RESUMO: Nas últimas décadas, a consolidação de sistemas nacionais de saúde universais na Amé-rica Latina tem sido acompanhada pela formação de regiões de saúde organizadas em redes integradas de serviços. Esse processo revela grande diversidade de arranjos institucionais e persistentes desafios de coordenação que dificultam a universalização do acesso à saúde em contextos territoriais marcadamente desiguais. O caso brasileiro ilustra essa complexidade: a criação do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) apoiou-se em um modelo de federalismo cooperativo que, embora tenha ampliado o acesso, enfrenta contradições decorrentes das assimetrias entre os entes federativos e da fragmentação regional. Este artigo analisa os processos de regionalização e de governança territorial do SUS a partir de um estudo comparativo das Comissões Intergestores Regionais (CIR) da Metropolitana I e do Médio Paraíba, no estado do Rio de Janeiro. Combinando análise documental, entrevistas com gestores e dados assistenciais do DataSUS, o estudo mobiliza contextos histórico-territoriais e político-institucionais como chaves interpretativas. Os resultados revelam trajetórias contrastantes: enquanto o Médio Paraíba se destaca por práticas cooperativas e coordenação federativa mais estável, a Metropolitana I permanece marcada por fragmentação política e competição interinstitucional. A análise mostra que a eficácia da regionalização depende não apenas de normas, mas também da forma como arranjos territoriais e institucionais se articulam. ABSTRACT: Over recent decades, the consolidation of universal national health systems in Latin America has been associated with the formation of health regions organized through integrated service networks. This process reveals a wide diversity of institutional arrangements and persistent coordination challenges, which hinder the universalization of healthcare in geographically uneven contexts. The Brazilian case illustrates this complexity: the creation of the Universal Health System (SUS) was grounded in a model of federative cooperation, which, although it expanded access, faces challenges arising from asymmetries among federal government bodies and fragmented regions. This article analyzes the processes of regionalization and territorial governance within the SUS through a comparative study of the Regional Intergovernmental Commissions (CIR) of Metropolitana I and Médio Paraíba in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Based on document analysis, interviews with health managers, and service data from DataSUS, the study interprets their historical-territorial and political-institutional contexts. The findings reveal contrasting trajectories: while Médio Paraíba stands out for cooperative practices and more stable coordination with the federal level, Metropolitana I is marked by political fragmentation and inter-institutional competition. The analysis demonstrates that the effectiveness of regionalization depends not only on formal regulations but also on how territorial and institutional arrangements are articulated, contributing to a broader understanding of the political geographies of health system implementation in contexts marked by inequality.
ABSTRACT: This study examines the social and community health impacts of the Cantera los Manantiales antimony mine on Ch’orti’ Indigenous communities in Olopa, Guatemala. Mining operations, initiated without the consultation required under ILO Convention 169, have led to widespread resistance. Using participatory mapping and interviews across six communities, the study highlights discrepancies between the environmental impact assessment and community-reported impacts. Residents reported severe social divisions, economic hardships, and political corruption. The mine’s operations have exacerbated poverty and food insecurity, forcing communities into greater dependence on market economies rather than traditional subsistence practices. Social tensions and violence, including threats, murders, and criminalization of resistance leaders, mirror the historical violence experienced during Guatemala’s civil war and genocide. These interacting social, political, and economic conditions, combined with the environmental and human health impacts, have activated a syndemic, compounding health and social challenges that worsen the burden of disease. The study calls for systemic changes in extractive practices to protect communities from being disproportionately harmed for external economic gain. RESUMEN: Este estudio examina los impactos sociales y comunitarios de la mina de antimonio Cantera los Manantiales en la salud de las comunidades indígenas Ch’orti’ de Olopa, Guatemala. Las operaciones mineras, iniciadas sin la consulta requerida por el Convenio 169 de la OIT, han generado una resistencia generalizada. Mediante mapeo participativo y entrevistas en seis comunidades, el estudio destaca las discrepancias entre el Estudio de Impacto Ambiental y los impactos reportados por las comunidades. Los residentes reportaron graves divisiones sociales, dificultades económicas y corrupción política. Las operaciones de la mina han exacerbado la pobreza y la inseguridad alimentaria, obligando a las comunidades a una mayor dependencia de las economías de mercado en lugar de las prácticas tradicionales de subsistencia. Las tensiones sociales y la violencia, que incluyen amenazas, asesinatos y criminalización de líderes de la resistencia, reflejan la violencia histórica experimentada durante la guerra civil y el genocidio de Guatemala. Estas condiciones sociales, políticas y económicas interactuantes, combinadas con los impactos ambientales y sobre la salud humana, han activado una sindemia, que agrava los desafíos sociales y de salud y empeora la carga de la enfermedad. El estudio insta a implementar cambios sistémicos en las prácticas extractivas para evitar que las comunidades sufran daños desproporcionados a cambio de beneficios económicos externos.
