ruled in case SUP-JDC-9167/2011. It held that the community has "the right to request the election of their own authorities, following their traditional rules, procedures and practices". It required this to be done with full respect for human rights and cancelled the municipal election that had been due in Cherán.
On 29 May 2014 the Supreme Court of Justice decided a further case, Constitutional Controversy 32/2012. It found that the Michoacán Congress should have consulted the Cherán council before passing a reform of the state constitution. It also held that ILO Convention 169 forms part of the constitutional standard. The court declared the reform invalid, with effect only for the parties to the case.
How it governs itself
The community elects a 12-member council, the K'eri Jánaskakua. The authority of the community assembly sits above every other local body, and decisions are taken by consensus. Other bodies include a youth council, a women's council, neighbourhood councils and a communal territory council. Neighbourhood watch members, known as the Ronda, patrol the town and the surrounding forest. The Mexican government treats Cherán as a legal self-governing indigenous community.
Safety record
Logos says that within a few years Cherán's homicide rate was among the lowest in Michoacán. Bloomberg reported in 2017 that the town had not had "a single slaying or serious crime in six years", a claim it traced to the town itself. The same report said federal authorities had counted 614 killings in Michoacán so far that year, a 16 percent increase on 2016. Wikipedia states that Cherán had the lowest homicide rate in the state in 2017.
The researcher Giovanna Gasparello, writing in 2018, cautioned that official crime figures for Cherán do not reflect actual crime, for two reasons. Few crimes are reported at all, and a survey by INEGI, Mexico's statistics office, found only about 11 percent of crimes were reported in 2016. Since 2013 a local body, the Concejo de Honor y Justicia, has also handled cases, and it probably does not pass all its data to the national system. The official figures she cites record five intentional homicides in Cherán in 2012.
On 2 July 2025 armed men, apparently members of the CJNG cartel, attacked the community, which reported one member of the Ronda killed and one wounded. A report on the attack described it as breaking 14 years of peace in Cherán.
Why it matters to Logos
Logos uses Cherán to argue that the gap left by a failing state does not have to go to cartels or corporations. In its account the residents organised their own defence, put their own community government in place, and won legal standing and control of their territory. It presents a parallel society as ordinary people occupying such a gap on purpose. It links the case to its wider argument on institutional decline, that the functions a failing state abandons get occupied by whoever is organised.
See also
Sources
- Logos Circles training material, 2026
- Cherán, Wikipedia
- The Cherán indigenous community's remarkable road to self-rule in Mexico, Our World, United Nations University, c. 2015
- Cherán Resists: Armed Attack Breaks 14 Years of Peace in Purépecha Community, Schools for Chiapas, 5 July 2025
- Summary of Constitutional Controversy 32/2012, Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, Mexico
- Women Kicked Out Organized Crime in This Mexican Town, Bloomberg, 11 August 2017
- Giovanna Gasparello, Análisis del conflicto y de la violencia en Cherán, Michoacán, Relaciones. Estudios de historia y sociedad 39 (155), El Colegio de Michoacán, 2018