Tolantongo is a successful worker owned and managed resort in central Mexico that was developed by a poor community over four decades using only its own resources. It is now a highly popular vacation destination, bringing prosperity and dignity to the community. This event will include a Q&A following the 50 minute film. Our conversation will highlight the cooperative principles.

About the Film

Mexico is living a crisis. The country no longer believes in its government; it is exhausted by the corruption and impunity which reaches every corner of society. It is tired of the inequality, the violence, the injustice, and the dispossession.

In a small town in the semidesert of Hidalgo, a group of men and women of Ñañú origin are setting an example of rural community development – a cooperative rural development that protects natural resources, cares for traditions and respects people. This is part of their success.

As heirs of the agrarian reform of the thirties, they have shown that the ejido remains a possible means for the development of rural communities, through cooperativism. Their secret lies in the "ejido" cooperative which was formed by their grandparents.

Set in a spectacular box canyon where a thermal river gushes from the side of a mountain, the Tolantongo cooperative has built a popular resort by their own efforts. Members of the cooperative share in the profits from their labor and alternate jobs in a democratic egalitarian community.  

Their story reveals that organized people can be the creators of their own destiny. There is much to learn from this model of a local community economy through cooperativism that respects nature, people and traditions.