Company stores, called tiendas de raya, are a stubborn vestige of an oppressive past. During the early 20th century hacienda era, they kept peasants buried in debt, fueling resentment that helped spark the Mexican Revolution... The tiendas play a key role in a farm labor system that holds workers in a kind of indentured servitude. The combination of low pay and high prices drives many deep in debt to the stores. They spend the picking season trying to catch up. Guards and barbed-wire fences deter workers from fleeing the camps and their unpaid bills. At the end of the harvest, many head back to their mountain villages owing money to the stores. The debts are waiting for them when they return the next season, and the cycle continues. Product of México: Part 3 of 4
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 14:32:44 +0000
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