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Panama Cuna
The vast majority of Cuna Indians inhabited the San Blas
Islands, with an estimated 3,000 additional Cuna living in small
scattered settlements in Darién and in Colombia. The San Blas
Islands are clusters of small coral islands, each only a few feet
above sea level, along Panama's northeast coast. They contain some
fifty densely settled Cuna villages. The density of settlement was
one indication of a dramatic increase in population. Official
census figures showed a population increase of nearly 60 percent
between 1950 and 1980. The 1980 census revealed that village size
ranged from 37 to nearly 1,500 inhabitants; half the total
population was accounted for in 19 villages ranging in population
from 300 to 1,000, with one-third in settlements of more than
1,000. The census seriously undercounted the total Cuna population,
however, because it excluded absent workers, whose numbers were
significant, given the prevalence of out-migration for wage labor.
Before settling on the San Blas Islands, the Cuna lived in
inland settlements concentrated on rivers and streams throughout
the Darién. Their contacts with outsiders were confined to trade
with pirates and limited interaction with two abortive European
colonies attempted in the region in the late seventeenth and early
eighteenth centuries. Then, a 1787 treaty with Spain began roughly
a century of profitable trade, and the Cuna specialized in coconut
farming, which continues to produce their main cash crop. Pressure
from mestizo and Chocó Indians migrating into the Darién from
Colombia toward the end of the nineteenth century, gradually pushed
the Cuna toward the coast and the villages they still occupied in
the late 1980s.
The Cuna's contact with outsiders remained limited and
circumscribed until around 1910. Panamanian settlement was focused
along the isthmus, and the Colombian government was, in every
significant sense, very distant. Although the Cuna themselves
traded with passing ships, they did not permit the crews to debark.
An individual Cuna might, however, serve a stint as a sailor, and
groups would take a large canoe full of trading goods to Colón.
The Cuna were extensively dependent on outside sources for
goods--indigenously produced items played little role in farming
and fishing. In contrast to many rural mestizos and Indians
elsewhere in Panama, the terms on which they bought outside
manufactures were relatively favorable. The Cuna dealt only in
cash; they bought from many suppliers; and Cuna themselves owned
retail stores in San Blas.
By the early years of the twentieth century, the modern
settlement pattern of the San Blas Cuna was well defined.
Settlements varied in scale from temporary working camps of one to
two families to permanent communities numbering in the hundreds.
Social life then, as now, was organized around the twin foci of
household and village. Descent was reckoned bilaterally,
individuals tracing their ancestors and their progeny through both
males and females. The household was the most significant grouping
of kin. A 1976 survey found that households numbered on average 9.9
persons, with multiple family households the rule. Larger groupings
of kin had no formal role in social relations. Adult siblings were
rarely close, and contacts between more distant relatives, such as
cousins, were even more diffuse.
Cuna households, in their ideal form, were composed of a senior
couple, their unmarried children, and their married daughters and
sons-in-law and their offspring. The head of the household directed
the work of those residing there; a son-in-law's position was
extremely subordinate, particularly during the early years of his
marriage. After several years of marriage, husbands usually tried
to establish their own households, but the shortage of suitable
land made this difficult.
Women were a major force in household decisions. Their sewing
and household activities were respected work. Men dominated the
public-political sphere of Cuna life, however, and women were
overwhelmingly subordinate to men outside their homes. Only a few
women had been elected to public office, but daughters of leaders
sometimes held government appointments.
Politics and kinship were separate aspects of Cuna life. Kin,
even close relatives, did not necessarily support one another on
specific issues. Although the children of past leaders enjoyed some
advantage in pursuing a career in politics, kinship did not define
succession to political office.
