SUNU: A Documentary Film about One of the World's Greatest Treasures

Seen through the eyes of small, midsize and large Mexican maize producers, SUNÚ knits together different stories from a threatened rural world. It journeys deep into the heart of a country where people realize their determination to stay free, to work the land and cultivate their seeds, to be true to their cultures and forms of spirituality, all in a modern world that both needs them and despises them. SUNÚ reveals how maize and everything it gives life to could be lost forever, and shares a generous tapestry of simple, heartfelt messages for the farmers of the world and the city dwellers who could lose the capability to make important choices unless they act soon. 

 By Sabrina Hernández
On Feb. 24-26, the Student Organization for Latin American Studies (SOLAS), in conjunction with the Latin American and Iberian Institute, hosted their annual Sin Fronteras film festival. The festival, held at the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque, is a student organized free event devoted to films about and from Latin America.

This year, SOLAS was fortunate to show Sunú, and to host the director, Teresa Camou Guerrero, who answered questions after the screening. While I was unable to attend all of the films shown over the weekend, Sunú spoke to me as its agricultural and smallholder focus is very much in-line with my own research interests.

As a member of SOLAS, I arrived early to help set up and was able to meet Teresa beforehand. Visiting from her home in Mexico City, Teresa was just beginning a film screening tour that brought her to Albuquerque and Santa Fe and will eventually take her throughout California.

Sunú, which has won awards from nearly a dozen different film festivals, shows us the reality of small, middle, and large maize producers throughout Mexico as they struggle to fend off the advances of Monsanto and genetically modified maize varieties. Maize, first cultivated in Mexico at least 7,000 years ago, is more than just an economic means to survival or a source of nutritional sustenance, for the maize producers in Mexico, it represents their identity and is an intrinsic part of their cultural and spiritual practices.



Mexico has prohibited commercial planting of the genetically altered varieties that threaten to disappear thousands of years of maize traditional and cultural heritage, although there is pressure from commercial interests and multinational seed companies to allow GMO corn (SourceMex, Jan. 17, 2017). With her documentary, Camou Guerrero aims to fortify the battle against GMO corn and to present to the world what exactly is at stake. One of the largest threats faced by producers of native corn is that of contamination. The possibility of imported GMO corn contaminating native varieties was the subject of an article we posted back in 2004 – evidencing the persistence of this problem (SourceMex, Sept. 22, 2004).

Camous Guerrero, in the clip below, speaks to the motivations of contaminating native corn:



With a background in puppeteering, Teresa’s connection to the subjects treated in this film may not seem like a natural fit.  However, she explained to the audience that as an artist, she recognizes the power that the arts can lend to social movements and social issues, including the producer resistance to GMO corn in Mexico. In the clip below,

In this clip, Teresa further explains how she became involved with this subject matter.  

Colombian Peace Process Feels Different

Photo from Caguan Peace Talks,  Wikimedia Commons

"Members of the security forces and their families have been given equal footing alongside members of the guerrilla and their families [in cases where] both groups suffered harm or had their rights substantially impaired as a consequence of gross human rights violations." - Committee that selected victims to testify at Havana Peace Talks

The Colombian government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) appear closer than ever to a peace agreement after 50 years of conflict. The ongoing talks, which have taken place in Havana, could lead to substantive change. According to the British non-governmental organization Justice for Colombia, several earlier attempts to achieve peace have failed, including the Caguan Peace Talks in 1998-2002. 

What is difference this time around? The Colombian government has made a concerted effort to enter this round of talks, the first after many violent years, with a tone of mutual respect, rather than one of superiority. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is demonstrating that respect in several ways, through the location of the meeting in Havana, through the composition of the panel, and most importantly, through the inclusion of and focus on testimonials of war victims from both sides of the half-century of conflict.

Although the Santos government does maintain positive relations with Cuba, Havana has an even tighter connection with the FARC, which has maintained a firm alliance with Marxist-Leninist philosophy since its beginnings during agrarian movements of the early 1960s .With a more or less neutral ground established, Santos sent his highest ranking military official, General Javier Florez, to meet face to face with the FARC leaders, a message that the Colombian administration respects the legitimacy of the group. This gesture also opens the door for FARC guerillas to lay down their weapons and reenter society without fear of being exterminated.

Finally, the inclusion of victims’ testimonials have taken center stage, stirring up heavy emotions on both sides. The presence of victims at the peace talks represent an acknowledgement that grave injustices have been committed by both sides, not just by the FARC guerillas. A great deal of tension surrounds the failure of the government’s right-wing factions to accept responsibility for the alleged crimes and human rights violations. However, Santos’ negotiating team has emphasized that a goal for these talks is to “satisfy the victims’ rights to truth, remembrance, justice and the admission of responsibilities. Andrés Gaudín addresses the role of the testimonials in the Havana peace talks in this week’s issue of NotiSur.  See additional coverage of the talks in Granma,the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba.