ABSTRACT: Organized crime in Mexico has evolved in confusing and complex ways that have had drastic impacts on mobility, with thousands fleeing their homes and others unable to return. Generally, the changes have followed a pattern of greater fragmentation and the emergence of smaller cells of larger organizations, or even semi-autonomous local criminal groups that are far more involved in the socioeconomic and political geography of everyday life than larger criminal organizations. This has serious consequences for displacement, as well as creates new dangers for people when they return or are removed to Mexico. This article relies on interviews with displaced Mexican asylum seekers waiting to cross at the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as ethnographic work in central and southern Mexico. With a particular focus on Michoacán and Guerrero, which were over-represented in these data, these article provides a detailed view of the factors motivating people to flee and the potential harms and challenges for people returning to Mexico. RESUMEN: El crimen organizado en México ha evolucionado de maneras confusas y complejas, lo que ha tenido impactos drásticos en la movilidad, con miles de personas huyendo de sus hogares y otras que no pueden regresar. En general, esto ha seguido un patrón de mayor fragmentación y el surgimiento de células más pequeñas de organizaciones más grandes, o incluso grupos criminales locales semi-autónomos que están mucho más involucrados en la geografía socioeconómica y política de la vida cotidiana, particularmente en el México rural. Esto, a su vez, tiene consecuencias graves para el desplazamiento, además de crear nuevos peligros para las personas que regresan o son deportadas a México. Este artículo se basa en entrevistas con solicitantes de asilo mexicanos desplazados que esperan en la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México para cruzar, así como en trabajo etnográfico en el centro y sur de México. Con un enfoque particular en Michoacán y Guerrero, que estuvieron sobrerrepresentados en estos datos, este artículo ofrece una visión más detallada de los factores que motivan a las personas a huir y los posibles daños y desafíos para quienes regresan a México.
ABSTRACT: Over the past four decades, agricultural expansion has transformed the Brazilian Cerrado into a major breadbasket. Despite this growth, Brazil remains dependent on wheat imports. In response, government policies have promoted wheat production in the region, supported by lenient environmental regulations that allow integration with existing crops, intensifying environmental pressures. This study examines how wheat policies and regional dynamics have shaped recent expansion of wheat production in Goiás and Bahia, drawing on political economy, Ricardian rent, and von Thünen’s location theory. While agricultural expansion in the Cerrado has been widely studied, mainly in soybeans, cattle ranching, and sugarcane, wheat has recently emerged as an expanding crop in parts of the region. This study is the first to specifically examine wheat cultivation in the Brazilian Cerrado. Results show that its expansion is driven by minimum price policies, the development of new cultivars, economies of scale, domestic demand, and environmental regulations. Improved irrigation technologies could also boost productivity. Goiás and Bahia offer favorable conditions due to competitive land prices, but logistical challenges remain significant, especially in transportation. Strengthening price policies and improving infrastructure are critical for supporting sustainable growth, while addressing social and environmental impacts. RESUMO: Ao longo das últimas quatro décadas, o Cerrado consolidou-se como uma importante região produtora de grãos. Apesar do crescimento expressivo no cultivo de grãos, o Brasil ainda depende de importações de