The Self-Ruling Indigenous of Cheran Celebrate Their First Government Transition Glenn Bower - Global Voices
go to original October 6, 2015

Hundreds of people from Cheran joined with their new traditional authorities and applauded those who had left office. Around their necks, they wore pandakuas to which they attach bread rolls; it signifies recognition. (Yoco Reyes del Movimiento Juvenil Huizizilapan/Más de 131)

Three years after the indigenous community in Cherán began to govern themselves according to their own customs and traditions, the first autonomous government passed the ceremonial baton to the winners of last May's election, marking Cherán's first transition of power under self-rule.

On 2 September 2015, hundreds of people from Cherán attended the event to meet their new traditional authorities and applaud those who had left office.

Cherán, which is located in the Mexican state of Michoacán, runs a government independent from the rest of the country's political system and based on the P’urhépecha's people own customary law (usos y costumbres in Spanish). The movement for political autonomy began in earnest in April 2011 when locals, frustrated over authorities’ failure to stop organised crime from clearing their forests of trees, blocked the passage of many logging vehicles.

Later that same year, the Superior Court of Mexico's Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary cancelled municipal elections, allowing the community to organize its own elections and government. In 2014, the country's Supreme Court officially recognized their right to self-rule.

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