Coatecas Altas: Between Marginalization and Migration

Overview

This paper shows the results of the "Human Axis" belonging to the community diagnosis carried out in the community of Coatecas Altas, Ejutla, Oaxaca by the students of the second module of Intercultural Baccalaureate No. 46. Therefore, it focuses on describing the problems that exist in the community in relation to marginalization rates and the prevailing phenomenon of migration. In synthesis, Coatecas Altas is a population that, according to official data, presents a high degree of marginalization, with deficient public services and little access to a good quality of life; added to social problems such as alcoholism, the lack of job opportunities and scarce public health services. Therefore, it is very common the constant flow of people who emigrate to the United States in search of a better standard of living and quality of life.

Key words: Marginalization, migration, poverty, literacy, addictions, domestic violence.

Coatecas Altas: between marginalization and migration.

"If you did not emigrate, your father emigrated, and if your father did not need to move it was because your grandfather, before him, had no choice but to leave, carrying his life on his shoulders, in search of the bread that his land denied him.

– José Saramago.

1. Introduction

This research forms part of one of the axes of the community diagnosis elaborated by the students of the second module of the Intercultural High School No. 46 of Coatecas Altas, Ejutla, Oaxaca.

Therefore, this paper shows the results obtained in the "Human Axis" which focuses on describing two main problems that strongly affect this community, which are the high degree of "marginalization" and the phenomenon of "migration".

Thus, through this writing we try to understand and assimilate the way in which the community of Coatecas Altas "Latiezh" is idealised and affected by the prevailing gestation of these two social problems, that is, our intention is to describe the current situation and the way in which migration and marginalisation are culturally lived and conceived in the cultural environment of this community.

Therefore, in order to have clarity with our objectives, in the first stage we based ourselves on the census data provided by DIGEPO (Dirección General de Población de Oaxaca), INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía), CONAPO (Consejo Nacional de Población) and CONEVAL (Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de la Política de Desarrollo Social), organizations that in recent years have published statistical, qualitative and quantitative data related to marginalization indices and other problems related to this.

In the second stage, a participative field research was carried out where 52 interviews on migration were applied around the 4 sections that make up the locality, in addition, this interview was aimed at people who are heads of households and have been living for several years within the community.

Therefore, the documentary and field phase described above, allowed us to understand and analyze more accurately the predominant and ideological-cultural reality that the coatecanos have with respect to their level of marginalization, and the problem of migration that is increasingly evidenced by the constant flow of people to other states of the country or to the United States of America to seek better opportunities and quality of life.

2. Margination

The marginalization index was implemented in Mexico with the intention and purpose of supporting development and population planning tasks at the regional and local levels (CONAPO, 1993).

Starting from the fact that the processes that shape marginalization form a precarious structure of social opportunities for citizens, their families and communities, and expose them to deprivations, risks and social vulnerabilities that often escape personal, family and community control and whose reversal requires the active participation of public, private and social agents. (Gutiérrez and Hernández, 2010, p. 3).

In this context, considering the most recent data from CONAPO (2010), Coatecas Altas is one of the municipalities with the highest marginalization in the entire state of Oaxaca, which is why children and adolescents tend to drop out of school during or after high school, even during their high school studies due to poverty, early marriage or because they decide to migrate to other entities in the country or to the United States in search of better life opportunities.

Therefore, it is imperative to look back at these social situations prevailing within the community, since they are highly influenced by the marginalization indices prevailing throughout the social stratum of this municipality.

Derived from this, analyzing the data shown by CONAPO (2010), Coatecas Altas has a population of approximately 4,712 people and where it is appreciated that more than 60% (approximately 3,590 people) of the population of this municipality is in the degree of marginalization of "Very high" and another 33.3% (approximately 1,119 people) are in the degree of marginalization of "High", and only 6.67% are in acceptable degrees of marginalization or even appear in the status of unregistered.

With these statistical data from CONAPO (2010) we can appreciate that practically all the territory, agencies and ranches belonging to the municipality of Coatecas Altas have a degree of marginalization with indices of "Very high" and "High", which is disturbing and of great concern, since it denotes the lack of social opportunities, development and state and federal strategies to combat the social and marginal disintegration of this municipality.