trigo. Em resposta, políticas públicas têm incentivado sua produção na região, amparadas por regulamentações ambientais mais flexíveis que permitem sua integração a sistemas produtivos já estabelecidos, intensificando, contudo, as pressões ambientais. Este estudo analisa como essas políticas e as dinâmicas regionais moldaram a recente expansão do trigo em Goiás e na Bahia, à luz da economia política, da renda ricardiana e da teoria da localização de von Thünen. Embora a expansão agrícola no Cerrado seja amplamente documentada —sobretudo para soja, pecuária e cana-de-açúcar—, o trigo emergiu recentemente como cultura em expansão em áreas específicas. Este trabalho é o primeiro a investigar de forma sistemática os determinantes de seu cultivo na região. Os resultados indicam que essa expansão é impulsionada por políticas de preços mínimos, desenvolvimento de cultivares, economias de escala, demanda doméstica e marcos regulatórios. Avanços na irrigação também tém elevado a produtividade. Goiás e Bahia se destacam pelos preços competitivos da terra, embora persistam desafios logísticos relevantes, especialmente no transporte. O fortalecimento das políticas de preços e a melhoria da infraestrutura são essenciais para apoiar o crescimento sustentável, ao mesmo tempo de abordar os impactos sociais e ambientais.
ABSTRACT: This article analyzes sugar landscapes as manifestations of infrastructural violence in Candelaria, a key hub of the sugar industry in Valle del Cauca, southwest Colombia. Infrastructural violence refers to socio-technical systems that shape agrarian change while reinforcing systemic and historical racial exclusion, causing harm and disrupting the cultural, ecological, and social fabric of life. I argue that this form of violence reproduces plantation logic, that is, an organizational model rooted in colonial hierarchies that sustain unequal power relations and racialized exploitation. Drawing on a decade of fieldwork, archival research, and interviews, I trace how the sugarcane industry retains its colonial logic in contemporary plantations. Control-grabbing (land and water appropriation, leasing, contract farming), toxic dispossession, and mobility regimes together shape landscapes that impose multiple forms of violence on Afro-Colombian and camp-esinx populations. This study contributes to Latin American agrarian and geographical debates by explicitly naming these dynamics as violence and by emphasizing the historical continuity of plantation systems within agro-industrial extractivism. RESUMEN: Este artículo analiza los paisajes cañeros como manifestaciones de violencia infraestructural en Candelaria, un nodo central de la industria azucarera en el Valle del Cauca, suroccidente de Colombia. La violencia infraestructural se refiere a los sistemas sociotécnicos que moldean el cambio agrario mientras refuerzan la exclusión racial sistémica e histórica, causando daño y perturbando el tejido cultural, ecológico y social de la vida. Sostengo que esta forma de violencia reproduce la lógica de la plantación: un modelo organizativo enraizado en jerarquías coloniales que sostienen relaciones de poder desiguales y una explotación racializada. A partir de una década de trabajo de campo, investigación de archivo y entrevistas, rastreo cómo la industria cañera retiene su lógica colonial en las plantaciones contemporáneas. El control-grabbing (apropiación de tierras y agua, arrendamiento y agricultura por contrato), la desposesión tóxica y los regímenes de movilidad configuran conjuntamente paisajes que imponen múltiples formas de violencia sobre las poblaciones afrocolombianas y campesinxs. Este estudio contribuye a los debates agrarios y geográficos latinoamericanos al nombrar explícitamente estas dinámicas como violencia y al enfatizar la continuidad histórica de los sistemas de plantación dentro del extractivismo agroindustrial.
