Ladinos - Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. Ladinos are groups that consolidated and developed from the second half of the nineteenth century onward. Because of this short history, Ladino families have no extensive network of social relations. They have abandoned their communities of origin and the institutions that would have permitted them to build up a collective identity.

Political Organization. Ladinos participate in the political system of the society as a whole. In Honduras, they do not take an active part in politics, but simply accept what the dominant system expects of them in terms of respect toward national institutions. They do not appear to be linked to any Indian organizations. In Guatemala and Chiapas, their political participation is mixed; some have opted for supporting the governing classes, actively setting themselves off from subversive indigenous organizations. In the Chiapas Indian mobilizations of 1994, however, Ladino groups supported the Indian movement in its demands, perhaps in opposition to the coletos (inhabitants of San Cristóbal de las Casas who consider themselves direct descendants of the old colonial aristocratic families).

Social Control. Because the group does not identify itself as such, there are almost no mechanisms for social control beyond those established by the society at large.