Late Saturday night, 4^th May, a street gang brutally attacked two youths of indigenous descent in the northern province of Formosa. One of the victims is 21-year-old Abelardo Díaz, the son of Qom leader Félix Díaz.

The boys were surrounded by a mob of about 30 people that abruptly began beating them, allegedly using clubs and other objects to attack Abelardo and his peer Carlos Sosa. Both had to be hospitalised, first taken to a local clinic but later transferred to the Juan Domingo Perón hospital in the provincial capital.

Although most details about the attack are still unknown, the Qom community assumes that it is related to their fight to reclaim ancestral lands, in which Félix Díaz has played a key role. On 18^th April, Félix received a court order for his prosecution regarding the ‘theft’ of territory he claims for the Qom people.

Abelardo reported a similar instance in which he was beaten in June of last year, when another group armed with knives attacked him, threatening to slit his throat.

Attacks of indigenous people in the Formosa area are not uncommon. Just four months ago a young man from the Qom community was found unconscious after suffering a beating and later died in the hospital.

After his son’s hospitalisation, Félix stated: “My family continues being victim to this violence generated by the province again and again.” He added, “They criminalise me for ‘usurping’ our historic territories. However they will never break me — I will continue asking for respect for our rights and for true justice.”

Two weeks ago a group of congress members part of the Population and Human Development Commission headed by Antonio Riestra began a series of meetings with representatives from local indigenous groups to discuss the humanitarian situation of these communities in Formosa. During the talks, indigenous leaders called for a return of historic lands, access to healthcare, and bilingual education.

In the light of the current crisis concerning the Awás in Brazil, the Indy went out to get local opinions concerning the situation of indigenous people everywhere. We asked interested passersby to share with us their thoughts on the role that state governments play in protecting indigenous communities and their lands in South America.

In their comments, the locals we talked to seem to think that in Argentina and in general across the region state governments do address (or at least recognise) indigenous issues. However, most people added that they felt that governmental intervention too often falls short of providing any real form of protection for indigenous communities and that state meddling in indigenous affairs is often driven by broader political agendas and ulterior motives. Their answers seem to reflect the harsh reality of the status of indigenous people with respect to state protection in Brazil, a status that is often also lived in other parts of South America and all over the world.

Photos by Simon Guerra

Héctor Romero, 49, businessman, San Telmo.

I don’t think that the government is really concerned with indigenous people. They are not interested in the subject. The government doesn’t do much to protect them because that idea is not part of its political agenda. Furthermore, in general I think that the idea of the ‘Indian’ is changing -we live in a world that is changing. The image of those people today is not what it was in the past. They are now involved and integrated in schools, work, city life. So their issues are changing too.

 

Nahuel López, 23, factory employee, Mataderos.

From what I see in the papers, it seems like yes, the government is concerned with these issues and it does what it can to protect them; but in other papers, no, they don’t even report on that sort of thing. But yeah, I think they are doing at least some things to protect them in Argentina. And in Latin America, Evo Morales is doing a lot for the people. [Ecuadorian president Rafael] Correa as well, and with [Venezuelan president Nicolás] Maduro we’ll see what he does there in Venzuela. I don’t know too much about the issue but from what I see I don’t think that what the governments are doing is really sufficient [to protect indigenous people and their lands] but they at least do a little bit. Like here in Argentina they have land laws in place that help.

Matias Matison, 26, unemployed, Villa Lugano.

No, I don’t think what the governments are doing [in the region] is sufficient at all. Those people are basically ignored. I don’t know about in other countries but here it seems like the concern [the government] does give to those issues is superficial and it doesn’t give them a lot of importance. But what is it that they could or should do? I have no idea. That’s why I’m not involved in government. But I know that there are a lot of NGOs that work to do what they can for them, but in general, I mean you don’t see campaigns or anything that concern indigenous people -I believe they are ignored. I don’t know how it is in other provinces either, but here they are ignored.

Mariano Ferro, 26, systems analyst, Recoleta.

