Democracy Maybe

By The People

Indigenous autonomy: Mexico’s Cheran community throws out cartels and corrupt leaders, opting for self-governance.

An Indigenous community in Mexico may have found a formula for the success of democracy.

They threw out drug cartels and big government, which forced them into desperate poverty. The women who led the resistance in 2011 relate their story.

Now the quiet and gentle community is run collectively, with volunteer paramilitary patrols to protect their land and forests.

In this film, we look at how the Cheran community gave power to the people, finding its own democratic solutions to the problems that threatened their very lives.