resumen: Desde 2018, la producción de tequila en México ha experimentado un crecimiento no lineal, debido a las inversiones de capital de las corporaciones multinacionales. Este crecimiento ha tenido un impacto en el manejo de tierras agrícolas, forestales y de agostaderos para la plantación de Agave tequilana Weber variedad azul. En esta investigación se analiza el extractivismo de tierras mediante arrendamiento y aparcería en Pénjamo (Guanajuato), San José de Gracia (Michoacán) y Atotonilco el Alto (Jalisco). La metodología empleada ha consistido en el análisis de estadísticas, recorridos de campo y observación participante. Se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas a productores (de agave, granos y ganado), intermediarios, autoridades de gobierno y responsables del Consejo Regulador del Tequila (CRT). Se realizó un análisis cartográfico a partir de imágenes del satélite Sentinel, con fecha de enero de 2024, que se contrastaron con los puntos GPS, así como con el índice de vegetación de diferencia normalizada (NDVI). Se identificaron tres manifestaciones de extractivismo: 1) el arrendamiento de tierras a medio plazo es más extractivo que la aparcería a largo plazo; 2) una reorganización asimétrica de los acuerdos de acceso a la tierra y 3) desplazamientos de los arrendatarios y aparceros tradicionales, que causa desigualdad económica, social y territorial. abstract: Since 2018, tequila production in Mexico has undergone non-linear growth, due to capital investments by multinational corporations. The growth has impacted the management of agricultural land, forestry, and pastures for the plantation of the blue variety of Agave tequilana Weber . This research analyses land extractivism through leasing and sharecropping in Pénjamo (Guanajuato), San José de Gracia (Michoacán), and Atotonilco el Alto (Jalisco). The methodology involved analysis of statistics, field visits, and participant observation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with producers (agave, grain, and livestock), agricultural intermediaries, government authorities, and officials of the Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT). Cartographic analysis was carried out using Sentinel satellite images from January 2024, contrasting them with GPS points as well as the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI). Three manifestations of extractivism were identified: 1) medium-term land leasing is more extractive than long-term sharecropping; 2) there is asymmetric reorganisation in land access arrangements; and 3) there is displacement of traditional tenants and sharecroppers, causing economic and territorial inequality.
resumen: En este artículo se analiza la cartografía y el paisaje de dos nodos de producción pertenecientes a una cadena global de comercio de grana cochinilla en la Nueva España a principios del siglo XVII. Las fuentes consultadas de los siglos XVI y XVII son inéditas y contienen indicios de producción, comercio local y posible uso de este preciado pigmento en una zona poco estudiada en este tema, ubicada entre Izúcar y Acatlán. No obstante, aunque a nivel global existía un aumento en la demanda y distribución de grana, en el ámbito local, los pueblos indígenas que la elaboraban se enfrentaban a diversos factores que pusieron en peligro su producción. Nos enfocamos en estudiar dos de ellos apenas mencionados en la historiografía: la dinámica de tenencia de la tierra y la introducción de ganadería, ya que afectaron su producción y reconfiguraron el territorio de los nodos productores a través de nuevas fuentes económicas. Paralelamente, la demanda de mapas o "pinturas" con validez jurídica ante la Real Audiencia pudo favorecer el uso de grana por parte de pintores indígenas especializados en la creación de documentos pictográficos. Los resultados contribuyen a comprender el contexto socioambiental local de la producción de cochinilla en relación con el panorama global. abstract: This article analyzes the cartography and landscape produced in two nodes of a global chain of grana cochinilla trade in New Spain at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The sources consulted from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are unpublished and provide evidence of the production, local trade, and possible use of this precious pigment in an area poorly studied on this subject, which was located between Izúcar and Acatlán. Although at a global level there was an increase in the demand and distribution of grana cochinilla, at a local level, Indigenous peoples who produced it faced various factors that threatened its production. The paper focuses on two of them that are barely mentioned in the historiography: the dynamics of land ownership and the introduction of livestock, since they affected production and reconfigured the territory of the producing nodes through new economic flows. At the same time, the demand for maps or "pinturas" with legal validity before the Real Audiencia could have favored the use of this pigment by indigenous painters specialized in the creation of pictographic documents. The results contribute to understanding the local socio–environmental context of grana cochinilla production within the global.