 -Jake Sandler

Also in LADB this week.... 
Guatemala’s Plan to Privatize Tax-collection System:  President Otto Pérez has proposed a plan to privatize the country’s tax-collection system to try increase tax revenues, which have fallen below target. Louisa Reynolds tells us about opposition to the plan and related questions of corruption in the latest issue of NotiCen..

Costa Rica: The Report before the Report: Before making public his account of the first 100 days of his administration, Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís repeatedly said he was going to tell Costa Ricans the state in which he found the country and what his government’s roadmap would be. The opposition prevented Solís from presenting his findings to Congress, so he released the report before an audience of close to 1,000 members of civil-society sectors. Read more from George Rodríguez in NotiCen.

Cartel of Cartels in Mexico: Four of the most notorious and ruthless drug cartels in Mexico have apparently proposed joining forces rather than fighting each other in turf battles. Intelligence reports from the US and Mexican governments indicate that leaders from the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), the Carrillo Fuentes organization (also known as the Juárez cartel), the Beltrán Leyva cartel, and the Zetas held a meeting in the city of Piedras Negras in Coahuila to discuss the possibility of forming some sort of alliance. The latest issue of SourceMex provides more details.

Mexican Court Upholds Ban on GMO Corn. A Mexican federal court handed multinational seed companies another setback with a ruling against the Swiss-based seed company Syngenta, which had appealed a ban on the use of genetically modified (GM) corn in Mexico. Carlos Navarro expands on this development in the latest edition of SourceMex.

Brazilian Elections. The untimely death of Partido Socialista Brasileiro (PSB) candidate Eduardo Campos has added a new dynamic to the Brazilian elections. Campos' replacement Marina Silva could actually prove to be a more formidable opponent to President Dilma Rousseff (Partido de Trabalhadores, PT), and conservative challenger Aécio Neves (Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira, PSDB). Silva has a broad base of support thanks to her politics and biography. Her sustainability credentials appeal to urban leftist intellectuals and progressive youth. Gregory Scruggs tells us more about the upcoming Brazilian elections in the latest edition of NotiSur.

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Indigenous Rights Key Factor Behind Court’s Decision to Prohibit Additional Genetically Altered Soy in Campeche State

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Article from SourceMex, April 16

Opponents of the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Mexico scored a victory in mid-March when a federal court ordered the federal government to rescind a permit to plant genetically engineered soy plants in Campeche state. In issuing the landmark decision, the Juzgado Segundo de Distrito ruled that the government violated the constitutional rights of three Mayan communities by not consulting them before approving the cultivation of 253,000 hectares of GMO soybeans. The ruling was based on a complaint filed by the Mayan municipalities of Pack-Chen and Cancabchen and the Colectivo Apícola de los Chenes, which said the GMO seeds threatened traditional honey production in the three communities. Carlos Navarro Read More

Eager To Cash In, South America’s Soy-Producing Nations Ignore Monoculture’s Many Risks

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Article from NotiSur, April 11

The Southern Cone’s five transgenic-soy-producing countries--Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay--together grow more than 50 million hectares (500,000 sq km) of the oilseed, nearly all of which is exported to Europe and Asia, where it is used to feed livestock and, in the specific case of China, to produce different types of oils. South American environmental organizations say the soy industry destroys forests, pollutes the water, soil, and air, and pushes small-scale farmers off their land. Many economists are critical of the soy frenzy as well, saying the decision to dedicate vast stretches of land to a single crop is both short-sighted and risky, since it makes all five countries overly dependent on a single product and a on single market, China, which consumes nearly 80% of the region’s soy production. Andrés Gaudín Read More

LADB Perspective: In what seems like an echo from the dependency theorists of the 20th century, monoculture agriculture and a heavy reliance on a foreign market – in this instance China – have created a common cause for alarm by both economists and environmentalists. Economists, on one side of the issue, warn that an over-dependence on a single crop – soybeans – and a single market – China – is “both short-sighted and risky.” This also has ramifications for the progressive developments of the predominantly left-leaning Southern Cone, where Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Bolivia are still governed by administrations who came to power during the ‘Pink Tide,’ a term used to describe the turn towards the center-left during the early 21st century. While these states have been using the massive windfalls from recent soybean harvest to fund social programs and help combat wealth disparity, the ongoing economic events in Venezuela serve as a cautionary tale of how over-dependence on a single export product – petroleum in Venezuela’s case – and radical market engineering can create fragile and unsustainable national economies. While the economies of Argentina and Brazil are better diversified and the economies of Uruguay and Bolivia much smaller and manageable, these states are evermore eager to expand soy production regardless of the risks.

