Organized Distrust and Autonomy in Cherán, Mexico: Possibilities for Peacebuilding

International organizations and scholars have long focused on the erosion of political trust and on strategies for rebuilding it. Yet this article argues that distrust, when organized and institutionalized, can serve as a democratic resource, particularly in contexts of self-government. Drawing on the experience of Cherán, an indigenous town in Michoacán, Mexico, this study combines historical analysis with fieldwork to show how a 2011 uprising against illegal logging and criminal violence gave rise to an ongoing autonomy project. I call this pattern organized distrust: routinized vigilance, evaluation, denunciation, and everyday scrutiny of authorities. These practices help limit elite capture, sustain accountability, and enable collective self-rule. The Cherán case suggests that organized distrust is most likely to support peacebuilding when it rests on three conditions: political autonomy, decentralized power, and human rights–based legal recognition. The article contributes to debates on counter-democracy and peacebuilding by showing how suspicion, when institutionally channeled, can become a durable mechanism of political accountability.