Mexico's Gaza

youcrazyjesus!

I heard a report on this on RTÉ earlier and it sounds shocking. Indigenous people are under siege and the sad thing is state politicians and business leaders are forming paramilitaries from other indigenous populations. I'm trying to find out more. There may be land and resource issues at the root of it all.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1006/S00050.htm
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGPRE201006071702&lang=e
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/04/201042812413686521.html

Run_to_da_hills

There is definitely similarities between this and the Gazan incident in that both humanitarian groups were helping out indigenous peoples and were both attacked by armed terrorists.

BlaasForRafa

youcrazyjesus! wrote: »

I heard a report on this on RTÉ earlier and it sounds shocking. Indigenous people are under siege and the sad thing is state politicians and business leaders are forming paramilitaries from other indigenous populations. I'm trying to find out more. There may be land and resource issues at the root of it all.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1006/S00050.htm
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGPRE201006071702&lang=e
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/04/201042812413686521.html

Indigenous people in Mexico aren't cool like the Palestinians are though so most people won't give a flying f...

Macha

BlaasForRafa wrote: »

Indigenous people in Mexico aren't cool like the Palestinians are though so most people won't give a flying f...

Yes, the reason everyone gets upset about Palestine is because they're so cool.

I'm pretty sure Chinese officials have the same gripe about Tibet.

Victim, victim, victim, victim, victim.

wes

Terrible situation, for these poor people. I don't really know a lot about Mexico, and I wasn't aware there were any indigenous people left. I always got the impression they were wiped out. Good to see that isn't the case, and they are fighting for there rights. Hopefully, there can be some intervention to end this criminal blockade against them.

alastair

BlaasForRafa wrote: »

Indigenous people in Mexico aren't cool like the Palestinians are though so most people won't give a flying f...

And there was me thinking that Subcomandante Marcos was pretty, well, cool. Ah well.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1214676.stm

Scofflaw

BlaasForRafa wrote: »

Indigenous people in Mexico aren't cool like the Palestinians are though so most people won't give a flying f...

That's not a contribution to the thread, nor is it intended to be.

moderately,
Scofflaw

northwest100

well, it's not like the US make any effort to prevent guns in their thousands being brought into mexico, used by drug gangs to commit thousands of murders..

80% of 75,000 weapons seized in 3 years could be traced to the US.

i'd question who exactly these "border agents" are when they shoot an unarmed 14 year old boy in the back for running away.

Not excessive at all.

Nodin

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

There is definitely similarities between this and the Gazan incident in that both humanitarian groups were helping out indigenous peoples and were both attacked by armed terrorists.

You'll find the same justifications repeat themselves across the world in similar situations as well.

RealityCheck

northwest100 wrote: »

well, it's not like the US make any effort to prevent guns in their thousands being brought into mexico, used by drug gangs to commit thousands of murders..

80% of 75,000 weapons seized in 3 years could be traced to the US.

i'd question who exactly these "border agents" are when they shoot an unarmed 14 year old boy in the back for running away.

Not excessive at all.

Sure thats a different matter altogether. Mostly non political related just crime.

What is going on here is an open conflict or civil war between those indigenous people who declared autonomy and those who once held power in the old system who I think are largely indigenous also. Is this more a case of neglect on behalf of the federal authorities or are they responsible for the blockade?

RealityCheck

The Al Jazeera article sums it up better. San Juan Copala declared autonomy from the state of Oaxaca, so the state are colluding with paramitary forces who support the state to blockade and kill the indigenous peoples and aid workers trying to help them. Seems Mexico are very culpible.

fontanalis

RealityCheck wrote: »

The Al Jazeera article sums it up better. San Juan Copala declared autonomy from the state of Oaxaca, so the state are colluding with paramitary forces who support the state to blockade and kill the indigenous peoples and aid workers trying to help them. Seems Mexico are very culpible.

Corrupt basket case of a country does something terrible shocker.

RealityCheck

fontanalis wrote: »

Corrupt basket case of a country does something terrible shocker.

Well they are a member of the OECD and are the 11th biggest economy in the world. Maybe we'd be better off we just ignored the plight of those suffering the world.

Where does that leave the likes of Israel, a supposed western democracy? Are the actions of Israel worse or better?

Nodin

I developed an interest in Latin America many years ago. To generalise - theres a vast amount of corruption, violence and racism, with the native population usually at the bottom of the pile, and women of the less entitled somewhere beneath that again. Mexico is sadly not much different from other states in the region in this regard, despite prosperity in some areas.

ANarcho-Munk

Doesn't a lot of this have to do with the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) though?
It's my understanding, at least in relation to the Zapatistas, that they didn't want to participate in this deal due to economic exploitation entailed within it and that they also want more direct control over the natural resources within their communities. So since about the mid 90's they rose up and declared themselves autonmous of the Mexican government. Since then they have been subject to attacks.