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 1519 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!

Timo Itazke

MEXIHCA TIYAUH
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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Compiled by: Glenn Welker




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