2.1. Poverty index in the community

Returning to the information described in the previous section, we can confirm that Coatecas Altas is an extremely poor municipality, where after analyzing the data from CONAPO (2010) and contrasting them with the poverty level of the General Directorate of Population of Oaxaca (DIGEPO, 2015), we can appreciate that this municipality has a considerable number of people in a situation of multidimensional poverty (90%).

The population with extreme multidimensional poverty is also high, at around 60%. In third place were those who are in a situation of moderate multidimensional poverty, with approximately 29%.

In addition, according to the DIGEPO (2015), the municipality decreased by approximately 8% the population that was vulnerable due to social deprivation, who despite having incomes higher than $1,221.74 in rural areas, had at least one deprivation in the area of access to basic public services, against 90% of the population in multidimensional poverty.

As in other rural municipalities, the population vulnerable by income remained at 0%, as peasant households with an income below the welfare line were registered. Meanwhile, the CONEVAL (2015) registered 0% of vulnerable people for income and not poor and not vulnerable.

Comparing the indices of social deprivation with multidimensional poverty, we find that in Coatecas Altas, 90% of the population is in a situation of multidimensional poverty and 99% of the population has at least one social deprivation and multidimensional poverty.

There is also a little more than 60% of the population in a situation of extreme multidimensional poverty and approximately 95% of the population with at least one social deprivation along with their conditions of extreme multidimensional poverty.

3. Literacy

3.1 Alphabetic population

One of the basic indicators of the educational level of the population of Coatecas Altas and its potential to advance towards better living conditions, is the number of years of schooling that its population has managed to reach.

In this sense, the average schooling of people aged 15 and over, achieved within the state education system, is clear evidence of the path towards universal coverage in basic and higher secondary education.

In Oaxaca, the average schooling of this population went from 5.6 years in 2000 to 7.5 years in 2015, that is to say, it is now the equivalent of the first year of secondary school. Over time, although the average number of years of schooling by sex is higher for men, the difference between the sexes has decreased.

In the specific case of the community of Coatecas Altas, we can appreciate according to figures from the INEGI Intercensal Survey (2015), that the percentage of literate inhabitants over 15 years of age within the community is only 27.4% of the total population, that is to say, only approximately 1,296 of the 4,712 people registered by CONAPO (2010) have reached an acceptable level of education; we say acceptable, since, according to this same Intercensal survey (INEGI, 2015), this percentage of 27.4% includes people who have reached at least the equivalent of 3rd grade of primary education.

Therefore, according to the foregoing and in consideration of the data obtained from different sources and by different organizations we can determine that there is a certain degree of literacy, which has been complemented by the new service opportunities of more schools, such as the implementation of higher secondary education in the community of Coatecas Altas.

Technically in the community, of the total population, 47.21% of men between the ages of 15 and 24 are in the literacy rate, that is, they can read and write like 52.79% of women, in addition we must not forget that between the ages of 25 and over there are 58.21% of men and 41.79% of women (INEGI, 2015).

As for the level of studies, 4 levels of schooling are considered and exist in the community in which a certain part of the total population attends. Beginning at the preschool level, 2% of the total community attends preschool, 71% attends primary school, 73% attends secondary school, and in the case of higher secondary education only 2% is considered, and in the case of higher education only 0.2% attends; however, 36.35% of the population has no schooling (INEGI, 2015).

According to the previously mentioned data, we can affirm that the literacy rate is at a low level, since almost half of the community does not attend school or had to abandon their studies due largely to economic problems (not having enough resources to pay for their education), cultural problems (because of the ideology that women are not there to study, they are only there to do household chores), because of the early introduction to work (migrant children and young people), or simply because they do not want to study.

3.2. Illiterate population

Schooling is a serious problem in the total population of Coatecas Altas, the level of education of the population older than 5 years presents the following data: 38% have no schooling, 54% did not finish primary school and only 6.3% have completed primary school. In the particular case of the children of Coatecas Altas, 39.93% of the children from 6 to 14 years old cannot read or write (INEGI, 2015).

To this figure is added the problem that, because of the emigration and the work of children as agricultural day labourers, the majority cannot go beyond the third grade of elementary education.

For this reason, the "School for Migrant Children" project, run by the "SEDESOL Agricultural Day Laborers" program, represented and was an attempt at a strategy to improve the educational level of migrant children.

In addition, the community now has a telesecundaria school and an Intercultural Baccalaureate.

