FROM “ORPHANS OF THE STATE” TO THE COMUNIDAD CONSERVACIONISTA INSTITUCIONAL: THE CASE OF THE LACANDÓN COMMUNITY, CHIAPASFootnote¹

1. The title alludes to the well-known article by Jan Rus entitled “The ‘Comunidad Revolucionaria Institucional’: The Subversion of Native Government in Highland Chiapas, 1936–1968” (1994). Although the process described by Rus, whereby Highland communities in Chiapas became harnessed to the state (and the ruling party) through the “co-optation of native community structures” (1994: 267–268), is distinct from the case described here, I suggest a new form of clientelistic relationship between the state and those indigenous communities that “own” areas rich in biodiversity. For this reason I refer to the Comunidad Conservacionista Institucional (Institutional Conservationist Community), echoing the name of the Mexican state party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional [PRI]), which ruled Mexico from 1928 to 2000.