Agave, henequen (México 20th Century)

Yaquis

Enslavement of Yaquis (1900-1910) transferred from northern Mexico to Oaxaca and Yucatán.

The Porfirio Díaz regime crushed Yaqui resistance by deporting entire communities to southern plantations, where many died in what amounted to a government-run forced labor system.

Production of henequen (sisal) an agave fiber used in rope and twine and Mezcal.

Barbarous Mexico (1909) by John Kenneth Turner: (book here) https://archive.org/details/barbarousmexico00turnuoft/mode/2up

U.S. Companies Involved

Henry W. Peabody & Co. and Plymouth Cordage Co. Smaller U.S. firms involved in the international fiber trade, including henequen, though not as dominant as International Harvester.

International Harvester Company. A major U.S. manufacturing firm that became the largest buyer of Yucatán’s henequen fiber, effectively controlling prices and the export market.

National City Bank (New York). Cited in some historical accounts as one of the foreign corporate interests tied to Mexican export industries and financial networks that benefited from Porfirian markets.

Standard Oil affiliate / American Cordage Trust. According to some analyses of the period, companies linked with Standard Oil purchased henequen and supplied cordage materials, benefiting from cheap Mexican fiber.

Greene-linked companies (e.g., Cananea Consolidated Copper Company). While not directly tied to henequen, this major U.S.–controlled mining firm in Sonora exemplifies the broader pattern of U.S. corporate investment and exploitation under Díaz, which Turner and others criticized.