4. Some demographic indicators

4.1. Birth rate

In the community of Coatecas Altas, women between the ages of 15 and 49 were interviewed about the birth rate. Adding the averages of live births and the percentage of deceased children gives us a total of 6.0% of the population.

Of which 2.3% is the average number of live births and 3.7% is the percentage of deceased children. With this information we know that there are fewer children born per year, this is due to family planning, since the parents of this community, surely because of the levels of marginalization, decide to have fewer children.

4.2 Mortality rate

With respect to mortality within the community of Coatecas Altas, according to data from INEGI (2015) the following was recorded:

• 15 and 19 year olds 1.4% died.
• 20 and 24 years old 1.5% died.
• from 25 to 29 years of age 1.7% died.
• from 30 to 34 years of age 2.1% died.
• from 35 to 39 years of age 2.8% died.
• from 40 to 44 years of age 4.0% died.
• from 45 to 49 years of age 5.6% died.
• from 50 to 54 years of age 7.1% died.
• from 55 to 59 years of age 9.3% died.
• from 60 to 64 years of age 11.8% died.
• from 65 to 69 years of age 14.5% died.
• from 70 to 74 years of age 17.7% died.
• 75 years of age and over 23.5% died.

With the above data we can conclude that puberty and young people are less likely to die, as they do not exceed 2% of deaths. However, in adulthood deaths increase considerably, and in old age the probability of dying increases, as 14.5% of the adult population dies annually.

Because of this, Coatecas Altas has apparently stabilized, and the problem of child death is no longer very notorious as in other times, as the grandparents say that most of the children died because of different diseases that in those times threatened the community.

But in turn, death by decreasing causes an increase in the population and it is necessary for services to increase so that people have a better life with more opportunities and thus reduce poverty in the community.

5. Access to health services

According to our research and the data obtained by some people in the community and health personnel, we can make it known that the community, to a large extent, has access to different health services, as you can see several service points ranging from the public to the private, and in some cases people decide to go with a doctor from the population of Ejutla.

Currently most of the inhabitants of this community, for medical attention, go to the Rural Medical Unit No.264 attached to it, but the service is not as complete to supply the majority of the inhabitants. However, there are 4 medical offices which are private, i.e. you have to pay for medical care.

The municipal capital has an IMSS medical unit which is attended by a doctor, two nurses and health personnel made up of 8 women from the community.

In this clinic, talks are given to the mothers of the family, as well as to the young people (students). The approximate number of patients is just over 4900 people from the same municipality, as well as from the towns of Portillo, Tepehuaje and Chepeginio.

All are given and offered a variety of medical services through appointments that families have already scheduled, but when the medical situations presented by patients require more specialized treatment or material are sent to the IMSS hospital in Miahuatlán.

Currently, the medical unit is in good condition, has an improved infrastructure, but with a poor supply of medicines, also has two medium ambulance vehicles equipped for any emergency. This clinic is open 24 hours a day.

As for the 4 medical offices (individuals) these are located in different parts of the community have little working equipment and few medicines, each is composed of 1 doctor of which three are from outside and one is originally from the community.

The service offered in these medical offices is very scarce and some do not have the necessary material to assist people, the cost that these medical offices charge for consultation and medical attention is around $100 per patient.

It is worth mentioning that a large part of the community attends these clinics in order to receive little more specialized attention and more reliable information that they do not receive in the medical unit.

On the other hand, there are the people who decide to go to a doctor from the population of Ejutla in order to receive more specialised treatment when they consider their illness as something more serious or simply when they think of comparing the results they obtain with a doctor from another place with those they obtain with doctors from the community.

In conclusion, we could say that the entire community of Coatecas altas has access to health services offered by the IMSS medical unit, but because it does not have a larger space and a good supply of medicines to serve the entire community, people decide to access the services provided by private medical offices located in the community, although another part of the population goes to the doctors of Ejutla de Crespo population located just 20 minutes from Coatecas Altas.

6. Domestic violence

Violence, according to WHO (World Health Organization), is the deliberate use of physical force, or power, whether threatening or affective, against oneself, another person, or a group or community that causes or is likely to cause injury, death, psychological harm, developmental disorders or deprivation.

In the community of Coatecas Altas we can visualize that violence has occurred and continues to occur today, as there is a record of about 11 complaints made by people, mainly women, with the municipal authorities, which indicated that there has even been a case in which a person died from violence between couples.

