Inland Salt Mine Workers in Mexico in the 20th Century

After 300 years of obtaining salt in the northern region of Mexico (San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Coahuila and Chihuahua) for the silver mining industry, a strong labor identity developed among the owners, workers and other people involved in this industry. The reforms in land ownership, the salt monopoly and particularly those of the labor type significantly transformed the role of the salt worker. This paper examines the role of salt workers in their family and social environment. Currently, the salt industry in the interior lagoons has declined significantly, so the salt worker (salinero) is rapidly disappearing, however, the importance of this social group persists in the regional identity and popular culture. Recently, the government of the state of San Luis Potosí declared the salt flats of Peñón Blanco (Salinas, SLP, Mx.) a cultural heritage landscape, which invites a process of review of the heritage and its manifestations in culture in relation to the daily lives of the salineros.