Well, I’m really not an expert on the issue, you know? But I think a lot of things are happening -like with the Qom community here in Argentina for example. And I don’t know how it is like in other countries with relatively large reservations with state lands so that the people are protected enough to live and develop their lives; but here, they create parks and areas for really small groups that survive generally by means of exporting goods and artisan crafts that they make themselves, especially in the north and northeast of the country. I think sometimes the situations [of indigenous peoples] are pretty poorly attended to. And although it seems like nowadays indigenous people have no problem integrating into society in general, I don’t know if they necessarily want to integrate themselves in this way. What the governments are doing in terms of protection of indigenous peoples is not sufficient. At least from what I know, there is no sort of state plan or program coordinated with the provinces to help with protection of such groups or to help these communities develop. Here in Argentina the indigenous groups are pretty marginalised, but in Central America where their populations are bigger, there are tremendous efforts being done to protect their rights. And in these countries where the indigenous populations are bigger their issues are more visible and I think they receive much more attention and help.

Florencia Piluso, 28, publishing editor, Palermo.

I think that [the state protection of indigenous people] is false and unreal in a sense. The attention given to these issues is not truly for the sake of helping or of integration of these groups, but rather a question of control. Everything [the government] does is to look for ways to approach these groups and draw them near into a sort of enclosure. And furthermore, indigenous communities are not included in daily societal activities. What happens, for instance, here [in Argentina] in the countryside of Chaco, such groups receive funds from the government but also serve as instruments for governmental use. In general I don’t think that a form of state protection in this sense really exists, nor does a genuine motive for helping them.

In March 2012, Brazilian judge Jirair Aram Meguerian ordered that the nation’s government had to evict all loggers and settlers working illegally in the demarcated region belonging to the indigenous Awá tribe within 12 months. Fourteen calendar pages have come and gone, and the government has still not completed a successful eviction. But the issue is still of utmost importance. Two weeks ago, coinciding with National Indigenous People’s Day, Brazilian aborigines occupied congress to protest a law that would give congress power in the demarcation of tribal lands. Furthermore, the quandary facing the Awá people is at a crux, and if changes are not made soon, the tribe may face extinction.

The failure to carry out the evictions simply marks the latest obstacle in a long series of misdoings against the Awá, deemed the world’s most endangered tribe by human rights NGO Survival International. Despite the area they inhabit being demarcated as a protected region in 2005, after a two-decade battle for such a distinction, these illegal loggers continue to threaten the existence of the Awá people, both by destroying the forests that constitute their home and by using firearms against the indigenous people they come into contact with. The tribe is believed to be numbered at about 360 people, with roughly 20% more thought to be living without contact with the outside world. Without increased action by the Brazilian government, the chances of the Awá of avoiding the fate of countless other persecuted tribes, of becoming little more than footnotes in a history book, look bleak.

The Tribe

Located in four regions within the western half of the Brazilian state of Maranhão, the Awá people -a group of nomadic hunter-gatherers- are marked by a deep connection with the natural environment they inhabit.

Awá tribe members are known to have many pets, including boars, vultures, and coatis (relatives of the raccoon). It is even common for Awá women to breastfeed animals such as capuchins, howler monkeys, and small pigs, and coatis are known to share hammocks with the Awá. In fact, many families have more pets than they have children. And while animals such as monkeys are a source of protein for the Awá, the hunters try to avoid killing animals they recognise as former pets released into the wild.

“When we find a baby animal, we want to look after it,” an Awá woman called Parakeet told Survival International. The names of Awá people change throughout their lives as more suitable titles arise. “When [the animals] are older, they become independent and go back to the forest. Sometimes when we’re out hunting, I’ll see one of our pets and say, ‘don’t hunt it!’ I would never eat an animal we raised. We looked after it, we watched it grow. If I ate it I would feel terrible. I can hear the howler monkey that used to be my pet singing in the forest. My pet lives in the forest, and now it’s going to make a family of its own.”

The Past

The troubles faced by the Awá people date as far back as the 1950s when ranchers and loggers approached their territory after the construction of road BR322. A major threat to the tribe materialised in 1967 when large deposits of rich iron ore were found in the hills of Carajás, which lie to the west of the four regions occupied by the Awá. This resulted in the installation of the Great Carajás Project, a series of dams, smelters, and cattle ranches — and, in 1985, a railway — funded by the US, Japan, the EU, and the World Bank. The project decimated the area’s forests and just 14 years after the discovery of iron ore in the area, Brazil’s National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) reported that over half of the 56 indigenous people contacted in 1976 had died.