In this community, physical and verbal violence are those that, for the most part, have occurred mainly in the family environment with the presence of insults and sometimes even beatings, all caused by male jealousy towards women, alcohol addictions on the part of men and disagreements between couples.

However, there has also been violence in education, because children learn from the violence experienced in the family, but this is only the push caused by teasing between students, even so, this would not be considered as bullying.

Also, in the community violence has had different effects on the population such as: psychological damage, homicides and injuries within the family, and some behavioral and learning disorders in the educational environment.

In conclusion, domestic violence is a community problem, since there is no fixed protocol to follow to reduce this situation that goes against women, the most vulnerable population violated by men, who when suffering violence, in some cases, end up separating.

It is also known that there are people who do not report acts of violence mainly because they are ashamed of what others will say and out of fear of the aggressor who has them threatened.

In short, we can appreciate that domestic violence in Coatecas Altas as in many parts of the country is a problem that is ideologically normal and does not transcend through citizen denunciation, remaining only as a social and anecdotal background for the municipal authorities and population of this community.

7. Addictions

According to the WHO (World Health Organization) an addiction is a physical and psychoemotional illness that creates a depression or need for a substance, activity or relationship. There are four levels of addictions that can be seen below:

1. Experimentation
2. Usage
3. Abuse
4. Addiction

Through these four levels people reach a very high degree of addiction, which becomes a necessity for consumers. When making a tour in the community we observed that in this locality there are two types of additions, mainly alcoholism and drug addiction in lower index.

These occur mainly in the majority of young people, and is mainly caused by lack of employment since the majority of those who fall into these addictions are those who are not kept busy in something profitable, coupled with family disintegration derived from migration and by citizens returning from the United States with an addiction.

This problem has worried some people who have opted to establish a center for Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) within the municipality, which in various schedules offers its sessions seeking social restoration and abandonment of addictions.

7.1. Drug addiction

In Coatecas Altas the majority consume alcohol and in the case of the ingestion of drugs these are not very visible, reason why the consumers are very discreet when ingesting this substance.

There have been cases where parents have noticed that their children use drugs, but often do nothing, do not seek sufficient means to support them, and do not give much importance to this situation until the consumer reaches a point of addiction and serious intoxication. This is also due to a lack of economic resources.

Therefore, we went to the medical unit of the community to see if there is a record of people with drug addiction problems, to which the doctor of this center mentioned us:

"There have been people who have arrived in a state of intoxication, but no one is going to receive information on how to prevent it, much less parents worry about the health of their children, there is a social indifference.

However, the personnel of the medical unit have taken on the task of training the people who are most susceptible to this type of behavior (young people).

And they affirm that the protocol of attention required for these cases only consists of maintaining the consumer in a state of observation and giving continuity to the talks of psycho-emotional orientation, since these when presenting a strong level of addiction and trying to offer them a treatment becomes something complex and inadequate due to the psychological state and alienated that these present.

In this sense, the doctor of the health unit also expressed his opinion to us commenting that approximately 30% of the population uses drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and crystal, as these are the most common to get within the region.

7.2. Alcoholism

Alcohol is the depressant of the central nervous system, is the legal drug of higher consumption and has a greater number of addicts, this because the drinks that contain it enjoy great social acceptance and its consumption is deeply rooted in our culture. (CONADIC, 2010).

Within the community of Coatecas Altas alcohol consumption is part of the culture, is very observable when it comes to a celebration or burials, however, the problem begins when both young people and adults exceed this consumption, as they consume alcohol to the degree of getting drunk in public places at any time of day, but as this is part of the culture, are not criticized by the population and therefore do not seek a solution, on the contrary is ideologically normal.

Alcohol consumption, in the case of men, begins at an early age, approximately from the age of 15, and in the case of women it begins at approximately 18 years of age, but with consumption more mediated and socially restricted by the male chauvinism prevailing within the community. Then, for both sexes, in adulthood it is considered and seen as normal, and as we already mentioned, it is due to the cultural ideology of this community.

Therefore, according to what has been observed in Coatecas Altas, there is a consumption of harmful risk. Some consequences of excessive alcohol consumption in the community are:

• Domestic violence
• Dropping out of school
• Emotional Disorders
• Marginalization
• Non-perceptible diseases
• Physical Disorders

8. Migration

Due to the lack of opportunities that improve the quality of life, offers of decent employment, the scarce social and rural support, in the municipality of Coatecas Altas, migration to the northern states or the United States of America is increasing. This leads to labour shortages, family disintegration, further abandonment of the countryside, and consequently children and young people drop out of school.

