The first shock came with the realization that almost no one I worked with in the factory actually lived in Buenavista. The majority were from even smaller neighboring towns. Unlike the people from Buenavista, who are known for miles around for being light-skinned, tall and supposedly more good looking, these folks were of obvious indiginous descent. It works very much like racism in the United States. The light-skinned people have better jobs as secretaries or managers or own small family businesses while the people of more obvious Indian descent, from the other surrounding towns work the worst jobs in the factories.
Tension exists between the two groups even though both earn very little.
Seeing all this, I finally understood why Buenavista was such a popular site for these maquiladora factories. The workers not only do not live in Buenavista but are also considered to be racially different. This creates a division between them and the rest of the town. Without the support of their community, organizing a union will only be that much harder for these workers. The second big lesson I learned in the factory had to do with the real source of exploitation of labor.