Mexican Indigenous Protests Shine a Spotlight on the Damage Done by Canadian Mines Nathaniel Janowitz - VICE News
go to original April 15, 2016

To talk about the impact of mining on Mexico’s future, Laura Carlsen speaks with Miguel Mijangos, a member of the Network of Those Affected by Mining. (teleSUR English)

Indigenous groups and small farmers from six Mexican states have been marching in the capital this week with a long list of demands. These range from policies to reactivate the rural economy to greater legal protection against massive infrastructure projects on their land.

The thousands of marchers — most of them wearing traditional clothes or cowboy hats and large belt buckles — have caused several days of traffic chaos. They have also set up a tent city around the interior ministry.

Francisco Jiménez, one of the main organizers of the protests, said the most immediate demand is for talks with Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong.

"We want the government to address our issues," said Jiménez. "This march is for the defense of our territories, our dead, the political prisoners, the lack of water, and the revitalization of the Mexican countryside."

The group had converged on the capital from Guerrero, Oaxaca, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Veracruz and Chiapas — all of them resource-rich states in the south or center of Mexico with significant indigenous populations who often suffer acute levels of poverty.

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