According to an interview conducted with 52 heads of household within the community of Coatecas Altas we were able to identify the following:

In this community for every family, there is an average of 2 people working in the United States of America. Their departures are permanent, since at any date they emigrate. In addition, there is no migrant organization even though it is a year-round labour exporting municipality.

Also, in the municipality of Coatecas Altas, both adult women and men have a limiting factor for their integral development which is the lack of knowledge, about all kinds of skills that they can develop, producers only have traditional knowledge and times have changed, most people do not know about their human rights. The people who migrate to the United States their main limitation is the command of the English language, the women of the municipal capital continue weaving the palm and making their tenates for tortillas of the same size that their ancestors taught them.

However, with the passage of time, there is now a demand for smaller or even innovative tenates and for other types of utilities. And because they don’t have the knowledge and the vision, they can’t cover this market.

Another example is in the community of the salinas, which sell their mezcal at low prices, because they do not have health records, adequate presentation, and because they are not organized as producers.

These are some of the main examples lived in this municipality. Also people do not know the advantages of organizing work groups that allow them to create productive projects to improve their individual, social and collective development.

In this sense, and trying to understand what migration is, we refer to the UN (United Nations), which defines migration as the change of residence of one or more people temporarily or permanently, generally with the intention of improving their economic situation, as well as their personal and family development.

When a person leaves the municipality, state or country where he or she resides to go and live elsewhere, he or she becomes an emigrant, but when he or she settles in a new municipality, state or country, the same person becomes an immigrant.

Focusing on the community of Coatecas Altas, as mentioned earlier, by conducting a survey on migration to a total of 52 heads of household, we were able to identify that most people practically have some family member, either direct or indirect, who emigrates or emigrated to another municipality, state or country for different reasons.

By analyzing the information obtained from the surveys conducted, we were able to determine that the majority of people, 67.39% have several relatives living outside of Oaxaca or Mexico, in this case, people migrate to the country of the United States of America. Although 34.6% also said they had a relative in another state, but most have several relatives who have emigrated.

We can also see that, of 52 families, 44.2% said they have 1 to 2 direct relatives living outside the community, but also 23.1% have 3 to 4 relatives, 11.5% have 5 to 6 and 15.4% have more than 6 relatives. With this we can determine that the majority of people in the community have from 1 to 2 relatives and even up to 4 living outside the locality, since added these two percentages give us a total of 67.3%.

People from Coatecas Altas migrate to the north of the country for different reasons. When applying the survey, 84.6% of people say that migration is mainly due to the need and lack of job opportunities in the community. 63.5% say the secondary cause is because people migrate to live better and have a better family economy.

On the other hand, we identified that family members who live outside of Mexico, 67.3% are found illegally that corresponds to the majority of the population, 9.6% are found legally, as well as 9.6% who live illegally and others legally, 7.2% are processing their papers to belong to the country legally and 6.3% of people in the community do not have family members living outside the state.

Similarly, of all the families surveyed, when asked about the place where their migrant relatives reside, 86.5% mention that they are living in the United States, 7.2% that they are in one state of the country and 6.3% in another place.

Also, 65.4% of people in the United States do consistently send remittances to family members, 25% only occasionally, 10.3% do not send remittances, and 6.3% do not receive money because they do not have family members outside the community.

When asked if the 52 heads of household believe that the remittances (economic support) sent by relatives living outside of Coatecas Altas are sufficient to improve their quality of life. The results obtained indicate that 63.3% of this support, more or less, helps in something improving the standard of family life", 17.3% responded that they are not enough and do not help much in the quality of family life, 9.6% responded that they are enough and help a lot in the quality of life of families, and 9.6% responded that they do not know, this means that most people think that migrating does not benefit them much in their family economy, since they risk a lot, that is, they distance themselves both from their family and their culture, from their land and do not earn enough to live better.

However, of the 52 families surveyed, 67.3% responded that the hardest thing to do living outside the community is to adapt to their work, 32.7% responded that the hardest thing is to find a stable job, 36.5% responded that it is difficult to maintain their personal expenses, 40.4% responded that the hardest thing is to live illegally and accept the risks involved, and 32.7% responded that the hardest thing is to learn to live in another culture.