In the following decades, organisations such as Survival, FUNAI, the Indigenous Missionary Counsel (CIMI), the Coordination of Indigenous Organisations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), and the Pro-Indian Commission of São Paulo have pressed for increased protection of the indigenous population, calling for Awá demarcation as early as 1985. The Brazilian government was lethargic in its response. In 1999 the government noted 240 cases of illegal occupation in the Awá region, and in 2005 the territory was officially demarcated by the state as a tribal territory, thanks in part to a petition submitted by Survival International. Meanwhile, the logging and ranching industries continued to threaten the Awá’s survival with assaults against the environment and acts of violence against the indigenous people.

By 2010, about one-third of the area occupied by the tribe had been destroyed, and experts deemed the situation genocidal, a characterisation that is still held by advocates to this day.

The Present

Currently, the Awá face more danger of extinction than ever. In 2012, FUNAI released evidence that the illegal loggers were but 3km away from the Awá’s location. While the government failed to act on Judge Meguerian’s orders, the Awá’s sustainability remained in jeopardy. The tribesmen are now afraid to hunt, because they do not want to be seen by the loggers or ranchers and put themselves at risk of being killed.

As roads increasingly spring up in the territory, another great fear is that the invaders will encounter uncontacted Awá tribe members. It is believed that they would have severely adverse reactions to the loggers and ranchers because of their lack of interaction with the outside world. “A common cold could kill them,” states Survival.

According to Survival, “there are several accounts of [uncontacted aborigines] being killed by loggers and ranchers, but there is no recent confirmed data and encounters are not reported.” Survival has recorded video footage of loggers illegally occupying the area, but were unable to take action as the loggers are typically armed.

“It’s not too late for the Awá, but it soon will be,” said Stephen Corry, director of Survival International. “It is entirely within the Minister of Justice’s capabilities to evict loggers, but he must act today. If he doesn’t, tomorrow the Awá will be gone.”

The failure to reach the deadline for evictions should result in daily fines for FUNAI, said Alice Bayer, spokeswoman for Survival International, but she thinks it is unlikely that they will actually be paid.

“The situation is clear cut: the invaders are illegal and must be removed,” Bayer said. “The solution is simple and plans are already in place. They now need to be put into action before they become useless ideas that were implemented too late to save lives.“

The Misconception

While it is possible the Brazilian government has dragged its feet in matters regarding the protection of Amazonian tribes simply due to lack of urgency, there are signs of an ideologically based belief that the tribes are simply undergoing an inevitable and necessary assimilation into Western society.

One politician who has espoused such beliefs is senator Katia Abreu.

“Who benefits from [increased protection of the indigenous groups]?” Abreu asked. “Not our country, which today enjoys the best and cheapest food in the world and boasts of being the globe’s second-largest food exporter…. Neither do the Indians (sic), who as their numbers show don’t need more physical space, but sanitation, education and an efficient health system. They need, in short, a better life, like all of us.”

Bayer denounced that view.

“The view of Senator Abreu stems from a position of racism, which sees the life of self-sufficient tribal peoples as ‘backward’,” she said. “She seems to be proposing that tribal peoples would be better off if they joined mainstream society. But we have seen time and time again that the forced integration of tribal peoples into the mainstream can have devastating consequences, often leading to addiction, disease, and dependency on government handouts.”

Survival made a strong push to fight such ideology with its ‘Progress Can Kill’ report, released in 2007. The report notes how assimilation into “progressive” cultures often ravages the lives of those in indigenous communities, commonly leading to maladies such as alcoholism, suicide, starvation, obesity, and sexually transmitted diseases, if not all-out extinction.

Survival also confronts the opinion, raised within the Brazilian political sphere too, that the case of the Awá cannot be deemed genocide, as hundreds of lives are at stake, not thousands or millions: “Apart from [the number] having no relevance in law, such an interpretation discriminates against Amazon Indians (sic) who are numerically small.”

The Campaign

Survival International launched a new campaign to protect the Awá in 2012, including a short film depicting the troubles the tribe is facing as well as a detailed and interactive website that cites the reasons that governmental measures are necessary and educates readers on the Awá people. Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth narrates the short film and has worked as an advocate for the cause, hoping to raise international awareness of the issue.