Villages had formal, ranked elective political offices,
including the chiefs and the chiefs' spokespersons (also known as
interpreters). Most communities also had a set of committees
charged with specific tasks. Chiefs (except in the most
acculturated communities where the chiefs did not sing) derived
their authority from their knowledge of the sacred chants, and the
spokespersons derived theirs from their ability to interpret the
chants for the people. Elected officials conducted elaborate
meetings dealing with both religious and secular affairs. The
number of officials, the presence or absence of a specifically
designated meeting place, and the number and complexity of the
meetings themselves were all measures of a village's stature.
Meetings or gatherings fell into two categories: chanting or
singing gatherings attended by all members of a village, and
talking gatherings attended by adult men only. Singing gatherings
were highly formalized, combining both indigenous and Spanish
elements. The ritualized dialogue that chiefs chanted to their
followers was common Indian practice throughout much of Latin
America. Much of the actual vocabulary reflected Spanish influence.
For example, the Cuna word for chief's spokesperson, arkar,
is probably a corruption of the Spanish, alcalde.
Talking gatherings focused on exchanging information and taking
care of matters that demanded action--relating travel experiences,
requesting permission to leave, or resolving disputes, for example.
Resolution was reached through consensus in a gradual process
directed by the chief or chiefs. Votes were rarely taken, and then
only in the more acculturated communities. Agreement was evident
when no further contrary opinions were stated. Historically, if an
agreement could not be reached the community would split up.
Cuna also held general congresses as frequently as several
times per year. Each village sent a delegation; the size varied but
typically at least one chief and a chief's spokesperson were
included. The rules of procedure were highly formalized. As with
local gatherings, the emphasis was on reaching a consensus of the
group rather than acquiring the votes necessary for a majority.
And, again, agreement was evident when no further contrary opinions
were stated or when they were shouted down by the rest of the
delegates.
Villages had considerable discretionary powers and they
regulated who could settle there. Most refused to accept Colombian
Cuna displaced by cattle ranchers. Others expressed disapproval of
landless San Blasinos (residents of San Blas) from other villages
marrying into their village. The power of villages to grant or
withhold travel permits was used as a sanction against misconduct
and a weapon in political disputes. Women were rarely permitted to
travel outside San Blas, and until the mid-1960s, many villages
required an absentee worker to come home for harvest and planting
or pay for a substitute.
Villages varied in their willingness to accept innovations. In
general, the Cuna of eastern San Blas were more conservative, while
those of the western and central parts more readily accepted
outside influences. Modernist villages sent more workers to the
larger society; conservative communities tended to rely more
extensively on agricultural income for their livelihood. Village
politics were concerned with questions of inheritance, boundary
disputes, land sales, and property theft.
Land was privately held. As population increased, landholding
and inheritance were more critical. In theory, all children had an
equal right to inherit their parents' fields. In practice, though,
most land passed from father to son. Sons, after fulfilling the
labor obligations to their in-laws, farmed with their fathers.
Some coconut groves were held in common by the descendants of
the original owner; common ownership gave these groups of
descendants a strategic importance in controlling resources.
Cooperative societies played a significant role in various economic
ventures and had a major impact on coconut production,
transporting, and selling.
Slash-and-burn farming on uninhabited islands and the mainland
was the major economic activity, providing most subsistence.
Bananas were the primary subsistence crop; coconuts, the main cash
crop. Sources of nonagricultural income included migrant wage
labor, the sale of hand-sewn items by Cuna women, and tourism. Most
of the tourists were day visitors, but there were several resorts
in the San Blas Islands owned by Cuna, United States citizens, and
Panamanians. The Cuna also owned retail stores on the San Blas
Islands.
Migrant wage labor was the most common source of nonfarm
income. The Cuna have a long history as migrant laborers, beginning
with their service as sailors on passing ships in the nineteenth
century. In the early decades of the twentieth century, Cuna did
short stints in Panama City, Colón, and on banana plantations.