With the above, it is shown that for the people of the community of Coatecas Altas it is more difficult the question of the work and in smaller quantity they worry that they have to coexist with other cultures, with which it is understood that they forget sometimes and very easily, their customs and traditions, and they stop speaking their mother tongue. But also, one of the most difficult situations is to live illegally taking care not to be deported.

When asked: Would you like to live in another country or state and emigrate from Coatecas Altas? 36.5% mentioned that they would like to emigrate to another place, and also with 36.5% they told us that they would not like to emigrate out of Coatecas Altas, 13.5% indicate that they have not thought about it and 13% mention that they have already lived outside the community or live outside and only come for seasonal visits.

This information indicates that the majority of people are undecided as to whether it is convenient to emigrate or not, therefore, it seems that a thought of indecision and conformism prevails, waiting for this situation to reach them or that for certain circumstances they decide to migrate or not abroad.

When asked if they believe there is discrimination against emigrants from Coatecas Altas. The results of the survey indicate that 25% of those surveyed say that migrants do suffer a lot of discrimination, 28.8% say that more or less, 34.6% say that they do not believe that there is discrimination and 11.5% say that they do not know if there is discrimination. It seems that the majority of those surveyed let us know that emigrants from Coatecas Altas do not suffer any kind of discrimination, so this is not a problem that influences migration.

On the other hand, when questioning them with the following question: Do you think that coatecanos who migrate to other countries have greater opportunities than in Mexico? The survey indicates that 59.6% of those surveyed say that those who migrate have a better standard of living and life opportunities, 21.2% say that opportunities are not scarce and 15.4% say that it is the same, you live and suffer equally inside and outside the community and 3.8% do not know. According to the surveys carried out in Coatecas Altas, we have realized that emigrants have more possibilities to improve their standard of living.

Finally, by asking them about: How can we prevent people from Coatecas Altas from emigrating to the United States or other states of the country, and what would your proposal be?

The 52 families interviewed seem to agree on three important aspects: first, that there are supports and opportunities that allow the existence of more jobs or jobs and that these are better paid; second, that they can provide more support to young people and people in the community to implement productive projects that are feasible in the community and thus are not seen in the need to emigrate; and thirdly, that through the corresponding government and municipal instances, programs to promote work are implemented, that trades or other activities specific to the region are taught, and that the topic of education is mainly motivated and supported, since only through the study and training of professionals can better opportunities for progress in the community be generated.

9. Final Reflections

According to the information gathered and analyzed throughout this research, we know that Coatecas Altas and its localities have a high degree of marginalization, which is reflected in the INEGI (2015) and CONAPO (2010) data, the community has a degree of marginalization of "high" and "very high", this makes us see that we live in a worrying situation that needs to be urgently addressed, however, no one is busy doing anything, neither the state nor federal government, much less the local population, since it is very evident that there is a social-collective indifference at all levels.

In addition to this, there is a high rate of poverty in the community, since 90% of the population is registered in a situation of multidimensional poverty. And we must consider that possibly this index can grow more, because we are waiting for the statistical data that will show the DIGEPO for the year 2020.

With respect to the literate population, and according to data obtained from different sources, we know that there is a certain degree of literacy that has been complemented by the opportunities offered by the creation of new schools, such as the establishment of an Intercultural Baccalaureate within the community.

With regard to illiteracy, we can say that, because of migration and child labour, the majority cannot go beyond the third grade of basic education, it is known that children and adolescents often drop out of school during or after finishing secondary school, even during their high school studies due to poverty and the social culture of migration, but they also often drop out of school because of early marriage.

In terms of demographic indicators, such as the birth rate, the average of live births and deaths gave a total of 6.0% of the annual population, 2.3% is the average of live births and 3.7% is the percentage of deaths annually.

With the information obtained, it is known that there are fewer children born; this is surely due to family planning, since parents decide to have fewer children because of the scarce resources they have and the high degree of marginalization.

With regard to the mortality rate, according to data from INEGI (2015), young people are less likely to die and 75 years of age and there is a higher probability, it is worth mentioning that child death is no longer a problem as in other times.

With regard to access to health services, according to data obtained by some community members and health personnel, there are several points of care for health services ranging from the public to the private.

