(Hermosillo) Mexico’s President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, on Tuesday requested amnesty for “state crimes” committed against indigenous people from the north of the country, the Yaquis, who would benefit from a broad investment plan.
“We want to ask forgiveness for the state crimes committed against your ancestors,” the president said at a public event in Vikam, northern Sonora state.
The Mexican left-wing head of state stated that the abuses occurred mainly during the long presidency of Porfirio Díaz (1876-1880, then 1884-1911), which some historians consider a dictatorship.
The Mexican government has pledged to implement a “justice plan” for the Yax family, which has tens of thousands of members in a country of about 128 million people.
The Mexican president indicated that it is about distributing land, ensuring the right to water and social security.
Adelfo Regino Montes, director of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples, said the plan calls for an investment of 11.6 billion pesos ($570 million).
“It is a matter of returning what is right for us,” said Christ Patricio Varela, representative of the Eliyahu peoples, referring to “the lands from which we plundered” and “the dignity they wanted to steal from us.” . “.
The Mexican president concluded that “the Mexican state must never again allow marginalization, abuse or injustice towards the Elias or any other ethnic or cultural group in our country.”
The Elias peoples, together in eight communities, have been fighting to defend their lands and customs since the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors at the beginning of the 16th century.NS century.
2021 marks a double anniversary that is widely celebrated in Mexico: 500 years of the conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés and the bicentennial of the country’s independence.
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