Strong US Presence As Indigenous Encuentro Begins

Dear Colleagues,

The effort to unify and mobilize the indigenous of America took a large step last week with the first ever American Indigenous Peoples' Encuentro held in Yaqui tribe territory in Sonora, Mexico. Among its participants was a strong presence of indigenous from the United States and Canada, as well as the Mexico's National Indigenous Congress and Subcomandante Marcos representing the EZLN. Rael Romero and Juan Trujillo write from Sonora about the events of the inauguration of the Indigenous Encuentro and what its participants plan to bring to it.

Romero and Trujillo report:

"Within the framework of working groups about 'The history and the word of our peoples,' indigenous nations members' participation, in particular those from countries that are called 'Canada' and 'United States' has had special strength due to the large number of delegates who have attended this encuentro.

"...The Tohono O'tham people from the United States explained that 'our consciousness is being stolen... there are seeds that have been robbed.' They said that the Mar de Cortes (also known as the Gulf of California) was where their ancestors nourished themselves with fish. But now that the government and the military doesn't permit them access to the area. Therefore, they proposed that the indigenous struggle seeks 'to protect the world, the territory, and the communities.'

"...These days the situation isn't very different: a policy of discrimination and war against indigenous peoples is exercised by the governments, and it is even more aggressive when it comes to women. One example, continued the delegate, is the 'Highway of Tears' where more than two dozen indigenous women have been recorded missing, all of them under 25 years old."

Read the entire article online at Narco News:

http://www.narconews.com/Issue47/article2834.html

From somewhere in a country called America,
David B. Briones
Webmaster
The Narco News Bulletin
http://www.narconews.com

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