Thus far, over 50,000 letters have been sent to Brazilian Minister of Justice José Eduardo Cardozo, who is the focus of the campaign and who is addressed by name by Firth in the video. The campaign’s Facebook page sports 34,000 likes, and the organisation also provides an opportunity to donate money to support the cause.

Survival has been involved with the case of the Awá since as early as the 1950s when one of its founders, Francis Huxley, went to the area and did research regarding the uncontacted aborigines. The organisation has continually petitioned the government to address the issue in the decades since and has published various reports on the Awá’s crisis, in addition to the ‘Progress Can Kill’ report. The organisation is funded primarily by small donations, as it does not accept money from any governments in order to avoid political influence.

The Hope

The works of the Survival campaign have not resulted in an effective governmental eviction of the illegal loggers and ranchers, but support and awareness has increased for the cause around the world. Actors like Firth and Gillian Anderson have raised awareness, Brazilian football supporters have taken on the cause as the 2014 World Cup approaches, and the ‘awáIcon’ logo has popped up worldwide in photographs and as street art to support the cause.

And while the Brazilian government still has a long way to go in terms of protecting the Awá tribe, it did ratify the International Labour Organisation’s Convention No. 169, an international law created in 1989 that secures land rights for tribes. Brazil is one of only 22 countries to ratify the law, although there have been questions as to whether or not it is actually being followed. Furthermore, the nation ratified “the genocide convention, which imposes a duty on the state to investigate and prosecute if genocide is suspected,” per Survival International.

However, the most inspiring bit of hope in the Awá narrative may lie in the story of a man named Karapiru. In 1978, his community of uncontacted Awá people were attacked by a gunman. He escaped, and spent the next ten years in complete isolation. Eventually he was found, and, because the attending anthropologist was unable to understand Karapiru’s language, members of various tribes met with him in hopes of finding a linguistic connection. Finally, he met with an indigenous man named Xiramuku. As The Atlantic’s Joanna Eede reports, “Not only could Xiramuku understand Karapiru’s language, but he used one specific Awá word that instantly transformed Karapiru’s life: he called him ‘father’.” Karapiru was reunited with the Awá people and integrated back into their culture; a miraculous, storybook ending.

The beacon of hope that lies in storybooks, however, is threatened by the sawmill of colonialisation found in history books. If drastic efforts are not made by the Brazilian government to heed the plight of the Awá, hope might be all that tribesmen like Karapiru have left.

“I hope the same things that happened to me won’t happen to my daughter,” said Karapiru, according to The Atlantic article. “I hope she will eat lots of game, lots of fish, and grow up to be healthy. I hope it won’t be like in my time.”

 

Do people believe indigenous people in the region are being sufficiently protected? Click here to find out.

Representatives of thirteen Latin American countries are participating in the 13th summit of Indigenous Parliament of America (PIA), taking place in Managua, Nicaragua. The main goal of the three-day meeting is to tackle food security issues, climate change and land possession and to revise the progress of legal protection of the rights of the Indigenous people in different countries. The forum includes representatives from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Perú and Venezuela.

The PIA president, Hugo Carrillo, pointed out that: “The majority of indigenous people on this continent are not represented in political systems, that’s why the topics and needs of the indigenous are not discussed in the parliaments, so this is one of our challenges.” The indigenous leader noted some developments in legislative matters in Perú, Ecuador and Bolivia, but said more recognition is still needed.

“Representation of the Indigenous people in America is insufficient,” stated Brookly Rivera, the Nicaraguan deputy, and added: “The political presence of the indigenous should occur in some other way, not through traditional selection process by which other political parties are elected.” Rivera was determined: “These mechanisms don’t care for the reality and necessities of ethnic groups.”

The claims come as members of the Tupinambás indigenous group in Brazil, which is not represented in this summit, occupied a luxury hotel in the state of Bahía, in the northeast of the country. They stated that they’ve started the protest in the hotel Fazenda da Lagoa because it is situated in the territory that belonged to their ancestors. With this action they aim to push the government to accelerate the process of demarcation of their lands in the region, which is one of the most popular with tourists in Brazil. Fourteen hotel bungalows, which normally cost US$500 per night, were empty after the protesters occupied them. The Brazilian Environmental Agency has temporarily closed the property, because of different reports about the possible destruction of vegetation in the area.

