Objective:

To reflect on the frequent discordances between local modalities of land access and the forms of usufruct decreed by the Mexican agrarian reform. This study focuses on the daily practices that favored the construction of spaces of local autonomy that allowed informal access to land prevail for several decades over state dictates.

Methodology:

It combines fieldwork and a review of agrarian records in two ejidos from the southern region of the state of Veracruz.

Originality:

It lies in the comparison of the agrarian distribution process in two localities with different ethnic origins and socio-cultural conformation.

Conclusion:

Regardless of the ethnic, social, and cultural configuration, the agrarian project of the post-revolutionary state was redefined with the intention of adapting it to local practices that reduced the exclusions linked to agrarian distribution.