Political Leadership and Legal Change in Zinacantan

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Abstract
This paper analyzes the role of local political leaders in channeling the impact of national development programs on the processes of dispute handling in Zinacantan, a Maya Indian community in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Although the development programs have caused individual Zinacantecos to become more aware of the benefits they might obtain by appealing to remedy agents outside of the Indian community, few cases are taken to Mexican authorities because Indian leaders, who have a vested interest in handling the disputes of constituents, have sought to preserve the popularity of traditional conciliatory procedures by altering the types of settlements they suggest to disputants. As a result, traditional conciliatory procedures are flourishing, but the substance of the settlements reached through such procedures has begun to change toward conformity with codified state and national laws where those laws conflict with traditional Indian custom.

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