Meanwhile, the Nicaraguan state also has a task pending. After a sentence was delivered by the Inter-American Court for Human Rights, Nicaragua is required to reform the Electoral Law, so that it would allow indigenous people to choose their own political representatives based on their own traditions and customs.

Indigenous groups in Nicaragua, who mainly live in the Caribbean coast, are still facing a lot of limitations when it comes to basic services and infrastructure, despite the programmes promoted by the government.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), an autonomous organ of the Organisation of American States (OAS), held a hearing on the “general situation of human rights in Paraguay” in Washington, US, on Friday and various Paraguayan organisations brought grievances to address.

Among the most important issues presented were the Curuguaty Massacre of last June and the so-called ‘parliamentary coup’ against Fernando Lugo last year. The organisations demanded that the commission urge Paraguayan state investigation into the allegations of torture in the Curuguaty incident.

They also asked for clarification regarding the procedure for the seizure of lands belonging to the Cuyabia indigenous community. The same request was made on the continuous felling of the Ayoreo Totobiegosode Natural and Cultural Heritage Site.

The organisations alerted the Commission to the recent murders of three farming leaders. They also asked them to help get the threats against human rights advocates in the country under control.

The Commission received the complaints of the Human Rights Coordination of Paraguay, the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defence of Women’s Rights, the Peace and Justice Coordination of Paraguay, and Rural and Indigenous Women Workers of Paraguay, among others.

Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar, the AMARC-ALC news agency.

Following an eight-day march, 200 indigenous Uru people arrived in the Bolivian capital of La Paz on Wednesday to demand parliament pass a law to protect their population and territory.

The indigenous Uru people, or “Uros,” who live on the banks of Poopó Lake, are one of the oldest populations of Bolivia. They have prepared a sample bill to give to the government and president Evo Morales, demanding that it protects the Uru people’s territory and way of life.

Andrés Choque, head of the Uru population, spoke out against the historical discrimination that the Uros have suffered in Bolivia. The Uros have reported that for several years their land has been invaded by Aymara communities nearby. Choque asked that the government and parliament work with the Uru people to create laws to defend the territory. “The bill should be built based on what we want, not from the top down,” said the indigenous leader.

The Uros are worried for the possible disappearance of the population, which has reduced in the past several years. Upon arriving to La Paz, indigenous leaders asked that residents of the city show solidarity with them by donating clothes, food, and medicine to the indigenous families and children who participated in the eight-day march.

Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar http://www.agenciapulsar.org/, the AMARC-ALC news agency

Indigenous groups from all three sections of the Paraguayan Chaco region are protesting against a lack of government cooperation by holding an indefinite roadblock in the city of Mariscal Estigarribia.

The groups are protesting the actions of the government and private companies that violate the rights that indigenous groups have over territories that traditionally belong to them. The organisations have been blocking the Transchaco road since yesterday and say they intend to do so indefinitely, until they receive a proper response from the government.

A statement has been released signed by the leaders of the Union of the Natives of Chaco, the Federation of Indigenous People of Chaco, the Organisation of the Ñandeva village, and the Union of Native Ayoreos of Paraguay.

The document says that they have decided to close the Transchaco road, in the city of Mariscal Estigarribia, in the absence of a serious and satisfactory response to the “unpunished violations to indigenous territories”.

In the statement, indigenous groups request the support and solidarity of “all civil society” for this measure, and ask for the intervention of the Paraguayan Indigenous Institute (INDI). According to the statement, such intervention “would mean the immediate standstill of procedures that affect the land of the Chaco territory, until the situation is clear.”

The leaders also requested that the INDI appoint “professionals committed to respect the rights of indigenous peoples and safeguard its territorial heritage.”

This demonstration follows the action taken some weeks ago by hundreds of ñandeva and ayoreo indigenous populations who closed the main roads of Mariscal Estigarribia, in protest at recent land evictions.

The Chaco region of Paraguay is a vast geographic area populated mostly by indigenous communities and is being rapidly deforested.

Yesterday, Chilean president Sebastián Piñera proposed constitutional recognition of Chile’s indigenous peoples and the establishment of an advisory board composed of representatives from various indigenous groups. His remarks highlighted the importance of giving “special recognition” to these populations as well as social and economic disparities they experience.

