Transition: Indigenous Peoples | Article by Roberto Velez

President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum’s campaign platform calls for continuing to “ensure equity for Indigenous peoples and communities” (12 million people, according to the latest Population and Housing Census). However, the level and intergenerational persistence of poverty among this population suggests much broader government action. It is said that the observed results are explained by the greater concentration of the native population in areas with less economic progress. It is even suggested that members of this population group lack the ability to make greater efforts. However, none of these arguments hold water. On the contrary, the results show that regardless of the region or the degree of effort, for example in the field of education, Indigenous people face significant barriers to social mobility.

According to the latest poverty data published by Coneval, the percentage of indigenous people in this situation is twice that of the rest of the population (65 versus 33 percent). And when it comes to extreme poverty, the indigenous people are five times more likely to be in this situation (26 versus 5 percent). In addition, in my work with my colleague Rafael Pineda, we have found that the rate at which indigenous people born and raised at the bottom of the five rungs of the social ladder remain there is 68 percent, compared to 41 percent for non-indigenous people. Moreover, from the same starting point, indigenous people are less than four times less likely than the rest of the population to move up the social ladder (1.5 versus 6.9 percent). The indigenous population, coming from the highest rung of the social ladder, is not immune from an unfortunate fate: not only is it more likely to lose its position on the highest rung (60 percent versus 43 percent of the rest), but it is also more than three times more likely than the rest to fall to the bottom rung (10.1 versus 2.8%).

A common question about these types of results is whether it is because most of the native population lives in the states with the worst economic performance. However, this is precisely what my colleague Luis Monroy-Gomez-Franco and I take into account in our analysis of five major regions of the country, which results in even the more economically advantaged regions seeing social mobility penalty for indigenous people. This automatically brings us to a potential scenario of differentiated access to educational opportunities or unequal and limited treatment in areas of life for this population group.

Another argument that can be made is that the indigenous population makes less effort. However, as Luis Monroy-Gómez-Franco has already shown in his study and Rafael Pineda has confirmed in ours, this is also not true: if we focus on people coming from the lowest rung of the social ladder who have surpassed their parents by at least three levels of education, it turns out that among the indigenous population, 24% have risen beyond the second rung (which implies overcoming poverty), but for the rest of the population this frequency is twice as high. So, as is happening to some people this Olympic season, we should not be embarrassed and believe that winning a medal requires only talent and desire: the environment matters.

The new government proposes an approach based on the recognition of the right to self-determination, as well as indigenous cultures and languages. According to its electoral program, this will be achieved through the constitutional reform initiative that the executive presented on February 5. Of course, the right to decide and live in the culture that each person chooses must be guaranteed. However, the above This is not enough so this choice is effective in terms of realizing life. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to think about a broader set of public policies that include, yes, the guarantee of human capital formation, but also the creation and expansion of spaces that indigenous people have, among other things, in the marketplace. . formal work.

*Roberto Vélez Grajales (x.com/robertovelezg) is the director of the Espinosa Iglesias Research Center.