The Struggle for the Land of Sutiaba in the 1950's: Memories of Women Infused Board the First Women's Indigenous Community of Sutiaba

Abstract

Starting in the 1950s, landowners in León, seeking land to cultivate cotton intensively, began to appropriate the lands of the indigenous communities of Sutiaba. When the indigenous people lost much of their land and rivers, they reclaimed their ancestral organizational structure to fight for their land rights, resulting in the formation of the “Indigenous Community of Sutiaba” in 1954. Two days after the formation of the Men's Board of Directors, the Women's Board of Directors was established, consisting of 14 women. This article aims to analyze the participation of women in this struggle for land, using sources such as the Minutes Book from 1954 to 1955 of the Board of Directors and the testimonies of women who were part of this first Women's Board. The goal is to assess the role of women in the 1950s when the most intense struggles took place between the Indigenous Community of Sutiaba and the local and national government, and to understand the motivations, objectives, and activities of this first Women's Board.