Modernization and Change in Mexico: La Zacualpa Rubber Plantation, 1890-1920
D U RING the latter part of the nineteenth century, Latin America entered a period of transition, as capitalist development jostled isolated rural hamlets and their inhabitants out of their traditional ways. Mexico, under the leadership of Porfirio Diaz, pursued the liberal vision of a modernizing society fashioned in the image of a European state like France or England. To transform Mexico from its colonial past, however, required a massive infusion of capital and technology into the Porfiriato's stable political environment. Equally important, the products of capitalistic agriculture, destined for international markets, required a ready source of cheap labor. The first portion of this essay will examine the process of development by focusing on the creation of a rubber plantation called La Zacualpa, located in the coastal jungle of the Soconusco department in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. Events here in the last years of the Porfiriato illustrate the necessity of capital formation, the dimensions of available land and labor, and the advent of technology, all prerequisites for a successful entrepreneurial project. This portion of the essay will also advance the hypothesis that labor conditions, at least on this tropical plantation, were not as coercive as has been traditionally supposed.'