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Oro Verde: A Monoculture Export Economy Tethered by a Twine

Angelica Aguirre

 

Oro verde, known as green gold, or “henequen” is a plant native to the Yucatan peninsula. It belongs to the agave species called agave fourcroydes. Known as “ki” to Maya, this cactus has a life span of approximately 25-30 years.[1] Before and during the economic boom of henequen, the agave plant was used to supply the local market. Yucatecan Maya used to strip the henequen leaves off the fibers by hand to make sacks, rope, and hammocks. At the time, the agave species was found in much smaller amounts and sizes and its periodic use continued throughout the colonization of the Spanish empire and onto the early nineteenth century.[2] The value of henequen is found in the fibers in the leaf. The boom of the henequen fibers and twine was bound by politics, elites, wealth, a foreign North American monopoly economy, enslaved exploitation, and debt peonage. While this commodity proved too economically beneficial to the Mexican government, the export monocrop economy it generated was perilously tethered to the United States and its farming economy.​

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Henequen 1.jpeg

Campesinos working in henequen fields, also known as a “plantel."

 

Henequen leaves were cut at their root and then placed on a boxcar to be carried by donkey or horse on a railway. The batch of leaves were then taken to the desfibradora—a machine that scraped and cleaned the fibers from the leaf. There they were put in between two scraping wheels where the fiber of the henequen leaf was scraped off and rotated into another wheel where it was cleaned by running water. From there a person placed the fibers that were removed from the henequen leaf to hang on a wire rack for five to six hours.[3] Once the twines were dry, they were baled and moved out of the manufacturing site. The raw fiber was then exported to the United States or Canada to be produced into binder twine.​

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In the early 1800s raw fibers were being exported into the U.S. but the production could not be sustained by the manual removal of the fibers from the leaves. By 1856, the desfibradora, was developed through governmental efforts to exponentially increase production of henequen fibers.[4] In 1878, following the invention of the McCormick binder, the demand for fibers increased dramatically. The industrial machine would cut crops and then bind the crops with a fiber or twine.[5] This generated a significant demand for henequen fibers in North America. From 1918-1921 approximately 148,000 tons of henequen fibers were imported in the United States from Mexico.[6] 85 to 90 percent of Yucatan’s henequen fibers were used to make binder twine that supplied factories in the U.S. and Canada.

 

During the 19th century Yucatan was one of the most impoverished states in all of Mexico, but that changed with the boom of the henequen fiber export economy.[7] Henequen raw fiber virtually replaced sugar as a cash crop. The Gilded Age of Yucatan transpired from 1860 to 1915. Henequeros, a new elite plantation owning class emerged. The demand for raw fibers brought about plantations dedicated to the cultivation and manufacture of henequen fibers. Henequeros’ desire to acquire capital led them to become indebted to North American bankers, manufacturers and brokers who wanted to be paid in fibers that reflected the value of its price in the market. Planters also found themselves indebted to wealthy and elite henequeros.​

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Henequen leaves are put in a “desfibradora” that separates the fibers from the henequen leaves and cleans them.

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Raw fibers are laid out to dry for approximately 5-6 hours.

Henequen fibers has advantages that facilitated its manufacture and production into the market in ways other fibers did not. First and foremost, fibers were not perishable which facilitated their transport and distribution to their destination throughout the commodity chain. Henequen cultivation was not affected by seasons or the weather, thus it could be produced all year long. If land was cleared for the purpose of henequen, it was possible because the climate was so dry and allowed for the survival of the agave species.[8] Moreover, henequen fibers from Yucatan were substantially inexpensive due to “cheap labor” that was driven by the enslavement of campesinos. The price of raw fibers and twine was also inexpensive due to the foreign North American economic monopoly—International Harvester Company, that controlled and maintained the cheap price of the raw fibers and twine.[9]


Historian Allen Wells reminds that the “Gilded Age” in Yucatan, is remembered by locals as the “Age of Slavery.”[10] Although the economy in Yucatan flourished, the Maya campesinos found themselves enslaved to rough labor and inhumane conditions in plantations. The booming demand for henequen fibers severely affected Maya campesinos. The desire for high quality henequen fibers produced a five-grade scale for the quality of the fiber. This was enforced in plantations and resulted in the punishment of workers if the fiber was not clean or up to par according to the scale.[11] Punishments usually resulted in campesinos being whipped by the acasillados, also known as the overseers of the laborers that reported to the administrator of the plantation.[12] The plantation economy depended on a debt peonage system which kept campesinos constantly indebted and unable to leave the plantation, thus having to pay for their freedom. Laborers in haciendas consisted of enslaved Yaquis, indentured Chinese and Korean workers, enganchados—known as day laborers, and Maya campesinos. Laboring long, hot and extensive hours, campesinos had to cut the large and prickly plant leaves with blades. Campesinos were cutting and binding approximately 2,000 henequen leaves per day.[13] Today henequen fiber or twine—now a retired commodity, is a remnant of a striving yet ​

violent period. Henequen plantations are now tourist attractions telling stories of a time that once was—a time in which oro verde hurled Yucatan into the global market, hanging by fibers and twine.

 

Notes

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[1] Gilbert M. Joseph, Revolution From Without: Yucatán, Mexico, and the United States, 1880-1924 (Cambridge [Cambridgeshire]: Cambridge University Press, 1982)., 13.

[2] Joseph., 23.

[3] H. T. (Harry Taylor) Edwards, Production of Henequen Fiber in Yucatan and Campeche, vol. no.1278 (1924) (Washington, D.C. : U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1924), https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/190267.

[4] Joseph., 24.

[5] Tillers International, 1920s McCormick Deering Grain Binder, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFybEbaTBhI.

[6] Edwards, Production of Henequen Fiber in Yucatan and Campeche., 14.

[7] Joseph, Revolution From Without: Yucatán, Mexico, and the United States, 1880-1924., 13.

[8] Topik, Marichal, and Frank, From Silver to Cocaine: Latin American Commodity Chains and the Building of the World Economy, 1500-2000., 304.

[9] Joseph, Revolution From Without: Yucatán, Mexico, and the United States, 1880-1924., 43-47.

[10] For more on Henequen in Yucatan see Wells, Allen. 1985. Yucatán's gilded age: haciendas, henequen, and International Harvester, 1860-1915. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

[11] Edwards, Production of Henequen Fiber in Yucatan and Campeche., 15-16.

[12] Joseph, Revolution From Without: Yucatán, Mexico, and the United States, 1880-1924., 75-76.

[13] Joseph, 76.

 

Bibliography

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  • Edwards, H. T. (Harry Taylor). Production of Henequen Fiber in Yucatan and Campeche. Vol. no.1278 (1924). Washington, D.C. : U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1924. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/190267.

  • Joseph, Gilbert M. Revolution From Without: Yucatán, Mexico, and the United States, 1880-1924. Cambridge [Cambridgeshire]: Cambridge University Press, 1982.

  • TillersInternational. 1920s McCormick Deering Grain Binder, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFybEbaTBhI.

  • Topik, Steven., Carlos. Marichal, and Zephyr L. Frank. From Silver to Cocaine : Latin American Commodity Chains and the Building of the World Economy, 1500-2000. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2006.

  • Wells, Allen. Yucatán's gilded age: haciendas, henequen, and International Harvester, 1860-1915. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1985.

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