 Environmentalists, on the other side are also worried about the risks that GMO crops pose to the environment and lasting viability of agriculture in the Southern Cone. The risks of monoculture have long been apparent, from susceptibility to a single pest to being over-reliant on specific weather conditions, yet they appear to present little deterrence. Recent storms and floods in the Southern Cone could end up costing Argentina 3 million tons of soybeans, which amounts to approximately 5% of the entire annual harvest. Changes in soil condition over time may also serve to turn this “cause for celebration” into short-term boom, leaving state dependent on soybeans with poor soil and unsupportable social welfare programs. And while non-native crops, such as soybeans, are not at risk in South America to lose genetic diversity, the persistent loss of forest puts many native species – both flora and fauna – at great risk. Lastly, the huge tracks of land required for a high profit margin on soybeans have been forcing small land holders into destitution and homelessness. If this consolidation of arable land continues, we may the increase in the political influence of such organizations such as the MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra [Landless Worker’s Movement]) in Brazil.

 While the windfalls from recent soybean harvests have no doubt been beneficial to many in their respective societies, the worries of economists and environmentalists alike should be cause for further analyses of the short-term benefits and long-term risks of such agricultural policies. -Joe Leestma

Dominican-Haitian Immigration Dispute; Concerns Grow about GMO soy in South America; Mexico Holds 'Black Friday' Sales Weekend

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Articles in SourceMex, NotiCen and NotiSur for November 20-22

Chile's Former President Michelle Bachelet Zeroes In on Second Term with Decisive First-Round Win

Opposition candidate and former President Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010) cruised to victory in Chile’s Nov. 17 first-round presidential election, scooping up nearly twice as many votes as her closest rival, Evelyn Matthei of the governing Alianza coalition, and sending the rest of the crowded field packing. Bachelet, leader of the center-left Nueva Mayoría coalition, won nearly 47% of the vote, well ahead of Matthei (25%) but short of the 50% mark needed to win the presidency outright. "We knew the challenge of winning in just one round would be complicated. We gave it our all and came very close to doing it," she told reporters following the Nov. 17 vote. -Benjamin Witte-Lebhar Read More

Questions Raised Throughout South America Regarding Use and Abuse of Agrochemicals

What began as a straight-forward journalistic investigation into modern farming practices in Argentina has turned into something of a regional rallying cry for critics of the US-based firm Monsanto and other large multinational agricultural firms involved in the production of genetically modified (transgenic) seeds and potent agrochemicals, which tend to be used hand in hand with those seeds. Critics worry about the adverse effects Monsanto products such as Roundup--a powerful and widely used herbicide made with the chemical glyphosate--could be having on humans, animals, plant life, water supplies, and the environment in general.  -Andrés Gaudín  Read More



Haiti and the Dominican Republic at Odds Because Ruling Deprives Persons of Haitian Descent of Dominican Citizenship

Two months ago, after Juliana Disguise-Pierre, a Dominican national of Haitian descent and the mother of four, appealed for having been deprived by the Dominican Republic’s Junta Central Electoral (JCE) of Dominican identification and voter cards, the country’s Tribunal Constitucional (TC) issued a ruling that has placed that country and Haiti, its Caribbean-island neighbor, at odds. In its Sept. 25 decision, the TC does not recognize as Dominican citizens persons born as of 1929 of foreign parents "in transit" or with irregular immigration status in the Dominican Republic. The  measure overwhelmingly applies to daughters and sons of Haitian nationals, the largest foreign community settled on Dominican soil. Different estimates put the total of Haitian-Dominicans at more than 200,000, while the rest of citizens of foreign descent number some 35,000. -George Rodríguez   Read More

Mexico’s "Black Friday" Campaign Boosts Consumption Ahead of Holiday Season 

In what some observers have described as a "government-supported Black Friday," retailers in Mexico sponsored the third annual El Buen Fin sales-promotion weekend, offering deep discounts and favorable interest terms on consumer goods and services. The campaign, started in 2011 under President Felipe Calderón’s administration, was intended to revive the economy by encouraging consumption. The federal government supports the effort by providing some funding for promotional activities and giving government workers their Christmas bonus in advance. Any retailer can participate in the effort by simply registering on a Web site created by several business organizations and the Secretaría de Economía (SE). The program has its share of critics, which point out that the campaign causes many families to incur unnecessary debts. -Carlos Navarro  Read More

Congress Includes Special Fund for Border States in 2014 Budget 

The inclusion of a special fund to help residents of northern states that border the US helped ensure easy passage for the 2014 expenditures budget (Presupuesto de Egresos de la Federación) in the Chamber of Deputies. The budget—approved by wide margin of 441 to 26 with four abstentions—obtained support from the majority of the deputies from the center-right Partido Acción Nacional (PAN). The PAN had adamantly opposed President Enrique Peña Nieto's proposal to charge a uniform value-added tax (impuesto al valor agregado, IVA) of 16% to all states in Mexico. The northern states were previously charged an IVA of 11%. -Carlos Navarro   Read More

Guatemalan Army Intervenes in Customs Offices to Curb Smuggling

With falling tax revenues attributed to smuggling, President Otto Pérez Molina decided that five of the country’s 12 customs offices would be temporarily taken over by the military in an effort to curb corruption. The legality of the measure has been disputed, and even business representatives, those most affected by smuggling, argue that this is not a viable long-term solution. -Louisa Reynolds   Read More