Maya Women in Quintana Roo Turn Ancestral Knowledge Into Thriving Cooperative

Lázaro Cárdenas, Quintana Roo — Maya communities across Quintana Roo are keeping their cultural identity and territorial heritage alive by reviving and passing on ancestral practices through the production and sale of handmade goods — work that preserves techniques handed down over generations while creating income for local families.

One of the clearest examples is María Piedad Tuz Ramírez, president of Maya Dzak, a women’s cooperative based in the community of San Ángel in the municipality of Lázaro Cárdenas. With support from the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Conanp), the group has taken its small business to a new level.

The project took root in 2001, when research into traditional medicine documented the ancestral knowledge of older residents about the region’s medicinal plants. That work inspired local women to develop ecological personal care products — soaps, shampoos and creams — made with natural ingredients drawn from native flora.

At first the founders had no premises of their own and no formal legal status, so they worked on the move, going from house to house to make their first batches of soap. In 2004 they managed to organize, acquire communal land and build a palm-roofed workshop, allowing them to register legally and join the conservation and sustainable development programs promoted by Conanp.

The group overcame technical hurdles, moving from commercial base ingredients to developing its own brands and fully artisanal processes. In 2011 it broadened its offerings through ecotourism workshops taught by the Universidad del Caribe, adding fruit jams and handicrafts made with marine resources.

Tuz Ramírez now proudly displays her homemade personal care products at her shop near the Yum Balam Flora and Fauna Protection Area.