“I have decided that constitutional recognition of indigenous peoples is of greatest priority and deserves the greatest urgency. And the creation of an advisory board of our indigenous peoples that would be truly representative of the tradition and culture,” declared Piñera.

According to the president, constitutional recognition is one pillar of his administration’s defence of indigenous rights, the second of which is “recognizing that there was an inexcusable underdevelopment in terms of economic and social development,” he stated. “It’s no coincidence that our country’s two most underdeveloped regions in this regard, Araucanía and Biobío, are precisely the regions where an important portion of our indigenous peoples are concentrated.” He went on to highlight his ‘Araucanía Plan’, announced last August, which addresses issues such as job creation and cultural preservation in the southern region home to a large Mapuche population.

Whilst the head of state made his announcement from Santiago, his Ministers of the Interior and Social Development Andrés Chadwick and Joaquín Lavín held a second round of talks regarding the recent territorial and political conflicts with the Mapuche people in the city of Temuco. Among Mapuche demands are self-determination and the right to thousands of hectares of fertile land in Araucanía taken from them during the colonial era. Participating Mapuche representatives, agricultural producers, logging executives, and regional politicians have yet to reach an agreement.

Debates on the fate of the Mapuche people have reached a fever pitch in recent weeks, especially after fire incidents that destroyed a Mapuche school and killed a landowning couple, both widely suspected of being connected to the conflict.

Story courtesy of Agencia Pulsar.

The Ecuadorian government is delaying the compensation payment to the indigenous people of Sarayaku. Six months ago the Interamerican Court of Human Rights ruled  that the Ecuadorian State must pay US$400,000 to one million Sarayaku people in the Pastaza region after an Argentine oil company entered indigenous land.

In 2003, the oil company buried more than 1,400 kilos of pentolite, a dangerous explosive material in the Sarayaku territory.

Sarayaku president, José Gualinga said the Ecuadorian government is failing to realise the ruling of the Court of Human Rights.

The indigenous leaders showed that after six months, the Ecuadorian government has paid only US$18,000 of the demanded compensation. The indigenous community is asking for the withdrawal of explosive materials from indigenous territory and also for public apologies from the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa.

The Ecuadorian government has announced plans to form a high level commission to coordinate the withdrawal of pentolite from the area and formally address the Sarayaku case. They have also announced plans to attempt to streamline the execution process of the Court of Human Rights judgements.

On Tuesday, the National Zapatista Liberation Army (EZLN) announced the commencement of their non-violent campaign for indigenous rights in the southern state of Chiapas after a two-year suspension. Among demands is the fulfilment of the San Andrés Accords, which established self-governance for indigenous peoples.

Chiapas government officials seem inclined towards dialogue with the rebel group and in favour of national action. Local legislators have asked their congressional counterparts to use the Commission for Peace and Harmony, a body created in 1995, to foster agreements with the EZLN. For its part, the Chiapas state government issued a press release yesterday reiterating the importance of arriving at an agreement with the EZLN. Opposition senator from the leftist Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), Dolores Padierna, asked the High Court to urge the national and state government to move towards agreements with the rebel group.

“We do not have to invent new agreements and new negotiation points, only the completion of the San Andrés Accords, as they were agreed upon between the parties. This continues to be EZLN’s primary demand,” explained Fernando Castellanos Cal y Mayor, coordinator for the PVEM bloc, to which Chiapas governor Manuel Velasco Coello belongs.

“EZLN’s main demand is clear,” said Alejandro Soriano, PRD representative in the Chiapas state congress. “And more than speeches and excuses, the constitutional recognition of indigenous rights and culture requires concrete actions.”

The three press releases in which ‘Marcos’, a spokesman for the group, announced the decision, called upon President Enrique Peña Nieto not to adopt a war strategy as his predecessors Carlos Salinas de Gortari and Ernesto Zedillo have done. He also denounced former presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón for not addressing the issue sufficiently.

The announcement coincided with a 1^st January celebration marked the 19^th anniversary of the 1994 armed uprising in Chiapas in which the group took over of six municipalities in defence of indigenous issues.

According to the National Commission of Human Rights, the largest public defender in the country, among indigenous populations worldwide, that of Mexico is eighth largest.