Most of the inhabitants attend Rural Medical Unit No. 264, but the service is not as complete and there is a constant shortage of medicines.

There are 4 private medical offices, but at the same time, the service they offer is scarce and they do not have the necessary equipment to attend people properly.

It is worth mentioning that a large part of the population attends these clinics, and another part of the population, in case of emergencies, goes to private doctors in the community of Ejutla de Crespo, which is located approximately 20 minutes from this municipality.

In another aspect, domestic violence has occurred and continues to occur today, there is a record of complaints made by individuals mainly women considered to be the most vulnerable population. It is a problem, as there is no fixed protocol to follow to reduce this situation within the community.

As far as addictions are concerned, it is a problem that continues to occur today and more in adults, more in the age between 25 and 45 years, and is primarily due to lack of jobs and family disintegration.

Addictions for the community are not a big problem, or at least they consider it so, since it is part of their culture and is seen as something normal and most natural.

Also, according to the diagnosis that we made we can reach the conclusion that in the community of Coatecas Altas, although there are no formal records of drug addiction, everything is kept secret and only cases of intoxication have been seen.

On the other hand, alcoholism is a serious problem within the community because both young people and adults exceed themselves to a point of extreme drunkenness, although this is part of the culture is still a problem, alcohol generates many social and health consequences, such as domestic violence and liver disease. Even large numbers of older people in the community have died from alcohol-related illnesses for many years.

Finally, with regard to migration, according to the surveys carried out, we can conclude that those who emigrated leave in order to improve their quality of life and that of the relatives who remain in the community, but it seems that remittances do not supply them enough, since they indicate that their quality of life improves in general but they are not yet satisfied with the standard of living that they acquire by migrating.

In addition, those who emigrated leave out of necessity, mainly out of poverty, and face adaptation within a new culture, because they have to practice English and it is difficult for them to live and live with a culture as hegemonic, demanding and modern as that of the United States.

Sources of information

• CONADIC (2010). National Addiction Commission. What’s alcohol? Mexico: Federal Government.
• CONAFE. (2002). National Council for the Promotion of Education. Educational programs. Mexico: Oaxaca.
• CONAPO. (2010). National Population Council. Marginalization index by locality. Mexico: Oaxaca.
• CONEVAL (2015). National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy. Mexico: Oaxaca.
• DIGEPO. (2015). General Directorate of Population of Oaxaca. Population projections. Mexico: Oaxaca.
• Gutiérrez, P., Humberto. and Hernández, G., Viviana. (2010). Limitantes de los índices de marginación de CONAPO y propuesta para evaluar la marginación municipal en México. Papeles de Población Magazine. Scielo.
• INEGI. (2015). Intercensal Survey 2015. Mexico: Oaxaca.
• Comprehensive Indigenous Educational Model (MEII). Official document republished by the CSEIIO in 2016.
• Reed, Horace B., Lee Loughran, Elizabeth. (1992). Beyond schools, education for economic, social, and personal development. Mexico: Gernika.
• SIL MEXICO (2013). Zapoteco de Coatecas Altas. Retrieved from: http://www.mexico.sil.org/es/lengua_cultura/zapoteca/zapoteco-zca

Authors:

• Crescencio Martínez Antonio. Student of Indigenous Intercultural Education at BI 46, belonging to the Colegio Superior para la Educación Integral Intercultural de Oaxaca (CSEIIO).
• Andrea Santos Garcia. Student of Indigenous Intercultural Education at BI 46, belonging to the Colegio Superior para la Educación Integral Intercultural de Oaxaca (CSEIIO).
• Elizabeth Acevedo Vasquez. Student of Indigenous Intercultural Education at BI 46, belonging to the Colegio Superior para la Educación Integral Intercultural de Oaxaca (CSEIIO).
• Fernando Diaz Ruiz. Student of Indigenous Intercultural Education at BI 46, belonging to the Colegio Superior para la Educación Integral Intercultural de Oaxaca (CSEIIO).
• Alan Tonatiuh Lopez Niño. Master’s Degree in Social Science Pedagogy and PhD student in Educational Research. Advisor-Researcher at the Colegio Superior para la Educación Integral Intercultural de Oaxaca (CSEIIO).

Colegio Superior para la Educación Integral Intercultural de Oaxaca (CSEIIO), Mexico. E-mail: [email protected]