Miranda Talavera, Grade 12
UWCRBC
Indigenous groups in Mexico are largely marginalized. Their identity in our eyes is limited to what the white-washed media says about them. To this day, Mexico’s colonial history shines through our “Mexican pride” and presents itself in racist, sexist and classist practices. I would like to share with you a little bit about the Triqui people. DISCLAIMER: By “share” I mean function as an amplifier of Triqui voices, due to lack of indigenous representation. I by no means claim to have the authority to speak for them. However I think it is very important for everyone to know that no matter how long my country has been independent form Spain, colonialism prevails.
The Triqui are an indigenous group situated in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. In oral traditions, it is said that the Triqui came from Monte Albán, one of the first and most prominent cities in the region of Mesoamerica. When the Spanish invaded, the Triqui were some of the main actors in the fight for freedom. They have also played big roles in some of Mexico’s most important battles, like the Mexican Revolution. In 1981, they created the Movement of the Triqui Unification and Fight (MULT for its acronym in Spanish) to demand their economic freedom and other basic human rights. Even though the Triqui are a historically politically active group, it is not presented in the media and much less in the history books.
Recently though, the Triqui made national news:
A group of Triqui people, after having been displaced by the military form their homes, had been protesting for over a year by camping near Palacio Nacional, the seat of the executive governmental branch. On April 25th of this year, a group of armed officers forcibly removed them form their tents and violently assaulted them to take them to a government-approved shelter. Said “shelter” translates to a place with no running water or electricity. Isabel Martínez, a member of the Triqui community shared her experience: “Once we arrived at the supposed shelter, where we didn’t have a roof, we realized that the place was set up in a parking lot where a local market used it as a garbage dump. The trucks arrived with our belongings and threw them on the ground as if they were garbage.” Any attempt of the Triqui to talk to the officers or leave the place was met with force, resulting in different organizations, politicians and civilians to label the relocation as “kidnapping” and demanding the government their immediate release. The government decided to keep them restricted in that location ignoring their basic human needs and the demands of the people.
The weird thing is that the person who gave instructions to relocate them because it was not convenient for the government’s image to have them protesting, is the same person that would take pictures with people from different indigenous groups for her political campaign.
The Triqui people are only one out of 68 different Mexican indigenous groups. Each one of these ethnic groups have their own history, language and culture. Around 22% of the Mexican population is indigenous, and the country defines itself as a “pluricultural nation”. No matter how much we like to portray ourselves as proud of our mestizo (mixed) identity, we do not care about indigenous people being the most affected by extreme poverty, discrimination, lack of access to education and opportunities, and a very big etcetera.
We are taught in school that we are supposed to be proud of our culture, our diversity, “we respect and honor our ancestors”; but we are also taught that the Spanish did us a favor by civilizing us. We learn everything about “world history” (European history and even US history), but Latin America, our own land, is not mentioned once. Anything remotely associated with indigenous traditions is automatically seen as inferior. We are only to be proud when it is convenient for us, when we can profit off it, or when we need to post on Instagram.
Image Courtesy: https://www.reforma.com/aplicacioneslibre/preacceso/articulo/default.aspx?__rval=1&urlredirect=https://www.reforma.com/rompentriquiscercoenpalacionacional/ar2136977?referer=7d616165662f3a3a6262623b727a7a7279703b767a783b786d3a
The Triqui are an indigenous group situated in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. In oral traditions, it is said that the Triqui came from Monte Albán, one of the first and most prominent cities in the region of Mesoamerica. When the Spanish invaded, the Triqui were some of the main actors in the fight for freedom. They have also played big roles in some of Mexico’s most important battles, like the Mexican Revolution. In 1981, they created the Movement of the Triqui Unification and Fight (MULT for its acronym in Spanish) to demand their economic freedom and other basic human rights. Even though the Triqui are a historically politically active group, it is not presented in the media and much less in the history books.
Recently though, the Triqui made national news:
A group of Triqui people, after having been displaced by the military form their homes, had been protesting for over a year by camping near Palacio Nacional, the seat of the executive governmental branch. On April 25th of this year, a group of armed officers forcibly removed them form their tents and violently assaulted them to take them to a government-approved shelter. Said “shelter” translates to a place with no running water or electricity. Isabel Martínez, a member of the Triqui community shared her experience: “Once we arrived at the supposed shelter, where we didn’t have a roof, we realized that the place was set up in a parking lot where a local market used it as a garbage dump. The trucks arrived with our belongings and threw them on the ground as if they were garbage.” Any attempt of the Triqui to talk to the officers or leave the place was met with force, resulting in different organizations, politicians and civilians to label the relocation as “kidnapping” and demanding the government their immediate release. The government decided to keep them restricted in that location ignoring their basic human needs and the demands of the people.
The weird thing is that the person who gave instructions to relocate them because it was not convenient for the government’s image to have them protesting, is the same person that would take pictures with people from different indigenous groups for her political campaign.
The Triqui people are only one out of 68 different Mexican indigenous groups. Each one of these ethnic groups have their own history, language and culture. Around 22% of the Mexican population is indigenous, and the country defines itself as a “pluricultural nation”. No matter how much we like to portray ourselves as proud of our mestizo (mixed) identity, we do not care about indigenous people being the most affected by extreme poverty, discrimination, lack of access to education and opportunities, and a very big etcetera.
We are taught in school that we are supposed to be proud of our culture, our diversity, “we respect and honor our ancestors”; but we are also taught that the Spanish did us a favor by civilizing us. We learn everything about “world history” (European history and even US history), but Latin America, our own land, is not mentioned once. Anything remotely associated with indigenous traditions is automatically seen as inferior. We are only to be proud when it is convenient for us, when we can profit off it, or when we need to post on Instagram.
Image Courtesy: https://www.reforma.com/aplicacioneslibre/preacceso/articulo/default.aspx?__rval=1&urlredirect=https://www.reforma.com/rompentriquiscercoenpalacionacional/ar2136977?referer=7d616165662f3a3a6262623b727a7a7279703b767a783b786d3a
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