Cherán

Cherán is a small town in Mexico that has practiced self-governance since 2011 as a result of the Cherán Revolution.

Crime

There hasn’t had a slaying or other serious crime since early 2011. Cherán has the lowest rate of homicide in Michoacán, and possibly all of Mexico. The town employes a system called the 'community guard' to protect itself. To quote one article on the town:

"Once the corrupt police and politicians left, the community collected the weapons, vehicles, and uniforms and established their own “ronda comunitaria” or community guard. When the uprising first began you might see elderly women with sticks defending the community. These days the community guard is mostly young men and women with professional weapons.

Seven years later and Cherán has one of the lowest levels of violence in all of Mexico. Quite an accomplishment while living in the violent state of Michoacán. “[Cherán’s] main achievement has been peace. It has the lowest homicide rate in all of Michoacán – and maybe all of Mexico outside of [the south-eastern state of] Yucatán,” Benjamín Fernández, a sociologist at the Centre for Research and Higher Studies in Social Anthropology (Ciesas), told The Guardian.

While the community guard is by no means a perfect institution it does offer benefits to the locals that were not available under the police or cartels. Local business owners are no longer forced to pay several hundred dollars a month to criminals. The community guard is accountable to the town assembly and chosen by the people."

Economy

The town has started several worker cooperatives, notably a greenhouse, sawmill and concrete factory.

Environmental Protection

Reforestation efforts undertaken by the community have led to the reforestation of 20,000 hectares of land (over three Manhattans) as of 2018.

See Also

• TV Cherán - the officially community YouTube channel