Later they worked in the Canal Zone. The United Fruit Company
banana plantations in Changuinola and Almirante were frequent
destinations for Cuna. The company viewed the Cuna as exemplary
employees, and a few were promoted to managerial or semi-managerial
positions as of the late 1980s. Migrant labor was a part of the
experience of almost every young male Cuna in his late teens or
early twenties. In contrast with most of rural Panama, however,
women left San Blas very infrequently. A mid-1970s survey found
that less than 4 percent of San Blas women of all ages were living
away.
Missionary activity among the Cuna began with the Roman
Catholics in 1907 and Protestant denominations in 1913. Non-
Panamanian Protestants were banned in 1925. A small Baptist mission
returned with legal guarantees of freedom of confession in the
1950s. The presence of missionaries was a bone of contention
between modernist and traditional Cuna for decades. Christianity
spread unevenly through the archipelago, and the San Blasinos often
resisted it tenaciously. Converts were often lax in their adherence
to the new creeds; indigenous belief and practice remained
prominent. The Baptist mission, noted one anthropologist, was
"thoroughly Kuna-ized."
Ritual was a major focus of Cuna concern and a significant part
of the relations between non-kin. It formed the basis for community
solidarity and esprit. A man gained prestige through his mastery of
rituals and chants. Virtually the entire village took part in
female puberty rites, which were held several times each year; much
social interaction followed ritualized patterns closely.
Lavish sharing was an esteemed virtue; stinginess was
disparaged. Thus, the Cuna continued to celebrate community
solidarity through feasting, gift giving, and ritual. The community
offered food to visitors and entertained at public expense. The
plethora of celebrations in the Cuna calendar offered ample
occasions to display their generosity.
Many Cuna recognized the value of literacy, and schools had a
long history in the archipelago. In the nineteenth century, some
Cuna learned to read and write during periods of migrant labor. By
the early 1900s, there were a few primary schools in San Blas.
There was some resistance among the more conservative elements in
Cuna society, but in general education encountered far less
opposition than did missionaries' proselytizing. In the 1980s, most
settlements of any size had a primary school; there were also
several secondary schools. It was not uncommon for Cuna to migrate
to further their education--there was a contingent of Cuna at the
University of Panama, and a few had studied abroad. On islands with
the longest history of schooling, illiteracy rates among those ten
years of age and older were in the range of 15 percent in the late
1970s. The 4 villages that had refused schools until the late 1960s
and early 1970s averaged nearly 95 percent illiterate. Overall,
more than half the Cuna population over ten years of age was
literate, and a comparable proportion of those aged seven to
fifteen were in school.
Cuna relations with outsiders, especially the Panamanian
government, have frequently been stormy. In general, however, the
Cuna have managed to hold their own more effectively than most
indigenous peoples. Early in the twentieth century, there were
several Cuna confederacies, each under the aegis of the main
village's chief. The chiefs negotiated with outsiders on behalf of
the villages within their alliance.
In 1930 the national government recognized the semiautonomous
status of the San Blas Cuna; eight years later the government
formed the official Cuna reserve, the Comarca de San Blas. The
Carta Orgánica, legislated by Law 16 of 1953, established the
administrative structure of the reservation.
Tensions between the state and the Cuna increased under the
rule of Omar Torrijos Herrera (1968-81) as the government attempted
to alter Cuna political institutions. Cuna were unhappy over the
appointment of Hispanics rather than Cuna to sensitive posts.
Relations reached a low point during the controversy surrounding
government plans to promote tourism in the region, threatening San
Blas's status as a reserve. The conflict ended, however, with the
reaffirmation of the reserve's status. The extent of Cuna
disagreements with the national government was reflected in their
vote in the 1977 referendum on the Panama Canal treaties: San Blas
was the only electoral district to reject the treaties. For the
Cuna, this action was less a statement about the fate of the former
Canal Zone or Panamanian sovereignty than their rather strongly
held views about their autonomy. Although many government-sponsored
reforms were incorporated into Cuna political institutions, the San
Blasinos continued to exercise a significant measure of autonomy.
Data as of December 1987
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