The agricultural industry of San Quintin Valley
Have you ever been caught in a roadblock near San Quintin, surrounded by throngs of protesting workers, and thought: “What good does it to do close
the roads- again?”
Or perhaps you’ve simply wondered: “Who are the workers in the vast fields of San Quintin Valley?”
For answers to these questions, you could read the article below- but you will also learn something valuable by taking a drive through many of the
agricultural valleys of Baja on Good Friday.
Driving will provide a glimpse of these residents when they are not doing their “normal” working day.
Before you go- a brief introduction: As is apparent from their physical appearance, they are people from southern Mexico's poorest, least educated,
and mostly indigenous communities. They normally labor from before sunrise till after sunset in the open fields and greenhouses, as people speed past.
They are most often out of sight, out of mind.
These workers include teenagers, often working at low or what becomes no wages once the companies deduct housing, food etc. (which makes some wonder
if a new federal law in the US, banning imports of products made from slave labor, might apply to some of these crops).
These workers provide (mostly American) consumers with all the delicious fresh produce we’ve come to expect year-round: berries (Driscoll), tomatoes,
onions, cucumbers… (Los Pinos)- yet their wages are a fraction of the prices we are charged for these same items in the grocery stores.
As for their religion and culture: In 2015, I had a different experience of the SQ community. This happened while driving north with friends on Good
Friday, after a week of whale watching in Baja Sur.
Our group spent a quiet Thursday night at Don Eddies, enjoying the peaceful area and coastal fog along the inlet. The restaurant was closed at the Old
Mill, along with all the stores in the SQ area. (We were grateful the staff at Don Eddies showed up, and fed us before we continued north to San
Diego.)
The highway heading through the valley was nearly empty of trucks- a blessing!
Most Baja locals were driving south, away from Ensenada and other towns, to visit families for the final days of Semana Santa. Their open pickups were
packed with people, and plastic chairs for the beach and/or indoor family gatherings. Minivans and SUVs were also full of people, and the roof racks
were piled high with luggage and, yes, more plastic chairs.
While the "party pilgrims" on the road were interesting, we were more amazed to see the religious processionals of the indigenous faithful. Men were
carrying large crucifixes on their backs, walking slowly and deliberately through the red dirt of the fields. Groups of people followed them, crowded
into the narrow shoulders alongside Hwy 1.
This was the first time I had experienced this perspective of SQ valley. We watched dozens of families walking together, marching through the fields,
women carrying babies, young children holding parent’s hands… it didn’t feel like SQ. It felt like someplace thousands of kilometers away, in southern
Mexico or Central America.
Once a group arrived at one of the many closed storefronts or open air market stalls, they set up an altar and began their ceremony. People appeared
to be celebrating a traditional Catholic mass, with the cross placed in front of the assembled crowd, and a person presiding over the ceremony.
As a "recovering Catholic", I was touched to see these simple celebrations of faith. The contrast between the opulent cathedrals and churches I've
visited (including St. Peters in Rome) reminded me: holy observances can take place anywhere.
As Matthew 18:20 notes: “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Most of these people live in difficult circumstances- to say the least. (see below). But many left even more difficult, and at times dangerous, lives
behind, for a chance at a better future.
If their faith helps them endure what they experience in San Quintin and other agricultural areas of Baja California - more power to them.
As for an educational/economic look inside the greenhouses and fields of Baja, I recommend this: http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/32013-slave-in-the-fields...
Some excerpts:
Workforce: "To be part of this company, it’s necessary to speak an indigenous language, come from the poorest parts of Veracruz, Chiapas, Oaxaca and
Guerrero, and have little to no formal education. Not knowing how to read or write is considered a plus."
Economic realities: "This same day, a supermarket earned 330 pesos in one hour for selling 30 kilos of cucumber. In that same period, Carlos earned 20
pesos to harvest 200 kilos of cucumbers.
"Before April 3 of this year, the laborers earned 70 pesos for a work day that consisted of harvesting 45 buckets of cucumbers and 35 of tomatoes,
plus cleaning five rows. After the wage increase of 15 percent, the owners increased the workload in Los Pinos. Now the workers are required to pick
60 buckets of cucumbers, 50 of tomatoes and clean six rows.”
Arriving & living in company housing: “When we arrived we were told we owed the company the price of the ticket from Oaxaca to San Quintin, plus
we had to pay for the tank of gas and the stove and the groceries. They deducted all this directly from our wages, and since we didn’t know how the
payment system works they kept discounting our wages for six months. Many of us noticed it but nobody wanted to say anything because if you did you’d
have to leave fast.”
On housing: “On the north side almost bordering the Santa Maria Los Pinos neighborhood, are the homes of the packers. They have some privileges since
they do not cut off their electricity at night. On the south side are the houses of the day laborers and watchmen. Here they administer the
electricity, cutting it off at ten at night until four in the morning.”
On the safety of women workers: “Here in the fields, sexual harassment against women is common. If it is not their fellow workers in the fields, it is
the supervisors of each section, the drivers, checkers and head supervisors. The woman who refuses to accept the help of Jose Reyes or any other man
are treated worse than slaves. First they are accused of not working and are assigned more work or they are reassigned to another section where the
word load is heavier. If you dare refuse the advances of the head supervisor, he may order your immediate dismissal and expel you from the rooming
houses, where women are also assaulted by campers, camp guards and the manager.”
There’s more: spraying chemicals on workers while they are picking. A system designed to keep them in constant debt. Not hiring them with a written
contract, so no payments for Mexico’s version of Social Security.
I wish the workers of San Quintin and elsewhere a renewal of spirit this spring- the season of rebirth.
I also wish them success in organizing for safer working conditions, fair wages and basic benefits.
[Edited on 3-6-2016 by Whale-ista]
\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)
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