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“People of African descent played critical roles in Guerrero and the rest of New Spain as plantation laborers, mine workers, coastal militiamen, and arrieros. As a common pathway for formerly enslaved afrodescendientes, arrieros were also connected to emancipation and social mobility.”

“Globally and historically, most mules respond to calls from arrieros. As of 2021, over half of the world’s mules lived in Spanish America, with a third calling Mexico home. How this happened has everything to do with the Spanish empire, slavery, and racial capitalism.”

“…whereas sheep proved accidental weapons of conquest, mules were calculated tools. Unlike most livestock, mules cannot reproduce. Instead, mule breeding increased alongside Iberian expansion of colonial mines & plantations & the racialized laborers who drove mules for empire.”