The politics behind avocado production

This article ethnographically examines the formation of autodefensas in the Mexican municipality of Tancítaro, and its ties to the avocado production industry. By conducting a political and processual analysis, this article pays close attention to the autodefensas and the class relations among them vis-à-vis the avocado production industry, how class tensions influenced their politics, and how wider claims for justice were dismissed in favour of security. The class analysis is linked to an examination of the historical process of liberalization of the agrarian sector and class fragmentation that took place in the nineties, by which the peasantry was overlooked in favour of a free-market-oriented project that enabled the avocado export market to be opened up. In doing so, the article presents a complicated social field which challenges the conventional romantic view of autodefensas in Mexico.