Transformation of Rural Communities in Las Huastecas Region in Mexico. Preliminary Field Research Report.

The article contains preliminary report of field study conducted in February 2006 in Las Huastecas Region in Mexico by members of the Department of Regional Studies on Latin America at the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies of Warsaw University. The aim of the research was to determine changes in socio-economic patterns of Las Huastecas rural areas, as well as to grasp the way local inhabitants perceived them. Open and semi-structured interviews were held with local authorities and inhabitants, in many cases with the same persons that were interviewed during the previous research trip in 2001. Conclusions deal with such aspects of Las Huastecas reality, as further improvement in social and technical infrastructure, intensification of diversification of revenues including short and medium temporal migration to big cities in northern parts of Mexico as well as seasonal migration of rural labor to agribusiness sector. Some limited new initiatives related to small scale tourism, preservation of cultural heritage and aquaculture were also observed. The local inhabitants perceived their actual situation as more difficult than 5 years ago, but we have impression that many of social actors have been more active during this period.