MEXICA TIAHUI
THE PEOPLE ALWAYS MOVING FORWARD
We the indigenous Mexican people of Minnesota wish to make known our
extreme dissatisfaction with the actions of the Eurocentric controlled
government of the United States of Mexico (Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos)
in its recent employment of military force against the indigenous people
in the state of Chiapas. We recognize the rights of our Mayan sister and
brothers, as well as that of other indigenous nations in this area to
their land. We deplore the illegal efforts of the Mexican government in
the expropriation of indigenous land, and the continuing spiritual,
economic, and political exploitation of our indigenous brethren. The
government of Mexico should immediately negotiate in good faith with the
Maya and other indigenous nations and provide redress to their many
longstanding and legitimate complaints.
We also encourage the media to look beyond the recent actions of the Maya
in defense of their homeland, and provide the public with the historical
context of this struggle, a struggle that in regard to Mexico began in the
year one reed (1519) with the Hispanic invasion of Mexico. To examine
this struggle in any other context is, we believe, to ignore the terrible
history of oppression that indigenous Mexican people face in the United
States of Mexico.
We further wish to state that we, as the descendants of the Ancient
Mexican cultures and civilizations, have an INALIENABLE RIGHT to identify
with our birthright, and do not wish to be characterized as different IN
ANY REGARD TO THE "INDIAN" PEOPLE OF MEXICO. It is our assertion that the
majority of the Mexican people both here and in Mexico are indigenous
people, hence our anger at the treatment of our sisters and brothers whom
are struggling to maintain their culture and ownership of their land.
Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Mexican history knows the
indigenous people in Mexico have many times attempted to throw off the
yoke of European oppression, an oppression that resulted in the deaths of
over 26,000,000 indigenous people in central Mexico between 1919 and 1608.
It is, we believe, important that this struggle be viewed in its proper
historical context, and we join with all of the indigenous people in
Cemanahuac (the new world) in expressing our sadness at the tragic loss of
life that has occurred among the indigenous people in region of Chiapas.
The indigenous people can forgive, but will never forget the "holocaust"
of our ancestors, and we hope that the Mexican government will enter in to
negotiations in a spirit of good faith and reason. We are certain,
however, that the redress of indigenous peoples grievances must take place
not only in Mexico, but in South America, Central America, as well as the
United States of America, and Canada.
The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America states
"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people
to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them to another..."
If this is the universal principle held so dear in The United States, then
its universality must now be put to the test. To paraphrase Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., will Europeans in the "new world" live up to the content
of their creed both spiritual and political, that all persons are created
equal, including the descendants of the indigenous peoples of Mexico.
These may be ideologies that are pertinent to citizens of the United
States of America, but we, as AMERICANS of Mexican heritage, and in the
spirit of HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS, would extend such ideology to the sister
republic of Mexico, as a necessary prerequisite for the actions of equity
and fairness for all people, particularly the indigenous populations.
WE would hope that at long last persons of Eurocentric background in
Mexico as well as the greater population (that is primarily indigenous,
but does not recognize it) will at long last recognize the rights and
dignity of the Mexican "Indian" Population, and face the reality that the
world sees and recognizes as great, the Mexican "Indianness", not its
promoted Univision, huckstering of a Eurocentric Mexico, that denies the
deserved rights and privileges to all its citizenry who chose to identify
as native people. What irony, and how blind of the "White Mexicans" and
the colonial ideology that struggles to promote itself in a contemporary
world of diversity and equity. The world is indeed observing, and we, the
Indigenous Mexicans of the United States of America stand by our sisters
and brothers and our belief in the human and civil rights of all
indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere. We, therefore, call upon
the Government of the United States of Mexico to
1. IMMEDIATELY END MILITARY REPRESSION
2. RESPECT THE RIGHTS OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES TO THEIR LAND
3. TO ALLOW FREE EXERCISE OF INDIGENOUS SPIRITUALITY
We also call upon all of the "governments" of the "new world" to
understand and respect the rights of indigenous people throughout
CEMANAHUAC.
WE CALL UPON ALL MEXICA AND SUPPORTERS TO JOIN IN ORGANIZING A
NATION-WIDE PROTEST AND VIGIL BOTH HERE AND IN MEXICO OF THE RIGHTS AND
THE LIVES OF OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN OUR HOMELAND- MEXICO. DO NOT
PERMIT 1968 AGAIN! NUNCA JAMAS! CALL THE PEOPLE, WRITE US. LET US COME
TOGETHER AND MOVE FORWARD!
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE
Timo Itazke
MEXICA TIAHUI
9827 287TH AVENUE
ZIMMERMAN, MN 55398
Alfredo Gonzales (612) 771-2850
Narciso L. Aleman (612) 690-2907
Armando Gutierrez G. (612) 489-8033
Soaring Hawk (612) 389-9730
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